The American Revolution Institute Master Teachers Seminar is a week-long residential program for teachers focusing on the achievements and legacy of the American Revolution. The Master Teachers Seminar is held each summer at Anderson House, the headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati, located in Washington, D.C. The seminar includes a series of morning presentations, lectures and discussions about teaching the Revolution, followed by afternoon sessions working with the rich resources in the American Revolution Institute’s library and museum collections to develop lesson plans on specific aspects of the American Revolution. The best of those lessons—credited to their authors—are published on the American Revolution Institute website for other teachers to use. Application is competitive. Teachers selected to participate in the seminar will receive a stipend for travel to and from Washington, D.C. Meals and lodging are provided at Anderson House. Additionally, each participant will receive a letter documenting sixty hours of professional development.
Our Twelfth Annual Master Teachers Seminar, to be held from July 7-13, 2024, will focus on the four major achievements of the American Revolution—our independence, our republic, our national identity and our highest ideals.
How to Apply
Applications for summer 2024 will be accepted from active teachers, subject areas specialists, school librarians, and school administrators from November 22, 2023 to February 22, 2024. Applicants should submit a cover letter expressing their interest, explaining how their students will benefit from their participation in the seminar, a resume, and a lesson proposal relevant to one of the four major achievements of the American Revolution.
For example, lesson topics on the subject of our republic might focus on:
- the nature of republics, concentrating on the ways in which the new American republics sought to protect and advance the general welfare rather than simply on constitutional arrangements like bicameralism and separation of powers;
- why the American revolutionaries chose to establish a republican form of government;
- the variety of constitutional arrangements adopted by the states to establish republics, perhaps comparing and contrasting the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, with a unicameral legislature and executive powers exercised by committee, with the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, with its bicameral legislature and stronger centralized executive;
- how the experience of a long war shaped American constitutional ideas, as reflected in the Federal Constitution;
- how American ideas about executive power evolved during the Revolution, culminating in the creation of the American presidency;
- how the Revolutionary American constitutions defined citizenship, and how that concept evolved during the Revolution; or
- how Revolutionary Americans redefined the idea of bills of rights, culminating in the Bill of Rights attached by amendment to the Federal Constitution.
These are examples. The establishment of American republics offers many other themes suitable for a lesson in a curriculum that addresses the constructive achievements of the American Revolution. Most successful lessons will span at least two class periods.
Participants will be selected based on the potential of their lessons to enrich understanding and appreciation of the American Revolution, with preference given to applicants whose applications include a preliminary list of sources on their topic, suggesting relevant materials they might consult in the American Revolution Institute library and museum collections. For information about those collections, read the Collections Overview.
APPLICATIONS FOR OUR 2025 SEMINAR, TO BE HELD JULY 13-19, WILL OPEN FALL 2024.
The American Revolution Institute Master Teachers Seminar is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.
For more information, contact:
Stacia Smith
Director of Education
ssmith@societyofthecincinnati.org
202.785.2040 x416