Chapa Middle School teacher Alty Vrana’s smile reflects the fun she and a classmate were enjoying at Colonial Williamsburg this summer as they shared a first-hand lesson on how colonial Americans stomped clay in the preparation of bricks. It was all part of the Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Institute’s unique summer experience, enjoyed once again this year by four Hays CISD teachers, courtesy of the Texas Pioneer Foundation. (Courtesy photo)
by JIM CULLEN
Four Hays CISD teachers are renewing a long-cherished tradition this summer, the foursome enjoying the benefit of grants to attend intensive one-week seminars in American History at the Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Institute. Covering all of the major expenses of the unique experience, the grants have become a recurring tradition of generosity by the San Marcos-based Texas Pioneer Foundation.
This summer’s participants included teachers Misty Kieffer and Linda Garza of Blanco Vista Elementary, Ashley Snell of Carpenter Hill Elementary and Alty Vrana of Chapa Middle School. The Williamsburg experience – providing an intensive week of immersion into American history – brings together professional educators from across the nation.
Descriptive materials from the institute indicate it was created “to encourage history education and make it engaging for students.” Now in its 22nd year, the Teaching Institute prepares teachers to help students meet national and state history standards through hands-on immersion experiences in colonial history. It also 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.”
Kieffer, Garza, Snell and Vrana received extensive background information on colonial history from the first English settlement at Jamestown to the American Revolution. They enjoyed meetings with historians and historical re-enactors, dove-tailed with 18th century event re-enactments. The local teachers shared teaching strategies to improve instruction, raise literacy levels and enhance thinking skills. As with other Hays CISD teachers who have attended the institute, the foursome will conduct local in-service training sessions to share their experiences and develop lesson plans to be shared with future participants.
The Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Institute began, according to its materials, in 1990 with 44 fifth-grade teachers, all from California. The breadth of the program’s nationwide impact is reflected in the fact that more than 6,600 teachers from 49 states and three foreign countries have participated in the institute since its inception. For more information on the program, visit www.history.org/history/teaching/tchchi.tfm.
