Laurel Teacher Wins National Honor

Lia Berry, a teacher at Laurel's Eisenhower Middle School, has won a national award to attend the Library of Congress' Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute, taking place in Washington, DC later this month. 

Attendees are "a carefully chosen group," according to a Library of Congress press release. Berry is one of only four teachers chosen from the DC region, and is among 300 K-12 educators selected nationally. The other area teachers are Pat Brown, DC Public Schools; Keisha Evans, Woodson Elementary, Crisfield, MD; and Jennifer Gutleber, Marsteller Middle School, Bristow, VA.

The educators will work with Library of Congress education specialists and experts to learn about teaching using primary sources--which include original documents, photos, letters, diaries and other items. Millions of such historical items are available on the Library's website, which contains the largest collection of online historical artifacts. Teachers will explore the collection during their training.

The Library of Congress supports teaching with primary sources as "a powerful way to help students... develop critical thinking skills and construct knowledge."

The Institute is one of seven the Library holds for teachers each year. Participants are chosen from K-12 teachers and school administrators in states around the country, from large metropolitan areas as well as smaller rural school districts, to learn strategies that they can take back to their school districts.

The Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and serves the public, scholars, members of Congress and their staffs. Many of the Library’s resources may be accessed through the Library’s website at www.loc.gov.