The Heritage Foundation of Williamson County is proud to offer its Summer Educator Institute, an immersive, experiential professional development program, designed to provide social studies teachers an opportunity to engage with scholars in research, critical analysis, and study at the Heritage Foundation. This year, our Summer Educator Institute Finding Freedom, Building Community gives participating educators:

• A collaborative environment, facilitated by discussions with leading public history scholars, a group field excursion, and break-out workshops.
• Toolkit designed to bolster their historic understanding of local history, build resources for their classrooms and contribute to our upcoming online resources through the Heritage Foundation Digital Classroom.
• Tackling the complex and difficult history of slavery, freedom, citizenship, equality in Williamson County and Tennessee, including its role during the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the legacies today.
• Share their experiences by becoming ambassadors to their students and fellow educators through conversations about collective history and culture of Williamson County linked to Tennessee and the United States.

The Summer Educator Institute offers educators a content-rich program taught by nationally recognized scholars. This year, our program involves concentrated immersion in the African American experience, cemented in the Civil War and its legacies, fostering the impassioned exchange of ideas among the scholars and educators. We seek to bring nationally recognized speakers and scholars, who present cutting-edge curriculum and research to educators, building upon current and new strategies for teaching history in the classroom.

The Foundation’s 35-year-old Heritage Classroom is dedicated to providing educators and students with engaging curricula that meet all State and National Standards for history education, creating dynamic online resources, including virtual field trips, and providing traveling interpretive exhibits for immersive classroom experiences.

Click here for more information and to register >