Invitation for Applications: Upcoming Teacher Workshops

By Scott Ackerman

The Lincoln Presidential Studies Center at President Lincoln’s Cottage, with generous assistance from the National Endowment for the Humanities, is pleased to announce the first in a series of teacher workshops on the Lincoln Presidency: Lincoln and Presidential Power

The first workshop will be held on October 18th, 2008.

To apply, please complete and submit the following form by September 12, 2008:
PLC Teacher Workshop Application.pdf (193KB)

About the Workshop Series:
Abraham Lincoln remains one of the most revered, most studied figures in American history. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, his Presidency is one of the most contentious topics among scholars, educators and the public at large. Perhaps one reason for this is that the executive powers assumed by Lincoln during his presidency were unprecedented in the nation’s history, and thus bound to provoke controversy, both then, and now.  Debate and education about Lincoln will increase dramatically during the 2009 bicentennial of his birth, being celebrated at the national, state, and local levels across the country, and what better place to immersive yourself in history than President Lincoln’s summer White House.

This series of workshops are designed to engage and educate twenty DC metro area teachers on the critical questions surrounding Lincoln’s Presidential Powers. In seven separate workshops over the next year, these interrelated themes will be examined:

  • How did Lincoln’s ideas and actions shape Presidential power?
  • Did Lincoln shape the executive powers consciously or unconsciously, directly, or indirectly?
  • What aspects of Presidential power are Lincoln’s lasting legacies?

To fully explore the breadth and scope of these questions, President Lincoln’s Cottage is bringing in leading Civil War scholars to conduct seminars on a variety of topics: Expanding War Powers; A Prelude to Civil Rights; Maximizing Communication and the Media; Reinventing American Values; and Lincoln and the Birth of Modern America. Following the last of these workshops, the teachers will have six months to prepare a lesson plan based on what they have learned, and then present this lesson plan at the seventh and final workshop. The goal of the workshops is to prepare educators to formulate their own theories about Lincoln’s Presidential Powers, and by doing so, stimulate better dialogue and a more accurate understanding of Lincoln amongst their students.

Questions?  Contact [email protected] or call 202-829-0436 x 31224.

Mr. Ackerman is the Program Administrator for President Lincoln’s Cottage.
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