Rebecca Richardson

Rebecca Cummings Richardson [Beckie] has been teaching for 25+ years. She currently teaches A.P. U.S. history and A.P. Macroeconomics at Allen High School in Allen, Texas where she serves as Team Lead. Mrs. Richardson has developed numerous strategies and materials that she posts on her website, FFAPUSH.com. She makes her learning materials available to teachers free of charge, and often mentors teachers on how to teach and build historical thinking skills. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of teachers using her materials across the country and abroad. She strongly believes that as educators we should help each other improve as well as helping our students improve. She has also had lessons published in journals such as the Black History Bulletin. The impact of her work includes increased exam scores, higher level skill development among students, increased writing and critical thought, and assisting other teachers in the development of strategies and scaffolding for the vertical alignment of instruction. Beyond her campus, the impact of her work is hard to quantify. A brief internet search will reveal the prevalence of her materials on many school/teachers’ websites. She has helped thousands of teachers and students tackle the challenges of Advanced Placement United States History. Her work also includes serving as a Best Practices presenter and committee member for College Board and guest presenter for the Advanced Placement Summer Institute at Texas Christian University for the past two years. Attendees of her sessions consistently rate her work and presentations highly, resulting in her being asked to return and repeat. Beckie’s work emphasizes skill development, and her goal is to help students and teachers approach education/learning from a “skill based” perspective rather than “content based” perspective. She utilizes a plethora of primary and secondary sources in order to bring history to life and to emphasize skill development. Analyzing documents is one of the best ways to teach students how to become young historians. She believes that students should not be expected to listen to lectures only to be asked to regurgitate information. She believes that students should develop their own opinions/perspectives on history, and not be presented with someone else’s biased view with the expectation that they should absorb and embrace it. These beliefs impact her teaching greatly. She is a wonderful teacher who loves history - celebrates history - and makes a positive difference in the lives of others while also contributing meaningfully to the broader community of history-loving educators