March 30, 2015

Photos: Center for Inspired Teaching

On March 28, Center for Inspired Teaching hosted fellow winners of the national LRNG Innovation Challenge for an interactive exploration of the Mt. Zion cemetery in Georgetown.

Inspired Teaching’s Real World History program was one of 14 projects from across the United States to win the LRNG Innovation Challenge, sponsored by the National Writing Project in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation and John Legend’s Show Me Campaign. On March 27-28, LRNG Challenge winners convened in Washington, DC to discuss their projects and their plans to continue expanding impact.

Inspired Teaching’s Cosby Hunt, the creator and instructor of Real World History, designed and led the tour of Mt. Zion. Visitors walked around the cemetery jotting down questions about the site, reviewed and discussed historic documents provided by Cosby, and then used technology to research the cemetery. After the tour, the group spoke with Cosby and Dr. Thornell Page, leader of the Mt. Zion Church’s preservation committee, about the cemetery’s history and how sites like this can and should be used as valuable teaching tools, connecting students to the city around them and to living pieces of the past.