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This spring, Humanities Texas will conduct free professional development webinar series for Texas teachers covering central topics in U.S. history, Texas history, and English language arts. Attendance each week is encouraged but not required.

For history teachers, we will hold series on early U.S. history from industrialization to Reconstruction, America in the second half of the twentieth century, and Texas history through the age of oil and the Progressive Era. For English language arts teachers, we will hold programs on teaching and understanding literature, emphasizing the critical reading and writing skills necessary for success at the post-secondary level. Each series will emphasize interaction with scholars, the examination of primary sources and texts, and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities.

We are also planning a number of standalone webinars for secondary-level social studies and English language arts teachers, which will be announced on a rolling basis, as well as several webinars on teaching African American history. Please stay tuned to our website and social media channels to remain informed about additional opportunities over the course of the spring.

Teaching Texas History

The "Teaching Texas History" webinar series will cover topics in the second half of the state's seventh-grade Texas history curriculum, including annexation and slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Red River Wars, cotton and populists, cattle and railroads, and the age of oil. The eight-part series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Mondays from February 1 through April 5, 2021.

The Making of Modern America

"The Making of Modern America" webinar series will cover topics including the Cold War, the Eisenhower presidency, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Mexican Americans in the twentieth century, civil rights, LBJ and the Great Society, the Vietnam War, Nixon and Watergate, and the presidencies of Ford, Carter, and Reagan. The eight-part series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Tuesdays from February 2 through April 6, 2021.

Teaching and Understanding Literature

The "Teaching and Understanding Literature" webinar series will provide resources and strategies that help students become more confident and sophisticated readers and effective writers. The program will include presentations that examine how literature helps students cultivate empathy and understand history, focus on dynamic assignments that further students' engagement with literature, and emphasize the critical reading skills necessary for success at the post-secondary level. The eight-part series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Tuesdays from February 2 through April 6, 2021.

Shaping the American Republic

The "Shaping the American Republic" webinar series will cover topics in early U.S. history, including industrialization, the age of Jackson, Manifest Destiny, the U.S.-Mexico War, abolition and women's rights before the Civil War, production and power in slave societies, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. The eight-part series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Wednesdays from February 3 through April 7, 2021.

More information about each program is available in the Education section of the Humanities Texas website. Teachers interested in attending should complete the online application form as soon as possible. If you registered for the fall 2020 portion of a series, you do NOT need to reapply for the spring.

Please note that, due to space limitations, you must be a registered participant to attend any of the webinars.

Registration for the secondary-level program series will remain open even after each series has already begun. Applicants to these programs will receive information about and access to each weekly online session within that series and are encouraged but not required to attend every weekly session.

Participants will receive CPE credit and a wealth of curricular materials. CPE hours will be based on Zoom attendance and adjusted if a participant misses any portion of the program.

These programs are made possible with support from the State of Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Independence Hall at Washington-on-the-Brazos by Charles L. Smith, c. 1852. Courtesy of the Texas State Preservation Board.
President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Martin Luther King Jr. at the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. LBJ Library photo by Yoichi Robert Okamoto.
Dream Series #5: The Library by Jacob Lawrence, 1967. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
The Fifty-ninth Virginia Infantry—Wise’s Brigade by Conrad Wise Chapman, ca. 1867. Courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art.
Dividing the National Map. Cincinnati, 1860. Political cartoon satirizing the U.S. presidential election of 1860 in which four candidates vie for the office. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.