UC Davis-Based State Project Offers Online Help for Parents Trying to Teach at Home
California History-Social Science Project Adds to Its Mission of Helping Teachers
By Karen Nikos-Rose on March 30, 2020
"Like many people, Nancy McTygue, executive director of the California History-Social Science Project, has been on a lot of Zoom calls in the past several days. As a lifelong educator, her perspective inspired her to develop resources for parents now trying to juggle work and helping their children learn.
On both statewide and national calls during the past two weeks, what struck her most is children coming on camera, or talking, on calls. In one conference call, a woman in another state had children jumping onto her lap, she said.
'I could hear the desperation in her voice,' McTygue said. And she could sense how annoyed everyone else was on the call. Beyond that, McTygue added, she observed the same kinds of frustrations by mothers and fathers of young children who are also her CHSSP site leaders located at five University of California campuses and one California State University campus.
'I knew we had to do something for these parents.' — Nancy McTygue, executive director, California History-Social Science Project
McTygue heads up CHSSP, which is a statewide network and resource for history and social science educators headquartered at the University of California, Davis. That project ordinarily develops teaching materials and resources for teachers throughout the state. So she decided to offer direct help to parents too under the coronavirus shelter-in-place orders. She and her colleagues at UC Davis and at five other university locations have started posting resources for parents — lesson plans, reading lists, blogs of encouragement — as well as for teachers trying to teach remotely for the first time."