OFE News Release
Oklahoma Educators Immersed in History at Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute
July 29, 2004
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Twenty-six Oklahoma teachers walked in the
footsteps of America’s patriots and British colonists during the
Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute held recently in the restored
capital city of 18th-century Virginia.
The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence selected 25 Oklahoma teachers to receive all-expense paid trips to the summer institute in Williamsburg, Va., as well as $100 stipends for classroom materials. In addition, participants received a one-year subscription to the Colonial Williamsburg Electronic Fieldtrips, which combine Internet activities and live television broadcasts to help bring the Colonial Williamsburg experience to the classroom
Participants, listed by school district, are: Kelley Williams, AGRA; Jan Fisher, BEAVER; Ann Laley, BIXBY; Linda Goodnight, BUTNER; Paula Evans, Ruthie Rayner and Jana Dolton, EDMOND; Denise Sanford, EL RENO; Vhonda Longacre, Frederick; Susie Davies, IDABEL; Deanna Gordon, JENKS; Lori Newell and Donna Sloas, LAWTON; Stephanie Prandy, LITTLE AXE; Carol Scott, MUSTANG; Stephanie Stevens, OAKDALE: Samantha Lancaster, OILTON; Lea Ann Johns, OWASSO; Susan Hall, PAWHUSKA; Jenny Holland, PUTNAM CITY; Glania Trimble, SEMINOLE; Melanie Berrigan, STILLWATER; Sherrye Paxton, STROTHER; Diana Tate, UNION; and Amy Harmon, WESTERN HEIGHTS.
Teresa Potter of MOORE Public Schools was selected by the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute to serve as peer facilitator for the Oklahoma delegation. Potter, who is a Teacher Institute alumna and coordinator of Oklahoma’s Colonial Day at the Capitol, met daily with the group to discuss teaching techniques and develop creative lesson plans based on their experiences in Williamsburg.
While at Colonial Williamsburg -- the world’s largest living history museum -- Oklahoma teachers met character interpreters of 18th-century people and were immersed in early American history through hands-on activities and reenactments of historic events. The week’s lessons were built around the theme “Becoming Americans.” Participants also visited Jamestown, the site of the first permanent English colony in America, and spent a day at Yorktown visiting the battlefields where the Continental Army forced the British to surrender.
“No textbook can replace the inspiration and knowledge gained by walking in the footsteps of early Americans, both famous and ordinary,” said fifth-grade Butner Elementary School teacher Linda Goodnight of Wewoka. Visualizing George Washington and his troops at Surrender Field, debating in the courtroom where Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry pled the cause of liberty, learning to make rope in Jamestown colony will ignite my teaching – and my students – forever.
“The Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute is by far the finest, most comprehensive teacher training I have ever attended,” Goodnight added. “I am a better American and a better teacher because of it.”
This marks the 12th year that the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence has coordinated Oklahoma’s participation in the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute. Funding is provided by individuals, corporations and foundations, led by Oklahoma City businessman Edward C. Joullian III, who has served on the board of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He also is a trustee of the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence, which recognizes and encourages academic excellence in Oklahoma’s public schools.
For more information, contact the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence at (405) 236-0006 or e-mail bwheelock@ofe.org.
CONTACT:
Brenda Wheelock,
OFE Communications Director
(405) 236-0006; e-mail bwheelock@ofe.org