Mr. Childs Named Maryland History Statewide Day Middle and High School Teacher of the Year
Award-Winning Teachers Talk The Value of Maryland History Day
June 17, 2021 by Sarah Weissman, Maryland Humanities
Kenneth Childs III of Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School and Lynn Rashid of Marriotts Ridge High School were named this year’s Maryland History Statewide Day Middle and High School Teacher of the Year, respectively. Maryland History Day also nominates these teachers for the Patricia Behring Teacher of the Year Award, facilitated by National History Day: results will be announced at the National History Day awards ceremony this weekend. Childs and Rashid discuss the Maryland History Day program.
When discussing history education, Maryland History Day 2021 Teachers of the Year Kenneth Childs III and Lynn Rashid both talk about the joy of witnessing student discovery, whether it’s preconceived notions about a subject or the topic of history itself.
“I love changing their thinking on how history should be approached,” says Childs, who teaches at Hazelwood Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore City. “History is not a series of events that happened in a vacuum. I love when students learn that they’re actually in charge of the narratives in history.”
Lynn Rashid serves as the Media Specialist at Marriotts Ridge High School in Howard County. “I love watching [students] uncover something unexpected. Often, we encounter a topic or event from a brief reference source or documentary and walk away with understandings that can be superficial,” she says. “When a student uncovers something that challenges their understandings or assumptions, I love hearing about how that information has changed their mind or the course of their research.”