SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV—Teachers and librarians across West Virginia are encouraged to apply for Shepherd University’s “Voices from the Misty Mountains West Virginia Teacher Institute,” which will run July 10-21, 2023. The Institute was created by the Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities and will be offered both in-person and virtually to 20 teachers and librarians from across the state who work with kindergarten through 12th-grade students.
“The Institute is designed as interdisciplinary across all grade levels and teaching subjects. All teachers, librarians, and instructors of public-school students are welcome to apply,” said Dr. Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt, Institute director. “The Institute will feature visits to historic sites in the Eastern Panhandle and enriching intellectual experiences gaged to enhance pedagogy and teaching outcomes of every subject.”
The Institute aims to give teachers the instructional tools, resources, professional development, and knowledge to carry West Virginia’s rich cultural history and story to children of all ages across the state. Each participant will receive a $1,000 stipend to cover Institute expenses, individual professional development, and classroom resources and materials.
Affrilachian poet and former Kentucky poet laureate Frank X Walker will serve as the Institute’s literary artist-in-residence. Other instructors will include Adam Booth, award-winning Appalachian storyteller; Dr. James Broomall, director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War; Dr. Benjamin Bankhurst, West Virginia historian; Rachael Meads, cultural scholar and musicologist; and Shurbutt, director, Shepherd’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities and 2006 West Virginia Professor of the Year.
“Scholars and artists have been selected to inspire participants to ‘revision’ their curricula, dispel stereotypes about the region, and bring to their students a new understanding of their cultural roots and a positive self-image,” Shurbutt said.
The Institute, which is supported by the West Virginia Humanities Council through a $16,206 grant to the Shepherd University Foundation, offers graduate credit as well as certificates of completion.
To apply, teachers and librarians can visit the Institute website at https://www.shepherd.edu/apst-teacher-institute or contact Shurbutt at sshurbut@shepherd.edu.