ISSUED: 17 July 2023
MEDIA CONTACT: Dana Costa
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Appalachian culture was the focus of a Shepherd University workshop for 20 teachers and librarians working in kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms. This year’s “Voices from the Misty Mountains Teacher Institute” aims to give teachers the resources to carry Appalachia’s story and rich cultural history to school children of all ages.
“Teachers explored a range of topics about the region and the state, including the first Appalachian Native Americans, Colonial and Civil War Appalachia, industrial Appalachia, the mine wars, and African American contributions to the region,” said Dr. Sylvia Bailey Shurbutt, director of Shepherd’s Center for Appalachian Studies and Communities.
Each participant received a $1,000 stipend so they can acquire tools, materials, resources, and professional development to enhance their work.
Former Kentucky Poet Laureate and Affrilachian poet Frank X Walker speaks to teachers attending the Misty Mountains Institute.
Daniel Summers, library media specialist at University High School in Morgantown, West Virginia, next school year, attended the workshop because he’s interested in local Appalachian authors and wants to encourage that interest in others.
“I’m hoping that I’m able to take some of the things that I’ve done here and some of the literature that I’d never been exposed to before back to my school and share it out to faculty,” Summers said. “I’d like to get them interested in teaching more local place-based content, local authors, and living poets and writers. I’ve collected a ton of resources, physical and digital and maybe more importantly emotional, that I can hopefully find a way to display and get out to student and faculty hands in my building.”
Megan Peters of Martinsburg, West Virginia, teaches English at Jefferson High School in Jefferson County, West Virginia. She hopes to interest her students in reading literature that focuses on where they’re from.
“I think they would find it very interesting,” she said. “I didn’t know a lot of this information until I took this class. You hear such horrible things about being Appalachian, but it’s not that way. You learn that Appalachians are very proud people, and they work hard. I’ve really enjoyed this class.”
Ellen Wade of Oak Park, Illinois, is a graduate of Shepherd’s Master of Arts in Appalachian Studies program and a learning behavior specialist at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois. She works with students who have special education concerns and who have just transitioned out of high school into college. Wade points out her students are often left out because attention is usually directed toward the general education classroom.
“It’s valuable to have the opportunity to receive a lot of information about poetry and history and take it back to present in different modules of learning—how to do poetry, how to do fiction, and how to do technology,” she said.
Teachers who attended the workshop, which was funded by the West Virginia Humanities Council, are:
- Berkeley County, West Virginia: Monica Gillions, kindergarten, Keyonda Dudrow, second grade, Alanda Hall, kindergarten, and Lori Clark, kindergarten, all of Spring Mills Primary School; Cheryl Snyder, multi subject teacher, Martinsburg South Middle School; Jessica Washburn, English language arts, Spring Mills High School; and Brandon Dolly, biology, and Tanner Boeckmann, English language arts, both from Martinsburg High School.
- Jefferson County, West Virginia: Andrea Mitchell, fourth grade, Shepherdstown Elementary School; and Megan Peters, English language arts, Jefferson High School.
- Mercer County, West Virginia: Christine Fink, learning support and substitute teacher; Glenna Woodring, sixth grade, Pike View Middle School; and Jean Hanna Davis, adult education.
- Monongalia County, West Virginia: Daniel Summers, library media specialist, University High School; and Nathan Houser, civics and world studies, Morgantown High School.
- Pocahontas County, West Virginia: Julia Williams, adult education.
- Montgomery County, Maryland: Ned MacFadden, seventh grade media specialist, Eastern Middle School; and Kaitlin Cavanagh, fifth grade, Great Seneca Creek Elementary School.
- Allegany County, Maryland: Dr. Emily K. Milleson, associate professor, Frostburg State University.
- Oak Park, Illinois: Ellen Wade, Behavior Specialist, Triton College.
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