1. NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2015
Judges’ Orientation

2. WELCOME!
Thank you!
We appreciate your time and energy in evaluating students’ projects.
The students appreciate your effort too!

3. The Nuts and Bolts of NHDC
Annual Theme
Topic Selection
Mastery of Topic
Thesis Development
Research & Analysis of Primary & Secondary Sources
Outline & Essay
Groups or Individual?
Project Development
Process Paper and Annotated Bibliography
Contests & Interviews

4. NHDC students learn skills as they actively investigate historical topics that interest them, develop creative projects, compete in contests and HAVE FUN!

5. History Day is Effective!
A national study found that students who participated in History Day showed improvement in:
Overall academic performance and attendance
Critical thinking and analytical skills
Knowledge of primary and secondary sources
Development and understanding of a thesis statement
Ability to evaluate a source and interpret historical information

6. Boulder Valley 1500 students 20 schools Greeley 1000 students
Mountain
500 students
8 schools
Denver
1000 students
10 schools
STRIVE
500 students 4 campuses
Western Slope
1000 students
20 Schools
Greater Denver Metro
3000 students
50 schools
Central Plains
25 students
1 school
Colo Springs
3000 students
40 schools
Pueblo
1000 students
6 schools
Southwest
200 students
4 Schools
Alamosa 300 students
9 schools

7. You are a key component to the overall success of this program!

8. Judging Teams You will be working on a team of 2-3 judges.
One judge on each team will be a veteran.
One judge has been designated team captain.
Your team will evaluate 6-12 projects.

9. Your Role… Evaluate the project and take notes. Interview the student.
Rank the projects after all of the interviews.
Fill out and submit ranking sheets immediately!
As a team, fill one evaluation form for each project with detailed constructive comments. (These will be returned to students.)

10. Taking Notes
We will supply you with notetakers which will have every entry listed with a condensed version of the judging form.
Category rules appear on the bottom of the notetakers.
Evaluate your entries using the notetakers
Feel free to be candid- These will not go back to the student.
Feel free to take photos of exhibits as a reminder when you are deliberating.
Rank the projects as you go.

11. HISTORICAL QUALITY - 60% The meat of the project!
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE (to the best of your knowledge.) If you are an expert, please don’t lecture the kids on what you know. Instead, let them share what they know.
ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION: Every project should have the elements of a persuasive essay:  thesis statement and evidence to support the thesis and analysis of that evidence. The entry should not merely report facts or opinions.
PLACES TOPIC IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT: background & context (introduction), short-term impact, long-term impact (conclusion)
WIDE RESEARCH: websites, books, newspapers, etc. (Tertiaries?)
AVAILABLE PRIMARY SOURCES
BALANCED RESEARCH: Did the student show more than one perspective? Are all sides of the story told?

12. Relation to Theme – 20%
Every project must have a strong and obvious CONNECTION TO THE THEME: Leadership and Legacy in History 
They DO have to address both leadership AND legacy.
DEMONSTRATES SIGNIFICANCE OF TOPIC IN HISTORY & DRAWS CONCLUSIONS:
Thesis statement must clearly relate to the theme.
The evidence must demonstrate that and show the short-term and long-term consequences.
The question should answer the question “so what?” and it should convince you that you should care about the topic.

13. CLARITY OF PRESENTATION - 20%
Is the project creative and organized?
Look for typos, grammatical and capitalization errors and spelling.
Cute points?
Things that make you say “AWWW” should not take precedence over good history!

14. RULES COMPLIANCE
Rules violations (like going over the time or word limit) do not disqualify a project, but should impact the ranking. The parameters of size, time, and words are equalizers.
Disqualification will result in 3 situations: Plagiarism, reusing a project from a previous year, and tampering with any part of the project of another student.
Documentation of word count is now required on all categories.
Paper: Total number of words in paper included on title page.
Exhibit: Number of student-composed words in exhibit and number of words in process paper included on title page.
Documentary and Performance: Number of words in process paper included on title page.
Website: Number of student-composed words in website and number of words in process paper included on website homepage.

15. RULES COMPLIANCE
Students must have a formatted annotated bibliography.  Primary and secondary sources must be separated.  Annotations demonstrate what the student learned from the source.
Students must have proper citations.  
Students must have a Process Paper describing their project development process. (Paper category does NOT require.)
Bibliography and Process Paper for websites must appear on the site Students do not need to provide printed copies.

16. Process Paper Must be provided in all categories except for paper.
Process Papers for website entries must appear on the website.
Provides a description of how the students went about the research and creation of their entry;
Concludes with an explanation of the topic’s relationship to the theme.
This should not be a research paper about the topic.

17. Annotated Bibliography
Should be attached to the process paper.
Annotations are student-written notes explaining how the source was used.
Sources should be divided between primary (material directly related to a topic by time or participation) and secondary sources (material about a topic, usually based on interpretation of primary sources).
Students should have a variety of types of sources: books, websites, magazines, interviews, etc.
While tertiary sources (encyclopedia-type sources) are acceptable, students must use primary and secondary.
Wikipedia should not be cited.
The Bibliography should be properly formatted in MLA or Turabian.
The Bibliography and Process Paper are helpful when ranking “equal” projects.

18. A Note on Sources… Student Confusion
Students sometimes erroneously think:
Primary means “the most important.”
Newspapers and diaries are always primary sources.
A quote from an otherwise primary source in a secondary source can be listed as primary.
How to Respond to a Misunderstanding
In your written comments, suggest to students that they should ask questions about the origin of their sources:
Was the source an eyewitness to an event?
Did the source participate in the event?
Was the source created by the event or in the process of the event?

19. Interviews The interview does not “count,” but can impact the ranking.
Be consistent – greet all students the same way and ask similar questions about each entry.
Stick to the schedule as much as possible.
The interview is fun! (Usually.)
Students are excited to talk about their projects, and honored that adults want to listen. (Usually.)
Use the interview to clarify questions or concerns.
Most students will not leave with an award. So, please make the interview and process rewarding and worthwhile.

20. Ask questions of substance regarding the topic:
Interview Questions
Ask questions of substance regarding the topic:
Why did you choose this topic?
How did you begin the research process?
What was your most important source and why?
What surprised you the most about your topic?
Our favorite: Was there a question that you hoped we would ask about your project?

21. Top 6 Student Expectations of Judges
Give me your full attention.
Care about how much work I put into this.
Help me feel at ease.
Ask what I know and why I care about his project.
Tell me how I can improve.
Encourage me to keep learning.

22. This is the students’ day.
Let them teach you and give them the opportunity to explain what they’ve done.
Even if you are an expert in a certain topic, do not lecture the kids…LET IT GO!

23. Think About Your Coordinators…
Do not share comments verbally or tell the students who the winners are…Especially when an audience is in the room! Wait until you are back in the judges’ room.
Remember…
We get the ANGRY phone calls on Monday morning

24. The Afternoon
Return to the Library for discussion as soon as your judging is finished.
Judges meet together at lunch to:
Come to a consensus and rank the projects. Ranking sheets must be returned immediately to prepare for final rounds. The quality of the Process Paper, Bibliography and Interview can help when ranking near-equal projects.
Collaborate to fill out one final evaluation form to return to each student.
Final rounds judges will start at approximately 1:00.

25. Evaluation Forms BE SPECIFIC TO BE TERRIFIC!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make constructive comments on the evaluations.  
Kids will review the forms and revise their projects accordingly (especially those students who move on to the next contest level.)
Be positive and encouraging while providing clear, unambiguous and constructive advice for improvement.
Avoid direct criticism.
Students will review your comments very carefully as they try to understand why you did or did not advance their entry.
You are evaluating the work of young students. Expect quality, but do not hold them to college student standards.
Your goal is for the students to understand why you evaluated their work the way you did.
Don’t discuss the projects in front of the kids and parents.
Be objective and remain consistent with every entry!

26. The Comment Sandwich Positive comment Constructive comments
Start and finish your comments with something purely positive. Place your constructive feedback in the middle. Students will be more receptive to constructive criticism if they receive it in this way.
Also, be careful about how you word constructive criticism:
Instead of: Performance it just not your thing but your research is strong.
Try: Your courage at creating a performance is admirable, but another category might enable you to demonstrate your research better.

27. This project did not advance to the State Contest… What does this judging form say to the kid?
Excellent writing style. You weaved a story
Great connection with topic and theme
Very creative
Very good annotations
Be confident of your knowledge!!!

29. Better Example Reasons:
The comments are positive and criticisms are phrased constructively.
Specific criticisms are backed up with examples.
The comments support the checkmarks.
Better still?:
More could have been said about why the interviews and sources were so impressive.
This judge could have written more, particularly about the topic’s relationship to the theme.
Another positive comment or two would be appreciated.

30. Performances
Must be original – they cannot use something that is already written.
Performers should display stage presence, including clear & audible voices.
Costumes should be appropriate for the topic and not confuse or overpower the performance.
Take into consideration nerves, forgotten lines, and audience applause or laughter when timing the performance.
One judge on the team should be the timekeeper. 10 minute limit.

31. Documentaries
Should be a documentary, something you might see on PBS or The History Channel. It should not be simply a performance on videotape.
Students must operate all equipment.
The room will be dark – please stay awake! (No, really…We mean it!!)
One judge on the team should be the timekeeper.
10 minute time limit.

32. Exhibits Should be like a museum exhibit;
Should contain only 500 student-composed words (does not include primary sources, brief citations, quotations, but does include timelines, captions, etc.)
Be careful to spend equal time with each exhibit and student – you don’t want to rush through the end.
Credits of visual sources are required on the exhibit itself. Example: Alice Paul, 1918, Library of Congress. These do not count towards the 500-word limit. A corresponding full citation must be included in the bibliography.

33. Papers & Websites
Papers and Websites have been read and reviewed ahead of time.
Websites are open to the public and judges will be able to review the site with the students.
This should not be a presentation though!
Now is the time to interview students about their work.
Papers: Interviews last 10 minutes
Websites: Interviews last 15 minutes
Multimedia in websites is limited to no more than four minutes for the entire site.
Quotes and visual sources within the website must also be briefly credited. Example: Alice Paul, 1918, Library of Congress. These do not count towards the 500-word limit. A corresponding full citation must be included in the bibliography.

34. Review… What are you looking for in each project?
Relationship to Theme – 20%
Strong thesis connecting the topic to theme.
Historical Quality – 60%
Background information putting the topic in historical context.
Analysis of primary and secondary source evidence supporting the thesis.
Long term implications of the event/person/idea—The “so what” factor.
Clarity of Presentation - 20%
Creativity, grammar, organization, etc.

35. The Awards Ceremony
Feel free to stick around for the most exciting part of the day!
See people cheering for HISTORY!!
See who will represent the district at the State Contest

36. THANK YOU!!! Thank you again from everyone at
National History Day in Colorado !