MARK TWAIN TEACHER’S WORKSHOP

Contributed by Henry Sweets, Museum Curator

To fulfill the mission of the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, which is “to promote awareness and appreciation of the life and works of Mark Twain and to demonstrate the relevance of his stories and ideas to citizens of the world,” educators are essential.

We receive many requests for assistance from school teachers across Missouri and around the United States. In 2006, The Mark Twain Museum offered a week-long teacher workshop as a trial to determine if such a setting would prove beneficial to teachers. The response and demand quickly grew. In each of the past four years the Museum has offered three of the week-long sessions. A majority of the teachers come from Missouri, but in the six years participants have come from 22 states outside Missouri, attesting to the need for such intensive training focused on one author.

The weeklong teachers workshops have several goals: To provide teachers with background on works by Twain, to experience the town that served as the fictionalized setting for his best known books, and to provide a forum for discussion and creative thinking about how to approach Twain’s writings in the classroom. The emphasis is on content knowledge as well as new strategies for teaching Twain’s works through integrated curriculum, multiple intelligences, and innovative ways to use technology to teach Mark Twain. Believing that knowledge is necessary to properly present an author, the teachers are immersed in Twain for the week. Background discussions cover the author’s life, his growing up in Hannibal, the inspirations Hannibal provided for his works, and the historical setting for his works. College professors and Museum staff build this base of information.

Over several days the participants trace Sam Clemens’s (Mark Twain) steps as they visit the Museum properties, climb Cardiff Hill, walk the riverfront, explore historic Hannibal, tromp through Clemens-related cemeteries, and travel to his birthplace at Florida, Missouri. Readings from Twain’s works are shared at each location to bring the sites alive.

Each summer the workshops feature one or two of Twain’s books. The Museum provides copies of the books and additional reading materials to each participant well in advance of the workshops. The concentration throughout the week is on teaching strategies, in which teachers share their own experiences. Classroom teachers, who are utilizing Mark Twain’s work, provide many pointers for the participants. They share examples of outlines, class lessons, and evaluation comments. The workshops are intended for teachers in grades three through high school. However, we have had kindergarten teachers and a few college instructors attend and find it most beneficial. In six years some 300 teachers have participated.

A key element for the week is a requirement that each teacher, alone or in a small group, develops an age-specific lesson plan. Several blocks of time are scheduled for discussion and to work on the plans. Most are completed during the week. These lesson plans are then posted on the Museum’s web site and are viewed thousands of times by teachers around the world. As of today some 132 lesson plans cover six of Mark Twain’s books and many short stories which are available to the educators.

Feedbacks we receive from attendees indicate that they are using Mark Twain in their classes. One example involves three teachers who started an after school Mark Twain Traveler’s Club. Students meet once a month and trace Mark Twain’s round-the-world lecture tour of 1895-1896, studying the countries, people and sites that he visited.

Missouri Humanities Council funding has allowed the workshops to be offered at a minimal cost for participants. Those attending receive study materials, admissions to the sites visited, transportation, lunch and dinner throughout the week. The Museum partners with Hannibal-LaGrange University to provide inexpensive housing in dormitory rooms, and graduate credits are available through Quincy University for those interested.

The Mark Twain Museum’s web site is www.marktwainmuseum.org which features many excellent resources. The timetable for the 2012 workshops will be available as soon as the dates are set. We will focus on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. To view the 2011 workshop, http://www.marktwainmuseum.org/media/Teacher%20Workshop%202011%20Reg.pdf       

Henry Sweets, Museum Curator, and Dr. Cindy Lovell, Executive Director, serve as co-chairmen for the workshops. Questions may be asked of Henry at henry.sweets@markTwainmuseum.org or by phoning 573-221-9010 extension 405.

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