North Hills Instructor Wins PA History Teacher Of The Year Award

ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA - Joe Welch knows his history and is pretty good at teaching it as well. The North Hills Middle School instructor was named the 2018 Pennsylvania History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and is a finalist for the national history teacher of the year award to be announced in October.

The eighth grade social studies teacher was selected a a panel of teachers, administrators and scholars from across the state. The award is presented annually by the institute, the nation’s leading organization devoted to American history education is grades K-12.

Welch will receive a $1,000 cash award, an archive of books and historical materials for the North Hills Middle School library. He also will attend a 2019 Gilder Lehrman teacher seminar and recognition at a state ceremony.

Welch’s students were recognized this year for their Building Bridges: Oral History to Connect Communities and Generations project. Welch, along with middle school English teacher Vicki Truchan, oversaw the student publishing of four volumes of community oral history narratives and student analysis that are now available for free on iBooks.

Photo via North Hills School District.

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