October 2025 – The Maine Department of Education (MDOE) and the National Council for History Education (NCHE) are proud to announce that Sue Williamson is participating in the Celebrating Rural Maine: Community Civics and Place-Based Inquiry project. This initiative is funded by the Library of Congress through its Teaching with Primary Sources program.
Sue was selected from a competitive pool of educators across Maine to join this year’s cohort. Participants collaborated with historians and subject matter experts to explore Maine’s history through an interdisciplinary lens, with history as the central focus. This year’s theme, The Geography of the Place We Now Call Maine, guided a deep dive into the state’s rural heritage and geography, drawing on resources from the Library of Congress’s rural collections and other supporting organizations.
The project began in December 2024 with two asynchronous online courses: Teaching with Primary Sources and Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Primary Source Questions. Both courses emphasized strategies for effectively using primary sources in the classroom.
In the second phase, teachers participated in three synchronous, online Saturday learning sessions held on March 8, April 12, and May 17, 2025. Each session featured presentations by a historian, an educational specialist, and a spotlight educator. The topics focused on The Dawnland, Transitioning Landscapes, and Present Day, and highlighted the geographic and cultural evolution of rural Maine.
For the final phases of this project, teachers attended an onsite colloquium August 3–5, 2025, at the Schoodic Institute. During this intensive workshop, teachers worked closely with public historians, content experts, and local community partners to design a community civics and place-based inquiry project. These projects are currently being implemented with students during the 2025–2026 school year. Participating educators also received a stipend to support the implementation of their projects.
Founded in 1990, National Council for History Education has worked to promote excellence in K-12 and college-level history education. This nonprofit organization supports the teaching, learning, and appreciation of diverse histories through advocacy, sponsoring workshops that connect teachers and professors, and by producing resources for classroom use. Learn more at www.ncheteach.org.