Hillsdale Teacher Attends Colonial Williamsburg Institute

This info was provided by Michael Rosenberg.

Michael Rosenberg, a teacher at George G. White Middle School in Hillsdale, recently completed an intense, seven-day immersion into early American history at the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute.

The Teacher Institute was created to encourage history education and make it engaging for students. The institute, now in its 24th year, helps prepare teachers to help students meet national and state history standards through hands-on immersion experiences in colonial history. There were teachers chosen from all over the country and Rosenberg received a scholarship to attend.

The Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute provides participants with interactive teaching techniques and skills to become mentor teachers who can assist their peers and other educators to develop active learning classrooms and make history exciting for their students. In addition to Williamsburg, participants also spent time in Jamestown and Yorktown. 

The Teacher Institute provides an extensive background in colonial history from the first English settlement at Jamestown to the American Revolution. Teachers participate in reenactments of 18th-century events and meet historians and interpreters portraying historical figures such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, as well as the common citizens who helped shape a new nation. Participants share teaching strategies to improve instruction, raise literacy levels and enhance thinking skills. Each participant was given a historical figure to look through the eyes of as they were touring the colonial city and interacting with the interpreters.

Colonial Williamsburg builds on a more than 50-year educational outreach tradition by exploring new technologies, expanding successful initiatives and offering new ventures to fulfill its educational mission. Teacher Institute was developed to improve the quality of American history education in the nations’ schools and insure that every student gains an understanding of the principles behind our system of government. The program began in 1990 with 44 fifth-grade teachers from two southern California school districts. Today, more than 7,300 teachers from 50 states and three foreign countries have participated since the inception of the Teacher Institute. To learn more about Teacher Institute, visit their website.