Striving for Excellence and Accountability
in the Teaching of Traditional American History
SEATTAH Application Information
What is the SEATTAH program and what will it do for
you?
SEATTAH is a program designed specifically for public
school teachers to broaden and deepen their knowledge of the fundamental
documents, ideas, individuals, literary works and events that have shaped
American history and politics. The
program provides full-tuition scholarships, a $450 annual stipend, room and
board, and travel expenses to eligible participants for a maximum of three
years.
“By helping teachers to
develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of traditional American
history as a separate subject matter within the core curriculum, these
programs will improve instruction and raise student achievement.” –U. S.
Department of Education, 2002
How is
the SEATTAH program implemented and led?
The
SEATTAH program is led academically by the combined efforts of the University
of Dallas (UD) and the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture (DIHC),
administered by The North Hills School, and funded by the Teaching American
History Grant Program of the U. S. Department of Education.
Who is eligible to apply for the SEATTAH program?
Teachers
in Texas open-enrollment charter schools and TEA Regions X and XI are eligible
to participate in the grant program.
What are the SEATTAH grant participation
requirements for teachers?
The grant will run for three years.
Full participation is preferred; teachers, however, may choose to
participate on an annual basis. For
each year of participation teachers will:
-
Attend a three-week summer course at The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture (worth six graduate credit hours in American Studies or Humanities at the University of Dallas). The 2003 summer course, Classical Models of Political Order, will run from July 7 to 25. In this course, teachers will read with care and discuss at length the great political and literary works that best reflect man’s social nature and bear upon the American founding. The courses in the two succeeding summers will be Modern Sources of American Thought (2004) and Biography, Leadership and Constitutionalism (2005).
-
Attend two Saturday sessions offered at UD, co-sponsored by the Departments of Education, History, and Politics, beginning in September 2003 and running through April 2005. During the sessions, teachers will examine and evaluate strategies for integrating the content from the summer institute courses into a portfolio of classroom materials for their own students. Three graduate credit hours in Education at UD may be earned by completing the SEATTAH online course requirements and attending a total of four Saturday sessions over the course of the grant. During the summer of 2005, teachers may earn another three graduate credit hours in Education by completing a three-week course on the UD campus aimed at evaluating, selecting, and constructing SEATTAH online resources for American history teachers.
Upon acceptance as a SEATTAH grant participant, each
teacher will sign a letter of commitment to attend the summer course and two
Saturday sessions, complete a portfolio of classroom materials, and
participate in an annual survey administered by the National Council of
Teacher Qualify to evaluate the effectiveness of the grant program.
To apply, please complete the application. Be sure to obtain the signature of your school principal to verify your teaching position.
Click here to open the SEATTAH application form in MS Word. Click File, Save As to save it to your hard drive or a disk. Print the application, fill it out and return it to the address on the form.
