Freedom and Unity: The Struggle for Independence on the Vermont Frontier
COVID-19 UPDATE: Please note that the 2020 NEH workshops have been postponed until Summer 2021 and will be held REMOTELY ONLINE July 12-16 and July 26-30. All 2020 applicants have the option to be automatically reconsidered for the 2021 program without having to reapply. Please email 2021workshop@vtarchaeology.org to indicate your desire to be reconsidered. A new application competition will be held (deadline: March 1, 2021). Please watch our website for updates as the situation develops. Thank you for your patience!
Last updated: November 30, 2020
NEH Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop
An online professional development opportunity for K-12 educators to learn how to teach with historic sites while meeting learning outcomes across the curriculum.
In the summer of 2021, 72 educators will have the chance to immerse themselves in Vermont’s unique Revolutionary War history while gaining hands-on experience in the benefits of place-based education.
This remote, online workshop will feature an integrated program of place-based and participatory learning activities related to the events and personalities of the American Revolution at seven partnering historic sites in Vermont’s Champlain Valley:
Workshop Experience & Benefits
Workshop participants will “virtually” follow a route, on land and water, from a yeoman Vermonter’s 18th century homestead to war, and back again. Along the way, they will encounter the landscapes, artifacts, sites, and primary sources that allow students to engage with the multiple stories and competing worldviews of frontier Vermont—and to relate them to the persisting tensions between rural and urban communities across contemporary America.
Using the backdrop of the area’s Revolutionary War Sites, teachers from a range of disciplines and grade levels (although focused primarily on grades 6-12) will delve deeply into place-based education. This workshop will use interactive, web-based technology to enable participants to immerse themselves in the sites and material culture of Revolutionary Vermont. From the life-sized replica of Benedict Arnold’s USS Philadelphia gunboat to the nation’s best-preserved Revolutionary War archaeological site at Mount Independence, teachers will learn firsthand the potential of place-based education at historic sites: to provide personally resonant experiences that serve as a foundation for understanding contemporary issues of regional, national, or global importance.
Additionally, participants will discover practical assignments and lesson plans for use in their own classrooms. During the week, participants will use the Vermont historic sites and characters as a lens, looking back at their own schools and home areas to find the undiscovered gems in their own local histories.
Workshop participants will be eligible for continuing education units and may optionally take the workshop for 3 graduate credits (offered through Castleton University for $375). Download the course syllabus here.
Workshop Dates & Location
Two workshop sessions will be offered ONLINE during Summer 2021 (for 36 teachers each):
- Workshop Session 1: July 12 – 16, 2021
- Workshop Session 2: July 26 – 30, 2021
Participants will use remote learning software to engage in the workshop across a fun and interactive range of asynchronous and synchronous activities. Participants should expect to spend 8 hours per day engaged in workshop activities during the week. Those taking the course for graduate credit will have additional assignments before and after the week.
Please see the sidebar menu for further details about the program of study and workshop logistics.
Stipends and Applications
Stipends of $1300 will be available for 72 participants.
Applications are due March 1, 2021. Please click here to learn more about eligibility and how to apply.
Please direct all questions to: 2021workshop@vtarchaeology.org
Sponsored by the Vermont Archaeological Society and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.