Connie Williams (on right) and guest speaker, author Reyna Grande

Petaluma High School’s librarian Connie Williams spent a portion of her summer in a select team of educators invited to participate in the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute in Washington, D.C.

The five-day program had teachers working on effective practices using primary sources in the classroom while also exploring digitized historical artifacts and documents available on the Library’s website (www.loc.gov). Teaching with primary resources is a powerful way to help students engage, ask probing questions adn develop critical thinking skills, organizers said.

Petaluma High Principal David Stirrat called Williams a “school change agent” and said her work is “remarkable.”

“She is a critical connector to Common Core standards and the need to rely on primary resources for authentic research,” he said in an email.