Keynote speaker was Dr. Dr. Gary Nash, director of the National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS)

The Building Academic Literacy in the History Classroom Conference held on October 24, 2009 was a great success.  This one-day conference was hosted by Mt. Diablo Unified School District teachers that are members of the district’s Teaching American History for All Grant. This grant has focused on creating discipline-specific, rigorous American History content for the classroom. 

At the conference, 5th, 8th, and 11th grade teachers presented two standards-based model lessons at each of the three grade levels.  The grant’s lessons integrate reading, writing, and thinking strategies to build students’ literacy and historical thinking skills in the history classroom. 

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Gary Nash, director of the National Center for History in the Schools (NCHS) and Professor Emeritus of Early American History at UCLA.  His keynote address, Roots of Citizenship in America: The Unknown American Revolution, examined the many meanings of the American Revolution from the perspective of its diverse participants.