If you are a teacher, a parent or a student involved in a virtual classroom and online learning – thanks to COVID – there is an important resource available for you. That resource is the East Tennessee Historical Society’s (ETHS) educational Facebook page. This page was launched on March 19, just as the COVID issue hit. Find it here.
As the page reads: “Free and fun online educational resources.”
Lisa Oakley, ETHS’s curator of education, spoke to the Rotary Club of Farragut about this educational initiative and the society’s other programs. “We are getting some teachers who are using the page, but we’d like to see a lot more of them take advantage of this to help them develop their virtual lessons,” Oakley said. Families who are helping their children at home or home schooling also can also use the page.
“We’re working to add more and more new content to our Facebook page and help teachers and families meet the need for new curricula,” Oakley added. “Many teachers are working so hard and don’t have to look for and develop content. We have it.”
Oakley has been at ETHS for 30 years and is deep into the history of Knox County and East Tennessee. She is responsible for the development, promotion and supervision of all ETHS student and teacher programs, which include interactive exhibit activities for students and award-winning teacher workshops and institutes.
In addition to this Facebook page, the center also has its own You Tube channel here.
Oakley also is project director for a number of grant projects, including the 2010-2013 “Enduring Visions” Teaching American History grant project funded through the U.S. Department of Education (in partnership with the University of Tennessee Department of History and Anderson, Sevier and Union County schools). She also serves as co-coordinator for the East Tennessee district competition of the Tennessee History Day program.
To learn more about these programs, call Oakley at 865-215-8828 or email her at Oakley@EastTNHistory.org
To explore membership in the Rotary Club of Farragut, email tking535@gmail.com or call 865-659-3562. Tom King has served at newspapers in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and California and has been the editor of two newspapers.