“An Environment of Hope: Reimagining the Humanities in the 6-12 Classroom”

The Idaho Humanities Council hosted our annual week-long summer teacher institute July 24-28^th, 2023 at the University of Idaho. The theme for 2023 was An Environment of Hope: Reimagining the Humanities in the 6-12 Classroom. Twenty nine teachers from every region of the state and across the humanities and sciences traveled to Moscow and spent a week together on campus studying this year’s theme:

The humanities offer us an opportunity to understand the past in order to reshape the future. We live during a time of tremendous environmental challenges that impact every region of our state, all of our lives and the living world. This historic moment requires not only economic, scientific, educational and technological interventions, but a deeper understanding of what it means to be human to help us tackle these challenges and rapidly chart new ways forward. The humanities disciplines—literature, history, philosophy, religion, sociology, and more—have developed many theoretical and practical approaches to illuminate the complex human relationships to the planet and help us understand the reasons for and implications of our behavior and cultural structures.

The institute explored the environmental humanities using a variety of cutting-edge approaches; the blue humanities, energy humanities, ecopiety, multi-cultural perspectives and indigenous ways of knowing. The goal was to empower teachers with knowledge, tools and resources, and connections with teachers across the state in a variety of grades and disciplines.

Participating scholars included Terry Tempest Williams, CMarie Fuhrman of Western Colorado University and Idaho Writer in Residence, Dr. Scott Slovic from the University of Idaho, Dr. Shelley McEuen-Howard from the College of Southern Idaho, Dr. TS McMillin of Oberlin College, Dr. Sara Dantfrom Weber State University, Dr. Sarah McFarland Taylor from Northwestern University, Dr. Priscilla Ybarra from the University of North Texas, and Dr.Stephen Siperstein from Choate Rosemary Hall.

This institute was made possible by the Endowment for Humanities Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities and a grant from the Idaho Courts Community Outreach program.