This Past weekend I had the opportunity to attend a weekend seminar titled Presidents and the Constitution: Abraham Lincoln. The conference was sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute in conjunction with the Liberty Fund and was held in Springfield Illinois. If you have never attended a Bill of Rights Institute for teachers you’re missing out on a unique professional development opportunity as I found this seminar to be both intellectually stimulating and a lot of fun. Participants receive a bundle of primary document writing on their subject, in this case Abraham Lincoln, several months prior to the conference which we are expected to read and think deeply about prior to arrival, we then engaged in several colloquia of various themes concerning those readings. The seminars were led by a professor, but they acted more as a discussion queue then as a conversation leader, I found this to be very beneficial in the sense that unlike other institutes, I did not feel as if there was an agenda, conversation truly was participant driven and revealed the depth of thought of some very amazing teachers. Teachers possessed a variety of different backgrounds in regards to their knowledge level about Lincoln, not being a Lincoln expert I had the opportunity learn from educators with years of experience in regards to Lincoln scholarship and was the ultimate expression of teacher intellectual development.
Accommodations, to include meals were held at the thirty-story Springfield Hilton, which provided a splendid view of the surrounding area to include the Illinois state building and Lincoln’s home and law offices, all in walking distance. Participants had the opportunity to visit Springfield’s historic district and tour the Lincoln home, which was splendidly preserved and decorated in its original 1860s décor. The home was what I expected from Lincoln in the sense that it was comfortable upper-middle class but not ostentatious. Moving from room to room I could imagine Lincoln at his writing desk or wrestling on the living room floor with his boys, or receiving the news in his parlor that he had been nominated by the Republican Party to run for presidency in 1860. The experience revealed Lincoln’s humanity and helped me to better understand the man and his family and was truly a fantastic learning experience. In addition to the house tour, the National Parks Service conducted a PowerPoint slide show and short documentary video concerning Lincoln; we also received binders that contained several lesson plans and resources about Lincoln and his home. In addition participants were treated to a tour of the Illinois “Old State Capitol” building and the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library. The museum contained many state of the art exhibits to include life sized wax figures, 3-D movies and holograms and many other interesting sights as well as countless other Lincoln artifacts and memorabilia. Overall the seminar was an excellent experience as I have come to understand Lincoln on a much deeper and profound level, the facilitators, accommodations and my fellow colleagues all contributed to a top notch learning opportunity and I strongly recommend this program to all teachers interested in learning more about Lincoln and the Constitution.
