Please distribute this list among your faculty and staff, and let us know if you would like to schedule one of these workshops, are interested in attending, or have other ideas. We are glad to explore other themes and subjects, and to find appropriate scholars to present them. These workshops provide professional-development credit and may also be combined as independent study programs for graduate credit at Plymouth State University.
Language Arts | Oral History & Folklife | NH & World History & Interdisciplinary Studies | World Culture
LANGUAGE ARTS – Literature, Poetry, Music
Reading to Write: The NH Literary Landscape - Writers You Know and Some You Might Not (all grades)
Presenter: Rebecca Rule
New Hampshire is rich in writers and always has been. Rebecca Rule, who has written more than 650 book columns for the Concord Monitor and other papers, will talk about some of her favorite New Hampshire writers and ask participants to do the same. We'll read excerpts from poems, stories, novels, and children's books to hear some strong New Hampshire voices and discuss how bringing these voices into the classroom shows that good writing lives close to home. We'll also explore methods and exercises that help bring these voices alive for students, encourage them to recognize the value of the familiar, and inspire them to write what they know.
“Spreading the Word”: Poetry at the Center of the Language Arts Classroom
A one-day workshop for Language Arts/English teachers at all levels, Curriculum Coordinators and interested instructors in all subject areas.
Presenter: Baron Wormser, former poet laureate of Maine, Frost Place education director
Areas covered: Literacy, listening skills, writing, reading, punctuation, grammar, higher order thinking skills, revision— all through the lens of poetry.
Poetry is the art of language and poetry provides students the opportunity (at any grade level) to talk about words as words. Poetry offers focused literacy as it offers a relatively small scale that requires students to be engaged with each and every word. This workshop will follow the complete process of presenting a poem in the classroom: reading aloud, listening, writing the poem down, responding to the poem in terms of word choice and the elements of the art of poetry, asking questions, using the poem as a model for writing an original poem and peer editing to revise that poem. All this is generated from one short poem.
Wormser has worked extensively in many schools throughout New England including a three-year stint with the Scarborough, Maine, school system to show teachers (K-12) how poetry can be central to the classroom. Many teachers in Scarborough are now using poetry regularly and seeing significant improvement in their students’ writing and reading skills and their self-esteem. They have been amazed at what effect poetry can have and how overlooked and under-utilized poetry is.
G is for GRANITE: Poetry as a Tool for Learning
Presenter: Marie Harris, author and former poet laureate of New Hampshire
(grades 3-6/ages 9-12)
With her book G is for GRANITE as the informal humanities "textbook," poet Marie Harris will explore the ways in which the classroom teacher can use poetry--the reading and writing of it--as the portal to explorations of historical, environmental, artistic and (yes!) ethical and philosophical issues. The workshop is designed for teachers of children ages 9-12. Participants will take away a packet of teaching resources.
The Latest News from the Distant Past: Teaching American History through Folk Song
Presenter: Jeff Warner, singer, folklorist & community scholar
(K-12, music, literature, social studies)
Folk songs gives us everyman's perspective on history. They also offer a new way to teach language arts, music, geography, and even physical education. Common people grew the crops, went to sea, raised the children, fought the battles, waited at home and worked in the factories. Listening to the songs they sang, reflective of their lives and times, is like having an ancestor whispering in your ear. This session will introduce participants to songs from our Anglo-African-Celtic-Germanic people as they lived through the Revolution, slavery, westward expansion Civil War and the Depression. Discographies and bibliographies will be available.. Singing a song that put an 18th century baby to sleep, or helped a young girl drive home the cows from a 19th century pasture, is a useful way to connect with America's past.
"Jump Jim Jo:" Understanding American Culture through Traditional Games, Stories, Songs and Oral History
Presenter: Jeff Warner
(K-6, physical education, music, language arts, social studies)
Understanding culture includes a respect for previous generations. We will play the games, look at stories, tell the jokes and sing the songs that children have passed on to their peers down the generations, the lore that helped them create their communities. This session is designed, as well, to help participants foster a sense of community in their own classrooms and schools. Teachers can collect other examples of kid-lore from children in present-day classrooms, helping students to see a connection between themselves and children of earlier times. In addition, we will explore ways to help students interview their grandparents or older neighbors, learning as they do about oral history and family folklore and, as Carl Sandburg said, "Where we came from and what brought us along."
Storytelling From Real Life: Views and Viewpoints in Creative Non-fiction
Presenter: D. Quincy Whitney
(Middle and High School Teachers)
Newspapers and magazines at their best include all three pronouns of creative non-fiction—first person (I), second person (you); and third person (he, she, it, they). The "I" of creative non-fiction can take the form of a newspaper column, an opinion piece, an essay, or—in its longest form—a memoir. The "You" is the most interactive and most often takes the form of an interview. The "He, She, It, They" become the feature article or biography, the story of someone's life viewed by a detached observer. Each of these forms involves sharpening skills that relate to seeing (observing non-verbal and environmental cues); listening (recording, remembering and synthesizing information); telling (telling a story out loud as a preliminary step to writing, a kind of pre-writing); writing; and musing (reflecting and revising). This workshop is geared towards those who teach non-fiction writing, journalism or feature writing, or work with students creating print and on-line publications. We will work together exploring the common themes and the differences between the forms and discuss how each might speak to a myriad of interests among students, or be more or less appropriate for certain topics. We'll also address the dynamics involved in choosing subjects and balancing coverage in student publications.
Telling the Story of a Poem
Presenter: Rodger Martin, professor of journalism, Keene State College, poet, director of New Hampshire Poetry Out Loud project
(Language Arts Teachers, Grades 6-12)
This workshop will focus on poetry -- and why it is connected to over 40 of the New Hampshire's curriculum frameworks -- but you needn't be an expert to participate. It will showcase techniques teachers can use to bring a poem "alive" for students. We will examine poems and model strategies -- using voice, rhythm, enunciation, and the pause -- that can remove the poem from the page and give it breath much the same way a musician brings music alive for the listener by taking it from its score on the page and moving it into the air. We will also discuss available resources and programs -- like the national Poetry Out Loud program -- that provide information and inspiration for teachers.
Extending the Metaphor: Poetry, Art & Music
Presenter: Rodger Martin
(Language Arts teachers, music and art teachers can use this same process in different orders, Grades 5-12)
In this workshop built around the eye and the ear, you will learn how to utilize great works of art and great works of music to inspire student writing. We'll begin with a collection of artwork, respond in imagery and metaphor, and then enhance the mood of our work by listening to music and matching art and poem to it. The connection of spoken word, music and art will result in a powerful performance piece.
Language Arts | Oral History & Folklife | NH & World History & Interdisciplinary Studies | World Culture
ORAL HISTORY & FOLKLIFE (also for local historical societies, etc.).
Open Minds, Open Questions - Oral History across the Curriculum (all grade levels)
Presenter: Dr. Jo Radner, Oral Historian, Storyteller, Folklorist
An introduction to creating an oral history project in your classroom at any grade level: planning the project with students, teaching the art of interviewing to gather stories, and shaping the results into creative presentations. Participants will perform engaging, hands-on exercises that teach the dynamics of an interview and the crucial skills of listening and follow-up questioning. Jo will discuss several different model projects involving creative and/or non-fiction writing, storytelling, visual arts, digital stories, drama, and public presentations as gifts to the community. This workshop is for educators, historical society staff and volunteers, and staff and volunteers at social-service and other community-based nonprofits.
Jo Radner holds a BA, MA, and PhD from Harvard University and has published books on early Irish history, contemporary Anglo-Irish drama, and women's folklore, and articles in scholarly journals on Celtic studies, literature, Irish and American folklore, women's studies, Deaf culture, and New England social history. Currently she is writing a book titled "Performing the Paper: Rural Self-Improvement in Northern New England," about a 19th-century village tradition of creating and performing aloud handwritten literary newspapers. She taught literature, American Studies, folklore, and storytelling for 30 years as a professor at American University in Washington, DC, before moving to her family's home in western Maine. She now conducts fieldwork and oral history projects for communities, veterans' organizations, and other groups. Her hands-on workshops on oral history interviewing have served historical societies and other community groups, hospice and home-care organizations, elementary and secondary schools, and intergenerational groups.
Crosscut: The Art of Oral History
(all grade levels, social studies, language arts, theatre)
Presenter: Rebecca Rule
Stories collected through interviews can be shaped into gifts and returned to the community. In the "Telling Our Stories" project, which took place in the Androscoggin Valley of New Hampshire in 2007, Rebecca Rule gathered scores of stories and then turned them into a performance piece called "Crosscut," staged by Theatre North. We will cover some basics of collecting oral histories, then discuss and practice creative ways to bring those histories to life.
Folklore in the Classroom – and in Your Town
Presenter: Debra Cottrell, Education Director, Remick Country Doctor Museum & Farm
(For K-12: classroom teachers, NH studies, history/social studies, music & art, and staff and volunteers at historical societies)
This workshop will focus on providing teachers with an overview of the field of folklore and on discussing traditional skills and crafts and how they may be incorporated into the curriculum. Cottrell will discuss the ways in which schools can work with museums or historical societies to enrich studies of local and New Hampshire history. Instruction will include how to conduct research in your own community and how to work with people who practice traditional skills or craft making. Models that will be addressed include learning kits, exhibits, tours, summer and vacation camps, and special projects.
Every Thing Speaks: An introduction to material culture
for K-12 teachers and for historic society and museum staff and docents
Format can be a full-day workshop or a two-hour workshop
Additional sessions can be scheduled
Presenters include Kate Donahue (Anthropology, Plymouth State University; Rachel Lehr, independent scholar, Kay Morgan, director, NH Heritage Project)
Material Culture is the study of things – a cooking pot, an adze, a letter, a photograph – made by humans and revealing essential truths about the human experience. Once the specialized domain of archaeologists, material culture is now being brought by innovative educators into elementary and secondary classrooms as a powerful pedagogical tool. To the child holding a china doll or lead soldier from a century ago, the past moves from “the dull stuff of books” to reality. For the student draped in a cloak from the Somali Nomads, this foreign culture is transformed into real people living real lives. Even more important, Material Culture gives students rich practice in the higher-level thinking skills of analysis, interpretation and judgment.
This workshop will focus on using material culture as a lens through which you can teach New Hampshire and American history as well as world cultures. Teachers will learn about the ready resources of Material Culture at their local historical society or in the stash of travel souvenirs of school-parents and community members. Historical society and museum staff and docents will learn how to plan and deliver hands-on education to student groups and visitors. We encourage schools to partner with their local historical society or museum and to send pairs or teams of teachers/staff. Teaching through Material Culture is inexpensive and easily implemented; creates active, high-level learning for students of all ages; and meets essential state standards of language arts, social studies and the arts.
Language Arts | Oral History & Folklife | NH & World History & Interdisciplinary Studies | World Culture
NH & WORLD HISTORY & INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES
New Thoughts on Teaching about the Past
Presenter: Robin DeRosa, Plymouth State University
(All grade levels)
In this two-part workshop we’ll reimagine a definition of history as a collection of stories, a series of representations rather than of facts and events. We’ll discuss the implications of this approach for students and teachers and consider how we might adjust our lesson plans to take it into account. At the second session we’ll workshop the resulting lesson plans and continue our discussion of teaching students to approach the study of history with a critical lens.
Archaeology in New Hampshire
Presenter: David Starbuck, Professor, Plymouth State University
(All grade levels)
This workshop will provide an overview of archaeological goals and techniques – including prehistoric, historic, industrial and commercial archaeology, followed by several case studies of archaeological work conducted in New Hampshire.
Childhoods in America’s Past
(K-12 classroom, history/social studies, literature, music, art)
Presenter: Rebecca Noel, Plymouth State University
This session is offered to help teachers gain a deeper understanding of the diversity of childhood experiences throughout American history. Children often respond with keen interest to learning about past childhood experiences, whether in a social studies context or through historical fiction and drama. It is important, however, for teachers to be able to assess the accuracy and sophistication of materials at hand. Even within one historical period, childhood varies significantly depending on factors like social class, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and region. This talk – followed by discussion -- provides a careful survey of the range of childhoods during key historical epochs and gives additional resources for exploration into topics of interest.
The Old Man of the Mountain Remembered
Presenter: Maggie Stier, NH Preservation Alliance
(Elementary, middle, and high-school social studies, art, science, and classroom teachers)
The arts, humanities, and science combine in the rich story of the formation, discovery, promotion, and eventual collapse of New Hampshire's iconic state symbol. Participants will learn about seven major aspects of the Old Man's story, including its geology, its role in NH's tourism economy, artistic and literary tributes, and the complicated conservation and preservation efforts that helped protect Franconia Notch from excessive logging and commercial development.
Teachers will receive a variety of materials, including a DVD of plans to create a permanent memorial to the Old Man, that will help them teach the next generation about how this natural stone formation captivated the public for over 200 years and which remains an important part of our state heritage and identity.
In Plain Sight but Hidden from View: Crackpots, Underdogs, Outsiders and Pioneers—New Hampshire History at its Best
Presenter: D. Quincy Whitney, writer & researcher
Explore the common themes in the lives of New Hampshirites whose stories involve thinking outside the box and beyond borders and pursuing new visions in uncharted territories: "crackpots" like the ragamuffin colonists who first dared the British and the "Bird" Man who took his passion to the White House; underdogs like a sickly and destitute woman whose miraculous healing inspired her to found a mind-body religion and the first women textile workers to walk off the job; Granite Staters who founded the first Indian school, formed a new political party, and mediated an international war; pioneers who carved and maintained a path in the wilderness, edited the most influential 19th century magazine, and officially integrated baseball. Each of these stories is a launching pad for research, inviting students to explore interests from the arts to the environment, medicine to political history, boatbuilding to the space program. We'll talk about student project ideas and also work on relating these diverse stories to the larger questions they raise.
Whitney’s book, Hidden History of New Hampshire,is the starting point for this workshop, was published this month by The History Press. Hidden History is based on the "NH Firsts and Bests" research project Whitney completed for the 1999 American Folklife Festival when New Hampshire was the featured state.
Exploring the Roots of International Nuclear Policy in the 20th century
Presenter: Whitney Howarth, Plymouth State University
A professional development workshop that examines the cultural and political factors that have historically shaped various international communities’ nuclear power and nuclear weaponization policies. Who should go nuclear, who should decide, and how do we come to consensus on what’s best for the global community? Teachers will be introduced to primary source materials and simulation activities that lead students to consider the type of international factors that shape (or have shaped in the recent past) nuclear policy in Pakistan, India, North Korea, Israel, Iran, and Cuba, as well as the world’s response to the expansion of nuclear technologies in these regions.
Natural Resources: Curse or Blessing?
Presenter: Whitney Howarth, Plymouth State University
Although conflicts over resources seem far removed from our daily lives, Americans must understand how such conflicts – in places like Sudan, Sierra Leone, and Israel -- threaten our future. This workshop explores the relationship between resource wars, cooperation, and global security and offers useful lesson planning ideas and resources for educators.
Teaching from the Built Environment
Presenter: Maggie Stier
(Elementary, middle, and high-school social studies, history, art; classroom teachers)
Work with primary resource material right outside your classroom as you learn how to teach using historic architecture and other cultural and archeological resources. What can the built environment tell us about our identity, economy, and civic ideals? How can we decipher the residential, civic, industrial, religious and agricultural structures that define our cities and towns and contribute to an individual sense of place? Learn the answers and work together to develop strategies to help students understand how individual and collective decision-making shaped our built environment in the past, and what their roles might be in future preservation and development decisions.
A Humanities Approach to Connecting History and Literature
Presenter: Kay Morgan, Director, NH Heritage Project & North Country Stories
This three-part series addresses interdisciplinary studies through looking at several fascinating periods of American history.
1. Treatment of the "other": America, 1890 - 1920: This session will focus on three curricular areas involving Chinese immigration, Native Americans and Italian Americans (Sacco & Vanzetti case)
2. Perspectives on Courage: This session will focus on the novel To Kill a Mockingbird and on a chapter from The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien and the formation of the group Sept. 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrow post 9-11, and potentially a chapter from Profiles in Courage by John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
3. Alternative Narratives: Culture & Counter Culture: This session will look at the 1950s in America where we two distinct cultures emerging. We would examine Dick & Jane readers, Paint by Numbers, Levittowns as well as the Beat poets and Abstract Expressionists.
Language Arts | Oral History & Folklife | NH & World History & Interdisciplinary Studies | World Culture
WORLD CULTURES
Teaching About World Cultures (all grade levels)
Teaching New Hampshire students about world cultures offers important opportunities and challenges. In this workshop we’ll think together about what principles should inform this teaching and learning. What are our purposes in educating our students about cultures different from their own? In an increasingly interdependent world, how can students be inspired to think about their responsibilities as citizens, both of their own country, and of a global community as well? How can we, as educators, nourish within ourselves and our students the capacities to relate respectfully across differences? How can we cultivate the moral imagination, the ability to stay grounded and effective in our current situations while imagining and working towards a world that is characterized by more respect, more fairness and less violence? We’ll consider these questions and explore ways to incorporate the study of world cultures into a variety of classes at all grade levels.
The workshop will be led by Dr. Cynthia Cohen, a humanities scholar who does research and practical work in the field of peacebuilding and inter-group coexistence. She is familiar with New Hampshire communities from her work with the New Hampshire Arts Council as an oral historian and folklorist in the 1990’s. She is currently based at Brandeis University near Boston, where she is working with theatre artists from conflict regions around the world, supporting them to document how their performances are contributing to social justice, coexistence and reconciliation.
Journey to New Hampshire: Teaching about the American Experience through Food: A Workshop for Teachers and Heritage Educators
Presenter: Millie Rahn, folklorist and curator
(All grade levels, classroom, social studies, heritage studies, foreign language teachers)
What we eat symbolizes who we are. Whether they’re long-settled or newly arrived, the many and various immigrants to the United States have brought and continue to bring with them a great wealth of traditions and memories associated with their native foodways, often their only old-country legacy. These foodways can teach larger lessons about culture--geography, history, anthropology, art, literature, herbal lore and folk medicine, language, natural resources, economics, religion, etc.--and about tradition and change in a very personal way, in manageable chunks of time and topics.
This workshop explores how the family story, the community history, and the significant events of humanity are regularly expressed through food. Model activities and handouts will equip participants to train themselves and their students or visitors to become classroom folklorists and thus discover the world through our daily bread, tortillas, pitas, pain, brot, noodles....
Fear & Evil
Presenter: Katherine C. Donahue, Professor, Anthropology, Plymouth State University
(any grade level, esp. middle & high)
This workshop will examine the various ways in which humans brand the unknown person, culture, or belief as frightening and sometimes as evil. This universal problem has occurred in cultures located in regions ranging from northern Alaska to southern Mississippi to Europe and south Asia. Why are some strangers, even when they are neighbors, frightening and are therefore ostracized? Why are some people thought to be evil? Why are some religious beliefs considered evil? This workshop will examine the question of fear and evil through discussion of the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen who joined al Qaeda and was tried in the United States for his alleged conspiracy in the attacks of September 11. Branded as evil by the US administration, he equally depicted the US as evil. The workshop will then explore more broadly the problem of fear and evil as it relates to schools, the workplace, and current events.
India through the Looking Glass: a model for teaching Cultural Diversity in the Classroom
Presenter: Whitney Howarth, History Department, Plymouth State University
(History, culture, literature, classroom teachers, geography, all grades)
Educators interested in having students learn about new cultures in Asia, Africa and Latin America should also take the opportunity to explore how issues such as pluralism, conflict resolution, racial/religious difference and social justice are defined in these regions. India presents an excellent case study for investigating cultural diversity in a way that does more than “celebrate difference” because India’s history presents a rich story, sometimes violent and sometimes inspiring, about how humanity has struggled to build a free and democratic secular state that embraces vast difference and houses 1/6th of the human population. This workshop presents a way to talk about common themes inherent in structuring a more just and peaceful society by looking at the historic roots of some social conflicts India has faced in the last century. Students may draw parallels to the American experience and compare the fight for civil rights in the United States to various moments in the Indian story. Teachers will be introduced to primary source materials, maps, and video clips (available free on-line) that may help them to teach about cultural diversity in India and explore themes of social justice in our own society.
Learning About Afghanistan through Material Culture, Literature & Art
Presenters: Rachel Lehr & (through mid-November) Ghulamsakhi (Sakhi) Rustamkhan
(Language Arts and Literature, History, Geography, Art, Women's Studies, Culture Studies, Library/Media, all grade levels)
Note: This teacher’s workshop can be combined with classroom visits or large-group presentations.
Learning about a culture from the perspective of its participants is the best way to really understand it. Examining other countries from the inside gives students a chance to step out of their shoes and experience a different - more global - point of view. In this workshop we will 'try on' Afghanistan by examining the artifacts of everyday life, listening to its sounds, experiencing its smells, and dressing in its clothes, and talking with an Afghan clan leader visiting the U.S. for the first time. Everyone will leave with a photo portrait of themselves in Afghan clothing. Teachers will be given many ideas and resources to enrich their understanding and teaching of Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Islam. The workshop will introduce participants to books and other materials about Afghanistan that provide the students with a rich and memorable understanding of a complex and unfamiliar society. Books include Bread Winner, Homeless Bird, Thousand Splendid Suns, Kite Runner, Three Cups of Tea, Persepolis, and Love and War in Afghanistan. Films include Osama, Charlie Wilson's War, Baran, Kandahar, and others.
Linking Literature & Geography to Study Foreign Cultures
Presenter: Jennifer Fluri, Dartmouth College, Geography & Women’s/Gender Studies)
(All grade levels: history, social studies, literature, geography)
This workshop will offer interesting pedagogical ideas for broadening student knowledge and understanding of foreign cultures by linking literature to social and cultural geography. The novel Cities of Salt by Abdelrahman Munif provides the literary backdrop (participants need not have read the novel), setting the stage for the changing geographies of the Persian Gulf region in the Middle East. The workshop will include a geographic journey that addresses the historical transformations from Bedouin and caravan cultures to the discovery of oil and the fast movement to industrialized, rich, and modern cityscapes that dot the landscapes of the oil-rich deserts in several countries. Focus will be on Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qata, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, but the methodologies can be applied to studies of any country, including our own.
Traditional Russian Folktales and Folk Arts: Matryoshka, Firebird, Baba Yaga
Presenter: Marina Forbes, folklorist, storyteller, lecturer, artist
(Elementary, middle and high school educators; librarians, Art, World Languages and Cultures, Social Studies, Storytelling)
This illustrated presentation will use storytelling techniques to demonstrate the important role of three popular folk traditions in Russian culture. Based on her personal research and visits to Matryoshka (nested doll) factories in her native Russia, Marina Forbes will review the full range of these rich and varied forms of cultural expression and offer specific strategies on how to use the folk arts and storytelling to encourage creativity, appreciation of foreign cultures, and artistic sensitivity. Some Russian language words and phrases will be included.
Inside Russia Today
Presenter: Marina Forbes
(Elementary, middle and high school educators; librarians, World Languages & Cultures, World History, World Religions, Social Studies)
This highly interactive discussion provides an insightful look at the social and cultural changes which have been taking place in Russia since the Soviet era came to an end in the early 1990s. Marina Forbes, a native of St. Petersburg (Russia), uses a unique combination of humor, observation, and personal anecdotes from her life in Russia to bring current events to life and leave a lasting impression about her homeland that reaches far beyond the textbook. We'll talk about how teachers can develop and implement curriculum units on Russia at various grade levels. Marina will establish the link between the rich cultural heritage of the Russian people and the everyday life and concerns of individual Russians from across the spectrum of Russian society. Topics will include the new generation of Russian billionaires, the evolving role of women in Russian society, the revival of the Orthodox Church, Russian humor and family life, and the growing emphasis on consumerism and tourism. The program will also include a brief demonstration of traditional Russian art and iconography, focusing on how it is a reflection of Russian social, political and spiritual values.
