CASE Conference: Call for Proposals Still Open, Early Registration Still Available

[Council on American Studies Education]

American Studies Colleagues,

Just sending out the last reminder of the year for the 2016 CASE conference.  Held at the Chicago History Museum, on Friday, February 26, our theme is America Reflected.

The deadline for submissions is this Friday, December 18. The deadline for early registration is December 31. Go to http://www.casechicago.org

Just as a song, play, or painting shows the personality of the artist,  so too do they show America’s personality.  

The clean prairie style design of Frank Lloyd Wright came at the same time that Hemingway’s prose showed a lean, uniquely American style.  Why is that?  What was going on in our country that moved architecture and literature in that direction?   Likewise, Woody Guthrie’s protest songs advocating worker’s rights or equal treatment did not come from nothing.  Turn on the TV or watch a movie.  On these screens we see America’s character, dreams, troubles, and growing pains. How might Modern Family tell us about ourselves--where we have been and where we are going?

This year’s CASE conference will consider how our basic disciplines of U. S. History and American Literature are reflected in the fine, folk, and pop arts.

We hope you will consider presenting a lesson or project that builds on the theme “America Reflected.” Again, the proposal deadline is Dec. 18, 2015.

Note that you may submit your own 50-minute session or team up with up to two other teachers producing lessons and/or projects on similar topics. Examples of suggested topics include:

-American protest songs

-How architecture tells America’s story
-How science and invention reflects American philosophy
-Using American art to illustrate U.S. History or American Literature
-Examining the ideal of the American family as mirrored in television shows
-Hollywood’s faithfulness—and lack thereof—to the facts
-Using the 50 most iconic photographs in the classroom
-Classical music and the American Dream
-The evolution of presidential campaign songs

Please use the form found at http://www.casechicago.org or email proposals directly to Glenbard West teachers Steve Wiersum (steve_...@glenbard.org) or Marisol Pulido (marisol...@glenbard.org)

Hope to hear from you soon,

Marisol Pulido and Steve Wiersum

Glenbard West High School American Studies team