Student Workshops

Concerns about Student Privacy and Safety of Minors: The intended audience of these workshops is minors, which means there are additional safety and privacy concerns you should think about when planning.

• In-person workshops: Be sure to think about who will attend this workshop and if your institution will require a parent or guardian to attend with their child. If not, what additional permissions will you need from parents/guardians when registering?

• Virtual Workshops: Depending on the guidance of your organization, there are additional factors in hosting a virtual program for students. The most flexible program is one that is broadcast one-way (students can view but not participate), and you are not collecting student information from registrants. These types of programs can provide information, but you can't gauge engagement. If students are registering and participating, like a Zoom session, you will likely have to ask for parent/guardian permission during registration, should clarify if you expect an adult to participate with the student, should have at least two adults in any virtual space (including breakouts), and should have an adult monitoring the chat to ensure safety between participants (e.g., not sharing contact information).

Winners' workshops are for the benefit of students who advance between different levels of your contest. This could be Regional/District to the Affiliate Contest or, most commonly, those students advancing from your Affiliate Contest to the National Contest. The primary outcome is for them to prepare their entry to the fullest extent possible in the allowable time. It is an opportunity for advanced focused learning, peer coaching, and one-on-one honing of knowledge and skills. 

It should not be geared toward winning. In fact, this workshop provides a perfect opportunity for you to remind students that judging, by its very nature, is subjective. If two entries are otherwise equal in all objective criteria, one of them will be placed higher than the other.  Hence, setting the students up for an expectation that they will win will only lead to disappointment and confusion if they do not. Preparing them to do their very best work and to be proud of that facilitates the sense that winning is a great end but not the only one that brings satisfaction.

For National Qualifiers: Your assistance will be greatly appreciated, and unlike before your contest, you’ll be able to provide it without any appearance of impropriety. Your goal at this point is to do all you can to support your students before and during the national contest. As long as you offer your assistance equally to all of the advancing students, you can feel free to offer as much as possible.

You can do these workshops on your own or use staff from your organization who are familiar with History Day. You can also consider inviting experts with particular specialties: a museum professional to comment on exhibits, a media person for documentaries and websites, a drama professor for performances, a professional historian to review the content and annotated bibliographies, and/or a language arts person to make suggestions on papers. 

If travel is prohibitive, offer electronic review on a first-come, first-served basis. In this case, ask the students to email papers or links to documentaries or performances on YouTube, links to their websites, or digital photos of the exhibit, along with the process papers and bibliographies.

School outreach visits can become an integral support system for teachers in your Affiliate. They are also a great way for you to stay connected to how the program operates in the classroom. 

How do they work? Teachers often want a classroom-length presentation (about 50 minutes, depending on the school schedule). Best case scenario, they are delivered in a classroom, often multiple times in a day. The presentation can work in a larger space with more students, like an auditorium or library, but it is often more challenging to engage students. 

How are they scheduled, and who do you visit? You can offer the opportunity to all teachers and let them reach out to schedule a visit with you. Or, if your capacity is limited, prioritize outreach to schools and districts that are new to NHD or need help with improving the quality of student work giving higher priority for visits. Since it is impossible to reach all classrooms, the teachers, schools, or districts that consistently produce winning projects should be a lower priority for visits, although make it clear to all constituencies that you will provide as many resources as possible and that you are always available to answer questions.

What is covered? You can introduce NHD to students, conduct research help, or work with students one-on-one. If your program has never done these before, ask what they need! Teachers may also offer guidance on creating an experience that will be most beneficial to the students. You will also want to know if the students are required to participate or if you are trying to drum up excitement for optional participation. The latter can be effective but may be less of an effective use of your time. In cases where their participation is optional, consider using a student spokesman from the school (see below). 

Who does the visits? Most often, the Affiliate coordinator or other education staff at an institution will visit classrooms. It is less essential that this person is a trained educator and more essential that they are comfortable delivering a presentation and working with kids. Most programs develop a standard presentation that everyone modifies in order to personalize it. This presentation is often tailored to fit the time and learning goals of the teacher. Because of this, the person delivering the program should be familiar with the program enough to answer questions and adapt as necessary. 

What materials will you need for the presentation? Depending on the presentation you develop, you may need specific props or a presentation to share. The more interactive the presentation can be, the better you can engage with students. You may want to bring a few freebies for teachers, such as a rulebook or theme book. You can reward student engagement with small favors, such as buttons or stickers, for answering questions or participating in demonstrations. 

Using Students as Spokespersons: Student participants can be some of your greatest allies. Within a district or school, it may be possible to employ energetic student participants to help with the recruitment and motivation of fresh participants. This is especially effective if students are doing History Day in a club format and their participation is optional. A current or former participant, usually older, may visit to provide a description of their experience. Live testimonials for students are invaluable, but videos can also get a lot of mileage. Consider showing the brief videos on the NHD website or your own, with student quotes that emphasize their enthusiasm and involvement.