Local Resources

This program facilitates cultural and educational exchanges between Austin and partner cities around the world, with the goal of fostering peace and promoting social and economic prosperity. This is a great starting place for establishing "pen pal" connections with teachers and students abroad.

The Rotary Club has local chapters in Austin, and helps to facilitate exchange and service projects both locally and around the world. This page is a great vehicle for learning about how your students can travel and gain global perspectives.

Humanities Texas seeks to advance history, education, and culture through their public programming. In addition to curated exhibits on a range of subjects, they host public lectures and workshops for teachers, and also award prizes to exemplary educators. Through their radio program, "Texas Originals", and early reading series, "Texas Storytime", the organization seeks to expose Texans to stories about diverse individuals who had an impact on state culture: it's a great resource for primary source exploration in the classroom.

PBS has great, hyper-localized resources for teachers, parents, and students. It features everything from close examinations of local history to news quizzes about what's happening around the world. The site also features Professional Development opportunities for educators.

The Texas 4-H Club (the "Hs" stand for "Head, Hands, Heart, and Health") comprises lots of clubs that help students investigate special interests, ranging from agriculture to fashion. Curriculum materials are available online. Students also have many opportunities to interact with and learn about local government and to take on leadership roles (including a four-day mock legislative session hosted at the Capitol). If a bill is "passed" by the Texas 4-H Congress, it will go to the Governor's desk and be presented to the actual state legislature!

If your classroom has a door, you can incorporate outdoor education into your routines! Texas Children in Nature partners with schools and families to get kids learning outside in the hopes of improving mental and physical help and cultivating a love for the environment and sustainable practices. The link to the left will bring you to an Austin-specific page. This is a great starting place for planning exciting field trips to places like the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Teach your students about the histories of native peoples. The Bullock State History Museum in Austin has a Texas Story Project that seeks to highlight stories about different groups of people living in Texas. If you are interested in doing an oral history project and engaging students with authentic audiences and products, they could contribute to the state collection!

If you are interested in civics in action, why not have your students host a voter registration drive? They may not be old enough to vote yet, but they can still learn about government by encouraging others to participate in the democratic process.

Another idea is to reach out to your state legislator or Congress representative: often they are excited to engage with students, and may agree to host a Zoom meeting with your class!

Check out the WAMS curriculum, drafted by historians and educators at the New-York Historical Society. Too often, women's stories are invisible or relegated to the margins of American history, and WAMS works to highlight and contextualize women's stories through the use of engrossing primary sources. There are many Texas-specific Life Stories. I participated in a fantastic summer workshop at N-YHS through the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2019.