2012 Summer Institutes for Caddo Parish Public School American History Teachers

Do you love to learn? Are you looking for new and engaging ways to teach American history?  Do you need credit to meet the Continuing Learning Units?  Participate in a Teaching American History Summer Institute and enrich your knowledge of the subject you teach, plus receive a $1,250 stipend, 3 graduate college credits in history, and classroom materials.

Through a Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with Louisiana State University Shreveport and Caddo Parish Public Schools, will provide advanced study opportunities for public school American history teachers in Caddo Parish.  These institutes are designed to assist teachers and their students in meeting state and national standards, including the Grade Level Expectations, Graduation Exit Examination and LEAP tests. 

These are graduate-school level institutes in which participants will immerse themselves in intellectually challenging seminars and readings led by respected university history professors and nationally prominent guest scholars.  Teachers will explore key documents, debates, philosophies and personalities that shaped American history, as well as the origins and evolution of American democracy, the Constitution, civic rights and responsibilities.  The Institutes will make use of the most current resources (both text and electronic), as well as introduce participants to local cultural resources and archives. Teachers should leave the Institutes armed with renewed proficiency in American history, and with new strategies, materials and technology to help students better understand the central issues that shaped our nation and its people.

TEACHER INSTITUTES:

Through classroom discussions, readings, field trips and writing essays, each teacher institute will provide elementary, middle and high school teachers with intellectual stimulation and advanced knowledge of American or Louisiana history.  While the careful study of American history is the main focus, the Institutes also will focus on how original and primary documents may be integrated into your classroom lesson plan.

Term: Four weeks, Monday-Thursday, 3 classroom hours per day, institute syllabus may require fieldtrips on Fridays or days other than scheduled classroom hours.

Time & Dates: 9 a.m. to Noon, Monday through Thursday, June 4 to 28, 2012.

Stipend: $1,250 stipend, institute books and teaching materials to take back to the classroom

Eligibility: Public school teachers who teach U.S. or Louisiana history at the elementary, middle, or high school levels in Caddo Parish Public Schools. Applicants must be eligible to be admitted in good standing at LSUS. Public school teachers in neighboring parishes may be considered on a space available basis.

Academic Credit: Teachers will receive 3 graduate credit hours in history from LSUS upon successful completion of the institute.

Tuition & Other Benefits: Teachers will not pay tuition or fees. LSUS has waived tuition for participating teachers. In addition, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities will pay for the remaining mandatory university fees, textbooks and teaching materials for teachers to take back to their classrooms. 

Successful Completion: To receive the stipend and academic credit, teachers must successfully complete the Institute, which means they must receive a passing grade from the university and complete all institute requirements.

Enrollment: Limited to 18 teachers per Institute

Where: Louisiana State University Shreveport

Registration: See application and requirements. Download the Application Form PDF

Requirements: Completed application form, 2 references identified (one should be a principal and an assistant principal or department head).

Deadline: May 1, 2012

Contact: Walker Lasiter, Director of Grants
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities
938 Lafayette Street, Suite 300
New Orleans, LA 70113
Fax: 504-529-2358
For questions: (504) 620-2631; lasiter@leh.org 

From June 4 to 28, 2012, three institutes will be offered.
All Institutes will run Monday through Thursday (some Friday and afternoon field trips may be scheduled).

For Elementary School Teachers
British Colonization of North America: 1607 to 1763
9 a.m. to Noon
V. Elaine Thompson, PhD
Professor, Louisiana Tech University

The institute will examine the origins of the U.S. through the first 155 years of colonial settlement. Through lectures, readings, discussions and primary sources, teachers will investigate the motivations, successes and failures of the European explorers; patterns of settlement in the four major colonial regions (British, Spanish, French and Dutch); mercantilism and the role of American colonies in the British Empire; and the road to independence. Discussions and workshops will include how to use documents, images and material culture in the classroom.  

For Middle School Teachers
America’s “Manifest Destiny”
9 a.m. to Noon
Gary Joiner, PhD
Professor, Louisiana State University Shreveport

Teachers will analyze U.S. history from the Colonial occupation of North America through statehood in the American West. Topics will include economic, political, military, religious, intellectual, cultural and regional forces that molded the U.S.  They will look at how opening the Trans-Appalachian West after the Revolution and the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, affected national politics and regional tensions.

For High School Teachers
U.S. History: The 1920s and the Great Depression
9 a.m. to Noon
William Pederson, PhD
Professor, Louisiana State University Shreveport

Teachers will examine the consequences of World War I, in terms of changes in U.S foreign and domestic policies during the 1920s; identify social issues and cultural changes in the 1920s (e.g., Harlem Renaissance, prohibition, women’s suffrage); and discuss international and domestic events and philosophies that prompted threats to civil liberties after World War I. With an eye to events in 2011, teachers will examine causes of the Great Depression and the New Deal.