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Piedmont to hold Foxfire workshops for teachers (2-28-06) Piedmont College will hold two summer workshops for teachers who want to implement the Foxfire approach to classroom instruction. The first workshop, for teachers K-12, is scheduled for two weeks, June 12-23, at the Foxfire Center near Clayton, Ga. The workshop will cover the 11 Foxfire Core Practices designed to engage students in their subject and will include an examination of Foxfire’s pedagogical foundations. The workshop instructors will also work with teachers in developing plans for their own courses in the coming school year. Tuition for the residential workshop is $930 and includes lodging, two meals a day, and course materials. Lodging is provided at the Foxfire Center. The second workshop, for college instructors, is scheduled for one week, July 9-14, also at the Foxfire Center. This workshop is a condensed version of the earlier workshop and is for all fields and disciplines. College professional development credits are awarded. Tuition for the residential workshop is $500. Piedmont College is now in its third year of partnership with the Foxfire Fund to conduct the Foxfire Program for Teachers. In addition to the summer workshops, the college offers regularly scheduled graduate courses in the Foxfire approach for teachers at all levels. Dr. Hilton Smith, coordinator of the outreach program for Piedmont, said "Foxfire is not just about cultural journalism. It applies to all grade levels and all subjects. Even in the education specialist program here at Piedmont it has been used very effectively for college level courses." The Foxfire "approach" is not a method of instruction, nor a technique to be employed on occasions, "but an overall approach to instruction every day, every period," Smith said. "For most practitioners, that involves three or more years of letting go of the practices and teacher dispositions of conventional instruction and becoming comfortable and fluent with Foxfire. The Core Practices are never entirely mastered, so they serve as a continuing referent for improvement and trouble-shooting problems in the classroom. Participants in the course usually find themselves unearthing and sorting out notions about learning and teaching that they have unconsciously acquired over the years," he said. Smith taught Foxfire social studies classes at Rabun County High School while assisting with the editing of books in the E.P. Dutton Foxfire single-topic series. From 1987 to 1994 he coordinated Foxfire’s Teacher Outreach Programs. For additional information, teachers can contact Smith at hsmith@piedmont.edu, or call (706) 778-8500 extension 1297. -30- |
