NEW DATE!

On Saturday August 29, 2009, Stones River National Battlefield, in partnership with the Nashville Public Television and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, is sponsoring a six-hour workshop for 8th through 12th grade educators. Participants in this workshop will produce a number of curriculum based lesson plans that can be used by teachers across the nation to teach history, science, language arts, and other subjects using the unique resources of America’s national parks.

From 8:30 AM to 4 PM, educators will an in depth orientation to the unique natural and historic resources that the National Park Service cares for and interprets at Stones River National Battlefield. They will also be exposed to the vast array of resources that the National Park Service manages across the nation. Following the workshop, teachers will create and submit lesson plans that will be made available to the public through the partner websites.

Lunch and snacks will be provided to all participants. Each teacher who submits a completed lesson plan will also receive a $75 stipend.

This workshop is one of four programs made possible by a $10,000 grant from the National Park Foundation through the generous support of the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund. This grant has allowed the National Park Service to embark on a series of special projects and programs designed to engage teachers, families, and community groups in using the national parks as living classrooms and to encourage the public to re-connect with their national parks. This effort is designed to take advantage of the increased publicity expected from the September release of Ken Burns’ new film The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, a co-production of PBS/WETA and Florentine Films that creates an unprecedented opportunity to use the dynamic medium of film to reach out to young people and adults through outreach programs.