2007 - 2008
Theme: 18th Century Heroes of Liberty - the American Revolution
2007 Summer Seminar Schedule
2007-2008 Annual Schedule (PDF format)
Team List for 2007-2008 Session (PDF)
2007-2008 Lesson Plans & Projects
Year One: 2007-2008
Summer Seminar Dates: July 9-13, 2007
such as liberty, freedom, and equality, frequently alluded to throughout
American history, reinforced a common and implied heritage which began
in our formal documents. We can underestimate the importance of the
American Revolution if we isolate it from its widespread impact.
This program seeks to examine the social, legal and political
contributions of the heroes (of both genders) who enhanced and furthered
the structural ideals and principles embodied in our founding
documents. In addition to examining the primary documents which define
the traditional American goals of liberty, freedom and equality, we will
draw on the widespread popularity of narratives and biographies.
Through biographies, both the circumstances in which the heroes
struggled and the cardinal values to which these people adhered are more
fully understood and appreciated.
Hubbardton Battlefield, VT
Saratoga National Historic Site
State Historic Site at Newburgh
(site of the Newburgh Conspiracy
and Washington headquarters.
Photo: From left to right Cathi Canty, David Marr, Debbie Alexander.
All of them teach at Castleton Elementary School
Willard Sterne Randall
Sterne Randall is the author of twelve books, including five
biographies and two biographical readers. A former investigative
reporter, he received the National Magazine Award for Public Service
from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, the Hillman Prize, the Loeb
Award and three Pulitzer Prize nominations during his seventeen-year
journalism career in Philadelphia. After graduate studies in history at
Princeton University, he turned to writing biographies, which have also
garnered three Pulitzer nominations.
"Biographer Willard Sterne Randall has undertaken the study of some of
the most difficult and mysterious figures from the American Revolution,
producing titles on Benjamin Franklin, Benedict Arnold, Thomas Jefferson
and George Washington. A professor at Champlain College, he received the
highest award of the American Revolution Round Table in 2001, making him
the third person ever to be honored with the award." (Contemporary
more information on this speaker
teacher from Otter Valley Union High School in Brandon,
Vermont received the Whittemore Prize for Teaching History
in 2000 and was Teacher of the Year in 2004. Michael is
former chair of the Social Studies Department at Otter
Valley Union High School in Brandon. He is on the executive
board of the Rutland Historical Society, a frequently
contribution to Historical Perspective on PEG (Public,
Education, Government) TV. He is an adviser the Teaching
American History grant and often provides historical
perspectives to book clubs and libraries in the area. In a
previous Teaching American History Grant, he spoke on
Immigration in Nineteenth Century Vermont at Hildene, the
home of Robert Todd Lincoln in Manchester, Vermont.
A middle school teacher from Manchester Middle/Elementary School
in Vermont- Grades Six, Seven and Eighth Social Studies with
course curriculum covering a wide variety of topics from World
and U.S. History and Geography. Other achievements include:
participation in the Freeman Experiment Teacher's Project and
Scope and Sequence Project (member of writing team for a
national project funded by the National Geographic Society),
Fulbright Memorial Teacher's Fund program participant. He was
selected by Sigrid Lumbra, the History Consultant at the Vermont
Department of Education, to be on a task force for the
improvement of teaching history in the state.
Hubbardton Site Interpreter
Carl is a long time site interpreter at the State Historical
Site. He has been involved in putting on workshops at the site
for schools in the area and providing tours of the battleground.
One of his major responsibilities is the annual commemoration of
the Battle of Hubbardton in July. He is a member of the
Hubbardton Historical Society.
Professor of History Community College of Vermont, Rutland
and Middlebury Sites, Adjunct Professor History: College of
St Joseph; Rutland, VT, Adjunct Professor History: Castleton
State College, Castleton, VT, Adjunct Professor of History:
Green Mountain College, Poultney, VT. Site Interpreter Mount
Independence Vermont State Historic Site He has been
involved in numerous educational activities such as Upward
Bound and has been involved in several outreach projects for
the Castleton Center for Schools.
Book Discussion Leaders:|
Fall 2007: Jacqueline Barbara Carr, UVM
Spring 2008: Carol Berkin, Baruch College, CUNY
Carol Berkin received her B.A. from
Barnard College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University where
she won the Bancroft Dissertation Award. She is professor of history at
Baruch College and deputy chair of the department of history at the
Graduate Center. She teaches early American and women’s history. Her
publications include: Jonathan Sewall: Odyssey of an American
Loyalist (1974); Women of America: A History (1980); First
Generations: Women of Colonial America (1996); and Women’s
Voices/Women’ Lives: Documents in Early American History (1998).
Carol Berkin has worked as a consultant on several PBS and History
Channel documentaries, including, The “Scottsboro Boys,” which was
nominated for an Academy Award as the best documentary of 2000. She has
also appeared as a commentator on screen in the PBS series by Ric Burns,
“New York” and in the MPH series, “The Founding Fathers”, both of which
aired in 2000.
Copyright 2007-2008, Teaching American Historyhttp://www.TAHVT.org