But What Do We Get out of It?

While the focus of professional development for History K-12 teachers traditionally is on the benefits for the secondary teachers themselves, I would argue that university professors can also gain from this relationship.  Most historians are trained throughout their graduate work to focus on historiography, and the research and writing of history.  Far less of a focus in most graduate programs is the conveying of history content itself to young college students.  Through professional development activities with K-12 teachers, university professors are afforded the opportunity to engage in discussions of the teaching of history.  While many historians initially see a broad chasm between what they do on the university level and what K-12 teachers do, as they work with teachers, particularly secondary (7-12 grade) level, they can participate in a dialogue on pedagogy.  For example, we can learn how to engage large groups in discussion, how to teach students to grapple with primary sources, and how to increase student achievement in history.  Historians are thus provided the opportunity to learn specific approaches, not to the discussion of history, but to the teaching thereof.