The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum today announced it will host a one-week institute for Virginia history teachers from Monday, June 21, until Friday, June 25. The summer seminar is the second of three annual week-long sessions in a professional development curriculum entitled “Critical Connections in American History.” Dr. Lawrence Goodheart, Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, and Dr. Edward T. O’Donnell, Associate Professor of History at the College of the Holy Cross, will speak at the Institute. Teachers from Waynesboro, Staunton, Winchester, and Fredericksburg City schools and Augusta, Rockbridge, Rockingham, and Amherst County schools are participating.
On Monday, the teachers will arrive, tour the new World War I exhibit at the Presidential Library and Museum, and begin their week-long program of presentations, discussions, and workshops. Besides presentations by Dr. Goodheart and Dr. O’Donnell, there will be presentations by Sandra Trenholm, Director of Collections at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York; Teresa DeFlitch, Project Manager for the National History Education Clearinghouse at George Mason University; and local historian Lucinda Cooke. Teachers will attend workshops about research techniques, teaching with primary sources, writing lesson plans, and using technology to meet Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL’s). On Friday, the participants will give presentations on projects they prepared together throughout the week on topics related to the teaching of history.
The program is designed to improve the teachers’ knowledge and appreciation of American history by focusing on critical connections in America’s past. During this second year, the teachers are examining international issues and trends that shaped 19th-century American history and the development of the United States as a world power. The workshop is part of a three-year program of history education seminars for high school teachers from Waynesboro Public Schools and seven other Virginia school districts. The program is made possible by a Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Waynesboro Public Schools received the grant in partnership with the Presidential Library, Amherst County Schools, Fredericksburg City Schools and Winchester Public Schools.
In late July, the teachers will continue the program through a historic site visit to Gettysburg, where they will study the international implications of the American Civil War. They will then return to the Presidential Library for one-day sessions this fall and next spring, and participate in a final summer institute and site visit in the summer of 2012.
Those interested in more information about this program should contact Dr. Joel Hodson, Director of Education at the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum, at (540) 885-0897, extension 103, or jhodson@woodrowwilson.org.
did you know?
Wilson was president throughout World War I. He attempted to keep America out of the war and even won reelection with the slogan "He kept us out of war." Nonetheless, after the sinking of the Lusitania, continued run-ins with German submarines, and the release of the Zimmerman Telegram, America became involved. with the Lusitania, the continued harassment of American ships by German submarines, and the release of the Zimmerman Telegram meant that America joined the allies in April, 1917.
Woodrow Wilson was President when the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920 giving women the right to vote.
Wilson piloted the ship that brought America onto the world stage. He made the first steps of leading us out of isolationism, violating Washington's tenet of avoiding foreign entanglements.
He led America during World War I. His fervent hope was for the US to join a League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations.
A Woodrow Wilson Quote: "Life does not consist in thinking, it consists in acting."
A Woodrow Wilson Quote: "The Constitution was not made to fit us like a straitjacket. In its elasticity lies its chief greatness."
A Woodrow Wilson Quote: "I believe in democracy because it releases the energies of every human being."
The Seventeenth Amendment was formally adopted on May 31, 1913. Wilson had been president for almost three months at the time. The amendment provided for the direct election of senators. Prior to its adoption, Senators were chosen by state legislatures.
Wilson was the first president to receive a PhD which he got in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University. He had received his undergraduate degree from the College of New Jersey, renamed Princeton University in 1896.
Woodrow Wilson could not read during the first decade of his life. Though undiagnosed, he may have suffered from a learning disability
Woodrow Wilson was known as "Tommy" until his college years.
Woodrow Wilson during his boyhood, helped establish the "Lightfoot Baseball Club" with his friends. Wilson played second base and was an avid sport fan throughout his adult life.
Woodrow Wilson was the first president to attend the Major League Baseball Fall Classic. He saw the debut of a young 20 year old pitcher by the name of George Herman "Babe" Ruth.
Woodrow Wilson was a graduate of Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University and the only president to hold an earned doctoral degree.
Woodrow Wilson image is on the $100,000 bill although it is no longer in circulation
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