BLOOMINGDALE VILLAGE SQUARE INITIATIVE

“Taking Village History to Our Youth”

In Search of
A CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST
(For Middle & High School Project on Bloomingdale Neighborhood History)

OVERVIEW:
The Bloomingdale Civic Association's Bloomingdale Village Square (BVS) Initiative recently
received a grant from the DC Humanities Council for a project titled "Taking Village History to
Our Youth". Bloomingdale is a gentrifying neighborhood, and BVS seeks to ensure the
neighborhood is distinguished by its commitment to inclusion. Through use of neighborhood
history, the project seeks to increase Bloomingdale's youth’s (both children of ‘newcomers' and
'old-timers') sense of connectedness to their changing neighborhood and other diverse youth.
The project also seeks to enable youth to exhibit civic leadership by using neighborhood history
as a tool for encouraging increased youth engagement and voice in issues of neighborhood
change.
The Project's Co-Directors (Bertha Holliday, PhD and Paul Cerruti) developed a 44-page
Bloomingdale Timeline History (1800-2915) that is currently being updated and expanded. The
revised History Timeline, will serve as the primary text for the project. In addition, the project
will involve 'community exploration expeditions' focused on information, data, and research
methods related to Bloomingdale. These expeditions will include visits to neighborhood
historical sites, libraries and social research institutes with neighborhood history and
social/economic data resources; and discussions with urban planners, architects, neighborhood
activists; etc. , Youth will then be expected to develop and implement small-group project
proposals that focus on one event in the History Timeline and explore the past, current, or
future impact of the selected event. Projects will take the format of a history, narrative, video or
media arts, or performance., and must focus on the past, current, or future impact of the
selected event.
It is expected the “Taking Village History…” effort will involve approximately 100 middle- and
high school youth who either live in Bloomingdale, (but attend school outside the neighborhood),
or attend Bloomingdale-serving public or charter schools. It is anticipated the project will be
implemented in neighborhood schools, youth-serving organizations, and churches. In school
settings, the project could be integrated into existing social studies curricula, and/oro take the
form of an after school or Saturday program. In non-school sites, the project will take the form
of an after-school or Saturday program. For more related project information, Click:: Brief
Description
TASKS OF THE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST:
The Curriculum Development Specialist will be expected to develop currircula that are
sequenced and integrated to ensure youth acquire knowledge and skills necessary for
developing and implementing small group projects. The Curriculum Development Specialist will
be enter into a professional services contract with the Bloomingdale Civic Association aion
and work in consultation with a historian. Specifically, the Curriculum Development Specialist
will be expected to:
• develop two (middle school and high school) 10 – 20 hour Bloomingdale history curricula
(based primarily on the revised Timeline History booklet) including lesson plans and
Teacher and Activities Guides that meet 7th and 11th grade SBOE social studies
standards, and emphasize collaborative experiential classroom and neighborhood
exploration excursions ( to be reviewed and approved by project steering committee);
• develop a concise teacher training guide (to be reviewed and approved by project
steering committee) and conduct approximately 2 to 3 hours of training for teachers and
assistant teachers (including volunteers) on the content and use of the Timeline History
booklet, curriculum/lesson plans, and related Teacher and Activity Guides;
• Provide technical assistance (primarily by phone) to teachers and assistant teachers
upon request.
APPLICATION PROCEDURES
• Requests for application guidelines should be forwarded to
bhollidaypsy@gmail.com by FRIDAY, JULY 26. 2019.
• Upon receipt of these guidelines, completed applications should be submitted to the
above email by MONDAY, AUGUST 5, 2019. It is expected the prospective applicant
will provide a resume including a) educational attainments, b) professional job history ---
especially related to curriculum development, listing of prior curriculum development
efforts, a sample of a curriculum development product (no more than 10 pages) that the
applicant either authored or was a major contributor, and contact information for three
references.
• Interviews will be conducted during the week of AUGUST 5 – AUGUST 10,2019.
• The contract for the selected applicant hopefully will be signed by AUGUST 15. 2019
for a total amount NOT TO0 EXCEED $5,000.00, and the Curriculum Development
Specialist' s efforts are expected to begin immediately thereafter.