Back to news Education

Summer Intensive Teacher Workshop Announced, Applications Open Now

This summer the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH) will host the second-annual Institute for Louisiana Culture and History (ILCH) intensive workshop for Louisiana social studies K–12 educators on June 24–26, 2024, in New Orleans. This workshop will focus on Louisiana’s Reconstruction-era history in alignment with the Louisiana Department of Education’s (LDOE) latest 7th grade social studies standards.

The summer intensive workshop will provide Louisiana public school social studies educators the opportunity to build their content knowledge by engaging with nationally known scholars, taking field trips promoting experiential learning, and participating in social studies working sessions exploring how to use expanded standards-aligned content found on 64parishes.org in the classroom.

Read more about the 2024 workshop below or apply now here.

ABOUT THE 2024 WORKSHOP

The workshop will feature lectures by Brian K. Mitchell, PhD, Director of Research and Interpretation at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and author of Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana.

Field trips include a walking tour through the French Quarter and Tremé exploring the history of the Black press lead by Mark Charles Roudané, author of The New Orleans Tribune: An Introduction to America’s First Black Daily Newspaper, and an archival visit at The Historic New Orleans Collection’s Williams Research Center to examine Reconstruction-era documents and artifacts.

Louisiana social studies curriculum specialist Lindsay Bardes will lead hands-on teaching sessions.

COMPENSATION AND ACCOMODATIONS

The institute will provide a $250 stipend to all participants on completion of the three-day workshop and paid, secure parking. The institute will also provide private hotel accommodations and mileage reimbursement for participants traveling more than sixty miles from New Orleans.

ELIGIBILITY AND APPLICATION

Social studies educators, teacher coaches, and curriculum specialists employed by public schools in Louisiana, with a preference for those working with 7th grade social studies content, can apply to participate in the summer intensive workshop below.

Application time is approximately 15 minutes. Applications close April 1, and selected participants will be notified via email of acceptance, waitlist, or rejection, by 5 p.m. on April 15.

The institute will host a virtual information session about the workshop on March 13 at 5:30 p.m. Register for the virtual information session here.

ABOUT 64 PARISHES

Encompassing an award-winning quarterly print magazine, website, encyclopedia, and K–12 resources, LEH’s 64 Parishes explores Louisiana history and culture. 64 Parishes encyclopedia hosts over 1,200 entries about Louisiana accompanied by thousands of archival images, documents, and audio files. Each year more than 50,000 students and educators access the encyclopedia as part of their Louisiana social studies classes. The institute has expanded encyclopedia content by adapting and grade-leveling encyclopedia content for the classroom and developing a new search function that allows students and teachers to find content aligned with new Louisiana social studies standards.

The LDOE, one of LEH’s partners on the 64 Parishes encyclopedia expansion, introduced new social studies standards rolled out in the 2023–24 school year. The new course frameworks expand the study of Louisiana history and culture in the state’s public schools from 3rd and 8th grade to nearly every grade. Together, LEH and LDOE mapped these new social studies standards to the content on 64parishes.org, creating resources for teachers and students, including grade-level appropriate adaptations of key texts.

The ILCH workshops and 64 Parishes encyclopedia expansion are made possible in part by grants from the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities. Additional support for this summer’s workshop is provided by The Historic New Orleans Collection.