Past Institutes

Teaching Nonfiction (Summer 2023 Webinar)

In the summer of 2023, Humanities Texas held a webinar for English language arts (ELA) teachers on strategies for teaching nonfiction at the secondary level.

Curriculum

Content was aligned with the secondary-level English language arts TEKS. In the first half of the webinar, the presenter discussed and offered suggestions for teaching students to read and analyze personal writing, focusing on classic personal essays such as James Baldwin’s “Notes from a Native Son” and Joan Didion’s “Goodbye to All That.” The second half of the webinar shifted to teaching students to produce this kind of writing, including an overview of useful and assessable strategies for having students write in this genre. The webinar concluded with a two-part activity in which participants engaged in the writing activities that they might use in their classes.

Like all Humanities Texas teacher programs, the webinar emphasized close interaction with scholars, the examination of texts, and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities.

Faculty

Greg Barnhisel (Duquesne University) led the webinar.

Schedule

The webinar took place over Zoom on July 10. The schedule is available here.

Sponsors

The webinar was made possible with major funding from the State of Texas, with ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.