Teaching Partners Program Curriculm
Curricular materials in the form of lesson plans, assessments, and projects drawn from the BTA collection.
HBCUs and Black Educational Networks
The following lessons have students explore connections between Black K-12 educators and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). These relationships were foundational to the development of Black institutional life and the professionalization of Black education throughout the early and mid 20th century. HBCUs served as a pipeline for the training and development of Black teachers, while the conventions of the Colored Teachers Associations served as sites where K-12 educators and HBCU faculty exchanged approaches to teaching, debated educational practice, and contributed to a broader tradition of Black educational thought.
Identifying Links between Black High Schools and HBCUs
In this lesson, students use BTA to map connections between Black high schools and HBCUs. They will identify collaboration patterns, analyze how desegregation disrupted these networks, and discuss the losses from closing all-Black schools.
Exploring Institutional Diversity within HBCUs
In this lesson, students analyze “Educatograms”—HBCU ads in teacher journals—to explore institutional diversity. Students will critically engage with primary sources to understand how HBCUs represented themselves and their curricular offerings.
Teaching Toward Tomorrow: Learning from the BTA
In this series of lessons, students conduct guided and independent archival research to learn more about the intellectual, social, and professional worlds of Black educators. The records of the Colored Teachers Associations reveal the multifaceted nature of Black teachers as they adapted their teaching practice and advocacy to the rapidly changing context of the 20th century. Journals housed in the Black Teacher Archive also reveal a consistent throughline: Black teachers preparing Black children for a world of equal citizenship that did not yet exist. These lessons have students engage with the complexities and constancy of Black educators through a range of activities that enable students to synthesize and share connections between the historical practices of Black educators and today’s educational landscape.
Cover Page of Bulletin of the Arkansas Teachers Association Vol. 30, No. 4
Black Teachers and the Making of a Profession
In this research project, undergrad students use BTA to explore how past Black educators organized and sustained their professional community, and then use these insights to envision and propose future structures for the teaching profession in 2030.
The BTA and Professional Learning Communities
In this two-part assignment, students analyze BTA artifacts to understand how CTAs structured professional learning, and then create a modern social media campaign to engage Black teachers in professional communities.
North Carolina Education: Evolution and Future Outlook
Students use the North Carolina Teachers’ Record to think like historians and policy analysts. By analyzing BTA documents alongside contemporary sources, they trace historical influence on current schools and propose policy recommendations.
TimeStamped: The Social Media Preservation Project
Students curate the North Carolina Teacher's Record from the Black Teacher Archive to build a multi-platform social media campaign. They use templates to translate historical primary sources into accessible, public-facing storytelling.