Upcoming Institute

Teaching Phillis Wheatley Peters (Fall 2023 Webinars)

 
On September 20 and 27, 2023, Humanities Texas will hold two 75-minute webinars for English language arts teachers on teaching the poems of Phillis Wheatley Peters.

Schedule and Curriculum

This two-part series will take place over Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Wednesday, September 20 and 27. Teachers who register will receive information for each webinar. Attending both sessions is encouraged but not required.

Content will be aligned with the TEKS. Held in partnership with the Phillis Wheatley Peters Project (Texas Christian University and the University of Georgia), this program is part of a yearlong celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the publication of Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, widely considered the first book of poetry by an African American author. The two webinars will offer a nuanced consideration of Wheatley’s texts, contexts, and cultural legacies.

The first webinar will explore the poet’s historical, literary, and cultural contexts and provide an overview of her major works. The second webinar will focus on teaching those works through close reading and poetic analysis. Both webinars will highlight the most important takeaways for middle and high school students.

The webinars will be team-taught by codirectors of the Phillis Wheatley Peters Project, Barbara McCaskill (University of Georgia) and Mona Narain and Sarah Ruffing Robbins of Texas Christian University. 

Like all Humanities Texas teacher programs, the webinars will be content-based and teacher-centered, with an emphasis on developing effective pedagogical strategies.

Fall 2023 Webinar Schedule:

• September 20: Phillis Wheatley Peters’s Historical and Literary Contexts 
• September 27: Close Reading Phillis Wheatley Peters

Eligibility

The institute is open to secondary-level teachers in Texas schools. 

Attendance and CPE Credit

The online program is free to teachers and their schools. Participants will receive CPE credit and a wealth of curricular materials for each session in the series. Participants are encouraged, but not required, to attend every weekly session. CPE hours will be based on Zoom attendance and adjusted if a participant misses any portion of the program. In order to attend the webinars and receive CPE credit, you must be a registered participant.

How to Apply

Complete the online application for the "Teaching Phillis Wheatley" webinars. By submitting an application, you are signing up to receive information about and access to both webinars. Please apply as soon as possible, as registration will occur on a rolling basis.

Sponsors

The webinars are made possible with major funding from the State of Texas with ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.