Education > Professional Development

Professional Development

Graduate Workshops take participants on a journey into the past, where the sites and sounds of American History come to life. The program consists of on location study of historical sites led by Foundation historians, living history presentations and lesson plan development. Each session involves at least 30 contact hours of lecturing and teaching over a five to seven-day period. The workshop is strong in historical content while also presenting the pedagogy on how to teach the content material. Participants can earn from one to three semester hours of graduate credit. Programs offered include:

• The American Revolution in the North (Boston, MA to Philadelphia, PA)
• The American Revolution in the Middle States (Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley Area) (insert link to program)
• The American Revolution in the South (Charlotte, NC to Philadelphia, PA)
• The Civil War: Western Campaigns (Jackson, MS to Atlanta, GA)
• The Civil War: Eastern Campaigns (Richmond, VA to Philadelphia, PA) (insert link to program)
• Heritage of Our Past Presidents (insert link to program)

Programs

Touring
Freedoms Foundation’s staff historians accompany participants on their journey providing vivid interpretation of the historical sites

Living History
A core component of the workshop, each night the participants have the opportunity to connect with significant historical figures such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, or Martha Washington. For example, the portrayal of George Washington vividly captures the highlights of his career - his early years as a surveyor on the western frontier, the Revolutionary War and the crucial victories at Trenton and Princeton, the desperate winter at Valley Forge, and his call to the Presidency. We come to understand his strong sense of duty towards his public and political obligations, and his constant agony at the long separations from his beloved home and family. Each interactive presentation ends with a question and answer session - the Presidential News Conference.

Lecture
The program also contains lectures by well known scholars on constitutional law or American history. Master teachers help interpret the rich historical content into classroom activities.

Staff and Faculty

Dr. Bruce Murphy

Dr. Graham Lee

John Kelly

Graduate Seminars

Seminar courses are designed to focus on current issues which represent a challenge to citizenship and to our constitutional system. Course topics have included:

• the Constitution and the Bill of Rights
• the American Presidency
• the Legislative Branch of American Government
• the American Judiciary
• National Security
• America's Global Economic Challenge
• Terrorism- Threats and Challenges to the American Way of Life
• Contemporary Issues in American Politics

Seminars are five days in length and are held on the Freedoms Foundation campus in Valley Forge. Each lecture (usually twelve or more) is approximately one hour and is followed by a question and answer period or discussion session. Speakers include distinguished and internationally known leaders in fields related to the topics of the sessions. The seminars combine a unique blend of academics with practitioners. The seminars combine a mix of pedagogy and content. Participants receive up to 3 credits from the accrediting University. Accrediting institutions have included Penn State, Georgetown, Immaculata, and St. Josephs University.

2007 Graduate Brochure

Program Highlights

Our programs feature:

• Solid academic content
• Classroom applications
• Primary Source activities
• Networking with teachers from across the United States
• Access to experts from across the country

Program Schedule:

• Terrorism
• Contemporary Issues

Speakers
Program speakers come from academia, government and business. They are selected based upon their expertise on the subject matter. They have included:

Facilitates and Accommodations- (Some sessions are held off-site)

Dinning Commons- All meals on campus are provided by the Freedoms Foundation catering staff. Our menu features a wide variety of meals, everything from a formal banquet to an outdoor BBQ. We can tailor to specific dietary needs upon request.

Housing- The Freedoms Foundation dormitories are a pre-college style setting with the ability to accommodate up to 150 guest at a time. Our rooms range from six bed rooms to singles. All of the rooms have their own private bathrooms. Each dorm has a lobby area with a TV and lounge.

Facilitates:

• Classrooms-(click for text and pictures) -All lectures are held in air conditioned classrooms in the Mac Arthur building and Martha Washington Building
• Game room (click for text and pictures) -Relax in the air conditioned Mac Arthur building and play some ping pong, shoot pool or relax on the couch and watch some TV.
• Computer Lab (click for text and pictures) -Our lab provides you high speed internet access to check mail or surf the internet (Lab is open only during designated times)
• Internet Access- All buildings have wireless internet access

Tuition and Cost-$1000.00

• – Full Schedule of programming (classes, lectures, speakers)
• – Accommodations for the conference
• – All meals on campus and off campus during the conference
• – Transportation to off-site activities, events, tours, and historic sites/museums (Also provided to and from the airport and/or train station)
• – Program Faculty, Assistants, and speakers
• – Course Materials and supplies
• – Any activities outside of the scheduled will be an additional cost