Dr. Cynthia (Cindy) W. Rich

INTRODUCTION

My EIU Story

Education & Training

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Educational Leadership, Administration and Foundation, granted December 2008. Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana. Dissertation title: The Impact on Rural Illinois Communities when the Local High School is Closed.

Educational Specialist (Ed.S.), Educational Administration, granted May 2001. Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois. 

Master of Arts (M.A.) in Reading, granted May 1994. Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky.

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Language Arts (Reading and English), granted May 1991. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois

Educator Licensure: Illinois Educator License. Highly Qualified in the following areas: Reading Specialist, English (Gr 9-12), English as a Second Language, Journalism (Gr 9-12), Language Arts (Gr 1-8), Reading, Speech (Gr 9-12), Title I Remedial Reading, Nontitle I Remedial Reading. 

Conference Presentations

Rich, C. (2018, October) The Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Program and Professional Development for Illinois Educators: An Overview. Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Rich, C. (2016, Nov.) Talking the Talk: Developing Content Area Vocabulary Skills by Teaching with Primary Sources. National Council for the Social Studies, Washington, DC
Rich, C. (2016, Oct.) Teaching with Images and Media to Transform Content Understanding and Actively Engage Learners. For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights Exhibit. Booth Library, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, IL
Rich, C., Wilkinson, A., & Fry, M. (2016, Feb.) Primary Sources: Find Them, Choose Them, and Use Them Well. Sources Conference. TPS University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL.
Rich, C. & Fry, M. (2015, Nov.) Finding and Filling Gaps in Trade Books with Primary Sources. National Council for the Social Studies. New Orleans, LA.
Rich, C. & Lederle, C. (2015, Oct.) Building Literacy Muscle with Primary Sources. Library of Congress 1st Annual Online Conference.
Rich, C. (2015, July) Approaches to Literacy. Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources National Meeting. Washington, DC.
Rich, C. & Bell, A. (2014, Nov.) Social Studies Strong: Building Content Area Literacy Muscle with Primary Sources. National Council for the Social Studies, Boston, MA.
Rich, C. (2014, March) Reading in the Disciplines: Primary Sources beyond History. Librarian Day in conjunction with Illinois Reading Conference, Springfield, IL.
Rich, C., Runyon, K.  & Rice, K. (2013, Nov.) Doing More with Less: Creating Literature Units with Primary Sources, National Council for Teachers of English, Boston, MA
Rich, C. (2013, July) Library of Congress Educational Tools and An Introduction to the NEW congress.gov, Congress in the Classroom, Peoria, IL
Rich, C., Brna, M. & Bell, A. (2013, July) Investigate the Past to Understand the Present, National Association for Media Literacy Education, Torrance, CA.
Rich, C. & Bickford, J. (2013, April) Evaluating, Employing and Supplementing Children’s History Based Literature. Illinois Council for the Social Studies, Edwardsville, IL.
Rich, C. (2013, Feb.) Eyewitness to the Struggle for Change: Teaching with Primary Sources. Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Skokie, IL.

Community

Publications

History Literacy and Visual Informational Texts: Scrutinizing Photographs Beyond their Borders. Bickford, J., Bickford, M. and Rich, C. The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies (Online) October 2015
Examining the Historical Representation of the Holocaust within Trade Books. Bickford, J. Rich, C. and Schuette, L. Journal of International Social Studies. August 2015
The Historical Representation of Thanksgiving Within Primary- and Intermediate-Level Children's Literature. Bickford, J and Rich, C., Journal of Children's Literature. May 2015
Speaking Their Language: Hashtags Rich, C. International Literacy Association. Literacy Daily Blog. May 2015.
Examining the Historical Representation of Thanksgiving within Primary and Intermediate Children’s Literature. Bickford, J. and Rich, C. Journal of Children’s Literature. V41 n1 Spring 2015 pp 5-21
Scrutinizing and Supplementing Children’s Trade Books about Child Labor. Bickford, J. and Rich, C. Social Studies Research and Practice [Online], Volume 10, Number 1, Spring 2015.
Facilitating Students’ Historical Scrutiny of Credibility within Slave Narratives. Bickford, J. and Rich, C. The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies [Online], Vol 75, No 1, 2014.
Trade books’ Historical Representation of Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Helen Keller. Bickford, J. and Rich, C. Social Studies Research and Practice [Online], v9 n1 Spring 2014
Examining the Representation of Slavery within Children’s Literature. Bickford III, J. and Rich, C. Social Studies Research and Practice [Online], v9 n1 Spring 2014
What’s In a Name? Learning from the Titles of Library of Congress Primary Sources – Part 2 [Blog Guest Post]. Rich, C. Teaching with the Library of Congress Blog. 5/8/14.
What’s In a Name? Learning from the Titles of Library of Congress Primary Sources – Part 1 [Blog Guest Post]. Rich, C. Teaching with the Library of Congress Blog. 5/1/14.
Facilitating Students’ Historical Scrutiny of Credibility within Slave Narratives. Bickford III, J. and Rich, C. The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies [Online], 75 25 Feb 2014

Funding & Grants

Teaching with Primary Sources at Eastern Illinois University, Library of Congress (January 2004 - September 2018)
Civics Focused Professional Development for Teachers. McCormick Foundation (May 2016 - present)

Frequently Taught Courses

Literacy, Assessment, and Differentiation in Secondary Schools (SED 4330)  A course designed for all secondary pre-service teachers. Teaching strategies and materials for teaching comprehension, advanced study skills, and vocabulary will be addressed. Students will learn to use diagnostic, formative, and summative literacy assessments to support differentiated instruction.

Theory into Practice: Curriculum Development (EDF 5500) Course Description: Basic determinants of curriculum; social philosophical factors influencing curriculum design and development, including current trends, issues and practices
 
Previously Taught:

Social Studies for Elementary School Children (ELE3340) Planning and organizing for instruction; material selection; and evaluation in social studies. Field-based activities will be provided in conjunction with ELE 4000 (clinical experience).

Teaching and Learning with Technology in Classrooms (EDU2022)- This course, based on the national and state educational technology standards is designed to prepare teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum. This course focuses on the effective use of technology in teaching and learning.
 
Reading and Study Skills (GST1000)-Learning principles as they apply to the development of efficient study skills, emphasis on reading instruction designed to improve comprehension and rate. This course is required for students readmitted to the university following academic suspensions and students admitted under special circumstances that do not meet EIU academic standards.

Research & Creative Interests

Director, Teaching with Primary Sources EIU (Adventure of the American Mind) Developed and facilitated the successful Library of Congress initiative to deliver free professional development for K-12 educators supporting the use of the Library’s digital primary source materials within instruction.Following the original award, additional program proposals were submitted resulting in continued funding of over $2,000,000.
 
Project Director, Civics is Back in Illinois at EIU  Secured grant funding to provide free summer professional development for regional teachers to implement a high school level civics course as required by new Illinois legislation.
 
Edcamp EIU  2016/17/18 Coordinated the event, created the leadership team and oversaw all planning and logistics for Edcamp EIU.  Facilitated the event and all arrangements on the day of the event. 

www.eiu.edu/eiutps Teaching with Primary Sources EIU program website. Stats for 2009 – 2018 indicated more than 2.6 million pageviews by over 1.4 million unique worldwide visitors.
 
Constant Motion: The Job of Railway Post Office Clerks  This project gathered stories and artifacts of eleven former Railway Post Office (RPO) clerks with help from the EIU community. To share resources, a website was created as well as a 30 minute documentary that was distributed and shown on PBS stations across the country by the National Educational Television Association. The associated press also published an article describing the project. This led to collaborations with the Smithsonian Institute’s National Postal Museum and Illinois Railway Museum.
 
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission Educational resource development advisor. * Recognized in the Final Report to Congress and the American People by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, Washington, DC.  Created a collection of resources for educators on the national commission website and developed and published TeachingwithLincoln.com interactive timeline of Lincoln’s personal and professional life for educators. 

Professional Affiliations