2003 Grants

2004 Grants

2005 Grants

2006 Grants

2007 Grants

Total:  7 grants, $86,976

Art and Writing ($5,250)

Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art

A two-day institute that strengthens the relationship between art, writing and interpretation of ideas at the primary and secondary grade levels with a focus on enhancing students’ writing skills via the visual arts. Workshops will focus on connecting thinking and writing to classroom goals by using art as a vehicle for deeper examination.

Beyond Antiquity: The Legacy of the Classical World ($6,000)

Classical Association of New England

This weeklong series of lectures, courses and other activities devoted to the Classics at Dartmouth College will look at the influence of Greece and Rome on later periods, particularly on politics, literature and the visual arts.

Black Hands, Blue Seas: Maritime Heritage of African Americans ($13,330)

Mystic Seaport Museum

A five-day professional development opportunity for Connecticut teachers, school librarians, and media specialists grades 7-12 that uses lectures, tours, field trips, and hands-on workshops to explore the dynamic connections between African American history, literature, art, and music and America’s seas, rivers, and lakes. The freedom struggle and the search for equality will serve as central themes. Participants will work directly with Museum staff and resources, engage in field study, and explore Web resources. Two follow-up sessions will evaluate outcomes and provide feedback for lesson plans.

Constructing Meaning: Image and Narrative ($14,290)

Yale Center for British Art

This four-day teacher institute will explore the process of creating and drawing meaning from visual art and literature. The institute will use object-based teaching to enable elementary and middle school teachers to use original works of art, children’s books and personal journals to enrich their teaching of narrative and writing skills in the classroom.

Discovering 1930s America through Visual Arts ($14,475)

The New Britain Museum of American Art

A three-day institute for middle and high school teachers that demonstrates how visual arts and music of the 1930s reveal important historical and cultural concerns of the period.  The program aims to enrich teachers’ understanding of how visual works of art can be used to integrate the understanding and teaching of history, visual, and language arts. The institute will address the following two questions: How do critical thinking, analysis, and interpretation of original artworks help us understand cultural, political, and social issues, and how do we develop methods and tools to integrate visual arts and humanities teaching in both the classroom and the museum.

Fortune’s Story and Slavery in Connecticut ($13,650)

Mattatuck Art and History Center

This weeklong summer institute on slavery and its legacy will bring together twenty teachers, two scholars, four master teachers, and museum staff to examine slavery as an economic engine in Connecticut during the 17th and 18th centuries; the impact of slavery on individuals as told through first person narratives, historical and archaeological research, examination and analysis of historical objects; and content visits to historical sites and museums that illustrate this history. Teachers will work with the historians and master teachers to develop strategies for integrating Fortune’s Story curriculum units into their regular course of classroom activities.

Teaching American History with Film ($19,981)

The University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education

Over five consecutive days and one follow-up session, this program will support the work of educators who are interested in incorporating film into their classrooms in ways that promote historical understanding. Participants will view and analyze specific films that focus on United States history, such as Glory, Iron-Jawed Angels, and Do the Right Thing, while also exploring how to choose films to show in class and evaluate the benefits and pitfalls of a variety of pedagogical practices with film used to develop students’ historical understanding.

2006 Grants

Total: 5 grants, $70,414

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center ($20,000)

Protest and Passion: Abolition in New England

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center's Protest and Passion is an

intensive, 5-day teacher institute for Connecticut middle and high

school American history and English teachers that examines

Abolitionist and anti-Abolitionist activities in New England from the

Revolutionary era up to the Civil War.

Mattatuck Historical Society ($17,600)

The World in Our Neighborhood: Using Oral Histories to Teach History

& Social Studies

A week-long professional development institute for Connecticut

teachers grades K-12 focusing on industrialization, immigration and

the development of urban communities and based on the Mattatuck

Museum's extensive collections of oral histories, photographs and

primary source materials.

Mystic Seaport Museum ($11,285)

The Human Tide: Exploring Immigration and Community Through

Primary Sources

The Human Tide institute explores immigration through maritime

history. Working with museum staff, teachers gain the knowledge,

skills and resources to help students connect to the real people of

American and state history through primary sources and to search out

their own history in relation to the larger story of our nation.

Wesleyan University, Center for Afro-American ($8,664)

Race and Membership: A History of United States Citizenship

Wesleyan University's Center for African American Studies hosts a

4-day teachers institute for secondary school teachers that explores

changing notions of "who is American" by examining the history of

race and citizenship in the United States.

Yale University, Yale Center for British Art ($12,865)

Constructing Meaning: Through Literary Narrative and the Visual Arts

The Yale Center for British Art's 4-day teacher institute shows

elementary school teachers how to use original works of art and

written stories to enrich their teaching of narrative in the classroom

while enhancing literacy skills and higher-level critical thinking skills of their students.

2005 Grants

Total:  9 grants, $86,750.85

Classical Association of New England ($1,000)

CANE Summer Institute 2005: Golden Ages

The Classical Association of New England (CANE) received funding to cover tuition costs for Connecticut teachers attending its annual summer institute on classical studies to be held this year at Daromouth College from July 11 - 15. The institute includes lectures and roundtable discussions that explore important themes

in classical studies.

Eugene O'Neill Theater Center ($14,113)

The O'Neill Theater Center's Educational Observership

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center received funding to host 6 Connecticut Language Arts teachers at its annual Educators Observership Program. Participants will be immersed in the creative and technical details of staging a theatrical performance through workshops, roundtable discussions and other interactive activities.

Hartford Symphony Orchestra ($8,127)

Music: A Mirror of the Humanities

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra will conduct a series of workshops for up to 50 teachers that use four of the orchestra's performances to explore how culture, history, philosophy and psychology are reflected in music. The project is part of Symphony in the Schools, an ongoing program that encourages students to learn to play and instrument and develop an appreciation of classical music.

Lebanon Historical Society ($4,571)

Provisioning the Troops: Connecticut's Role in the American Revolution

The Lebanon Historical Society (LHS) in partnership with Antiquarian and Landmark Society's Nathan Hale Homestead received funding to organize and host a two and one-half day workshop for 15 history teachers that explores how the eastern Connecticut home front helped provision troops during the Revolutionary War. The institute will focus on helping educations build skills in finding, evaluating and using historical resources as a way to think creatively about teaching history. The institute has been designated as a We the People project by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mattatuck Historical Society ($16,675)

Fortune's Story and Slavery in Connecticut

The Mattatuck Museum received funding to host a weeklong summer institute on slavery for 20 K-12 Connecticut teachers, based on the life story of Fortune, an African man enslaved in the household of an 18th-century Waterbury doctor. The institute will explore the impact of slavery through first person narratives, historical and archeological research and analysis of historical objects and texts. The institute has been designated as a We the People project by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Mystic Seaport Museum ($11,110)

The Human tide: exploring Immigration and community Through the Primary Resources

Mystic Seaport received funding to conduct a 5-day workshop in early August for up to 20 middle and high school teachers on the role that immigration plays in building communities. The workshop will focus on familiarizing the teachers with the Seaport's historical resources and how to incorporate them into teaching history in the classroom. Workshop participants will create lesson plans for classroom use that incorporate content standards established by the State of Connecticut. The workshop has been chosen as a We the People project by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Peabody Museum of Natural History ($12,863)

CT Now and Then: Observing the Human Impact on the Connecticut Landscape 1600-2005

Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History received funding for a weeklong professional development workshop for 16-20 middle and high school teachers that explores the impact of human settlement on Connecticut's landscape over the past 400 years. Teachers at the workshop will create inquiry-based lesson plans for the classroom that incorporate content standards of the Connecticut Social Studies Curriculum. The workshop has been chosen as a We the People project by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Wesleyan University, Center for Afro-American Studies ($8,272)

Teaching the Civil Rights Movement: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Wesleyan University's Center for African American Studies received funding to hold a 4-day teacher institute that integrates history, literature and film of the Civil Rights Movement into secondary school curricula of participating schools. The institute, planned for up to 20 teachers, will demonstrate the crucial importance of the Civil Rights Movement to student's understanding of contemporary politics and culture. The institute has been chosen as a We the People project by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Yale Center for British Art ($10,020)

Constructing Meaning: Exploring the Interpretive Process Through Narrative and the Visual Arts

The Yale Center for British Art will use grant funds to host a 4-day teacher's institute for 18 elementary school educators that will use the museum's art collections to explore the connections between the visual arts and literature, with a focus on using visual art to enhance student's literacy and critical thinking skills. The institute will be held from July 11 -14, 2005.

2004 Grants

The Course of Empire-Modern Perspectives on the Literature, Art, and History of Ancient Empires (Classical Association of New England). 10 partial scholarships for Connecticut teachers to attend the association's renowned summer institute that offers a rigorous curriculum in Greek, Roman and other ancient Mediterranean civilizations.

 The O'Neill Theater Center's Educational Observership Program ( Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, New London). Six middle and high school Drama and English teachers will attend the center's annual Playwright's conference. The teachers will attend performances, round table discussions and lectures to gain an in-depth view of the development and production of new works for the stage.

Slavery in New England ( Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Hartford), a 5-day institute for 20 middle and high school teachers on the latest research on slavery in New England. Four scholars and HBS staff will work with the teachers to produce lesson plans following CAPT guidelines.

Fortune's Story and Slavery in Connecticut (Mattatuck Historical Society, Waterbury), a 5-day institute for grade K-12 teachers to develop lesson plans for Social Studies, Language Arts and Science that examine how slavery impacted Connecticut's economy in the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as its impact on individuals as revealed through first person narratives, research and primary source materials.

The Human Tide: Exploring Immigration and Community Through Primary Sources (Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic), an intensive, 5-day program for middle school teachers on immigration and community building. The program will challenge teachers to conduct research using primary source materials housed at the seaport to develop content-specific lesson plans that explore how diverse populations both influence and enrich Connecticut communities.

Connecticut Now and Then: The Human Impact on the Connecticut Landscape 1600 - 2004 (Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven), a week-long summer institute for grade 4-8 teachers that will produce inquiry-based lesson plans that teach students how to understand the relationship between the present-day landscape and cultural stories of the past. The lesson plans will be closely tied to content standards of the Connecticut Social Studies Curriculum.

2003 Grants