Hes a teach for the sumter, South Carolina. Tell us about your students. My students come from impoverished backgrounds. Were on the edge of sumter, its shaped a little like oklahoma, were kind of in the panhandle. We have about 400 kids, k through eight, a small school as well. The kids with determined to grow. Theyre determined to learn. Great personalities. Desire to try and make their communities a better place. Your focus as a teacher is state history, South Carolina state history. What prompted you to apply to be a teacher fellow . What did you think youd learn . I came to cspans educateor conference about three years ago, it was my first real big professional building experience. It was right after my first year of teaching. It was hard for my students to realize what happens in washington. Some of them have not really ever left Sumter County or theres a field trip we actually took last school year, the first time that most of the kids had ver been to a zoo. So i was using cspan footage if to the show them whats happening in washington and why its important. Over the last couple of years ive made it a point to use those primary sources. This fellowship then would offer an tun for me to not only learn more about the state history resources cspan offer bus also to tray to contribute more and build on whats already there what are some of the practical thingus take away from this experience here in washington in terms of as a teacher . And what do you think you learned about spoil or politics here that maybe changed your opinion on . I didnt realize how much cspan had to offer. I knew about the gaveltogavel coverage of the house and senate but we referenced that conference a couple of years ago about American History tv, cities tour, book tv and things of that nature. As teachers, as practitioners, we dont have a ton of time to watch through all these videos and see exactly what they have. This experience showed me how much stuff there is, state history, museum tours, discussions with other people, that i didnt realize existed with cspan. I think that theres an adage that theres more that unites us than what divides us. I think this experience showed me that. Come to fruition. Not just in politics where legislators g your communicating with each other in friendly discourse, not so much what yud see across the media and things of that nature. But working together to try to solve some issues that are in our country. Then also, the pride that local communities have anywhere thaste hi right hand history and stories and each other that come up to the top when youre watching thru this footage. History in South Carolina is primarily your focus but youre from youngstown, ohio. South carolina obviously one of the original 13 colonies. Certainly the start of the secession crisis and the civil war. It must have taken you quite a bit to get up to speed on South Carolina history. South Carolina History is basically u. S. History with a couple of extra things. In youngstown theres a ton of good history but in South Carolina, of course what you mentioned, one of the original 13 colony, another 100 or 200 years of history there for instance, an example my parents came down to visit probably about two or three weeks ago. Their big thing they like to go to cemeteries, see who is buried where. I didnt realize that the town im living in has the grave scythe of the guy who shot the cannon at the battle of fort sumter to start the civil war. Theres so much history i dont even know about. Im doing a moderate disservice to my students because im still learning in the process. But thats the point of history, theres always something to be discovered. Maybe they can be empowered to learn more. If you can bring them here to washington among the places youve seen or visited in washington where would you take them to teach them a lesson and what would it be about . I would have to try to bring them here for a month and go every wrfment just one day. I think you definitely have to go to the africanAmerican History museum. That directly connects to a lot of my students lives, it pique theirs interest. Its their own heritage my school is 95 africanamerican that covers a lot about their history and also some of the challenges that theyre dealing with today in the 21st century. Right here, the u. S. Tap kohl capitol is a good police to visit. See the process in action. Taking them by the white house, talking about the office of the presidency, the executive branch, trying to filter through the divisiveness that is currently occurring in our country and getting dun to really what are they actually doing for you as a citizen of the united states. You and your colleague, eleanor green, your fell he colleague, have used the term primary sources in talking about teaching your kids where to find information. How hard of a challenge sit to get them to use those sources nd not to use less reputable sources of information . I think my students generally have a good knowledge of what constitutes a reputable source. I think with some of the terminology being thrown around in our country today that theyre questioning everything. Which is good. So theyre trying to feigned the answers to their questions what can we use, what cant we use . I think to dive deeper, its really not just saying whats reputable, whats not but can we find a source on both sides . And how can we use that to examine a claim but then also to look at the other side as well. As you leave your fellowship and head back to class this is fall what sort of practices or things that you picked up from either your teacher fellows or the broader summer conference here at cspan, what sort of things may you bring back to the classroom . For me personally, a renewed passion to teach about American Government and the prince polves democracy, being here. Being in the middle of it all has been a rejuvenating experience. For my students, personal stories. All the professional development ive done has been about what makes people tick . What makes people make their decisions . I think this experience, looking through footage from all 50 states, puerto rico, washington, d. C. , talking with people here in the town of washington, d. C. , has really kind of honed my focus in telling individual stories and how they have an impact on everyone around. Weve covered local history tv in South Carolina a lot. Yeah, greenville, charleston an others. Here . Ve you had to do we got to go to the south lawn on the white house an watch the president give a press conference, it was actually the announcing the resignation of the secretary of labor. Got to watch the president depart on marine one. I guess that was a pretty cool once in a lifetime experience. Ive been this is my fourth straight sumner d. C. For some sort of fellowship. I really got a chance to kind of go find those things off the beaten path. This is my first time getting to go to the zoo myself, which i the national zoo. Kind of going back and spending time at places ive already been. The africanAmerican History museum. Got to spend a couple of hours. Wasnt terribly crowded. Got to go to the apollo 11, washington monument, the anniversary. So just kind of getting into more detail focus on what washington, d. C. Has to offer. When students come into class and there are big political things happening, President Trump says something or congress does something, what is the number one thing you sort of hear from your students in terms of curn political events when they dom to you . They kind of regurgitate in a way whatever their parents say. Whatever viewpoints they carry from home into their classroom. Thats their focus. Regardless of the issue, gay marriage, abortion, the military, its whatever their parents have taught them. And thats why we definite try to instill the capacity and ability for the kids to read through the sources themselves and make their own determinations. In fact, i had some of my student this is last year take out the polls to figure which Political Party theyd align with. Some say im a democrat, they take the quiz and its completely conservative, and also on the flip side. So teaching them how to understand what the Political Parties represent, their platforms and what each individual candidate brings to the table and counteracting some of the hearsay and things they hear in the news or from their family members. Zack lowe, 2019 teacher fellow, were glad youre here this summer. Glad to be here. For more information on this about cspans Education Resources including lesson plans and our teacher fell heship program, go to cspan dirg classroom. Cspan. Org classroom. Up next, washington journal takes a look at challenges facing several u. S. City, followed by a discuss on u. S. Foreign aid and Global Development efforts. Former National Security advisor h. R. Mcmaster joins a discussion about threats to free and open societies. Ost good morning we are spending this morning on the washington journal focusing on the issues facing americas cities. Having this conversation in the wake of President Trump singling out baltimore and pointing to the nations 30th largest city as a symbol of problems with urban areas. This morning were are going to hear from City Residents only. Ellis tell us what your top issues are where you live. You areidents only, if in the eastern time zone, 202 7488000