In this institute, K–12 teachers, in conjunction with a group of leading scholars and public historians, will explore a neglected but crucially important aspect of early American history—the two-and-a-half-century web of connections between the rise of New England as a commercial and industrial center and the enslavement of Africans. New England's extensive and complicated relationship with slavery is a crucial part of the American story that almost never is clearly and comprehensively discussed in American history textbooks. But this is an important story, and there is no better place to explore it, and learn how to teach about it, than in Rhode Island, not only the center of the American slave and provisioning trades, but also the birthplace of the American industrial revolution. The two-week institute will include lectures by experts, tours of historic sites associated with these key developments, and guided explorations of original 18th- and 19th-century print and graphic sources that document this fascinating, often painful history. Teachers will be able to bring back to their classrooms and departments new knowledge, new primary documents and images, and fresh ideas and strategies for teaching this sensitive material, including shared lesson plans.

From the Spertus website:

"Teachers of all levels and settings are invited to join Spertus Museum educators to learn about the exciting new tours, resources, and educational opportunities that are available this year.

Explore letters, language and storytelling in the new Gray Children's Center. Discuss stereotypes and discrimination while you tour the Twisted into Recognition exhibition. Learn about Holocaust education, tours on Jewish heritage and traditions, and the upcoming exhibition A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund.

Ask about earning CPDUs as part of your visit by participating in our fall teacher workshop, Storytelling: A Gateway to Literacy. End your visit by catching up with colleagues over a glass of wine and light refreshments."

From the Continuing Ed Options website:

"Not only will you experience a sample of the literature, music, art and dress, but you will be delighted with authentic dishes prepared by chefs from a number of diverse cultures. The cost for these ethnic meals in included in the tuition. We will meet in the Neighborhood House, a multi-cultural, multi-lingual community center, see Mexican Folk Dancers and experience an authentic Mexican dining experience. In New Prague we will be entertained by a group of senior folk singers and learn about the cultural history of the area. We will be treated to some traditional Czech food at the Town's Edge Restaurant. Participants will visit the American Swedish Institute, observing the elegant Turnblad mansion, its many pieces of furniture, painting and personal accessories and experience an authentic smorgasbord. We will also meet at the Minnesota Historical Society and learn about the many diverse societies that make our country so culturally rich."

From the Arab American National Museum website:

"Through a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, the AANM presents a free three-day summer workshop to enhance educators' knowledge of the Arab World, Arab Americans and Islam."

This course is an intensive study of the highest court in the federal judiciary, focusing on the place of the Supreme Court in the American constitutional order. Areas of study may include the relationship between the Court and the other branches of the federal government as well as the states; the Court's power of judicial review; and judicial politics and statesmanship. The institute will examine these kinds of issues by investigating how the Court has interpreted the Constitution in some of its most historic decisions.

This 3-week seminar led by James Akerman (The Newberry Library) and Gerald Danzer (Emeritus, The University of Illinois at Chicago) is designed to develop cartographic literacy and encourage effective use of map documents in the classroom through study in the history of cartography. A program of seminars based on recent scholarship in the history of cartography and guided individual research will allow teachers to explore the relevance of map study to their own interests and curricular needs. Workshops will serve as forums for refining and applying the skills necessary to read maps as products of science, artistic creations, storytellers, wayfinding tools, and expressions of power; and as representations of worldviews and local landscapes.

This seminar will have daily discussion at the Library Company of Philadelphia, which was founded by Benjamin Franklin, and where participants will have hands-on access to writings and images of this tumultuous era. Daily meetings will look at the ups and downs of fighting a long war for American independence, and then relate these experiences to the wider Atlantic world of revolutionary contagion. Participants will visit some of the historical places Philadelphians would have known more than 200 years ago, many of which are within blocks of the Library Company.