Teacher Seminars 2008
June through August at Monmouth University,
West Long Branch

The following tuition-free six-day seminars are offered by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities for teachers of the state. Activities include lectures, discussions, field trips, films, writing workshops, curriculum planning, and opportunities to network with scholars and teaching colleagues.

Participants have the opportunity to earn

· 40 professional development credits
· with curriculum project, $250 stipend
· with research paper, 3 graduate credits
  and $250 stipend

In this seminar, consider the heroism of extraordinary Americans who are strikingly courageous examples of integrity & who have left a legacy upon which we continue to build our experiment in democracy.  Analyze the impact of these figures’ rhetoric, values, & differing voices throughout our nation’s history. Discuss strategies to present heroic figures in all of their contradictoriness, that is, in all their human-ness.
 

Over the course of the twentieth century, African Americans helped to usher in the modern era through their culture, their movement across the nation, their idealism & their tenacious social activism. This seminar will examine the great achievements & challenges that marked the life & times of African Americans & the transformation of American race relations in the twentieth century.
 

Explore the religions of New Jersey’s increasingly diverse student population.  Examine the beliefs & practices of these ethnic & religious communities & consider how their underlying principles influence political & social order.
 

Examine modern & contemporary portrayals of adolescents in coming of age literature & in the popular media.  Analyze recent research on the challenges & opportunities faced by today's youth & discuss how coming of age literature can be used to engage students in the language arts classroom & to create communities of learning.

In this seminar, teachers will explore short stories, poetry, and one-act plays through the lens of the Constitution, particularly the Bill of Rights, which provides the framework for American citizenship and implies the necessity of an informed, literate and expressive populace.