News Release — May 13, 2008

Ransom Center, Region XIII Team Up for Teaching Workshops

The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center and Education Service Center Region XIII announce free teacher workshops examining the United States in the 1950s. These workshops are held in conjunction with the Ransom Center's exhibition "On the Road with the Beats."

The workshops will take place at the Ransom Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on July 28 and 29. Morning content will focus on themes explored in the exhibition, including McCarthyism, the Red Scare, the Cold War and the atomic bomb. Afternoon sessions focus on the "Conformity and Change" in post-World War II America, including the move to suburbia and the trend towards stability, and the "Seeds of Rebellion," the beginning of rock 'n' roll and the youth movement focused on self-expression.

The workshops will include a tour of the exhibition; presentations by professors and graduate students at The University of Texas at Austin; Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)-based lesson plans written by Region XIII professionals and primary source materials that can be used in the classroom, including facsimiles of manuscripts, texts, photographs, images and other materials from the Ransom Center's collections. The workshops will provide participants six hours of professional development credit through Region XIII.

The sessions are free and open to all teachers, but space is limited. Registration for the sessions is available through the Region XIII Ecampus system. The workshop identification numbers are SU0812605 for July 28 and SU0812614 for July 29.

Funding for the workshops is provided by The Relevant Constitution Teaching American History grant project.