State Bd. of Education President Visits IL
Indian Lake Social Studies educators got some inspiration recently from one of the founders of the America 250-Ohio K-12 Education initiative!
State Board of Education President Mr. Paul LaRue met with teachers to walk them through one of his favorite interactive history lessons from back when he was in the classroom. As a longtime social studies teacher in Washington Courthouse, Ohio, LaRue led a project in which his high school students researched Revolutionary War soldiers whose names they gathered from broken headstones in their local cemetery. They compiled records and petitioned the federal government to fund new headstones for the soldiers and reset them on the graves.
LaRue says they all learned a lot about the veterans and the families that grew from them settling in Ohio.
"What's neat about this is, here's this Revolutionary War veteran who comes in for the land, starts his life, raises his family and then they contribute to the state in all sorts of ways."
The group brainstormed other ideas to teach local history related to the America 250 anniversary. They also discussed the role of the State Board of Education and ways to connect important points of history with modern classrooms.