For Educators

Georgia History FestivalEducational Resources and Opportunities

Tear Down This Wall: Georgia in Cold War America


About the Georgia History Festival Focus of Study

Each year, GHS selects a person or topic that made a great impact on Georgia's history as the focus of our educational programs and resources. The 2020-2021 focus of study will be Tear Down This Wall: Georgia in Cold War America.

From virtual and in-person programs and events for the public, to new classroom resources and training opportunities for teachers, GHS will examine some of the most significant events, people, and movements of the second half of the twentieth century as we mark the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Cold War. With the rise of mass media and television, the late 20th century was characterized by ideological competitions that were carried out locally, nationally, and internationally, including the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the Space Race.

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Cold War Inquiry Kit

“And That’s the Way It Is: Television and the Cold War” Inquiry Kit: This inquiry kit guides 5th grade students and teachers to explore events of the Cold War including the Vietnam War, the Space Race, and the Civil Rights Movement.

An archive of GHS Historical inquiries, including C3 and other inquiries based on the Cold War and Late 2oth Century, Women's Suffrage, and the US Constitution, can be found on the GHS website.

Learn more about C3 Inquiries on the C3 Teachers website.

Historical Investigations

Georgia Leaders on the World Stage Historical Investigations: Four new classroom-ready resources called Historical Investigations take deep dives into Georgia Leaders on the World Stage through student-centered activities and research exploring digitized primary sources and primary source sets from GHS and a brand new inquiry strategy from the Library of Congress and the Right Question Institute (RQI).

2021 Georgia Day Parade Online Program and Events

Register for the Georgia Day Parade Online Program, Friday, February 12, 2021, to hear messages from prominent Georgia leaders, costumed historical figures, and GHS staff, and learn the winners of the Banner and Art Competitions. Stay tuned for more information about this event.

 

Download the Georgia Day Parade Online Program and Events Information Packet, which has all the information you will need for participation in this year's virtual Georgia Day commemoration and the Georgia Day Banner and Art Competitions!

2021 Georgia Day Banner and Art Competition

In lieu of the annual, in-person banner competition, GHS will host two virtual competitions for Georgia Day 2021. In addition to the popular classroom banner competition, GHS will also host an art contest for individual students.

Beginning in January, Georgia students will have opportunities to compete with their peers across the state by creating original artwork on the Focus of Study, “Georgia Leaders on the World Stage.” After being reviewed and judged for their creativity and use of Festival educational resources including new GHS Historical Investigations, submissions will be featured online and through GHS social media. All submissions are due by February 1, 2021. Click here for guidelines and submission information.

 

Sponsored by
Gulfstream

Professional Development

Teacher Webinar: Georgia Day Parade Banner Competition: Theme, Resources, and Teaching Strategies

January 12, 2021, 4:00 p.m., Online

GHS Education staff will host a one-hour webinar providing instruction for teachers who want to participate in the annual Georgia Day Parade Banner Competition. Teachers can ask questions, register for the competition, and learn how to use GHS resources created to support teaching the banner competition theme, “Georgia on the World Stage: Leadership in the Late 20th century.” The resources that will be discussed during the webinar can be found on the GHS website.

Local History Webinar Series

GHS is pleased to introduce a new series of webinars for its local history organizations. Focusing on issues facing local history organizations across Georgia during the current period of economic and social upheaval, this series of virtual sessions will include resources, strategies, and a forum for discussion.

Creating Educational Resources Using Collections
January 21, 2021, 3:00 p.m.

Social Media Management for Historical Institutions
February 17, 2021, 1:00 p.m.

The Georgia Historical Marker Program
February 25, 2021, 1:00 p.m

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Classroom Conversations: The Rise of Media in the Late 20th Century: A Q&A with Dr. Stan Deaton

Online Dates TBD

GHS Education staff will host a conversation with Dr. Stan Deaton about the rise of media in the late 20th Century. Students and teachers can submit questions for Dr. Deaton prior to the program. Education Coordinator, Lisa Landers will facilitate the conversation and pose student questions exploring the impact of new media in the late 20th Century. The program is a companion piece to the Cold War inquiry kit and historical investigations into late 20th century leaders.

Education Webinars

View past education webinars from the 2020-2021 Georgia History Festival on the GHS YouTube channel.

Historical Inquiry with GHS

Want to learn more about historical inquiry and how to implement it into your classroom? Join GHS Education Coordinator Lisa Landers in a one-hour, interactive webinar where she will illustrate inquiry-based strategies from the new “‘And That’s the Way It Is’: Television and the Cold War” Inquiry Kit.
This professional development webinar will take a deep dive into how to utilize the “‘And That’s the Way It Is’: Television and the Cold War” Inquiry Kit in your classroom. Learn about the Inquiry Design Model, including inquiry-based strategies and activities designed to help students explore uniquely curated primary source sets from late-20th-century Georgia and United States history.
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History and Art: Women and Girls of the Civil Rights Movement

Join Kate McLeod of the High Museum of Art and Lisa Landers of the Georgia Historical Society to explore teaching history through art. This forty-five-minute professional development session will take a deep dive into the roles of women and girls as leaders and activists during the civil rights movement. Focusing on icons of the movement such as Coretta Scott King, Ruby Bridges, and the scientists and mathematicians featured in the book Hidden Figures, the session will present strategies for examining art and primary sources such as historical documents in the elementary-school classroom.

Participants will be introduced to Picture the Dream: The Story of the Civil Rights Movement through Children’s Books at the High Museum of Art and learn strategies for finding and exploring primary sources and other classroom resources from the Georgia Historical Society to teach the civil rights movement. Participants will engage in classroom-ready strategies and learn to teach history through art.

 

GEORGIA HISTORY FESTIVAL BLOG

From guest posts providing insight into the Festival theme to the already popular Marker Monday series, community members will be invited to join the conversation and share GHS posts with their online networks. The blog will also serve as the hub for news about GHF events and messages from friends and supporters. Written for a general audience, these blog posts would make great informational texts to promote literacy across the curriculum.

 

Georgia History Festival Blog

Primary Source Sets for Georgia History

Primary source sets created by GHS are designed to help promote historical inquiry in the classroom by providing access to primary sources aligned to the Eighth Grade Georgia Standards of Excellence for Social Studies. Teacher guides for each set include important historical background and context for each primary source along with suggested secondary sources and links to additional online materials related to the topic. Visit the Opening America's Archives website! 

Lisa LandersLisa Landers

Education Coordinator

Hello. Are you a parent or teacher with questions about participation in the Georgia History Festival? Please contact me at llanders@nullgeorgiahistory.com or 912.651.2125, ext. 152.
I look forward to assisting you.