NEH Picturing America School Collaboration Projects CFDA 45.163

Building on the national distribution of Picturing America, the National Endowment for the Humanities invites proposals for local and regional projects that foster collaboration between K-12 educators and humanities scholars to encourage engagement with the rich resources of American art to tell America’s story. The Picturing America School Collaboration Projects grant opportunity is designed to help teachers and librarians whose schools display the Picturing America images form connections with courses in the core curriculum. These projects will be grounded in the great works of art included in Picturing America, which is part of the Endowment’s We the People program. Applications are due by October 7, 2009.


Information about Picturing America, including the Picturing America Teachers Resource Book, can be found by visiting the Picturing America Web site. The images in Picturing America reflect a variety of media spanning several centuries, ranging from the work of early American Indian artists to painters such as Mary Cassatt and Jacob Lawrence, from photographers such as Dorothea Lange to architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright.

These images will help students better understand America’s diverse people and places and connect them to our nation’s travails and triumphs. This history is reflected in the themes of Picturing America: Leadership, Freedom and Equality, Democracy, Courage, Landscape, and Creativity and Ingenuity. Goals of the Picturing America School Collaboration Projects grants are:

• to strengthen understanding of the connections between great works of American art and significant events, themes, and topics in the American experience; to encourage local and regional collaboration between K-12 educators and humanities experts who can bring appropriate knowledge to the integration of American artworks in core subjects;
• to foster discussion of how to use the Picturing America images among K-12 educators within a locality or region;
• and to provide access to rich scholarly resources and primary materials that support teaching.

In order to provide a forum for exploring and deepening students’ understanding of art, American history, government, social studies, literature, language arts, civics, and other core subjects, funded projects should:

• support one or more conferences of one or two days each;
• accommodate at each conference twenty-four to one hundred (or more) participants, all of whom would have access to the Picturing America portfolio; and
• provide opportunities for participants to engage with scholars, museum and library professionals, and other experts.

Successful proposals will present a conference schedule of plenary and concurrent sessions in engaging formats that provide opportunities for participants to:

• observe or demonstrate models for teaching American art, history, and culture with the Picturing America portfolio and accompanying Teachers Resource Book;
• explore the curricular value of visual literacy for core subjects (for example, using images in the teaching of history or literature as a powerful investigative tool, a stimulus to Socratic inquiry, or a catalyst to improve student writing); and
• develop individual or team plans with mentoring resources, as available.

Successful applicants will also provide plans for post-conference support for participants as well as for Picturing America portfolio recipients unable to attend the onsite activities. Post-conference activities will include:

• use of listservs or e-newsletters to connect participants to an array of resources, including each other, and to assist with exchange and discussion around experiences using new materials and approaches;
• dissemination of the resources of the conference on a public Web site that could include online audio and video and transcribed conference presentations; and
• publication of the results of instructional initiatives in digital or print form and presentations or other in-service activities.
  

Conference organizers will invite applications from Picturing America recipients and make selections according to criteria they establish to determine the quality of proposed school initiatives and the appropriateness of follow-up plans, both for the grade level(s) and any relevant learning frameworks.

Proposals to provide opportunities for teachers with limited access to professional development in the humanities are encouraged. These conferences may include public school teachers, teachers at charter schools, members of home school consortia, and faculty of private license schools. Host institutions should arrange adequate housing for the participants, who will pay for it from the stipends.

Projects must have a plan for evaluation that will provide firm evidence of each participant’s success in accomplishing proposed instructional goals. Projects must require a product as evidence of each participant’s or team’s new knowledge or increased skills, such as new lesson plans, course materials, library enhancements, or a research paper. Master teachers may be involved to assist participants in carrying out school projects or the construction of new learning resources.

Funds may be used to pay for consulting scholars, books and other materials, logistical support, and appropriate released time for project staff.

Types of projects not supported
Picturing America School Collaboration Projects grants do not support:

• empirical social scientific research;
• specific policy studies;
• educational or technical impact assessments;
• work undertaken in the pursuit of an academic degree;
• the preparation or publication of textbooks;
• projects that focus on pedagogical theory, research on educational methods, tests, or measurements;
• cognitive psychology; or
• projects devoted to advocacy.

Document Type: Grants Notice
Funding Opportunity Number: 20091007-AP
Opportunity Category: Discretionary
Posted Date: May 26, 2009
Creation Date: May 26, 2009
Original Closing Date for Applications: Oct 07, 2009
Current Closing Date for Applications: Oct 07, 2009
Archive Date: Nov 06, 2009
Funding Instrument Type: Grant
Category of Funding Activity: Humanities (see "Cultural Affairs" in CFDA)
Category Explanation:
Expected Number of Awards: 30
Estimated Total Program Funding:
Award Ceiling: $75,000
Award Floor: $0
CFDA Number(s): 45.163 -- Promotion of the Humanities_Professional Development
Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No

http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/pascp.html