{"id":10232,"date":"2019-05-10T19:54:56","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T19:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=10232"},"modified":"2019-05-10T19:55:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T19:55:26","slug":"utrgv-program-to-help-bring-regional-history-to-edinburg-and-brownsville-k-12-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=10232","title":{"rendered":"UTRGV Program to Help Bring Regional History to Edinburg and Brownsville K-12 classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

More than $2 million was awarded to UTRGV by the American History and Civics Education National Activities Grant, under the U.S. Department of Education, to establish a place-based professional development program for K-12 teachers. The program, Historias Americanas: Engaging History and Citizenship in the Rio Grande Valley, is being developed with the grant\u2019s funds by UTRGV faculty, in collaboration with Edinburg CISD and Brownsville ISD. The announcement was made on Tuesday, April 23, at the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg. Photo: Paul Chouy\/UTRGV<\/p><\/div>\n

by Amanda L. Alaniz<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

EDINBURG, TEXAS \u2013 <\/strong>Thanks to a\u00a0<\/strong>newly-funded program spearheaded by The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley\u00a0B3 Institute<\/a>, local students from two school districts and their communities will have the opportunity to immerse themselves and better understand the regional history that surrounds them.<\/p>\n

UTRGV held a press conference Tuesday, April 23, at the Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg to announce the place-based professional development program for K-12 teachers, \u201cHistorias Americanas<\/em>: Engaging History and Citizenship in the Rio Grande Valley,\u201d and its collaboration with\u00a0Brownsville Independent School District<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr. Francisco Guajardo, executive director of the UTRGV B3 Institute, and Dr. Maritza De La Trinidad, associate\u00a0professor and undergraduate coordinator of the UTRGV\u00a0Mexican American Studies Program<\/a>,\u00a0received a more than $2 million grant for the program from the\u00a0American History and Civics Education-National Activities Grants<\/a>, under the\u00a0U.S. Department of Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spirit of the grant is to give teachers, especially social studies teachers from Brownsville and Edinburg, an opportunity to really become immersed in a different way of thinking,\u201d Guajardo said.<\/p>\n

UTRGV, Brownsville ISD and Edinburg CISD representatives and educators were on hand to share their enthusiasm about what the program will mean for K-12 students and their communities.<\/p>\n

Gracie Alonso, a Brownsville Rivera Early College High School social studies teacher, said she was grateful for the chance to be part of something that can help students better understand the history surrounding them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis grant affords us the opportunity to tell our students that we are not just a little blip on a map, that the Mexican American experience is part of the American experience\u201d Alonso said. \u201cAnd, hopefully this will make them more connected to our local history, our national history, and help create that enthusiasm, that passion, and that awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over a three-year period, the program will provide teachers from the two districts the tools necessary \u2013 professional development summer institutes, online teaching materials and instructional guides, and more \u2013 to use innovative teaching and learning modules to enhance current and historical understandings of local and national citizenship.<\/p>\n

Teachers will learn place-based pedagogical approaches that will examine and build on student, family and community knowledge and cultural wealth to link microrealities to the larger American history narrative.<\/p>\n

Edinburg North High School U.S. history teacher Juan Ortega said this new program will give teachers the opportunity to create their own resources and expand on the unique history of the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know teachers are going to be excited. We\u2019re passionate about history, but I think it\u2019s our job as educators to infuse that passion into students. And with this opportunity, I think we will have the passion in the classroom and, hopefully, that could overflow into the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The leaders of the collaborating school districts both shared excitement for the partnerships and for what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students are going to be the winners of all of this,\u201d said ECISD Superintendent Dr. Ren\u00e9 Guti\u00e9rrez. \u201cThey\u2019re going to benefit and be able to connect all of our history and culture in the Valley, as well as the state and the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t be happier for this opportunity for Brownsville ISD, partnering with UTRGV and Edinburg CISD,\u201d said Dr. Sylvia R. Hatton, Brownsville ISD interim superintendent. \u201cI know we\u2019re going to produce great work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Amanda L. Alaniz EDINBURG, TEXAS \u2013 Thanks to a\u00a0newly-funded program spearheaded by The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley\u00a0B3 Institute, local students from two school districts and their communities will have the opportunity to immerse themselves and better understand the regional history that surrounds them. UTRGV held a press conference Tuesday, April 23, at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10233,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232\/revisions\/10233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}