Letter to Principals

Dear Principal:

I am writing to inform and recruit your American History teachers for a 3-year series of American History in-service programs financed by the federal Teaching Traditional American History Grant.

Chillicothe High School was given notice on July 1, 2004, that we had been awarded a federal grant in the amount of $892,000. The grant I wrote focuses on the establishment of a network of master teachers and the assurance that these teachers and their administrators in rural Missouri have access to skills, knowledge, and abilities necessary to their task.

I am offering a cost-free method of gaining skills, graduate credit, and access to a network of historians. We are in partnership with Central Methodist University, Missouri Western State University, and the Truman Presidential Library and the Missouri State Archives. I plan to have a web site dedicated to our needs set up and running within a short period of time.

The program will consist of one-day programs during the school year and a one-or three-week class (depending on your level of involvement) that will give your teachers the opportunity to gain from two to five hours of graduate credit per year. Your teachers may choose to participate one, two, or three years depending on their needs and/or summer schedule. The hours are free and teachers will be paid a per diem for parts of the program.

Teachers are asked to complete the Needs Assessment form. Encourage them to participate. Ask them to reply to me by email, by fax at 660-646-7106, or by mail (2801 Hornet Road, Chillicothe, MO 64601).

I am truly looking forward to our relationship and hope that this grant program will fulfill a need of your district, but more importantly of each teacher of American History within your district.

Thank you,

Mike Lair, Project Director
Teaching American History