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This summer, Humanities Texas will conduct in-person and online professional development programs for social studies and English language arts teachers. In-person programs include "Texans Who Shaped the Twentieth Century" (Austin, June 5–8), "Teaching Writing" (College Station, June 12–15), and "Teaching the Civil War and Reconstruction" (Houston, June 20–23). Online programs include "Teaching Evidence-Based Reading Practices at the Secondary Level" (June 27–29 and July 6) and "Primary Source Pedagogy with the National Archives" (June 27, July 11, and July 25).
Program partners include the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin, the LBJ Presidential Library, Rice University, the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at The University of Texas at Austin, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the National Archives Foundation.
All programs will emphasize close interaction with scholars, the examination of primary sources and texts, and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities.
Texans Who Shaped the Twentieth Century (In-Person Institute)
"Texans Who Shaped the Twentieth Century" will take place in Austin at the LBJ Presidential Library from June 5–8. The three-day institute will focus on Texans who have had a profound influence upon twentieth-century U.S. history. Presentations will cover Texas and national politics in the early twentieth century, World War II, the economy and society of oil, women’s suffrage, the Great Society and Lyndon Baines Johnson, Sam Rayburn and the making of modern Congress, the African American civil rights movement, the Latinx civil rights movement, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, contemporary women leaders, and influential Texas musicians and writers.
Teaching Writing (In-Person Institute)
"Teaching Writing" will take place in College Station at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library from June 12–15, 2023. The institute will focus on teaching writing at the secondary level, and presentations will focus on such topics as conducting research; using digital tools; understanding and engaging student writers; and analysis, argumentation, and evaluation.
Teaching the Civil War and Reconstruction (In-Person Institute)
"Teaching the Civil War and Reconstruction" will take place in Houston at Rice University from June 20–23, 2023. The institute will cover significant topics in Civil War and Reconstruction history. Presentations will focus on such topics as slavery, the road to the Civil War, abolitionists, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott v. Sanford, teaching the Civil War through maps, how Americans fought, Chocktaw Confederates and the Civil War West, Juneteenth, Reconstruction, and the Reconstruction Amendments.
Teaching Evidence-Based Reading Practices at the Secondary Level (Online Institute)
"Teaching Evidence-Based Reading Practices at the Secondary Level" will take place online via Zoom from June 27–29, 2023, with a follow-up session focused on integration and planning held on July 6, 2023. This online institute, held in partnership with the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at The University of Texas at Austin, will focus on teaching reading at the sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade levels for both social studies and English language arts (ELA) teachers. Online sessions will include interactive presentations on research-based approaches to teaching reading and content-area literacy with an emphasis on social studies texts. Faculty presentations will focus on developing students’ word study, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.
Primary Source Pedagogy with the National Archives (Webinar Series)
"Primary Source Pedagogy with the National Archives" will take place online via Zoom on June 27, July 11, and July 25, 2023. The webinar series, held in partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration and the National Archives Foundation, is an online professional development program for educators new to teaching or new to teaching with primary sources. This program will focus on student-centered pedagogy to promote the integration of primary sources into classroom instruction. Functioning as a learning community, the selected cohort of teachers will meet for three sessions this summer, submitting required assignments and activities in between. Participants will receive a $400 stipend, CPE credit, and a digital badge.
The institutes are open to all middle and high school social studies, language arts, and humanities teachers but will focus on topics and skills central to the state's secondary U.S. history, Texas history, and language arts curricula. Priority consideration will be given to early-career teachers in low-performing schools and districts.
More information about each program is available in the Education section of the Humanities Texas website. Teachers interested in attending should submit an application as soon as possible, as admissions are rolling and space is limited.
The programs are free of charge to teachers and their schools. All participants will receive CPE credit and a wealth of curricular materials. Teachers participating in the in-person institutes will receive a $400 stipend and are eligible for travel reimbursement of approved costs up to $300. Housing is also available to out-of-town teachers at no cost. For more information, please visit the program webpages.
These programs are made possible with support from the State of Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities.