Gilder-Lehrman Institute seminar for K-8 teachers on “The 13 Colonies” is winding down. The teachers are hard at work on their lesson plans under the direction of Nate McAlister. Before they leave they are required to post the plans to the seminar blog.
I am pleased to see the way the teachers have bonded with each other over the course of the week. Princeton is a great place to hold a seminar like this. The teachers can spend their evenings shopping, eating, drinking, and walking on Princeton’s Nassau Street. Popular stops include drinks at Nassau Hall, Labyrinth Books, the Bent Spoon ice cream shop, and the Princeton University Wawa.
On Thursday we spent the morning discussing Pennsylvania. We tried to look at Penn’s colony from all angles. I gave them a lecture on Quakers, religious and ethnic pluralism, and the idea of Pennsylvania as a “liberal” colony. In the afternoon we got started on the American Enlightenment using my four point definition of the Enlightenment in The Way of Improvement Leads Home.
After the session we headed over to the Firestone Library where rare books curator Stephen Johnson showed the teachers a few dozen eighteenth-century volumes that I selected from the Firestone’s collection. I focused my choices on books that I would be referencing in my lectures and books that were read by Philip Vickers Fithian. They were also introduced to the Princeton children’s library and shown effective ways of teaching colonial America through objects.
This was one of the highlights of the week. Dana Sheriden of the Cotsen Children’s Library mesmerized the teachers with her presentation. Stephen Johnson answered questions about early American books and printing. And the students got to hold and read books by Phillis Wheatley, John Locke, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Matther, Addison and Steete (The Spectator), Samuel Richardson, and Laurence Sterne. The room was buzzing with activity as these teachers read, discussed, and wondered over these rare books. It was fun to watch and experience.
Here are a few pics:
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| The teachers loved the book of Phillis Wheatley’s poetry |
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| Elissa, Carmen, and Meghan discussing The Spectator |
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| Shawn is really digging in to Jonathan Edwards’s The Nature of True Virtue |
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