2009 East Tennessee History Day Winners
Please click here for a listing of the winners from the 2009 East Tennessee History Day competition held on March 2 at the Carolyn P. Brown University Center on the University of Tennessee campus.
The East Tennessee Historical Society and University of Tennessee Deparment of History co-sponsor this district competition of the National History Day program. First through third place winners advance to the state competition in Nashville on April 4.
Teachers & Students
A variety of options are available for curriculum aligned school museum and outreach programs.
All visits to the Museum of East Tennessee History include a scavenger-hunt style hands-on program for students in the signature exhibit Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee. Programming is customized to meet the social studies curriculum spis as well as specific teacher needs. While at the museum, all students will participate in the exhibit program plus an additional hands-on program selected from those listed here:
Tennessee social studies curriculum benchmarks (spis) are listed after a number of the program descriptions:
Everyday Expressions--early Tennessee people and culture
"Everyday Expressions" is an interactive exploration of the ways in which European, African, and Cherokee cultures blended to create the floodways and styles of early nineteenth century Tennessee. Students will understand how today's culture is rooted in the traditions of the groups who settled the state.
Objects Over Time--Timeline overview
The group helps to construct a table top time line of objects illustrating the history of East Tennessee. Everyone gets to handle this unusual collection of assorted objects (eighteenth century pipe, nineteenth century rug beater, twentieth century 45 rpm record) representing life in East Tennessee over the past 200 years. Students learn how historians examine and "read" objects to date them, as well as how artifacts testify to social, economic, and technological change over time.
Elementary-- K.5.02, 4.5.05(a),1.5.02, 2.5.03(b),3.5.03(a,b), 4.5.12, 5.1.01(a), 5.1.04, 5.2.05, 5.5.12(f)
Middle School-- 6.1.01, 6.1.06(a), 7.5.02, 8.1.01, 8.1.04(a,b), 8.2.04(e,f,g), 8.5.13, 8.5.17(c)
High School-- U.S. History 3405
Discovery Boxes-- Tennessee settlement and culture
Students unravel the mysterious identities of historic characters by collecting clues from these eight discovery boxes. Objects belonging to a slave, a frontier farmer, a long hunter, a Cherokee woman, and others, are carefully packed for students to handle, examine, and identify. Students discover who these people were and how they lived two centuries ago. Through investigating the objects and creating stories around the characters, students learn about the cultures, jobs, and daily lives of the people who settled Tennessee.
Elementary-- K.1.01, K.5.01, 1.1.01, 2.1.01, 2.5.03, 3.1.04, 4.1.04, 4.3.04, 4.5.04(b), 4.5.05(a,f), 4.5.06, 4.5.09(b), 4.5.11(f)
Brother Against Brother-- Civil War Debate
East Tennessee was fiercely divided over the Civil War. Although strongly Unionist, the region also contained a large pro-secession minority. Politicians stumped the towns and communities, determined to persuade people to their side. With a fast moving script, students engage in an 1861 town square debate set in East Tennessee. Students role-play Union vs. Secession orators, and by taking their own popular vote, determine how the crowd was swayed.
Fifth and Eighth Grade-- 5.5.01, 8.5.18, 8.5.20
Programs which teach skills in using primary documents: In Their Own Words-- Slavery in East Tennessee
How do we know that slavery existed in East Tennessee? How can we document the stories of African-American slaves in the region? Students become historians through evaluating authentic primary documents frome the Knox County archives to discover this "hidden" past. Names, ages, values, manumission dates, and laws that governed the period are discovered and discussed. At the end of the program, ech document is shared with the group and a new awareness of East Tennessee's Antebellum African-American history is brought to light. NOTE: "In Their Own Words" is a recommended complement to "Brother Against Brother" for eighth grade groups. There is a slight additional charge for doing both programs, and the visit will take an additional 30 minutes and an additional .50 cents per student.
Eighth Grade-- 8.5.07(a), 8.5.08(a,c), 8.5.18, 8.5.19, 8.5.20
High School-- U.S. History 3405
History Detectives-- Family History and Tennessee Heroes (intermediate grades)
Students "dig" through documents and photographs for clues, peer through magnifying glasses, and calculate dates and ages of historic characters. This is an introduction to primary source and family history research. "History Detectives" allows students to learn the techniques they will use in doing their own research, by surveying primary and secondary materials to complete biographical sketches of Tennesseans Sam Houston, Cordell Hull, Alvin York, Andrew Johnson, and David Crockett.
Each program above can be conducted in the classroom by ETHS staff, or at the museum during a visit. Each classroom program requires 45 minutes unless otherwise noted. Fees are $3.00 per student, with scholarships provided for students on fee waiver.
