This year marked the eighth time that our wonderful and eccentric history teacher, Mr. Toby Harms, has journeyed across the country in search of greater knowledge. The program that has allowed him to travel to places such as Wyoming, New York, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Washington, and now Ohio, is called the National Endowment for the Humanities or NEH. This program accepts thousands of applicants for one workshop, but only 40-60 candidates are chosen. This year 's workshop sent Mr. Harms to the Hopewell National Historical Park in Ohio to study the Ohio Mound Builders. He chose this particular workshop because they discussed the similarities and differences between the Ohio Mounds and Cahokia Mounds, which he covers in several of his classes. Mr. Harms will be using lots of new material that he learned from the trip this year in class. Within the strict schedule of the workshop, were many different seminars which were held by “the best of the best”. Among the speakers were the lead archaeologist of the Hopewell Mounds, Dr. Bradley Lepper, several different professors from around the country, and even a local Shawnee Chief. Even with the tight schedule and the long eight or nine hour days of touring and lecturing, the educators find a way to …show more content…
Overall, Harms explained that the reason why he enjoys these different workshops is because they are a great way for teachers to expand their knowledge, and he still loves learning. Being able to make connections between the workshops and the content he covers in class is very fulfilling. The only regret he has from this trip is missing out on some gourmet lavender ice cream. With this year 's NEH trip out of the way Mr. Harms is looking forward to applying for a few other workshops such as the Gilder Lehrman Workshop and American History.org’s seminars. When a teacher can make a connection between the content their teaching and real life experiences, it makes the class much more interesting and