Video Conferencing Workshops NEW

The Pare Lorentz Center and the Franklin D.Roosevelt Presidential Library will soon have the ability to bring many of our workshops, resources, lectures and presentations to you through the use of our new videoconferencing equipment.

Though nothing can replace the thrill of visiting the Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum - the nation’s first Presidential Library - in person; we realize that due to budget, time, geographic or other considerations many students and teachers are not able to do so.

Soon each of the workshops listed below, which we currently offer on site, will be available to teachers and students from coast to coast. To find out more about this exciting development or to schedule an on site workshop contact the Library’s education specialist Jeffrey Urbin by phone at (845)486-7761 or by email at Jeffrey.Urbin@nara.gov.

Workshop Descriptions and Overviews

Using Film in the Classroom Workshop

“Using Film in the Classroom” is a day-long special workshop designed to introduce teachers to the vast storehouse of materials from the Roosevelt Library’s Pare Lorentz Film Center that is available for use in the classroom. In the workshop teachers receive step-by-step instruction on how to use these film resources in their classrooms. Participants leave the workshop with more than a dozen film-related classroom activity ideas, copies of accompanying primary source documents, procedures for analyzing the materials and DVD copies of the films featured in the workshop. [60 to 90 minutes]

Racism in America: Tuskegee; Today; Tomorrow

“Racism in America” is a multi-day community engagement program for high school students that is built around the educational film, Red -Tailed Angels: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen, a Pare Lorentz Center production. The initial day of the workshop takes place at the Roosevelt Library and Museum and follow-up activities take place back in the classroom over the course of the next month as students conduct interviews in their community. Its purpose is to use historical models—in this case the Tuskegee Airmen—to exemplify strategies for coping with and overcoming racism. The workshop will focus on the experiences of the Tuskegee Airmen, the contributions of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the impact of language on our perceptions of bias. Through the use of films, tours, lectures and activities students will be challenged to define themselves as a “link” in a chain of change and then tasked with developing ideas to implement those changes in their homes, schools and communities. [Full Day Workshop]

Introduction to Resources and Programs at the Roosevelt Presidential Library

This workshop is designed as an introduction for teachers who are unfamiliar with the programs and resources the Roosevelt Presidential Library has to offer. Participants are walked through an overview of the Library’s document-based education programs, and the various options for field trips. In addition, copies of historic documents such as the “day of infamy” speech, FDR’s fireside chats and letters written to Eleanor Roosevelt will be highlighted. The Library’s online resources will also be featured for those teachers who might be unable to bring their students to the Library. [Half-Day]

Working with Primary Sources at the Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

This full day workshop is designed as a general introduction for teachers interested in preparing their students for work with primary source documents and to answer document based questions. The focus is on getting teachers and their students to understand the fundamentals of document analysis and critical thinking as well as the history and reasoning behind the recent emphasis on document based questions. Teachers will be shown innovative ways to introduce historic records and primary source documents as tools in their classroom instruction. [Full-Day]

Developing Document Based Questions from Primary Source Material from the Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

This workshop is designed for teachers interested in developing their own document-based questions drawn from the materials housed at the Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Over the course of two full-day sessions, teachers will be exposed to: the history and reasoning behind the recent emphasis on document based questions, strategies for helping their students think critically and historically, and seven simple steps for developing document based questions of their own. The vast resources of the Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum are offered as raw materials for teachers to develop and share their questions and ideas. [Two-Day]

Teaching American History Grant Multi-day Workshops

The Library’s education specialist is happy to work with those seeking or participating in a Teaching American History Grant to design a custom workshop tailored to the requirements of the grant and the needs of the teachers. With more than 17 million pages of documents, the Roosevelt Library is the world’s premier research center for the study of the Roosevelt era. Tours, lectures, workshops and audio visual materials can be made available for one, two or multi-day workshops by contacting the Library’s Education Specialist, Jeffrey Urbin at (845) 486-7761 or at Jeffrey.Urbin@nara.gov.