Humanities Programs for K-12 Teachers

The Maine Humanities Council has been offering and supporting programs for teachers for nearly twenty years. Designed to introduce teachers to contemporary scholarly approaches to both familiar and unfamiliar areas of study in the humanities, the programs vary in length from half-day workshops to monthly reading and discussion seminars to three-and four-week summer institutes. Taught by independent scholars and faculty from Maine's private colleges and the University of Maine system, the programs are content-rich, intellectually challenging "back-to-college" opportunities for Maine teachers.

In 1988 the Council established the Maine Collaborative, a separate organization to provide Maine teachers the opportunity for intensive study on topics in the humanities. Over a period of ten years, the Collaborative brought visibility, and over $1 million in grant funding, to programs for Maine teachers. This organization rejoined the Maine Humanities Council in 1997 as the Council's teacher education division.

Maine Humanities Council teacher enrichment programs encourage lifelong learning, improve teaching and affect hundreds of students each year.