Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum News


	For Immediate Release:	May 23, 2005
	Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Announces Summer Teaching Workshops to Help Educators Bring History to Life Complimentary Workshops to Focus on Using Digitized Information and Teaching Historical Fiction Across the Curriculum SPRINGFIELD, IL., - The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum announced today that is offering four complimentary one day workshops in June and August focused on incorporating digital resources into the classroom and using history to teach across the curriculum. Each workshop will include two sessions, the first is the Library of Congress "An Adventure of the American Mind" project to instruct teachers how to incorporate digitized information into their curriculum and the second will be led by Peoria's renowned storyteller Brian "Fox" Ellis, who will demonstrate how to teach historical fiction and relate it to state standards in English, history, science, geography and even math skills. "Opening the doors for teachers to learn creative ways to teach history will help to combat historical illiteracy among American schoolchildren," said ALPLM Executive Director Richard Norton Smith. "As educators come together in the workshops they can create and generate more ideas on how to make history come alive in their own classroom." The first session of the workshop is provided by An Adventure of the American Mind through Eastern Illinois University. An Adventure of the American Mind is a national project designed to assist classroom teachers in accessing, using and producing curriculum incorporating the Internet and the digitized primary source materials from the collections of the Library of Congress. Workshop attendees will be introduced to the components of the Library of Congress website with a focus on resources that pertain to Abraham Lincoln. The second session, led by Peoria's renowned storyteller Brian "Fox" Ellis, is an interdisciplinary workshop where educators will learn the nuts and bolts of effective historical research with an emphasis on the life of Lincoln. Participants will learn to conduct oral history interviews and how to turn rough notes into tell-able stories. They will also have the opportunity to learn how to turn internet research, library research, old newspaper articles, obituaries and diaries into dynamic performance material with creative writing concepts to link Lincoln with English, history, science, geography and math skills. Educators will also learn the storytelling skills needed to be a bridge, to help students connect with history in a more meaningful way. The workshops will run on June 28th or 29th or August 9th or 10th from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and will be open to 50 teachers a day. Teachers who complete the workshop are eligible for six continuing professional development units (CPDUs). Teachers interested in attending the workshop should contact Dee Dee Hall at DeeDee_Hall@ihpa.state.il.us or Carol Manning at Carol_Manning@ihpa.state.il.us The registration deadline is June 10th. ### << Back to Press Releases