In January 2025, Facing History & Ourselves held a two-day in-person workshop in San Antonio, Texas: A New Approach to Teaching the Reconstruction Era. This professional learning outreach is part of our “New Communities” initiative, as we try to introduce the benefits of our pedagogy to schools and districts who might be less familiar with our content and approach.
Since this was the first Facing History experience for most of our teacher attendees, our facilitation team was intentional about modeling what a Facing History classroom feels like for students.
Success Shown through Data
Nearly every Facing History workshop and seminar finishes with a survey that we ask attendees to fill out. Our Evaluation Team then analyzes this data so that we can both capitalize on wins and retool any components that didn’t meet expectations. Being able to learn directly from teachers—who can speak from experience about the efficacy of our professional development and classroom resources—is absolutely critical to ensuring that the work we do is serving educators and students, and serving them well!
Following the Reconstruction Workshop, attendees were asked to answer both quantitative and short-form questions in order to assist Facing History’s Evaluation Team in determining the success of the professional learning event. We also wanted to understand if bringing Facing History into more Texas classrooms would be of value to area educators, either through our Reconstruction Era curriculum or other organizational resources.
The feedback we received was instructive and encouraging, and among our favorite takeaways was that 100% of workshop educators would recommend this workshop to others.
A Quick Look at the Numbers
Below are some additional data points from our attendees. These numbers underscore what we’re doing right, and also indicate ways we can improve our deliverables to educators in Central and South Texas.
- 94% plan to use Facing History Reconstruction resources shared in this workshop
- 50% plan to use other Facing History resources
- 94% agreed that the workshop increased their understanding of the Reconstruction era and its impacts today
- 94% agreed that this workshop experience positively impacted their confidence to teach about the Reconstruction era
- 94% agreed that this workshop increased their ability to think critically about historical content
- 73% said that the Facing History Reconstruction resources are applicable in their current form
- 27% said that they will need to modify the Facing History Reconstruction resources to fit into their classrooms
Questions and Answers
Facing History asked the following questions to attendees after the session, and we have summarized their collective answers to each one.
What resource or activity that you engaged with during this workshop did you find the most useful or applicable to your classroom?
Most attendees shared that the most useful resources from the workshop were the teaching practices, strategies, and activities that could be immediately used in their classrooms. Educators told us they appreciated that these practices were tangible, digital, universal, transferable, and easy to implement.
What impacted you the most about the workshop?
The biggest impact for our attendees was the ability to converse and connect with other educators.
What ideas did you gain about engaging with Facing History resources introduced in this workshop for your classroom use?
We heard from most educator attendees that they gained ideas for engaging with and analyzing primary sources in their classroom. For example, they shared how they learned about specific approaches such as the last word activity, the found poem, analysis of political cartoons, use of media, and other annotation devices.
In your hopes and dreams, what are resources that Facing History could provide that would support your work in Texas?
Dream resources that were underscored included broader topics of interest, rather than topics specific to Texas—such as resources on disability, ethnic studies, LGBTQIA+, slavery, civics, and more content on Reconstruction. Our attendees also detailed a wish for more Texas-specific content such as the Chicano movement in Texas, a workshop and resources specific to Texas history, course material aligned to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), African American Studies, and the formation of a council to combat Texas legislation that negatively impacts teachers.
Conclusion
We’re thrilled that A New Approach to Teaching the Reconstruction Era was so well received by Texas educators—and that we were able to learn so much as well. Attendees loved the chance to meet up with other educators who understand the job and to have the opportunity for in-depth discussions about the material. Our post-workshop evaluation shows that educator attendees gained a deeper understanding of the historical background of the Reconstruction era while enhancing their confidence in teaching the subject. They also left with innovative teaching practices and strategies that they can easily slot into their existing lesson plans.
The overall positive reception and feedback is such an exciting result as we expand Facing History to more classrooms and regions—it was so rewarding to learn that 100% of attending educators would recommend this workshop to others. We can’t wait to continue working with Texas teachers to bring them more Reconstruction education in addition to other case studies and content from Facing History.
