Mystic Seaport offers a series of free, monthly professional development sessions for teachers. The upcoming workshops, and food, are free, but space is limited, so sign up now.
Connecticut’s Unsung Heroes Program
with Barbara Jarnagin, Associate Director of School & Family Programs, Mystic Seaport
November 16, 4-6 pm
Connecticut was and still is a very inventive state full of ingenious people. There are many Connecticut citizens who have invented great things to make our lives safer, easier, and fairer. What was it about the small developing towns in this small state that produced such big thinkers?
With direct ties to the Connecticut Social Studies Frameworks, “Connecticut’s Unsung Heroes” is a new program for grades 2-8, tailored to your town’s history, introducing new vocabulary and examining products of the town, region and state. Through hands-on activities, students will understand why their town developed over time in the way that it did and what their hometown’s claim to fame was by discussing famous people and inventions that came from their town. They will learn what industries have come and gone in their town as well as our state and why, and learn how their town’s inventions and people contributed to the growth and strength of the state and the country. In addition, students will learn how the geography of the state (soil, water, natural resources, etc.) and the locations of major towns directly correlate to the concentrations of revolutionary ideas.
During this Professional Development session, teachers will have a chance to make one of Connecticut’s popular products, as well as have a local geography lesson, 19th century style.
Finding Your Way: Navigation at Sea
with Treworgy Planetarium Supervisor, Brian Koehler & Associate Director of School and Family Programs, Barb Jarnagin
December 14, 4-6 pm
Last year, the Mystic Seaport Museum hosted an exhibit called, “Ships, Clocks, and Stars: The Quest for Longitude.” On loan from the Royal Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, the exhibit allowed us to tell the story of maritime navigation like never before.
While the exhibit has moved on, the opportunity to teach navigation remains, and the Museum’s Education Department has designed two new on-site programs for school groups – “Explorers and Navigators” for grades 2-4, and “Finding Our Way: Navigation at Sea” for grades 5-12.
This workshop will introduce teachers to each program, before allowing them to experience a hybrid combination of elements from both. Teachers will experience activities including chartwork, taking a compass bearing, determining speed using a chip log, and measuring angles using a sextant.
To RVSP for either workshop, or for more information, email krystal.rose@mysticseaport.org.
