 About Taney and Beyond |  About Project Taney |
This web site was designed by the following ThinkQuest for Tomorrow's Teachers team:
Taney and Beyond is intended as a resource room for teachers and students interested in regional studies. The initial site, the one you are looking at now, is a small sampling of what the room can become as schools in Taney County, and beyond, begin creating and adding materials. All of the three broad divisions--Historical Archives, Lesson Plans and Ideas, and Samples of Student Work--will be expanded as teachers and students contribute to the resource room.
There are all sorts of ways to use the site:
The Historical Archives are designed to provide background information on topics of interest. These archives can be used as preliminary reading, helping a student or teacher get ready for more in-depth research; they can be points of reference for developing lesson plans; they can be analyzed and interrogated as one would question any text. They also model an end product for students who might want to publish their own work as part of the archives.
The Lesson Plans and Ideas are inter-disciplinary. A teacher interested in integrating regional studies activities can consult this library to get ideas or ready-made plans. The plans are brief, but they show how objectives of the lessons can be carried out and how the lessons are related to the national and state academic assessment standards. The lesson ideas are also useful, though they do not go into the detail that the plans do. If teachers develop some of the ideas, we hope they will be interested in adding their plans to the library.
The Sample of Student Work section provides a forum for students to publish their work. Right now, the section is brief because we are only getting started. Later on, we hope students will share their best work by submitting it via e-mail or by sending it to Project Taney's annual Writing Workshop--an annual, noncompetitive workshop where students from different schools get together to share and critique their work. The best student writing we will move to the Historical Archives section, so that eventually the site will be more student-owned.
Any of the resources here may be used in your classrooms without charge. However, you may not download any part of the site for commercial gain or for republication without permission. Most of the material here has been authored by our team. Where we have used material from other sources, we have documented those sources on the page itself and on the list of Contributors and Resources.
The site is associated with Project Taney, Inc., a newly established not-for-profit corporation designed to promote regional studies in the area. We did not receive financial support from Project Taney; however, two members of our team--Michelle Waters and Tammy Roberts--are responsible for setting up Project Taney. Initially, they planned to have their students write a CD-ROM. This plan gave us the idea for creating an initial web site to help other students and teachers envision possibilities for regional studies. We also thought it would be a good way for all of us to learn more about technology and our region.
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Project Taney
Our Vision
The original concept of Project TANEY came to us in bits and pieces. It was not a deliberate response to any contrived educational problem. It was not an attempt to satisfy professional development criteria or complete the requirements of a graduate degree. It was the culmination of several conversations between numerous colleagues and friends. It developed from the triumphs and frustrations we and our students experienced in the classroom. Project TANEY sprang from our innate and individual concerns and passions as educators and historians to develop a usable resource for teachers and students of local history and to promote the preservation of our historical, cultural, and environmental heritage in a rapidly changing county. Project TANEY is, essentially, us practicing what we teach--identify the problem, brainstorm possible solutions,utilize available resources, determine a focus, outline a plan of attack, seek input from others, revise, refine, reevaluate.
Our Concerns
Locally, the needs of a rising tourism-based economy and the emerging conflicts brought about by people of diverse backgrounds moving into the Taney County area have created a multitude of new challenges facing county and community leaders. Those challenges extend into the school systems as well. In addition, Missouri's new educational standards make it imperative that local educators prepare secondary students to become active, informed, and rational participants in their community and within the county.
Helping students understand the many facets of local issues and concerns are often dependent upon teachers integrating Taney County social studies into existing curriculum. A lack of instructional time or difficulty in obtaining usable instructional resource materials creates obstacles. Materials available to teachers are often inadequate and seldom student-centered. Preparation of instructional units to meet the new Missouri Standards is time-consuming.
Students feel isolated from the issues and concerns of the community. Community leaders and county officials say they value the interest and input of students in historical and environmental preservation efforts, yet most of those efforts are reactive rather than proactive. Students see their role in county affairs as that of passive spectators at best, even though programs such as the American Legion sponsored "Taney County Youth in Government Day" encourage students to understand the operations of the county government. The young people often see no relevancy in studying local history. Students, particularly transfer students from other states, do not fully understand the relationship between the area's cultural heritage and the county's economic base.
Students from different school systems within the county seldom interact in a non-competitive, scholarly mode. Lack of communication and interaction among the county's young people perpetuate the barriers, biases, and misunderstandings of the county's adult populations.
Project TANEY offers a creative solution to these problems through student-centered, problem-based activities designed to link students and adults to their county's historical past using the educational technology of today in preparation for meeting tomorrow's challenges as actively involved citizens.
Promoting and supporting the integration of Taney County social studies into existing curriculum, preserving and promoting an understanding of and appreciation for the cultural heritage and natural environment of the Ozarks region, providing opportunities for meaningful dialogue between community leaders and the various student groups within the county, and involving students in community service projects are the fundamental elements of Project TANEY.
Mission Statement
It is the mission of Project TANEY to create and sustain an accessible and beneficial educational resource base for students and educators of Taney County history and to foster the development of students into knowledgeable, productive community members who share a respect for the past, an objective awareness of the present, and a vision for the future of Taney County.
Project Goals
To accomplish the mission of Project TANEY, we purpose a fully integrated educational program founded upon these goals:
