Around the State

The Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Educators
June 22 – 24, 2008

The Education Division of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is pleased to announce the 2008 Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Educators. The conference is funded by a grant from the Belfer Foundation. Middle and high school educators with five or less years’ experience teaching about the Holocaust are invited to apply to attend this conference. (Educators with five or more years’ experience teaching about the Holocaust may apply to the Museum Teacher Fellowship Program; an online application is available at the URL listed below.)

In Belfer Conference sessions designed specifically for middle and high school teachers, Museum educators and scholars share rationales, strategies, and approaches for presenting the complex subject of the Holocaust to students. Participants hear survivor testimony and have extensive time to view the Museum’s Permanent Exhibition, Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story, and other special exhibitions and to use the interactive computers in the Wexner Learning Center. Seminar sessions emphasize planning and implementing units of study for Holocaust education in middle and high schools. Teachers who complete the program receive a set of educational materials and a voucher worth $100 to purchase Holocaust-related resources in the Museum Shop.

To apply, please complete the online application at ushmm.org/education/foreducators/ and fax a letter of recommendation from your supervisor to Nicole Hanna at 202.314.7888. Applications are due no later than June 6, 2008.

While there is no charge for the conference, participants are responsible for their own transportation and accommodations. For more information, contact Peter J. Fredlake, Coordinator, Museum Teacher Fellowship Program, at 202.314.0352 or pfredlake@ushmm.org.

The National Endowment for the Humanities Institute
Thomas Jefferson: Personality, Character and Public Life will take place from July 13 to August 8, 2008, with the first three weeks in residence at Boston University and the fourth week at Monticello. Activities will include talks by leading Jefferson scholars, such as Peter Onuf, Jan Lewis and Joyce Appleby, and field trips to the Massachusetts Historical Society and Adams National Historical Park. Stipends for selected teachers will be $3,000.View application information and instructions at http://www.thomasjeffersonpersonalitycharacterandpubliclife.org/.

Travel Abroad with GEEO Are you an educator looking to travel abroad during the summer? Would you like to earn graduate school credit and professional development credit while seeing the world? GEEO is a 501c3 non-profit organization that has been created to help and encourage educators to travel abroad in order to bring their experiences back into the classroom and create a more outward-looking next generation of Americans. In the summer of 2008, GEEO will be leading trips to Peru (June 26th-July 8th) and India (August 1st-20th). Just to be clear, OUR TRIPS ARE FOR EDUCATORS, NOT STUDENTS. Detailed information about each trip, including itineraries, travel dates, and more can be found at our website www.geeo.org under Our Travel Programs.

While our trips are not offered for free, GEEO helps teachers find funding to subsidize the cost of the trips, which are already deeply discounted so as to be affordable to teachers. Teachers are welcome to bring up to two adult companions, such as a spouse or friend, who will also receive the special teacher pricing.

If you are interested in traveling with GEEO in the summer of 2008, please contact us right away. Our trips are filling up quickly! In addition to our website, we can be reached 7 days a week, toll free at 1-877-600-0105 between 9AM-10PM EST. Please go to our website, www.geeo.org, for even more information about our organization.

Indiana University’s 13^th Annual International Studies Summer Institute

For Grade 7-12 Teachers

July 13-26, 2008

Empower your students in an increasingly global community.

The Center for the Study of Global Change at Indiana University Bloomington once again hosts a two-week residential summer institute for middle and high school teachers. Teachers from around the world join IU professors and other internationally prominent speakers to explore diverse topics such as global environmental change, global food security, international trade, populations at risk, and conflict resolution through simulations, panels, interactive communication technologies, and cultural events.

Teachers will receive certification for Professional Growth Points and may elect to earn 1.0 to 3.0 graduate credits through the School of Education at in-state tuition rates. Participants are accepted on a first come, first served basis. The first twenty teachers accepted will be offered scholarships of $800 each.

For more information, visit the International Studies Summer Institute website: http://www.indiana.edu/~global/institute.htm or email issi@indiana.edu.

Eisenhower Academy
The 11th annual Eisenhower Academy, a summer institute for teachers, will be held July 6 - 11, 2008 at Gettysburg College and Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, PA. Sponsored by the National Park Service, Gettysburg College, and Mount St. Mary's University, the Academy presents an in-depth perspective of Dwight D. Eisenhower as president and world leader, and introduces effective strategies for teaching the Cold War era in the classroom.

Lectures and discussion cover civil rights, the Cold War, 1950's economics, popular culture, and new scholarship on the Eisenhower Presidency. Field trips include a visit to the Eisenhowers' home and a walk through Eisenhower’s Gettysburg.

Total cost, including field trips, special evening events, banquets, lodging and all meals is $685 for single occupancy. Cost for day students is $380. Professional education credits and graduate credits are available. For more information contact Eisenhower Academy, 250 Eisenhower Farm Lane, Gettysburg, PA 17325; 717-338-9114 Ext. 10 (phone); john_joyce@nps.gov (e-mail); or http://www.nps.gov/eise.

Teacher to Ranger to Teacher (TRT) Program
National parks enrich the lives of many in this nation. They provide access to the powerful ideas, values, and meanings associated with the remarkable cultural, natural, and recreational heritage of the United States . The National Park Service (NPS) strives to provide opportunities for all Americans to connect to their national heritage through the national parks. However, these opportunities are lacking for some - often due to a variety of social and economic factors.

The Teacher to Ranger to Teacher (TRT) Program offers a solution, by linking National Park units with teachers from low income school districts. Under this program, selected teachers spend the summer working as park rangers, often living in the park. They perform various duties depending on their interests and the needs of the park, including developing and presenting interpretive programs for the general public, staffing the visitor center desk, developing curriculum-based materials for the park, or taking on special projects.

Then, during the school year, these teacher-rangers bring the parks into the classroom by developing and presenting curriculum-based lesson plans that draw on their summer's experience. In April, during National Park Week, teacher-rangers wear their NPS uniforms to school, discuss their summer as a park ranger, and engage students and other teachers in activities that relate to America 's national parks.

For additional information about the Teacher Ranger program go to http://www.nps.gov/wupa/forteachers/trt.htm.