Summer 2023 was a great one for K-12 educator workshops across the country! National program staff, network members, and state coordinators held workshops in Kansas, Nevada, Colorado, and Minnesota this year, where 41 educators and heritage education professionals left...
Summer 2023 was a great one for K-12 educator workshops across the country!
National program staff, network members, and state coordinators held workshops in Kansas, Nevada, Colorado, and Minnesota this year, where 41 educators and heritage education professionals left equipped to successfully lead Project Archaeology investigations and activities in their classrooms and informal learning environments. Read on to learn more about each of these workshops and get inspired to lead or attend a workshop of your own in 2024!
A hot topic of discussion at the workshop was the censorship of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books in some of the school districts. The workshop’s guest speaker, Dean Jean Boreen, PhD from Southern Utah University, shared some insight into how to approach the literary themes and challenges of Wilder’s books, noting that student’s feeling tension in a book is a good teachable moment. Boreen noted that “We don’t need to give up reading these wonderful books, but we do need to contextualize these stories within the events occurring during the time period; the charm of the books and Laura’s view of her world are important for our students to experience today.”
Thank you to the Institute for Heritage Education for helping fund the workshop.
