December 4, 2015

(Photo credits: Caitlin Wolf/Center for Inspired Teaching)

On December 3rd, the second annual Real World History Internship Fair took place at Cardozo High School. One part of Inspired Teaching’s work to create system-wide change, Real World History combines academic coursework with practical internships, teaching students the skills of historians and connecting them with peers and historic institutions from across the city.

Staff members from DC museums and historic sites each interviewed 4-5 students to determine internships for the spring semester. In the second half of the course, students will spend 100+ hours at these sites between January and June, putting into practice the skills they learned in the first semester.

After the fair, students and partner sites were matched based on student preferences and site rankings from the interviews. In a change from last year’s course, each historic site is creating a major project for students to complete that is specific to the needs of the institution and the interests of the student. As with projects for National History Day, these projects will emphasize “Student as Expert,” one of the 5 Core Elements of Inspired Teaching’s instructional model.

Real World History partner institutions for school year 2015-16 are:

Anacostia Community Museum

Ford’s Theater

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

National Archives

National Mall

National Museum of American History

National Museum of the US Navy

Newseum

President Lincoln’s Cottage

Tudor Place

White House Historical Association

Woodrow Wilson House