By special invitation, Orbie Smith, curriculum specialist at Pee Dee Elementary School, was a guest presenter for a nationwide gathering of select teachers at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, during the month of June.  Smith presented at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s Annual National Meeting.

During a seminar titled Transatlantic Slave Trade Educational Project: Breaking the Silence, Smith shared how to integrate children’s literature into the teaching of elementary social studies. In a second seminar titled Beyond Amistad: The African American Struggle for Citizenship sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, teachers learned how to utilize primary documents to make history come alive for students.

While in New Haven, Smith and other teachers participated in learning trips focused on local history, visited the Noah Webster house, and toured a replica of the Amistad ship prior to its departure to travel for the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Want to know more? Email Smith at osmith@pde.hcs.k12.sc.us.