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This spring, Humanities Texas will hold professional development workshops throughout the state for Texas social studies and language arts teachers.

Topics in Twentieth-Century Texas History

On January 29, 2020, Humanities Texas will hold a one-day workshop in Edinburg on Texas history in the twentieth century. Topics to be addressed include Texas in the Progressive Era, the transformation of the state's economy in the twentieth century, the Latinx civil rights movement, and the emergence of a two-party Texas. Workshop faculty includes Jessica Brannon-Wranosky (Texas A&M University-Commerce), Omar Valerio-Jimenez (The University of Texas at San Antonio), Scott Sosebee (Stephen F. Austin University), and Charles Waite (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley).

Teaching Texas Literature

Humanities Texas will hold one-day teacher workshops in Austin (February 5) and San Antonio (February 6) on teaching critical reading and writing skills, focusing on works from the Texas literary tradition. The workshops will emphasize close interaction with scholars and writers and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities. Strategies and content will align with the secondary-level English and language arts TEKS. Workshop faculty, including Juan Alonzo and Amy Earhart of Texas A&M University, Patricia M. García (The University of Texas at Austin), Andres Lopez (Northside ISD, San Antonio), and 2020 Texas Poet Laureate Emmy Pérez (The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), will examine works of fiction and poetry by a diverse array of Texas writers.

The Civil War Era

Humanities Texas will hold one-day teacher workshops in Fort Worth (February 5) and Dallas (February 6) focusing on teaching the history of the Civil War Era. Faculty presentations and seminars will address approaches to teaching slavery in U.S. history, secession, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. Workshop faculty includes Signe Peterson Fourmy (The University of Texas at Austin), Andrew Torget (University of North Texas), Susannah Ural (University of Southern Mississippi), and Ben Wright (The University of Texas at Dallas).

America in the 1960s

On February 13, 2020, Humanities Texas will hold a one-day teacher workshop in College Station on America in the 1960s. Topics to be addressed include LBJ and the Great Society, the civil rights movement, the Cold War and Vietnam, and protest movements of the decade. Workshop faculty includes Michael L. Gillette, Mark A. Lawrence of the LBJ Presidential Library, and Terry Anderson and Felipe Hinojosa of Texas A&M University.

Understanding the Federal Government

Humanities Texas will hold one-day teacher workshops in Austin (February 19) and Houston (February 20) focusing on civics and the American government. Faculty lectures will address Congress, the presidency, the federal judiciary, and using the resources of the National Archives to teach students about the federal government. Workshop faculty includes Charles Flanagan (National Archives), Joseph F. Kobylka (Southern Methodist University), Jeremi Suri (The University of Texas at Austin), and Sean Theriault (The University of Texas at Austin).

Teachers at all workshops will receive books and other instructional materials and be trained in the examination and interpretation of primary sources. Content at all of our spring workshops will be aligned with the TEKS. For details on eligibility, substitute and travel reimbursements, and venues or to apply online, visit the Upcoming Institutes page on the Humanities Texas website.

Goose Creek Oil Field by Frank J. Schlueter, 1919. Gelatin silver print. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Patricia M. García, lecturer in the department of English and faculty affiliate of the department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at The University of Texas at Austin, leads a seminar at a teacher institute in Houston in June 2019.
Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon answer questions on the podium during the second in a series of debates between the two men. Frank McGee (center) of NBC News was moderator for this session. Washington, DC, October 7, 1960. United States Information Agency, UPI/WAP-100713.
Joseph F. Kobylka, associate professor of political science at Southern Methodist University, gives a presentation on defining federal power at a teacher workshop in Dallas in February 2018.