Teacher goes back in time to learn

From Staff Reports

Josh Ault, a seventh-grade teacher at Robert T. Hill Middle School in Dallas, recently completed an intense, week-long immersion in American history at the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute. 

The Teacher Institute was created to encourage history education and make it engaging for students. Now in its 30th year, the Teacher Institute helps prepare teachers to help students meet national and state history standards through hands-on immersion experiences in colonial history. 

As a teacher in Dallas Independent School District, Ault has taught for four years at Hill. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern State University of Louisiana.

The Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute provides participants with interactive teaching techniques and skills to become mentor teachers who can assist their peers and other educators to develop active learning classrooms and make history exciting for their students. 

Teachers have the opportunity to exchange ideas with historians, meet character interpreters and explore engaging instructional strategies for use in the classroom. Participating teachers agree to conduct in-service training sessions following their attendance at Teacher Institute in order to share their experience with other teachers. Teachers also are required to develop lesson plans to implement in the classroom. 

Williamsburg is located 150 miles south of Washington, D.C., off Interstate 64. To learn more, visit history.org/history/teaching/tchsti.cfm.