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This fall, Humanities Texas will hold a number of free professional development webinar series for Texas teachers covering central topics in U.S. history, Texas history, and English language arts.

The online application is now open for "Teaching about American Indians in Texas" for U.S. and Texas history teachers and "Teaching America's Founding Documents" for U.S. history and government teachers. Both series will emphasize interaction with scholars, the examination of primary sources and texts, and the development of effective pedagogical strategies and engaging assignments and activities.

Please stay tuned to our website and social media channels as we will announce additional professional development opportunities over the course of the fall.

Teaching about American Indians in Texas

The "Teaching about American Indians in Texas" series will offer teachers new windows into the history of American Indians in Texas and a collection of curriculum materials geared toward bringing innovative perspectives into the classroom. Team-taught by a historian and two master teachers, the institute will focus on the long arc of American Indian presence in Texas from the pre-contact era through the "Indian Wars" of the 1870s.

The four-part series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:30 p.m. CT on Mondays from September 13 through October 4, 2021.

Teaching America's Founding Documents

The "Teaching America's Founding Documents" series will cover documents instrumental to the founding of the United States: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Washington's Farewell Address. Each session will focus on both the context of the document—how it came to be and its significance—as well as its actual contents and the most important takeaways for middle and high school students.

The five-part series will take place via Zoom from 5:00–6:15 p.m. CT on Wednesdays from September 15 through October 13, 2021.

More information about each program is available in the Education section of the Humanities Texas website. Teachers interested in attending should complete the online application form as soon as possible.

Please note that, due to space limitations, you must be a registered participant to attend any of the webinars.

Registration for secondary-level program series will remain open even after the series has already begun. Applicants to these programs will receive information about and access to each weekly online session within that series and are encouraged but not required to attend every weekly session.

Participants will receive CPE credit and a wealth of curricular materials. CPE hours will be based on Zoom attendance and adjusted if a participant misses any portion of the program.

These programs are made possible with support from the State of Texas and the National Endowment for the Humanities.