Teacher Professional Development

Discover new teaching practices and broaden your knowledge through MNHS teacher professional development. Educator workshops are offered by the History Day and Teacher Education teams.

Black and white image of Silent March from 1917

Civil Rights Over Time

Cost: Free 
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2024, 9:00-3:30 
Location: Minnesota History Center (St. Paul, MN) 
Audience: K-12 Teachers

Registration is currently full. Add your name to the waiting list by clicking below.

Waiting List    

What does Freedom mean?  Join the Minnesota Historical Society and the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute for a well-rounded look at Civil Rights through time. Trace the origins of the Civil Rights movement from the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction through the Twentieth century. Explore how various groups navigated the quixotic environment of post-Civil War America and gain strategies that connect past to present in a meaningful and culturally responsive ways.

Your in-person registration includes:

✔ Light breakfast   ✔ Lunch   ✔ Exhibits Access   ✔ CEUs   ✔ Parking

Contact Heidi Kloempken with program questions. Contact Jessica McMahon with registration questions.

Image from Library of Congress. 

Mille Lacs Museum Display

Effective Practices in Teaching Native American History and Culture Through Art   

Cost: $70   
Date: Thursday, July 18, 10:00 - 4:00
Location: Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post  
Audience: Classroom teachers using Northern Lights Minnesota Studies curriculum 

Register

Visit Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post to expand your knowledge of Ojibwe history and culture, practice hands-on learning, and explore best practices around teaching Native American history and culture. Engage with one of the MNHS Native American Artists in Residence and learn about the connections between historical and contemporary Indigenous art in the Mille Lacs Indian Museum collection. Participants will do an art project and work with teacher educators to critically analyze teaching approaches that will bring this content to students with fidelity.  
 

Participants will receive:   
✔ Resources for classroom application   ✔ Lunch    ✔ Admission to Mille Lacs Indian Museum exhibits   ✔ Tour of the Four Seasons room   ✔ Tour of the archival collection   ✔ Mileage subsidy for those driving over 50 miles round trip (Application required)    ✔ Hotel subsidy for those driving over 200 miles round trip (Application required)

Contact Kara Knight with program or subsidy questions. Contact Jessica McMahon with registration questions.

Black and white image. Teacher stands in the front of a classroom with a pointer.

History Fest

Cost: $50
Date: Thursday, August 8, 9:00-3:30
Location: Minnesota History Center (St. Paul, MN) 
Audience: K-12 Teachers

Register

Minnesota teachers of history: join us for History Fest, a full day of sessions about teaching history in the classroom! Get ready for the 2024-2025 school year with a choice of educator-led sessions focusing on state, national and world history, as well as assessments, primary sources, and more. Connect with your history peers from around the state! This workshop has sessions for elementary, middle, and high school levels. A tentative agenda will be posted later. The keynote speaker will be Cathy Coats, author of To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota

Interested in presenting at History Fest? Session proposals are due May 3 and can be submitted here

Participants will receive: 

✔ Light breakfast      ✔ Lunch     ✔ Exhibit access      ✔ 6.5 CEUs     ✔ Parking 

Returning in 2024: You are invited to a complimentary social event following History Fest, August 8. EnjoyHistory Happy Hour on the Field with snacks and a baseball game. The program includes stories with Frank White, author of They Played for the Love of the Game: Untold Stories of Black Baseball in Minnesota and time to explore the City of Baseball Museum. The St. Paul Saints will be playing the Columbus Clippers. Sign-up below and join us for a fun-filled conclusion to a day of learning!

Tentative agenda:

4:45 Meet at CHS Field  
5:00 Learn with Frank White, local historian and author of They Played for the Love of the Game 
5:30 Explore Museum or enjoy pre-game food and drink 
7:07 Game time! 

Register

Contact Heidi Kloempken with program questions. Contact Jessica McMahon with registration questions.

Image from Minnesota Digital Library

Northern Lights.

Northern Lights 101 Webinar

Cost: Free for Northern Lights teachers  
Virtual meeting platform: Zoom video conferencing;
The same session will be offered multiple times: 

  • Friday, August 23, 1-3 pm
  • Tuesday, August 27, 2-4 pm
  • Tuesday, September 17, 3:30-5:30 pm

Register

First time teaching with the Northern Lights Interactive eBook? Need a refresher before the 2023-24 school year? Join Northern Lights teacher educators from the Minnesota Historical Society for an introductory webinar about Northern Lights  -- from the content it covers, to the different curriculum components, and hallmarks of the curriculum. Get a walk-through of the Northern Lights Interactive eBook and have practice time to navigate the new eBook platform and ask questions.

The session will address changes to the Minnesota social studies standards, how the current curriculum addresses them, and measures we are taking at MNHS to align the curriculum with those standards with greater fidelity.

The webinar will be repeated synchronously multiple times to accommodate your schedule. Zoom video conferencing will be used. Connecting via a device with a larger-screen video feed (laptop, desktop, or tablet) will be essential to benefit from this session. 

Sessions are free for Northern Lights subscribers, but registration is required. Contact Kara Knight with questions.

History Day Teacher Workshops

There are no History Day workshops scheduled at this time.

Cancellation policy

  • Registrants canceling 24 hours before the workshop are eligible for a refund or credit. (This includes weather related cancellations.)
  • Registrants unable to attend a workshop may send someone in their place; substitutions will be made at the registration desk the day of the event.
  • No refunds or credits will be granted for nonattendance.