Kelley Brown is a Social Studies educator at Easthampton High School where she has taught for the last 20 years. She is also the Professional Development Coordinator. She focuses on bringing primary sources and disciplinary literacy skills into the Social Studies classroom for all students. Kelley’s classroom focuses on civic knowledge and engagement, bridging classroom and community learning through local history, volunteerism, and civic action. Kelley’s goal is to have every student leave her classroom with confidence, skill, and excitement for learning about their community and world. Her We the People class has won the Massachusetts Center for Civic Education’s We the People state competition for the last 4 years in a row and won the 2020 National We the People Competition. Since 2006, she has led K-12 teacher professional development across New England, including for the Department of Youth Services Juvenile Justice System, National Endowment for the Humanities, Teaching American History Programs, and the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources. Kelley co-designed and produced History’s Mysteries, a free K-5 inquiry-based “click and play” open-source curriculum. Kelley has contributed to several books about teaching students with diverse needs and trauma. She was a 2006 Disney Teacher, the 2010 Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year, and the 2016 recipient of the Don Salvucci Award for Excellence in Promoting Civics Education from the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies. She holds a B.A. from Amherst College and an M.Ed. from UMass Amherst
