AEI 2015
Women's History  

Photo Credit NARA.

The Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York, Inc. (ART), in partnership with the National Archives at New York City (NARA-NYC) and the Association of Teachers of Social Studies/United Federation of Teachers (ATSS/UFT), hosted the sixth annual K-12 Archives Education Institute (AEI) on October 17, 2015 during New York Archives Week, bringing together local K-12 educators and members of the archives community.

The event was held at NARA-NYC, with a shorter day and slightly altered format from previous years AEI's. Participants were broken into small groups of 3-5 to look "forensically" at an activity/lesson plan, moving around the room and engaging with and discussing ways to interpret the materials. The groups discussed the materials and brainstormed ideas for new ways to use the primary source materials within the classroom to enhance learning (and bring awareness to the many uses of archival content).

There was also a presentation by Kathryn G. Shaughnessy on the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) primary resources for educators, with an emphasis on women's history resources.

The overarching idea of the 2015 AEI was to suggest interesting and impactful ways to interact with the materials once educators are back in the classroom.

Participating archives: 

Brooklyn Connections
Brooklyn Navy Yard
Center for Jewish History
Girl Scouts of the USA
Lesbian Herstory Archives
NARA-NYC
Wildlife Conservation Society

Several resources were developed based on the event and from the source material provided by the archives who participated.

AEI 2015 Resource List
AEI 2015 - Women's history primary sources list
AEI - General primary sources list