Immerse yourself in Virginia's history by visiting one of our exhibitions.
Our education team currently offers a variety of professional development opportunities for educators each year:
The Weinstein Properties Story of Virginia Teachers Institute is a week-long program that is offered twice each summer. Due to the ever-evolving guidelines around COVID-19, and with our primary concern being everyone's health and safety, we have decided to cancel both sessions of our 2020 Teacher Institutes. For those who were taking the class to earn recertification points, please check out our online professional development course, Primarily Virginia, below! For those interested in diving more deeply into African American history or women's suffrage, check out our upcoming webinars.
The dates and subject of Primarily Virginia, the VMHC online institute, varies from year to year. All institutes are open to private and public school teachers of any grade level.
The Virginia Declaration of Learning Professional Development Program is an immersive teacher professional development program that seeks to bring arts and humanities subjects to life and shares the importance of civic engagement through object-based learning. Due to the ever-evolving guidelines around COVID-19, the 2020 Virginia Declaration of Learning Program will be postponed until 2021.
The Teaching Women's Suffrage one-day professional development, hosted in partnership with The Library of Virginia, will explore the fight for suffrage in Virginia, and think about what female participation in American civic life has looked like since 1920. Due to the ever-evolving guidelines around COVID-19, this workshop has been postponed until Fall 2020. Please check back for more details.
We also offer private teacher workshops using primary sources.
Interested in seeing us more often? Consider applying for our Teacher Advisory Council!
In conjunction with Longwood University, the Virginia Museum of History & Culture presents its Weinstein Properties Story of Virginia Teachers Institutes. Earn re-certification points while exploring the history of Virginia, project-based learning, and teaching with primary sources!
Each of the Weinstein Properties Summer Teachers Institutes are held at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture with a day-long field trip to the Robert Russa Moton Museum in Farmville, Virginia. Throughout the week teachers will examine stories from Virginia's past through primary sources. Experts from the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and Longwood University will provide examples for project-based learning, performance-based assessments, and tips and techniques for engaging students in grades K-12.
The cost is $50, which will be refunded upon completion of the class. In addition, we require a letter of recommendation from your supervisor. Lunches and materials are provided free of charge, and participating teachers will be eligible for CEUs and recertification points. We do not recommend registering for both sessions - while the targeted content differs, the exhibits and field trip are the same both weeks, and teaching strategies overlap heavily. For more information, contact Manager of Museum Programs Maggie Creech at 804.342.9652 or mcreech@VirginiaHistory.org.
Due to the ever-evolving guidelines around COVID-19, and with our primary concern being everyone's health and safety, we have decided to cancel both sessions of our 2020 Teacher Institutes. For those who were taking the class to earn recertification points, please check out our online professional development, Primarily Virginia, below!
Primarily Virginia is an online course designed for K-12 teachers to explore Virginia’s past by examining objects and primary sources. These pieces of the past will be used as a lens to examine different historical eras in Virginia history. All course work is to be completed through the course website, and there are no required in-person class meetings. Upon completion of the course, participating teachers will receive up to 45 re-certification points, along with a membership to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.
The course is offered three times a year and is free of charge to Virginia teachers, thanks to the generous support of the WestRock Foundation.
Registration for the Summer 2020 Session of Primarily Virginia is now open! Please register by June 25th. The course will begin on June 29, 2020. Register today!
For additional information, please contact Hailey Fenner at 804.342.9689 or hfenner@VirginiaHistory.org.
This immersive teacher professional development program seeks to bring arts and humanities subjects to life and shares the importance of civic engagement through object-based learning.
This program is exclusively for educators in the state of Virginia who work in 4-12th grade art, social studies, language arts, gifted & talented, special education, and ESL / ELL classrooms as well as those who teach as school librarians and media specialists. As a participant, teachers will gain access to historic art, objects, and resources from George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms, the American Civil War Museum, the Chrysler Museum of Art, and the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. Learn more about the Virginia Declaration of Learning Program.
Due to the ever-evolving guidelines around COVID-19, the 2020 Virginia Declaration of Learning Program will be postponed until 2021.
Tuesday, July 14th, 10:00-11:00: Abraham Lincoln, African Americans, and the Emancipation Proclamation (upper elementary)
Thursday, July 16th, 10:00-11:00: Lessons Learned (secondary students)
Tuesday, July 28th, 10:00-11:00: Suffrage Starter Pack (upper elementary)
Thursday, July 30th, 10:00-11:00: Sign of the Times (secondary students)
These programs are designed to strengthen the analytical abilities of elementary, middle, and high school teachers. Teachers will learn historical thinking skills—sourcing, contextualization, corroboration, and close reading—by using letters, diaries, documents, photographs, and maps from the society’s collections. These workshops can be conducted at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture or in your school and are perfect for in-service teacher training.
For more information, contact Manager of Museum Programs Maggie Creech at 804.342.9652 or mcreech@VirginiaHistory.org.
