Latino history is part of Colorado and Boulder County's history, but it's not something typically taught in area classrooms.
The Boulder County Latino History Project and the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts want to change that.
"It will be very important for Latino children to become more aware of their own heritage and gain ... a sense of pride in who they are," said Marjorie McIntosh, the founder of the Boulder County Latino History Project and a former history professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. "Also, it's important for non-Latino children to recognize that Boulder County has been a diverse community for 100 years."
McIntosh worked with former Silver Creek High School social studies teacher Kent Willmann and specialists from both school districts to help teachers incorporate Latino history in their classrooms. Teachers from both districts and all grade levels gathered for a week-long workshop at Altona Middle School earlier this month.
The idea, Willmann said, is to integrate Latino history into lessons already being taught, not to give teachers something more to teach.
McIntosh said, "It's our goal to have Latino materials turn up all through the curriculum. ... It's not an add-on that you talk about one day a year."
It's difficult to find primary sources that allow teachers to connect the curriculum to their students' lives, said Magdalena Casillas,a fifth-grade teacher at University Hills Elementary in Boulder.
Through McIntosh's work and the history project, those sources are now available on the Internet.
"Our goal is to use those primary sources to develop lessons," Casillas said.
Teachers are working together to develop lessons, which they also will share.
"We are particularly pleased that the two school districts are working together in generating curricular materials," McIntosh said.
In her own class, Casillas will use historical photographs of Latinos as she teaches literature, particularly with her English-language learners. She plans to use newspaper stories and statistics for economics lessons in social studies classes, she said.
"It will be awesome to show them how the economy works," Casillas said.
The teachers' workshop will be offered again next year, as the CU-Boulder Office for University Outreach and Engagement has provided a $23,000 grant to expand the program, McIntosh said.
Contact Times-Call staff writer Victoria Camron at 303-684-5226 or email@example.com