It’s time to get started with History Day 2009! As many of you know, History Day is not just a “day,” it’s a year-long experience of delving into a topic and presenting one’s findings in competitions as well as other settings. Visit MHC’s History Day YouTube channel to see a History Channel overview and student documentaries.

To give you an overview, here’s a basic timeline:

August
Teachers: Now is the time to contact your district coordinator with orders for History Day curriculum and rule books. And remember, if you have a teacher workshop or classroom session coming up, you can request a presentation by our History Day Outreach Coordinator, John Willard.

September
Teachers: After getting your students acquainted with History Day, capture their enthusiasm by helping them develop their primary and secondary source research skills.

October – November
Students: Choose your topic! The 2009 theme, “The Individual in History: Actions and Legacies,” offers limitless possibilities. Don’t delay; once you have your topic, get started fine-tuning your chosen subject and conducting secondary research. This is also the time to decide if you want to work solo or with a group, and what format—exhibit, documentary, paper, performance, or website—you want to use for your project.

December – January
Students: Seek out your sources by conducting primary research, and make sure your project has good bones by completing your rough draft, process paper, bibliography. These cooler months are the perfect time to be indoors constructing your exhibit, rehearsing performances, reviewing your paper, or producing and editing your documentary or website.

February – March
Students: Deadline time! Put on those finishing touches and complete your entry. If your school has a history fair, this is the time for your hard work to shine and to use any constructive criticism you receive to prompt further research and improve your entry.

March – April
Students: Spring brings countywide History Day competitions (district contest dates and contact information at http://www.mdhc.org/programs/maryland-history-day/important-dates/)! If you are an advancer to the state competition, you use this time to improve your projects in preparation for Maryland History Day state contest (held April 25, 2009 at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County).

May – June
Students: If you’ve been chosen to represent Maryland at the national competition, continue to polish your project for the National History Day contest (held June 14-18 at the University of Maryland, College Park).

Remember, this schedule can be adapted to the needs of individual teachers or schools. Since some systems offer social studies only one semester in the school year, some students may not be able to begin their projects until January. To provide more time for research, these students might begin their projects earlier, through a history club or under the guidance of another teacher in the fall semester.

Check back in two weeks for tips on step one in the History Day process – choosing a topic!

We want to hear from you! Teachers, students, and parents are welcome to leave questions or make comments about Maryland History Day.

Tags: History Day

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 4:49 pm and is filed under Maryland History Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.