Bolingbrook Teacher Wins Scholarship to Colonial Williamsburg

Hawthorne congratulates Susan Bahl, a second grade teacher at Jonas E Salk Elementary School in Bolingbrook, who was awarded a grant provided by Hawthorne to participate in a week-long Early American History workshop at the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute in Williamsburg, Va. More than 600 teachers will attend the Institute in 2007. More than 4,500 teachers from 47 states have participated since the Institute’s inception in 1990. Bahl was one of 25 teachers selected among hundreds of applicants to attend the week-long Institute July 10-17.

The Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute was created by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to encourage history education and make it exciting and engaging for students. Now in its 17th year, the Teacher Institute helps teachers and students meet national and state history standards through on-site, hands-on immersion experiences in colonial history. Teachers will also prepare new classroom teaching materials as part of the workshop.

Bahl has taught for four years at Jonas Salk Elementary. She holds a business degree from DuPaul University where and a Masters Degree in Education also from DePaul University.

The Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute provides participants with interactive teaching techniques and with the skills to become mentor teachers, assisting their peers and other educators in developing new techniques for teaching American History to students.
The Teacher Institute offers participants an extensive background in colonial history from the first English settlement at Jamestown to the American Revolution. Teachers participate in re-enactments of 18th century events and meet historians and interpreters portraying historical figures. Participants share teaching strategies to improve instruction, raise literacy levels and enhance historical thinking skills. Teachers that attend the Institute agree to conduct in-service training sessions to share their knowledge with other teachers.

Hawthorne joined credit unions in other states to send local teachers to the Teacher Institute and to fund all expenses. In addition, dozens of credit unions have supported the award-winning American History education programs produced by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation by funding electronic field trips for local schools. The electronic field trips are interactive television events that bring the 18th century to life for millions of students nationwide.

Educational outreach initiatives at Colonial Williamsburg embody the motto adopted at the dawn of the restoration of the city that gave birth to the nation’s principles and values: “That the future may learn from the past.”