Picturing America Teacher Seminar

FAIN: BA-50018-09

Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, PA 19101-7646)
Marla K Shoemaker (Project Director: January 2009 to March 2010)

The applicant requested a Chairman's grant of $24,200 to run a one-day in-service seminar that focuses on the images and themes of Picturing America (PA), together with the PA Teachers Resource Book. The seminar, taking place on September 19, will serve approximately 175 teachers and librarians from the Philadelphia-area schools, including the entire public school system and schools of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, both of which have adopted PA system-wide. The teachers will be drawn from arts, humanities, and social studies fields, with the goal of advancing instruction in American history, civics, government, literature, and culture. The distinguished American collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art will receive attention for its relevance to the PA portfolio; however, the primary emphasis and the majority of time will be spent on actual PA reproductions and the Teachers Resource Book. The seminar presenters, who are well-established humanities scholars at local universities, will impart rich humanities content and background knowledge to participants. Training in basic visual analysis of art objects will be included. Three themes of Picturing America- Freedom and Equality, Democracy, and Landscape-will inform presentations and discussions; and the seminar will devote approximately equal attention to the works from the several centuries. The NEH Chairman's Grant of $24,200 will cover the total budget for running this seminar, including modest teacher stipends and working lunches, speakers' honoraria, and museum staff and facilities.

A one-day teacher seminar that will explore the works of art in the NEH's Picturing America image set. Up to 175 Philadelphia area teachers and school librarians whose schools have received the image set will have the opportunity to connect these select works of art--representing three centuries of our share national heritage--to humanities-based classroom studies. As a result, each participant will gain tools they need to use Picturing America images and resources in the classroom and make curricular connections.