TPS Program

Barat Education Foundation is a consortium member of the national Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program. The mission of the TPS program is to: build awareness of the Library’s educational initiatives; provide content that promotes the effective educational use of the Library’s resources; and offer access to and promote sustained use of the Library’s educational resources. The Library achieves this mission through collaborations between the Library and the K-12 educational community across the United States. The program contributes to the quality of education by helping teachers use the Library’s digitized primary sources to engage students, develop their critical thinking skills and construct knowledge.

Learn more about the Library’s TPS program and other resources available to teachers at http://www.loc.gov/teachers/.

TPS-Barat Learning @ the Source

TPS-Barat offers no-cost blended learning programs to educators in the Chicagoland area and the Rockford area. For more information contact us online or by phone at 847.574.2465.

The TPS-Barat Learning @ the Source programs combine online learning with in-person training to help teachers discover how to identify and use engaging primary sources from the Library of Congress in inquiry learning activities that align to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and promote critical thinking skills. The program follows the national TPS program’s levels of professional development.

Learning @ the Source Level I

Teaching with Primary Sources to Support the CCSS & Inquiry Learning

• Goals: accessing Library digital resources and practicing methods for CCSS-aligned, inquiry-based instruction using primary sources
• Format: blended instruction – a few hours of online prework combined with one day of in-person training (may be divided into more than one session)
• Outcomes: Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDUs), USB with ready-made teaching resources, Level II eligibility

Learning @ the Source Level II

Teaching with Primary Sources to Implement CCSS & Inquiry Learning

• Goals: developing and integrating CCSS-aligned, inquiry-based instruction using Library primary sources into classroom practice
• Format: online learning (time dependent upon strand) and support as participants develop, implement, and reflect on a subject-specific or cross-curricular unit of instruction
• Outcomes: Masters credit

Learning @ the Source Level III

Teaching with Primary Sources Train-the-Trainer Program

• Goals: preparing to train and support area educators in the use of Library digital resources and CCSS-aligned, inquiry-based instruction using primary sources
• Format: in-person training and online support from the TPS-Barat professional trainers
• Outcomes: induction into the TPS-Barat Teacher Corps, opportunities to deliver stipend-subsidized training, opportunities to publish on the TPS-Barat Primary Source Nexus

National TPS Professional Development

Professional development activities under Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) progress along three program levels. K-12 educators have the option of taking workshops and courses, offered by TPS Consortium members, under all or some of these levels, depending on their interests.

Level I–Participants gain strategies for using primary sources to help students engage in learning, develop critical thinking skills and build content knowledge.

Participants learn:
• What are primary sources;
• Why teach with primary sources; and
• How to teach with primary sources.

Level II– Participants evaluate, create and teach topic-specific, content-informed lessons that integrate primary sources from the Library of Congress and exemplify effective instructional practices.

Participants:
• Gain a thorough understanding of effective instructional practices with emphases on inquiry-based and student-centered learning using primary sources
• Learn to identify exemplary learning experiences
• Create standards-based, content-informed learning experiences integrating primary sources from the Library of Congress that exemplify effective instructional practice
• Teach, assess and reflect on their experiences using primary sources in instruction
• Evaluate primary source-based learning experiences
• Investigate the effects of primary source-based instruction on student learning

Level III – Experienced educators advocate the use of primary sources and help disseminate the ideas, methods and products of the TPS program.

Participants:
• Coach colleagues on the effective instructional uses of primary sources
• Evaluate learning experiences for widespread dissemination and use
• Interact and collaborate with other teachers who are using Library of Congress primary sources
• Conduct research into the effective use of primary sources in education
• Contribute to the use of effective practices for using primary sources in instruction by leading professional development activities