Preserving Chicago Southland's
History Through Research & Education
Lesson Plan Archive
Through grant funding from Illinois Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, teachers from the Southland Chicago region and teacher candidates from Governors State University are developing regionally focused lesson plans that align with current best practices and an aim towards civic engagement.
Featured Teacher Scholar Lesson Plans
“Railways to Fairways: How the Birth of Leisure Time and the Illinois Central Railroad Built Homewood and Flossmoor”
Jon Elfner
Jon Elfner is a veteran history teacher at Homewood-Flossmoor High School in the south suburbs of Chicago, where he has been teaching all levels of US History since 2001.
"1919 Chicago Race Riot"
Kristen Kaczmarek
Kristen Kaczmarek is a social studies teacher at Hillcrest High School. She holds multiple masters degrees and serves on the iCivics advisory board and the Illinois State Historical Society advisory board.
“What is the Underground Railroad, and how is it connected to Crete, Illinois?”
Ericka Glasper
Ericka Glasper is a fourth year educator and second-grade teacher at Balmoral Elementary, located in Crete, Illinois.
"Southland Oral History Project"
Tim Herbert
Tim Herbert is a Social Studies teacher at Oak Forest High School, where he teaches a variety of courses. He is a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Illinois-Chicago and is a proud product of Chicago’s Southland.
