Content

Workshop Dates
Session I:  July 7-12
Session II: July 14-19

Applications are due by March 17, 2008.

For more information, please send us an Email

Overview
Structure
Requirements
Professional Development Credit
Reading List and Schedule

Overview

The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles connecting Shenandoah National Park in western Virginia, to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles southwestern North Carolina and east Tennessee.  The history of the Blue Ridge Parkway is a lens to look at some of the most important themes in the first-half of the twentieth century. It incorporates the history of the creation of the
National Park Service in 1916, the history of auto tourism and the Better Road Movement, which followed quickly on the heels of the invention of motorcars once people realized muddy roads were virtually impassible.  It focuses our attention toward the political intricacies of any publicly funded projects and related controversies. Through the lens of the Parkway, we can see how the practice of eminent domain worked, how local residents responded and acted toward the government’s attempts of acquiring land. Since public works projects have been planned and implemented all across the nation, The Blue Ridge Parkway offers a useful case study for participants, no matter where they are from, to apply the general history of the Parkway to their own local, regional, or other federal project.  Those projects may be the construction of the Hoover Dam, a new highway or a new high school.

The Parkway’s history points to the desire for economic development in Appalachia.  It offers examples of how some communities such as Asheville, North Carolina placed faith in the Parkway for bringing tourism and a return to better economic times while others saw the Parkway bringing more hardship as right of ways to the road for many locals were limited by federal planners. 

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Structure

We have structured this workshop to help participants: 1) Understand the origins of the Blue Ridge Parkway and how the Parkway reflects many of the central themes in the history of the United States 2) Acquire a skill set that focuses on analysis of primary source materials including government documents, photographs, material objects, landscape analysis, map use, and oral history.3) Gain sufficient practice in incorporating the new content and skill set into social studies or civics curriculum to develop lesson plans for your courses.

Each day will begin with an opening lecture and discussion. During this time you will have a chance to interact with experts on the Blue Ridge Parkway. On most days after the morning lecture, you will break into small group work where you will get a chance to work first-hand with primary sources guided by experts in the field.  After lunch break, we will take field trips to various sites along the Parkway traveling by air-conditioned tour buses.  We will be back at the University for dinner each night.

Each of the six days of the workshop will focus particular themes in the Parkway’s unique history.  We will begin the workshop with a pre-drive on the Parkway where you will have a chance to reflect on your first impressions of the Parkway.  After your arrival on Sunday afternoon, we’ll head out to the Parkway for a late afternoon scenic drive.  On Monday, Anne Mitchell Whisnant, author of a new definitive history of the Parkway will offer an overview of the complex history of the Parkway’s construction.  On Tuesday, renowned environmental historian, Tim Silver will lead us in a discussion of “constructed nature” and the history of natural resource issues of the Parkway.  The same day we will visit the Moses Cone Memorial Park, outside of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, where we will tour the
grounds with retired NPS interpreter Phil Noblitt, who has written extensively on the history of the Cone Memorial Park. Wednesday will focus on the people who built the Parkway and communities where the Parkway passes through.  Two authorities on Appalachian culture will speak to the group.  In addition, we will visit the Appalachian Collection, a repository of more than 37,000 volumes of books, and many periodical and manuscript sources that relate to the Appalachian region.  Thursday will focus on the history of recreation along the Parkway as well as issues of class and race.  Field trips to two of the Parkway’s major recreation areas will be part of this day’s activities. Friday will focus on the government and its role in building the Parkway. We will end our workshop with a post-drive of the Parkway with time to reflect on the week.

Participants will receive readings two months before the workshop.  Readings will include Anne Mitchell Whisnant’s Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History; Phil Noblitt’s Mansion in the Mountains: The Story of Moses and Bertha Cone and Their Blowing Rock Manor; Tim Silvers’s Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History; and selected articles. Those selected readings will inform our morning sessions in a general way and more particularly form the bases for our discussions in our small group work.

Participants will also receive a CD collection of primary sources and a map of the Parkway.  We will provide expert teacher at both the K-8 and secondary level to encourage and assist elementary, middle and secondary teachers in developing curriculum materials. These master teachers are from the local area and have used the Parkway in their own curriculum.  They will be available to assist participants in thinking of creative ways to incorporate the content and skills into grade appropriate materials.  Sharing of materials will be encouraged through a website where curriculum materials can be posted.  There will be time during small group work and during some afternoons to work on curriculum development.

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Requirements

Workshop participants will be encouraged to develop lesson plans or projects that incorporate the Parkway and post their plans to the Workshop website. Each participant will be asked to complete evaluations of the workshop at the end of the week.  In addition, by October 1, 2008, each participant will e-mail to the director a brief report on how they have or plan to incorporate information gleaned from the workshop into their courses.

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Professional Development Credit

Appalachian State University will issue all participants Certificates of Completion that will specify the content and the total number of contact hours for the workshop.

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