I recently applied for acceptance into the 2022 Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute.  While I will be retired from the classroom, I hope to continue serving in education in some capacity.  I don't know that the people in charge of the institute would choose me over a regular, continuing classroom teacher, but it was worth a try to tweak my application with some new information.  One of the questions for the application reads, "Please describe AT LEAST three ways you believe your students will benefit from your Teacher Institute experience." My answer follows:

1. Students will benefit from my own discovery and understanding of primary sources at Colonial Williamsburg. I can bring these into classes for students to consider and study.

2. I seek to curate ideas for lessons that go beyond the printed page. As an educator, I thrive on keeping students engaged by creating nontraditional projects.

3. The more we learn about our history, the more we understand about the present. The more we apply our knowledge, the easier it is to make wiser decisions.

4. American history and civic understanding is greatly lacking in schools in my area. While focusing on standardized tests in Reading and Mathematics, administrators and legislators have allowed Science and History to be shoved to the back of the line. Many teachers, lacking a distinct script and textbook, have ignored it. They find worksheets and art projects on the internet, rather than seeking knowledge for themselves and creating their own methods for engaging students with rich content; I prefer creating my own materials and relevant lessons, curating ideas from a variety of sources and tying it all to other areas of the curricula. My lessons connect with students' current and future lives, and I make many of them available publically.

5. Students who have experience lively and motivated presentations are apt to learn more information. This presenter's attitude is contagious.

6. Upon completion of the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute, I will more accurately include actual sites, real characters, and relevant events in my cognitively rigorous methods.

7. My experience will allow me to quickly integrate materials and lessons from Colonial Williamsburg into my presentations.

8. I want to create an archaeology unit for the beginning of the school year, but I also want it to be deeply memorable for my students. I have tried to do this but have seriously lacked the resources to make the lesson more than a flat experience. In short, it was a waste of time. The idea is still a good one, but the Colonial Williamsburg experience promises to help me revive it and make it worth our while.

9. I need to do a better job of presenting the story of the first enslaved people. I feel confident with most of the African American experience, including the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, but I need more background in the 17th and 18th centuries.

10. I have started to learn more about the Native Americans who lived in and around the colonies, but I will appreciate any help in this area to make my lessons better.

11. I would love to set up some type of "trader faire" project that will include some of the historic trades and crafts I will witness at Colonial Williamsburg.

12. I seek a better understanding of the geography of the area that played host to so many Revolutionary activities.

13. I love to tell stories. The details of early American history add seasoning to the stories. Participants are captivated by the tales. The greater my own understanding, the more I keep them interested.

14. I strive to be that "different" teacher, a rebel educator, the maverick who doesn't play by the rules of tradition. Yes, I am that elementary teacher who puts in the extra effort to make meaningful connections with my students and the things they are learning. I've had enough of two-dimensional history and science. Striving to be unique does not stop in my elementary classroom, but promises to bleed into my professional development presentations and volunteering, as well.

15. My students will anticipate my involvement with Colonial Williamsburg as much as I will. I included them in the original application process, and I shared the writing process with them so they could see that adults have writing responsibilities, and that serious applicants take their responses seriously. I plan to wear out this year's class, talking about the upcoming teacher institute, until they anticipate it with as much excitement as I do.

...And to All a Good Night!

1. I would like to attend the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute to experience a part America's story has fascinated me as a child, and I can't get enough of it today.

2. I was accepted to the 2020 CWTI, which was postponed to 2021 and then canceled. After writing extensively about the upcoming visit and preparing for the experience, I was devastated when I was notified of the cancelation.

3. As I approach retirement, I am seeking ways to continue sharing professional development opportunities with teachers - methods of interpreting material culture, primary sources, places, and art. My passion for education will continue after my retirement. I hope to work with new teachers and student teachers and help them establish patterns for teaching history and culture in their classrooms. I will even contact our local regional professional development office and pursue a relationship with them to present workshops in their facility and for districts in a four-state area.

4. This year, I was named the Missouri History Teacher of the Year through the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Through that connection, I have also been accepted as a Master Teacher with GLI, and I plan to present professional development on their behalf, as well as develop projects and lessons. A closer knowledge of Colonial Williamsburg and its neighbors will enhance my ability to share with anybody who will listen.

5. I possess an enthusiasm for creative lesson planning. I will continue to search for any chance I can find to help teachers find their niche in doing the same. I would like to assist educators to fill holes in their history programming that will be filled with the knowledge and strategies acquired at the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute. This is specifically important in the elementary setting where history specialists are few and far between.

6. Missouri's newest Social Studies standards have placed the founding era into the fourth grade for the first time, and I have since sought to nurture and satisfy my own interests in the material. My students and I spend the entire school year in the second half of the 18th century.

7. As educators in the Midwest, we have few local options for experiencing the Colonial and Revolutionary Era. To fully comprehend this pivotal era, I must explore the streets and alleys of Colonial Williamsburg, cast my gaze upon the waters at Jamestown, and transport back in time to the pivotal battle at Yorktown.

8. Students and members of the community have lost civil discourse and direction. I desperately wish to resurrect history - especially American history - in our classrooms. The same has occurred with Government and Economics at the elementary level. History education has been marginalized for far too long, and one of my goals in retirement is to advocate for its importance to our civilized society.

9. I long to meet and collaborate with dedicated educators from different regions of our nation.

10. I look forward to being in the presence of authentic objects and primary documents and to be allowed to interact with them and appreciate them in person.

11. It is difficult to imagine the hardships of the founding era by scanning photos online.

12. Speaking of photos, I want to take about a thousand of them to share with peers, students, family, and friends.

13. I am awed by history scholars who can communicate well and relate to people who are not history scholars, but who still have a rich interest in the subject.

14. Mount Vernon introduced me to the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and I met French soldiers at Fort Ticonderoga, but at Colonial Williamsburg I will walk with regular people. Non-gentrified folks, and people from varying cultures called the area home. I need to sweat alongside those people, look into their tired eyes, and wonder at how they survived the tumultuous birth of our free nation. What a rich opportunity - to walk in the footsteps of our founders, to stand in the presence of the common person, and to envision the lifestyles of the natives and the enslaved! As I understand the sample schedule, the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute includes more than just a history of warfare, but will also focus on the typical lives of real, everyday people.

15. I am prepared to be surprised and awed by anything the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute throws at me.

​16. I am already packed and eager to "get my hands dirty", and I am ready to partner with Colonial Williamsburg for this quest.