TNstandards

PLEASE ACT NOW OR THE COAL CREEK SAGA WILL BE REMOVED FROM TENNESSEE’S ACADEMIC STANDARDS
CLICK TO VIEW PDF OF THE DRAFT PROPOSED NEW STANDARDS FOR TENNESSEE SCHOOLS CLICK TO VIEW LIST OF CURRENT STANDARDS ON TENNESSEE HISTORY AND PRIMARY SOURCES TO BE ERASED FROM THE REQUIRED CURRICULUM IN TENNESSEE SCHOOLS CLICK TO VIEW ALL HISTORY TO BE ERASED FROM REQUIRED CURRICULUM IN TENNESSEE SCHOOLS If you wish to comment on these proposed changes, then this is your opportunity, so “speak now or forever hold your peace.” The comment period ends on October 28^th. You can learn more about the proposed standards and comment on them at https://apps.tn.gov/tcas/. View the newspaper and television articles about the proposed changes to Tennessee education standards, which would remove most Tennessee history from the required curriculum: WBIR-TV story (PDF) The Courier News story 12 October 2016 The Courier News 19 October 2016 County wants Coal Creek back in class http://www.wbir.com/news/local/education/state-may-drop-some-tn-history-from-classroom/328982737. Associated Press -- San Francisco Chronicle Story (PDF) http://www.oakridger.com/news/20161003/proposed-changes-could-leave-big-moments-in-tennessees-past-out-of-history-books http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/politics/state/story/2016/oct/04/gov-haslam-learning-tennessee-history-critical-students/390014/
BACKGROUND: Tennessee has published its draft academic standards for social studies, which delete specific reference to the Coal Creek Saga. In fact, the new standards appear to delete most references to Tennessee history. Instead, Tennessee History will be an elective in high school, but again Coal Creek history has been deleted. We believe Tennessee History should be incorporated into U.S. History in each appropriate grade, not as an elective in high school. The Coal Creek Saga is an example of what’s right with Tennessee and America, so it should remain in the standards.
	Where else but in Coal Creek could you find carpetbaggers and scalawags becoming partners in business with skilled legal immigrants (Welsh miners and iron puddlers) to help East Tennessee rebuild after the Civil War? In the process, they taught new job skills to native Tennesseans, including former slaves. When the system became corrupted by convict leasing—a thinly veiled Jim Crow Law—Coal Creek miners went to war with the State of Tennessee to end that practice at a time when prison, labor, and civil rights activists failed in such attempts.
Coal Creek miners wrote farewell letters before they suffocated in the Great Fraterville Mine explosion of 1902, which were published in newspapers around the world and led to the formation of the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The first successful rescue by engineers and apparatus crews of the Bureau of Mines occurred after the 1911 Cross Mountain explosion in Briceville. And, it was Coal Creek miners who preserved Welsh literature for posterity at a time when it was illegal to even speak the Welsh language in Great Britain. An example of the Coal Creek history lesson taught at Lake City Middle School is shown here!
You can learn more about the proposed standards and comment on them at https://apps.tn.gov/tcas/. The Coal Creek Saga is relevant to sections 5.19 and 5.22 to 5.26 for fifth grade; sections 8.76, 8.78, and 8.80 for eighth grade; and sections US.3, US.4, US.11, and US.13 for high school. The state link is hard to follow, so we have added a link to a PDF version for review purposes at the top and bottom of this page. The current standards can be found at https://www.tn.gov/education/article/social-studies-standards for comparison. If you wish to comment on these proposed changes, then this is your opportunity, so “speak now or forever hold your peace.” The comment period ends on October 28^th.
	Coal Creek Scholar Andy Harness produced a mini-documentary to help teachers and students learn about the Coal Creek Saga at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar5TCCGx1h8.

CLICK TO VIEW PDF OF THE DRAFT PROPOSED NEW STANDARDS FOR TENNESSEE SCHOOLS If you wish to comment on these proposed changes, then this is your opportunity, so “speak now or forever hold your peace.” The comment period ends on October 28^th. You can learn more about the proposed standards and comment on them at https://apps.tn.gov/tcas/.
[Home] [SCHOLARSHIPS] [RESTORING THE GREAT AMERICAN CHESNUTS] [Master Plan] [Map] [Photo Gallery] [Bank Stabilization Projects] [Deadwood Removal Days] [Discovery Day 2000] [Scrape, Paint & Clean Day 2000] [Historic Fraterville Mine Disaster Field Trip 2001] [Fraterville Mine Disaster 100th Anniversary] [Coal Creek War and Mining Disasters] [Mine Reclamation Lessons] [CMD] [Economic Benefits] [Motor Discovery Trail] [Historic Cemeteries] [Partners] [Schools in Watershed] [Mark the Trail Day] [Awards] [Coal Creek Health Days] [Briceville School History Field Trips] [Ghost Stories] [Trout Stuff] [Join Us] [Eastern Coal Region Roundtable] [Articles in the News] [Dream Contest] Copyright© Coal Creek Watershed Foundation, Inc. 2000 through 2021 CELEBRATING OUR 21st YEAR!!