“Teachers were engaged and involved as the Heritage Education workshops were presented.
"Much deliberating and work went into the planning and delivery of the workshops to ensure that Louisiana Content Standards and Benchmarks in the areas of English/Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies were integrated with the concepts of cultural landscape, structures and archeology with meaningful content.
"Northwestern State University’s College of Education faculty worked with dozens of public school teachers over a three year period to advance the concepts delivered during the workshops in fun and interesting ways.
"Surely the students of the teachers trained will benefit from the work done through Heritage Ed.”
Dr. Cathy Seymour
College of Education
Northwestern State University of Louisiana
In 1966, with the establishment of the National Historic Preservation Act, America made a lasting commitment to the structures and landscapes that define our culture. With this commitment came the need to educate our youth to maintain the cultural context of these sites in the minds and hearts of future generations.
Thirty years later, the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT), along with the Center for Historic Preservation at Middle Tennessee State University, produced Focus on 2000: A Heritage Education Perspective. The resulting interest gave NCPTT the opportunity to develop the pilot, Heritage Education – Louisiana. NorthwesternState University of Louisiana (NSU), with its history as Louisiana’s first normal school, was a key partner.
In 2000, collaboration between NCPTT and NSU led to meetings with Louisiana Department of Education supervisors for pre-kindergarten through high school curriculum standards, the Louisiana Center for Educational Technology, National Park Service, and the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism (which houses the State Historic Preservation Office). Continued research determined the key components necessary to develop a program that is teacher friendly and classroom adaptable.
Additionally, Heritage Education – Louisiana selected sixteen fourth-and eighth-grade teachers from around the state to aid in the development of the program. During the course of a year, the teachers met in four, one-day workshops and a five-day summer institute to create lesson plans and activities, which they piloted in their own classrooms. With the knowledge gained from this experiment, Heritage Education – Louisiana, with assistance from NSU staff, refined the program and now strives to enrich teachers’ resources through an electronic newsletter, workshops, grants, presentations and a web site serving as a tool for teachers, students and parents.