UMaine Teachers’ Conference to Explore Biographies as Insights into the Past
Contact: Liam Riordan, 581-1913; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — Sometimes we learn as much about history by looking at details of the personal lives of historic characters as we do from cold, hard facts about historic events.
The University of Maine History Department’s 11th annual conference for Maine middle and high school teachers on Oct. 28 will explore that concept as part of its day-long program, “Biography and the Past: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Teaching Strategies.”
The annual event, held since 1995, is expanding its scope this year to include a variety of disciplines beyond social studies, the traditional focus. Conference presenters include specialists in American studies, English and literature, folklore, fine art, Native American studies and history, says Liam Riordan, associate professor of history and conference organizer.
The conference draws roughly 100 teachers to campus to participate in a variety of presentations about how to use recent scholarship in the classroom. The conference will be in Wells Conference Center on the UMaine campus in Orono.
Registration is $30, which includes morning coffee, tea and refreshments and a buffet lunch at noon. Participants can also receive 0.6 CEU credits for attending the conference by filling out a form the day of the conference and paying a $5 fee.
On-site registration begins at 8:30 a.m. The first formal event will be a keynote lecture starting at 9 a.m. by scholar Daniel Horowitz, professor of American studies and history at Smith College, whose talk is titled “The Historian’s Craft and the Writing of Biography.” Horowitz has won prizes for two books with a biographical focus on the 20th century United States.
Afterwards, three concurrent morning panels will address different issues related to biography and how to use biographies in the classroom. Discussion panels are: “Literary Biography in the Internet Age: Bringing Dickinson, Longfellow and Mary Ellen Chase into the Classroom;” “Good and Bad Political Biography: The Pulitzer Prize, Vietnam and Japan;” and “Maine People as Living Archives: Oral Interviews and Biographical Evidence.”
The luncheon speaker is James E. Francis, the Penobscot Nation Tribal Historian.
An after lunch poster session from1:15-2:45 p.m. includes brief presentations and small group discussions on such topics as: “How Teachers Can Use Biographies in the Classroom,” “Penobscot Nation Educational Resources,” “Culturally Appropriate Wabanaki Classroom Curriculum,” “Napoleon,” “Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary,” “The Stories of Holocaust Survivors,” “Living History Museums and the Classroom,” “Women Reformers in the Antebellum U.S.,” and “Founding Fathers: Great Men and Commoners in the American Revolution.”
Classroom resources to examine and purchase will be displayed.
The day ends with an artist-led tour of Robert Shetterly’s exhibit “Truthtellers,” currently at the UMaine Carnegie Hall Galleries, at 3 p.m.
Free parking will be reserved in the Corbett Lot near Memorial Gym and Wells Conference Center. Advance on-line registration information can be found at: www.umaine.edu/history/TeachHTYinME.htm. For more information, contact Riordan at 581-1913.