- Spring Hill Middle
- Past School Years
- 2022-23 News
Mrs. Lual Wins Coveted Slot at Summer Professional Development Institute 4/26/2023
Spring Hill Middle School’s very own Sydney Lual is headed to Philadelphia this July to participate in a rather distinguished professional development opportunity. Mrs. Lual, who currently teaches 7th grade social studies but is transitioning to 8th grade U.S. History next year, secured a slot in The First Amendment in 21st Century America, a National Endowment of the Humanities summer Institute. The Institute accepts forty teachers from across the nation, with only five of those slots going to teachers in the first five years of their teaching career. This is Mrs. Lual’s second year of teaching.
The National Endowment for the Humanities is a federal agency that funds humanities education in the United States. Through their funding, they sponsor different institutes & professional development programs for teachers during the summer. The institute in which Mrs. Lual will be participating is sponsored at the Rendell Center in Philadelphia, PA.
While at the Institute, Mrs. Lual will learn from constitutional and legal scholars as well as federal judges on issues and cases concerning the First Amendment. She will also take part in a moot Supreme Court, a simulated court trial held to analyze a hypothetical case. Outside of class time, she will visit many of the historical sites of Philadelphia, where American democracy was born. Participating teachers will return to work in the fall with skills, tools, materials, lesson plans, and activities for their classrooms, in addition to a network of educators with whom to share and build ideas into the future.
Lual shared, “I am excited to attend the NEH institute & learn more about how to teach the constitution to 21st Century learners. It is going to be a great segway to 8th grade U.S. History & will hopefully help me be a better teacher. I can't wait to learn amongst other teachers & scholars; it's going to be awesome!”