Participant's Guide to the
Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute
2013

End of the Week Project

Elementary School Program On the first day of the Institute, each teacher is given a biography of person who lived in Williamsburg around the time of the American Revolution. During the week they are asked to try to learn more about their assigned individuals. As a summary activity for the week, we ask each each teacher to write two journal entries from their assigned individual’s point of view: one describing their daily life, and another expressing their reactions to an eighteenth-century event. These journal entries should reflect on how the person of the past would have felt, what they would have thought, and how they may have dealt with the event. The entire group’s journal entries are then collected and placed in a book.

Middle/High School Program

As a summary activity at the end of the week, we ask participants to create a project that chronicles the theme of each day. These projects can take a variety of forms. They may include pictures, video, audio, drawings, and text, and will be turned in to the week’s coordinator. With the help of the peer facilitator, groups will prepare their projects for presentation at the end of the week, typically on the final evening.

High School Program

As a summary activity for the week, we ask all participants to conduct an oral history interview and present their findings to the group. We will have a number of local residents talk to you about their experiences during the Vietnam era. As a reference point, we are using the model of StoryCorps, the independent, non-profit organization that promotes oral history. You may gather ideas for crafting your interview questions by visiting the StoryCorps Question Generator.