JUNE 28 - JULY 5 JULY 21 - JULY 28 - TEACHER SEMINARS SUMMER 2019 - Oxbridge Academic Programs
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CAMBRIDGE TEACHER SEMINAR
PETERHOUSE, CAMBRIDGE
JUNE 28 - JULY 5
OXFORD TEACHER SEMINAR
WORCESTER COLLEGE, OXFORD
JULY 21 - JULY 28
TEACHER SEMINARS
SUMMER 2019
ENRICHMENT AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR
TEACHERS, LIBRARIANS, AND SCHOOL LEADERS
A Welcome From The Founder
Dear Teachers, Librarians, and School Leaders,
I founded the Teacher Seminar program more than 20 years ago in response to the
many teachers who, when I visited schools to talk about our academic programs for
students, used to say — only partly in jest — “That’s great for the students, but what
about us?” They were right, of course. Having long believed that there is no group more
deserving, harder working, or more responsive to this kind of learning opportunity, I
worked to design a seminar that would meet their needs — intellectual, professional,
and personal.
From the beginning, the vision has been to bring teachers into direct contact with
leading scholars, writers, and public figures, in an historic and stimulating environment,
Prof. James G. Basker surrounded by cultural and academic resources. At first in Oxford, and then in Cambridge,
these Teacher Seminars offer a mixture of intellectual refreshment, cultural enrichment,
About the Founder and professional development, all in the most inspiring of settings. Ultimately, the aim
Educated at Harvard (AB), Cambridge (MA),
is to support and invigorate classroom teaching with new ideas and energy, new texts
and Oxford (DPhil), where he was a Rhodes
Scholar, Professor Basker taught at Harvard and techniques, new content and connections.
for seven years before coming to Barnard
College, Columbia University. Formerly the Participants in the Seminars come from every kind of background and school
Ann Whitney Olin Professor of English, he imaginable. They have included new teachers, seasoned veterans, department heads,
was appointed the Richard Gilder Professor
counselors, librarians, and principals. Invariably, the experience and enthusiasm of the
of Literary History in 2006. Professor Basker
has designed and directed student programs participants themselves have enriched the program beyond measure. We would be
in Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Paris, delighted to put you in touch with former participants as you consider applying.
Montpellier, Barcelona, Salamanca, New York,
Boston, and Los Angeles. He has written several Teachers come to our seminars for various reasons: to pursue professional development,
books on history and literature (including, most
recently, American Anti-Slavery Writings, 2012) to indulge intellectual interests, or to fulfill lifelong personal dreams. Whatever your
and has been an invited guest lecturer at the priority, I hope to see you in Cambridge and/or Oxford, this summer!
Sorbonne, Cambridge, and Oxford, a Visiting
Fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Sincerely,
and a James Osborn Fellow at Yale. Professor
Basker is also President of the Gilder Lehrman
Institute of American History in New York City,
where he advises on educational projects in
the public school system and on seminars for James G. Basker, Founder, Oxbridge Academic Programs
educators at Yale, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge,
and a dozen other universities.
The Teacher Seminars are sponsored and organized by The Foundation for International Education in
cooperation with Oxbridge Academic Programs.
Professor Basker leads a discussion on Literature and Slavery.
Table of Contents
CAMBRIDGE OXFORD
June 28 - July 5, 2019 July 21 - July 28, 2019
The Cambridge Teacher Seminar The Oxford Teacher Seminar
The College .................................. 3 The College .................................. 10
The Seminar ................................. 4-9 The Seminar ................................. 11-17
Study Groups: Study Groups:
· Why History Matters · Literature and the Fantastic
· English Literature · The Library and the Academy
· Applying to College: A Global Perspective · Shakespeare in History
· Thinking Mathematically · The Boundaries of Scientific Knowledge
· Astronomy and Astrophysics · Leadership Challenges in Contemporary
Education
O V E R V I E W O F T H E S E M I N A R S
Our seminars are designed to give participants access to current scholarship and university resources in a
variety of fields. Led by distinguished scholars, they are introduced to innovative approaches to traditional ideas
and subjects, to new pedagogical and curricular possibilities, and to a variety of cultural, social, and imaginative
experiences, all in two of the intellectual and cultural capitals of the world.
The seminars involve plenary sessions given by outstanding academics and intellectuals, regular small-group
discussions on more focused educational themes, a comprehensive schedule of cultural events and outings,
historical tours, museum and gallery visits, and free time for individual research, exploration, and relaxation. At
the heart of the Teacher Seminars are elective Study Groups, each designed to provide an academic focus for the
participant.
The Cambridge Teacher Seminar (June 28 - July 5) is held in Peterhouse – the oldest college in the University
of Cambridge. Here, teachers find an inspiring setting for intellectual reflection and cultural enrichment. The
diverse program of plenary speakers and events makes accessible much of the scholarly wealth and history of
the University.
The Oxford Teacher Seminar (July 21 - July 28) is held in Worcester College, Oxford University. Participants have
the unique opportunity to share in the academic and cultural traditions of one of the world's great centers of
learning. Teachers meet Rhodes Scholars, visit colleges, libraries, and historic sites, and gain an insider’s feeling for
the deeper resources behind the beauty and tradition of “the city of dreaming spires.”
Dr. David Rundle talks to participants about his
work in paleography in Christ Church Library.
2 2
Cam b r idg e
TEACHER SEMINAR
June 28 - July 5, 2019
Philosophy sets a suitably studious example in the main court of King’s College.
T H E C O L L E G E
The Cambridge Teacher Seminar is held in Peterhouse – the oldest college in the University of
Cambridge. It was founded by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, in 1284. In terms of the number
of students admitted each year, Peterhouse is also one of the smallest, most intimate, and most
traditional colleges. The dining hall has been in continuous use since the thirteenth century,
and it remains one of the only Cambridge halls in which two Latin graces are said during dinner.
Despite its antiquity, Peterhouse has a long-held reputation as a center of innovation. Generations of
graduates – known as “Petreans” – have contributed to the social and political upheavals that have shaped
Britain and the world. Among them are the nineteenth-century polymath Charles Babbage, who is widely-
credited with developing the concept of the modern computer. And in 1884, to mark Peterhouse’s 600th
anniversary, the Petrean and mathematical physicist Lord Kelvin made the college one of the first British
establishments to have electric light. Sir Frank Whittle, who invented the jet engine, studied at Peterhouse in
the 1930s; as did the creator of the hovercraft, Sir Christopher Cockerell. Later in the twentieth century, five
Petreans were awarded Nobel Prizes for their work in Chemistry – Sir John Kendrew, Sir Aaron Klug, Archer
Martin, Max Perutz, and Michael Levitt. Participants on our Cambridge Teacher Seminar join a continuum of
great thinkers stretching back through the centuries in a unique environment of living history.
Accommodation is modern and comfortable. A number of bedrooms are equipped with an en-suite
bathroom, and participants have access to the recently-refurbished college bar. Peterhouse is within easy
walking distance of all the major attractions in Cambridge, including King’s College Chapel and the Fitzwilliam
Museum.
3
T H E S E M I N A R
Cambridge Teacher Seminar participants enjoy life in a traditional Cambridge college and a meeting of minds with
leading academics and educators from the University. At the heart of the Seminar are Study Groups, each with a
different focus, offering detailed discussion and exploration of a special subject. Each morning, these Study Groups meet
individually to discuss a series of topics that are complemented in the afternoons by a plenary program of speakers,
workshops, outings, and events. Teachers select one Study Group for the duration of the week and participate in every
plenary session.
Teacher Seminar participants select the Study Group that they would like to join using the Application Form at the
back of this brochure. In advance of the summer, Study Group leaders recommend optional preparatory reading for all
participants. We also ask participants to bring their own proposed topics for discussion, specific to their Study Group.
The Study Groups available in summer 2019 are as follows (descriptions are provisional but indicative):
I. WHY HISTORY MATTERS Study Group Leader and Seminar Director:
Using Cambridge’s extraordinary historical resources, this Dr. Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe. Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe is a
Cambridge
Andrews
Study Group explores a selection of themes lying at the Lecturer in Patristics in the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge.
interstices of history as it is taught in secondary schools, She is also a Fellow and College Lecturer in Theology and
and history as it is researched in universities. Drawing on Religious Studies at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where she
examples from all periods, sessions address pedagogical completed her doctorate on the political theology of
St
questions such as how to incorporate literature, art, and Ambrosiaster, a late Christian writer of the fourth century.
cinema, as well as the social sciences such as anthropology From 2006 to 2016 she taught Roman History at King’s
and archaeology, into the syllabus; and how best to College London as a Lecturer and Senior Lecturer, before
convey the value, uses, and abuses of history to the next returning to Cambridge and Peterhouse in 2016. She
generation of students. The Study Group also addresses has also held visiting fellowships at the Italian Academy
research topics, privileging areas that are all too often for Advanced Studies at Columbia University, and at the
excluded from syllabi, such as the long-term historical Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University.
influence of environment, geography, and disease, as well Her research interests lie in the history of late antiquity,
as how the changing nature of war affected the human with a specialization in early Christianity and the history
Preliminary Program
experience and transformed political institutions. of ideas.
II. ENGLISH LITERATURE Study Group Leader:
How do we excite today’s students about English Dr. Ewan Jones. A University Lecturer in the Nineteenth
Literature? With this question in mind, the Study Group Century at the Faculty of English, and a fellow and
reads and discusses selected texts by major writers, Director of Studies at Downing, Dr. Jones studied at King's
exploring key ideas in literary criticism and how these College, Cambridge, and was previously a Research Fellow
may be presented in classrooms around the world. While at Trinity Hall. He is working on a number of projects
considering texts that can stand on their own or be including tracing the historical development of the notion
integrated into thematic courses, the group examines of rhythm across the nineteenth century, developing new
canonical writers from Shakespeare to Virginia Woolf, computational resources to uncover and account for the
along with others who have a particular connection to structure and change of concepts over long historical
Cambridge such as William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor periods, and a project to digitize manuscripts relating to
Coleridge, Lord Byron, Lord Tennyson, Rupert Brooke, Alfred Lord Tennyson. His publications include Coleridge
Sylvia Plath, and Zadie Smith. Participants visit special and the Philosophy of Poetic Form (2014).
collections, the colleges of famous authors, and other
sites of special literary interest around Cambridge.
On the following pages, the Cambridge Teacher Seminar’s provisional schedule provides an idea of how Study
Groups blend with the plenary program. It is representative but not exact, and is subject to change.
4
III. APPLYING TO COLLEGE - THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Study Group Leader:
This study group surveys the increasingly global reach of Heather Thompson Cavalli. Ms Thompson Cavalli
college counseling. Participants discuss college selection graduated from Columbia University, Barnard College,
processes in different countries; the respective merits of in 1990, and earned her Master's in Comparative History
SATs, A-Levels, and the IB; the schisms and similarities at Brandeis University in 1994. She has been a college
between UCAS and the Common Application; the early counselor and teacher of History, IB History, and IB Theory
decision and early action debates; different types of of Knowledge at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz for seven years.
personal statements and essays; and everything in Before that she was Director of College Counseling at a
between. Led by an American counselor based in Europe, boarding school in Connecticut for six years, and has been a
this course will be augmented by local experts and guest teacher of history since 1994. She has profound experience
lecturers. of different university systems and has traveled to over 200
American, Dutch, German, Spanish and British universities
to expand her first-hand knowledge, and to be able best to
advise students.
IV. THINKING MATHEMATICALLY Study Group Leader:
St
Cambridge
Andrews
How can we encourage students to invest time and effort Prof. Christopher Sangwin. Christopher Sangwin is
in solving challenging problems in mathematics, and in Professor of Technology Enhanced Science Education at the
related subjects like computing, engineering, and science? University of Edinburgh. A leading figure in mathematics
Taking advantage of Cambridge's incredible mathematics education in the UK, he held Senior Lectureships at
and science resources, Study Group participants explore Birmingham and Loughborough Universities before joining
the process of solving problems by engaging with key the faculty at Edinburgh. For over a decade he worked with
historic issues in mathematics. The works of seminal the UK Higher Education Academy to promote the learning
thinkers such as Polya and Lakatos on the nature of and teaching of university mathematics. His research and
problem-solving are studied in detail. Participants get to teaching interests include the automatic assessment of
grips with essential questions: What does it mean to solve mathematics using computer algebra, and the development
a problem? What makes a mathematical proof watertight? of the STACK system, as well as problem solving using the
How does mathematical proof contrast with evidence in Moore Method and similar student-centered approaches.
science or an “engineering solution”? How can crowded He is the author of several books, including How Round
Preliminary Program
contemporary curricula accommodate problem-solving is Your Circle?, which illustrates and investigates the links
as a core theme? How can teachers nurture confident between mathematics and engineering using physical
problem-solving skills in their students? models.
V. ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS Study Group Leader:
Intended for scientists and, in particular, physics teachers, Dr. Malak Olamaie. Dr. Olamaie gained her PhD in
but open to all interested participants, the Astronomy Astrophysics from the University of Cambridge in 2012.
and Astrophysics Study Group will address a selection Today she is a Research Associate at the Battcock Centre
of key and hot-button topics in both fields. Working for Experimental Astrophysics in Cambridge's famous
in the university that produced Isaac Newton, Ernest Cavendish Laboratory. She also holds a position at Imperial
Rutherford, and, more recently, Stephen Hawking, and College, London, in the Centre for Inference Cosmology.
using a mixture of seminars and visits, educators will be Her principal research interests and expertise are the
able to reconnect with these evolving disciplines at the analysis of large data sets, mathematical modelling, the
research level. Together with the Study Group leaders, analysis of X-ray observations of galaxy clusters, and
they will brainstorm new ways of conveying these Bayesian inference - a method of statistical inference in
most fundamental but also occasionally overwhelming which Bayes' theorem is used to update the probability
subjects to their students. for an hypothesis as more evidence becomes available.
Dr. Olamaie is widely-published, and has contributed to
over fifty articles in academic journals.
5
D A Y 1 • Applying to College
AC1: Challenges: In this opening session we discuss the many
challenges facing students who aspire to study overseas. How
4.00pm · Welcome to Peterhouse can we guide them through a global market? How can they be
Dr. Sophie Lunn-Rockliffe prepared for so big a transition? And how do we help parents
Dr. Lunn-Rockliffe greets participants in Peterhouse and brace themselves for the move?
outlines the program.
• Thinking Mathematically
TM1: Teacher as Student: How do we go about solving math
5.00pm · Plenary Session: Introducing Cambridge problems ourselves? What are the purposes of struggling with
Dr. Nicholas James mathematical problems, and what pedagogical and scholarly
Dr. James introduces Cambridge on foot. On a leisurely strategies are there for tackling them?
stroll the group takes in some of the town and University’s
main landmarks – King’s College Chapel, Great St. Mary’s • Astronomy and Astrophysics
Church, and Senate House. Dr. James explains the unique AA1: The Astronomer’s Tool-kit: Participants learn about the
equipment and instrumentation astronomers and astrophysicists
college system that Cambridge and Oxford share, creating rely on and discover how it is evolving.
some the richest learning environments in the world.
A consultant in the management and interpretation of historical 11.30am · At the close of each Study Group meeting, teachers
resources at Cambridge, where he is also an Affiliated Scholar in visit specific locations around Cambridge connected with the
Cambridge
morning’s subject.
Andrews
Archeology, Dr. James is an archeologist and historian with varied
interests, including the post-Medieval landscape history of the Fens
and the architecture of the Aztecs. 12.30pm · Lunch
6.30pm · Dinner at Peterhouse 2.00pm · Plenary Session: Cambridge Past and Present
St
Dinner is served in the college dining hall. Before dinner, Mr. Anthony Bowen
teachers gather in Peterhouse’s bar and common room for
drinks and conversation. A Fellow of Jesus College, where he teaches Classics, Mr. Bowen
served as the University Orator for 15 years. He is an expert in the
8.00pm · Social Outing history of Cambridge.
Optional trip to a local pub with fellow participants and
the Study Group leaders. 4.00pm · Tea
D A Y 2 4.30pm · Plenary Session: From Big Bangs to Big Rips - A
History of Modern Cosmology
Preliminary Program
9.00am · Study Groups Dr. Matthew Bothwell
Under the guidance of the Study Group leader, each group From Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking, Cambridge has
meets every day to cover a number of specific topics: been at the forefront of scientific discovery for centuries.
• Why History Matters Dr. Bothwell shares the history of modern cosmology,
WHM1: The Subjects of History: The week begins by looking guiding participants from major breakthroughs to the latest
at what historical periods and topics are covered in different research in the field.
national school and university curricula, and how these have
changed over time. What social and political forces influence Matthew Bothwell is an astrophysicist based at the Kavli Institute
how and what kind of history is taught, and how can we use
for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. His current work
these debates to teach history and civics to our students?
in observational astronomy uses the cutting-edge facilities at
• English Literature Cambridge to study the evolution of galaxies across cosmic time.
EL1: Why Literature?: Why do we teach literature,
and how do we do so? What is the purpose 6.30pm · Dinner
of studying books, plays, and poems? Is
it to learn about society, about others,
or about ourselves? Or is it not about 7.30pm · Evensong at King’s College Chapel
learning anything, but rather about Participants experience a traditional evensong service with
experiencing and appreciating world-class choral music amidst the architectual splendor of
literary craft and beauty? Visit to the King’s College Chapel
King’s College, nursery to many
great Cambridge novelists.
6
D A Y 3 D A Y 4
9.00am · Study Groups meet 9.00am · Study Groups meet
• Why History Matters • Why History Matters
WHM2: History and Anthropology: A session on comparative WHM3: Art in History: An exploration of how art has shocked
history using anthropological and ethnographic approaches. and shaped the world, examining examples from ancient,
How far can we extrapolate information about past societies medieval, and modern societies in which works of art have had
from our knowledge and understanding of contemporary an influence on social, cultural, and religious life. Visit to the
ones? Visit to the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Fitzwilliam Museum.
Anthropology.
• English Literature
• English Literature EL3: Themes and Contexts: How do we teach students difficult
EL2: A Cambridge Tradition: The Study Group takes a deep texts, and why? Can “difficulty” generate anything constructive,
dive into Practical Criticism, founded in the early 20th century or only frustration? And how best to address difficulty in the
in Cambridge and still a central and compulsory part of the classroom? Visit to the Pepys Library at Magdalene College.
Cambridge undergraduate curriculum.
• Applying to College
• Applying to College AC3: British Universities: Many British universities require
AC2: School Examinations: Schools across the world have students to apply for one subject. How to prepare them for
Cambridge
St Andrews
divergent ways of examining their students at the end of their this level of specialization? What are the advantages and
tenure. In this session, participants discuss the requirements disadvantages of engaging with one field so early? We also
and relative merits of A-levels, SATs, and the International examine universities that interview, such as Oxford and
Baccalaureate. How do these systems differ, and what is each of Cambridge; UCAS, and particularly the personal statement;
them trying to achieve? and what British professors are looking for in letters of
recommendation.
• Thinking Mathematically
TM2: Mathematical Reasoning: What are the different • Thinking Mathematically
forms of reasoning available to us? How does exploration and TM3: Experimental Learning: How can we use experimental
inductive reasoning contrast with deduction and logic? How do evidence to form conjectures of our own? How can we move
external authority and personal experience interplay to form beyond conjectures to a hypothesis, and how are hypotheses
mathematical knowledge? Visit of the Cambridge Department challenged, developed, and refined? Visit of the laboratories at
of Pure Mathematics. the Cambridge Department of Engineering.
• Astronomy and Astrophysics • Astronomy and Astrophysics
AA2: Cosmic Microwave: Participants learn about Cosmic AA3: Dark Matter: The hypotheses that lie behind dark matter’s
Preliminary Program
Microwave Background (CMB) and how it is transforming notional existence, dark matter’s critics, and how scientists are
knowledge of the universe and its origins. attempting to observe it.
12.30pm · Lunch 12.30pm · Lunch
4.00pm · Tea 4.00pm · Tea
4.30pm ·Plenary Session: Forms of Literary Criticism 4.30pm · Plenary Session: Literature Makes History: How
Dr. Ross Wilson Poets Helped End Slavery
Dr. Wilson opens up the world of literary study at Prof. James Basker
Cambridge and shares key insights from his latest work, Prof. Basker addresses participants on how literature and
Critical Forms, a history of the genres of critical writing. history intersect and overlap, focusing on the antislavery
Ross Wilson is a Lecturer in Criticism in the Faculty of English movement.
and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he teaches
undergraduates and graduates. He writes on a wide range of James Basker is the Richard Gilder Professor of Literary History
topics including the history, theory, and practice of literary at Barnard College, Columbia University, the President of
criticism, British and European Romanticism, and English the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and the
poetry from 1750 to the present. Founder of Oxbridge Academic Programs. He is the author
of several books on history and literature, including, most
recently, American Anti-Slavery Writings (2012).
6.30pm · Dinner
6.30pm · Dinner
7.30pm · Cambridge Shakespeare Festival Performance
The group enjoys a Shakespeare play in the picturesque 7.30pm · Social Mixer with The Cambridge Tradition and
surroundings of a Cambridge college. The Cambridge Prep Experience Faculty and Staff in
Jesus College 7
D A Y 5 D A Y 6
9.00am · Study Groups meet 9.00am · Study Groups meet
• Why History Matters • Why History Matters
WHM4: History through Literature: This session explores how WHM5: Forces of Historical Change: An examination of the
literary fiction might be used to deepen our understanding of a different ways historians from antiquity to modernity have
particular period or issue, looking at contemporary imaginative
explained historical change as influenced by humans, and
reconstructions of the past, and at poetry and drama from the
past, focusing on the theme of war. as shaped by environment, climate, and disease. Visit of the
Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology.
• English Literature
EL4: Shakespeare in Performance: Teachers attend a • English Literature
Shakespeare play that is part of the annual Cambridge EL5: Whose Opinion Matters?: Is the author’s word the last
Shakespeare Festival and discuss historicist readings, gender, word, and if not what other points of reference do we have
and Shakespeare as a cultural icon. as readers? The group considers authority, opinion, and taste.
Visit of the G. David Antiquarian Bookshop and The Haunted
• Applying to College Bookshop for treasures and hidden Cambridge history.
AC4: European universities: Methods of application vary
Cambridge
St Andrews
across Europe. Today we look at nations such as France and • Applying to College
Switzerland, in which students apply to universities directly. AC5: American Universties: In this session, we discuss the
How can they be prepared for unique entrance examinations American Common Application system. Is there such a thing
and various levels of language requirements? as too many applications? How can students’ personal essays
be persuasive and compact enough to fit within the word
• Thinking Mathematically limit? What are the benefits and the disadvantages of the early
TM4: Argumentation: What is the interplay between definitions, decision and early action?
experimental evidence, deductive proofs, and the statements of
a formal theorem? How do arguments get challenged, refuted, • Thinking Mathematically
and proved? What are the differences between problem solving TM5: Rethinking Problem Solving: How can teachers use
as professional research, and problem solving by students? Visit problems and problem-solving to make math and its sister
to the Cambridge Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory. subjects come alive and seem relevant to students? What
resources are available to us? How might technology in the
• Astronomy and Astrophysics classroom be used to enhance the students’ experience of
AA4: Exoplanets: The science and techniques behind the solving problems in traditional ways? Visit of the Centre for
search for, and detection of, planets around other stars. Computing History.
Preliminary Program
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
12.30pm · Lunch AA5: Galaxies: How are they formed and how do researchers
assess and analyze the processes?
2.00pm · Plenary Session: War in the Nazi Imagination
Professor Richard Evans 12.30pm · Lunch
Since acting as principal expert witness in the David Irving libel
trial, Professor Evans’s work has dealt with Holocaust denial and the 4.00pm · Tea
clash of epistemologies when history enters the courtroom. He has
published a large-scale history of the Third Reich in three volumes.
He has been Editor of the Journal of Contemporary History since 4.30pm · Plenary Session: How do Scientists Develop
1998 and a judge of the Wolfson Literary Award for History since
1993. Over the years, his work has won the Wolfson Literary Award New Medicines
for History, the William H. Welch Medal of the American Association Sarah Madden
for the History of Medicine, the Fraenkel Prize in Contemporary Sarah is a member of a research team that focuses on a class of
History, and the Hamburg Medaille für Kunst und Wissenschaft. His
most recent book is on 1815-1914 for the Penguin History of Europe. proteins with very distinctive architectures, known as tandem-
repeat proteins.
4.00pm · Tea
6.30pm · Dinner
6.30pm · Dinner with Gates Scholars at Peterhouse
8.00pm · The Cambridge Challenge
7.30pm · Cambridge Music Festival Performance
A light-hearted test of intellect, wit, and general knowledge
at a local pub
8D A Y 7 D A Y 8
9.00am · Study Groups meet 9.00am · Farewell Breakfast and Departure
• Why History Matters "A well-organized and interesting program to make for an
WHM6: Why History? Reflecting on the week, the group enriching week in an inspiring location. The organisers and
discusses defenses of history both as an enriching intellectual group leaders were enthusiastic and passionate, incredibly
exercise and as a means of helping this latest generation of generous with their time and expertise, warm and welcoming
students to understand their pasts and their presents. and genuinely showed an interest in the teachers. I am very
keen to attend another one of these programs in the near
• English Literature future."
EL6: Making Literature Come Alive!: The final session explores
how we can use our students' personal stories and experiences,
our school and local settings, and even props to bring works to "I would recommend the Oxbridge Teacher Seminars to
life. all educators. The educational opportunities go beyond the
classroom, extending into the cultural and social experiences
• Applying to College provided by the host city and country."
AC6: In Conversation: The Study Group considers what skills
Cambridge
new undergraduates need most in order successfully to make
the leap to university life. CTS Participants, 2017
• Thinking Mathematically
TM6: Planning Session: With new ideas to consider, as well as
new tactics and strategies in mind, participants conclude the
Study Group with a planning session to prepare for the new
academic year.
• Astronomy and Astrophysics
AA6: Black Holes and Super Massive Black Holes: Modeling
their formation, observing mergers.
2.00pm · Participants’ Forum
Participants meet to reflect on the week and to discuss
ways in which their experiences might influence their
Preliminary Program
classroom teaching and other projects. This is followed by
an optional walk to the Grantchester tea rooms.
8.00pm · Reception and Formal Dinner at Peterhouse
The group celebrates the conclusion of the seminar
with a formal evening. First, a drinks reception in the
Peterhouse Fellows' Garden, followed by a final dinner in
the atmospheric Combination Room.
9All Souls College, Oxford, and the Hawkesmoor towers that are said to have given rise to the expression "ivory tower."
Oxford
Oxford TEACHER SEMINAR
July 21 - July 28, 2019
T H E C O L L E G E
Oxford has hosted a scholarly community for over 900 years, and continues to be one of the world's most important
Preliminary Program
intellectual and cultural centers. Our Teacher Seminar is housed in the beautiful, peaceful setting of Worcester College,
near the Ashmolean, Pitt Rivers, and Natural Science Museums, Oxford University Press, and several historic pubs and cafes.
The Bodleian Library is within easy walking distance, as is the commercial bustle of Broad and High Streets.
Worcester College lies on a site that has been used for academic purposes since the thirteenth century. Originally known
as Gloucester College, it was founded in 1283, for the education of Benedictine monks. Gloucester College was closed-
down during the dissolution, in the 1530s, only to re-emerge for a brief period - following Benjamin Woodroffe's effort to
transform it into a home for Greek Orthodox students - as Greek College. In 1714 it was re-endowed by Sir Thomas Cookes
as Worcester College. In addition to twenty-six acres of land that include a lake and a park, Worcester is known for buildings
designed by renowned 18th- and 19th-century architects, including Henry Keene, Nicholas Hawksmoor, and James Wyatt.
These stand alongside substantial medieval remnants of Gloucester College that are still in use today. Worcester boasts
many notable alumni, among them Rupert Murdoch, Emma Watson, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.
Teacher Seminar participants live in comfortable rooms in the College. The rooms are all en-suite and there is wifi. Meals
are taken in the College dining hall. Breakfast is primarily continental, while a variety of entrée options are available at
dinner, including vegetarian dishes.
10T H E S E M I N A R
Oxford Teacher Seminar participants enjoy life in a traditional Oxford college and a meeting of minds with leading
academics and educators from the University. At the heart of the Seminar are Study Groups, each with a different focus,
Oxford
offering detailed discussion and exploration of a special subject. Each morning these groups meet individually to discuss
a series of topics. These sessions are complemented in the afternoons by a plenary program of speakers, workshops,
outings, and events. Teachers select one Study Group for the duration of the week and participate in every plenary
session.
Teacher Seminar participants select the Study Group that they would like to join on the Application Form at the back
of this brochure. In advance of the summer, Study Group leaders recommend optional preparatory reading for all
participants. We also ask participants to bring their own proposed topics for discussion, specific to their Study Group.
The Study Groups available in summer 2019 are as follows (descriptions are provisional but indicative):
I. LITERATURE AND THE FANTASTIC Study Group Leader and Seminar Director:
This course focuses on the works of six of the most Dr. Matthew Kerr. Formerly a departmental Lecturer in
prominent children’s fantasy authors of the past 150 English at the University of Oxford, Dr. Kerr is currently
Preliminary Program
years. Four of these (Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. working as a Lecturer in Southampton while completing a
Tolkien, and Philip Pullman) were or are Oxford-based; book about the sea in 19th-century literature. His research
particular attention will be paid to their biographies and interests include the Victorian novel – especially the novels
their interactions with the University and Oxford town of Dickens, Conrad, and Frederick Marryat – and the
life. Each seminar will cover both a special author whose history of emotions. He has taught and lectured on a wide
work will be featured, and an investigative topic designed range of subjects, including film adaptation and Victorian
to focus the discussion around issues relevant to both children’s literature. Dr. Kerr’s latest project focuses on John
readers and teachers of fantasy literature. In addition Stuart Mill’s private library. He completed his doctorate in
to learning about the history and background of these English Literature at Trinity College, Oxford, where he was
canonical texts, seminar participants will be encouraged a Clarendon Scholar. Prior to taking up his Lectureship he
to develop new and imaginative ways of teaching them. taught at a number of Oxford colleges, including Magdalen,
Keble, and Christ Church, and at the University of Lincoln.
II. THE LIBRARY AND THE ACADEMY Study Group Leader:
Libraries are at the very heart of every educational institution, Clive Hurst. Mr. Hurst was Head of Rare Books and
from the smallest school to Oxford University. Designed Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, University of
for librarians and others with an interest in how libraries Oxford, until he retired in 2014. For over 20 years he was
contribute to the intellectual and cultural life of the academy, in charge of the second largest collection of rare books
this Study Group draws on the resources of the more than and the largest collection of ephemera in the United
60 libraries that constitute the Oxford University library Kingdom. His special expertise is in early printing, Italian
system. Because of the great wealth and antiquity of library books, book-bindings, and children’s literature. He is a
resources in Oxford, participants have the opportunity to member of the university’s English Faculty, and regularly
visit medieval libraries that have chained books, see exhibits teaches a paleography course to graduate students. His
drawn from rare collections, and visit the Bodleian Library, main literary interests are the novels of Henry James,
looking at it not only historically but in relation to a wide Joseph Conrad, and especially Charles Dickens. The last
range of current issues. Participants meet experts from was the subject of Mr. Hurst’s final major exhibition at
several fields of library science and archive management. the Bodleian, celebrating the writer’s 200th anniversary in
2012, which made extensive use of the library’s ephemera.
He is the co-author of The Curious World of Dickens (2013).
11III. SHAKESPEARE IN HISTORY Study Group Leader:
Focused on the most influential poet and playwright Dr. Tim Smith-Laing. A writer and critic based in London,
in western civilization, this Study Group examines Dr. Smith-Laing completed his doctorate at Merton
Shakespeare’s works, popularity, and literary legacy. College, Oxford, with a thesis on the interpretation
Oxford
Looking beyond his life, contemporary depictions, of Greek mythology in European literature, paying
and immediate reception, participants go on to study special attention to the mythographical backgrounds
his sources, his collaborators, and his influence. They of Boccaccio, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. He was a
explore how plays have been revised and re-written over lecturer in English literature at Jesus College, Oxford,
the centuries, according to popular taste and political and taught at Sciences Po, in Paris, before deciding
will, as well as how selected plays have been adapted to concentrate on writing and journalism. Examining
for television and film, as specialist performances and subjects as diverse as early modern philosophy,
Hollywood blockbusters. The Study Group also looks at internet addiction, and Hieronymus Bosch, he is a
how Shakespeare can be taught in the classroom through book critic for The Telegraph, a contributor to Frieze,
performance. Apollo: The International Art Magazine, and The Literary
Review. He is currently working on a cultural history
of chance, Fortuna: The Lives of Lady Luck from Ancient
Athens to Quantum Physics.
Preliminary Program
IV. THE BOUNDARIES OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE Study Group Leader:
This group explores how cutting-edge areas of scientific Dr. Joanna Bagniewska. A zoologist with a doctorate
research can be innovatively integrated into classroom from Oxford, Dr. Bagniewska specializes in the overlap
teaching at the secondary level, in the arts and humanities between zoology and technology. Her research at
as well as the sciences. Teachers engage with key topics, Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit
including astrophysics and cosmology, chaos theory, deep focused on using biotelemetric methods to examine
sea exploration, nature and the environment, the human the behavior of semi-aquatic animals. Her academic
brain, and medicine. In their intellectual, cultural, historical, interests include behavioral ecology and conservation
literary, and imaginative contexts, teachers explore the biology. Currently a Teaching Fellow at the University
“hard science” of human progress. The Boundaries of of Reading, Dr. Bagniewska has also held appointments
Scientific Knowledge provides a wealth of engaging and at Nottingham Trent University and Oxford. She has
illuminating ideas for classroom teaching. worked on a number of species, ranging from wombats
and wallabies to mole-rats and jackals.
V. LEADERSHIP CHALLENGES IN CONTEMPORARY Study Group Leader:
EDUCATION
This Study Group is intended for emerging leaders within John Allman. The Head of School at Trinity School in New
schools. Led by an experienced school head, the Group York, a K-12 coeducational day school serving almost 1000
will focus on a selection of key issues that every school students on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Mr. Allman
leader must face today, such as curriculum reform, the began his career teaching English at his alma mater, the
uses and abuses of technology, the pros and cons of Lovett School, in Atlanta, Georgia. Following graduate
parental engagement, faculty retention and development, studies, he taught at St. Mark’s School of Texas, in Dallas,
socioeconomic inequality, academic versus extracurricular becoming chair of its English Department in 1990. In 1994
balance, and relations with the broader community. he returned to the Lovett School as principal of the Upper
Alongside, the Study Group will tackle daily case studies School. He was appointed headmaster at St. John’s School
and crisis management scenarios that arise over the in Houston in 1998, where he served for eleven years,
course of a school year and collaborate to work out before his appointment to Trinity in 2009.
possible responses.
On the following pages, the Oxford Teacher Seminar’s provisional schedule provides an idea of how Study Groups
blend with the plenary program. It is representative but not exact, and is subject to change.
12D A Y 1 • The Boundaries of Scientific Knowledge
SK1: Muss es Sein, Epigraph to a String Quartet: Guided
by an Oxford physicist, participants refresh their theoretical
4.00pm · Welcome to Worcester College physics with a quick review of the fundamental questions.
Dr. Matthew Kerr
Oxford
What is string theory and how does it fit into this scheme?
Dr. Kerr greets participants in Worcester College and What is stringy mathematics?
outlines the program.
• Leadership Challenges in Contemporary Education
CE1: Setting a Vision: Building a successful school and
5.00pm · Plenary Session: An Introductory Walking
making leadership work at every level, a personal view.
Tour of Oxford
Mr. Konrad Chatterjee
11.30am · At the close of each Study Group meeting,
Mr. Chatterjee explains some of the history of Worcester
College and the University of Oxford, as well as of the teachers visit specific locations around Oxford connected
College system that gives the University its character. A with the morning’s subject.
short tour orients new arrivals as they explore the grounds
of the college and their immediate surroundings, which 12.30pm · Lunch
include the Ashmolean, the Playhouse, St Giles, and
Cornmarket. 2.00pm · Plenary Session: Why Literature Matters: How
Poets Helped to End Slavery
6.30pm · Dinner at Worcester College Prof. James Basker
Preliminary Program
Dinner is served in the Worcester College dining hall. A former Rhodes Scholar, Professor Basker discusses
Before dinner, teachers gather for drinks. the relationship of literature to history in the abolition
campaign, drawing upon his own Amazing Grace
8.00pm · Social Outing (2002) and American Antislavery Writings (2012).
Optional local walking tour to see Oxford at dusk, with
choice of a concert or conversation in a local pub.
"Please continue the Oxbridge mission to stimulate and
D A Y 2 nurture educators' intellects rather than require them
to focus on educational trends and produce lesson plans.
9.00am · Study Groups meet The content of the instruction and the rich setting will
Under the guidance of the Study Group leader, each naturally and organically be shared and communicated
with students."
group meets every day to cover a number of specific
2017 OTS Attendee.
topics:
• Literature and the Fantastic
LF1: Defining Fantasy: Participants examine Lewis Carroll’s
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-
Glass in an effort to reach a preliminary definition of the
genre. The session includes a field trip to Christ Church
College to explore the surroundings that inspired Carroll’s
tales.
• The Library and the Academy
LA1: The Role of the Library: In this opening session,
participants discuss the role of the library in universities and
schools across the world, and its place in 21st-century society
in general. The discussion will be followed by a tour of the
world-famous Bodleian Library.
• Shakespeare in History
SH1: Shakespearean Biography: Issues surrounding
Shakespeare’s life; religious beliefs; sexuality; images of
Shakespeare, from the First Folio onwards; competing
depictions of the playwright.
One of Oxford's many ghoulish gargoyles
looks down on proceedings.
134.00pm · Tea 12.30pm · Lunch
4.30pm · Plenary Session: Edward Lear's Feelings 2.00pm · Plenary Session: A Tour of Christ Church
Dr. Jasmine Jagger Library
Oxford
Jasmine Jagger is a Lecturer at St Edmund Hall and Postdoctoral
Dr. David Rundle
Research Assistant at the Faculty of English, working on a An authority on Oxford Libraries and on Medieval and
project entitled 'Knowing Edward Lear', in cooperation with Early Modern book collecting, Dr. Rundle gives an
Harvard, The Tennyson Society, Tennyson Research Centre, insider’s tour of this magnificent library, looking at its
Oxford, and the BBC. She specialises in Victorian manuscript historic, institutional, and architectural setting.
study, the poetry and poetics of the 19th and 20th centuries,
children's literature, nonsense, the medical humanities, and 4.00pm · Tea
literature and visual culture.
6.30pm · Dinner in Hall 4.30pm · Plenary Session: Round-table discussion
with Rhodes Scholars at Oxford
7.30pm · Optional outing: Concert, recital, or play Each year, Oxbridge Academic Programs employs a
Participants pick a performance from the vast array on large number of Rhodes Scholars - more than any
offer every night in Oxford. other organization in the world - as teachers on our
Preliminary Program
student programs. They study and teach at Oxford
D A Y 3 University as members of individual colleges and in a
wide variety of departments. They talk to participants
9.00am · Study Groups meet about intellectual life at Oxford.
• Literature and the Fantastic
6.30pm · Dinner
LF2: Of This And Other Worlds: A close analysis of Tolkien’s
world-building in The Lord of the Rings. How does he use D A Y 4
geography to create an immersive fantasy landscape?
How does he populate an entire society? And how can we
contextualize his epic against the background of the Great 9.00am · Study Groups meet
War? The session concludes with a trip to Merton College,
Tolkien’s alma mater. • Literature and the Fantastic
LF3: C. S. Lewis and Politics: With particular attention
• The Library and the Academy paid to The Chronicles of Narnia, how does Lewis make use
LA2: The Classic Oxford College Library: Oxford has many of medievalism, Christianity, and Oxford itself as generic
great libraries besides the Bodleian, particularly those of markers? How has contemporary scholarship tackled issues
the colleges which make up the University. Participants visit of gender and race in his writing?
Trinity College, and learn how its library has been an integral
part of its teaching since its foundation. What lessons can be • The Library and the Academy
learned from its management, and how universal are they? LA3: Children’s Literature and the Next Generation of
Readers: What place do books have in children’s lives in
• Shakespeare in History the 21st century? To help answer this question, participants
SH2: Shakespeare in Context: How much does historical explore some of the earliest printed books in the Bodleian’s
context matter to critical readings of Shakespeare? How can collection, and the world famous Opie Collection of Children’s
a detailed understanding of the circumstances in which his Literature.
plays were written improve our knowledge of them, and vice
versa? • Shakespeare in History
SH3: The Bard’s Precursors: How was Shakespeare influenced
• The Boundaries of Scientific Knowledge by other writers, such as Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate? What
SK2: Exploring and Teaching Interdisciplinarity: impact did traditions of popular and courtly entertainments
Participants examine the importance of interdisciplinarity in have on his writing? And how accurate a depiction of the
modern scientific experimentation, teaching, and research. Middle Ages do his plays provide?
To what extent can all areas of scientific inquiry be said to
stand together? • The Boundaries of Scientific Knowledge
SK3: Can stem cells mend a broken heart? What happens in
• Leadership Challenges in Contemporary Education a heart attack? What types of stem cells are there?
CE2: Deploying Technology: From the blackboard to the
• Leadership Challenges in Contemporary Education
iPad, technology old and new. A history of tools used by
CE3: Comparative and International Education; Curriculum
pedagogues; the challenges and opportunities offered by
reform: Do they really do things better abroad? Can we learn
new and emerging technologies; and the prospect of ever
from comparative educational studies? Balancing learning:
more Web-based learning.
are our schools too academic or do we care too much about
extra-curriculars?
1412.30pm · Lunch Seminar participants visit the famous Bodleian Library.
2.00pm · Plenary Session: The Private Life of the
Diary
Oxford
Dr. Sally Bayley
Sally Bayley is a tutor in English at Balliol and St. Hugh’s Colleges,
Oxford and a member of the Oxford University English Faculty.
She is the author of Eye Rhymes: Sylvia Plath’s Art of the Visual
(2007), the first study of Plath’s art work in relation to her body of
poetry and prose. It was featured in the Sunday Times magazine,
on Radio 4 and at the Royal Festival Hall. She has since published
The Private Life of the Diary: from Pepys to Tweets, telling the
story of the diary as a coming of age story, and an autobiography,
Girl With Dove (2018).
4.00pm · Tea
4.30pm · Plenary Session: A Matter of Principles
Preliminary Program
Professor Sir Christopher Ricks
The William M. and Sara B. Warren Professor of the Humanities
at Boston University, Dr. Ricks was formerly professor of English
at Bristol, at Cambridge and, in 2004, was elected Professor of
Poetry at Oxford. He is known both for his critical studies and for
his editorial work. Recent publications include The Poems of T.
S. Eliot (2015). He is the author of, among others, Milton’s Grand
Style (1963), Decisions and Revisions in T. S. Eliot (2003), Dylan’s
Visions of Sin (2004), and True Friendship: Geoffrey Hill, Anthony
Hecht, and Robert Lowell under the Sign of Eliot and Pound
(2010).
6.30pm · Dinner followed by an optional outing.
"Clive was amazing. Every one of our site visits began
with Clive leading us past the "No visitors beyond this
point" or "Staff only" sign. He was able to arrange
entry into places closed to the general public."
2016 Library and the Academy Participant
15D A Y 5 D A Y 6
9.00am · Study Groups meet 9.00am · Study Groups meet
Oxford
• Literature and the Fantastic • Literature and the Fantastic
LF4: The Postmodern Fantasy: This session focuses on LF5: The Wizarding World: Story, class, and the
Philip Pullman, and particularly His Dark Materials. How consumption of magic in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. To
might the “Republic of Heaven” be understood as a critique what extent is Harry an archetypal literary hero? Participants
of various political systems? How persuasively does Pullman visit the Eagle and Child pub, home of the Inklings.
build an alternative version of Oxford?
• The Library and the Academy
• The Library and the Academy LA5: The Role of the Library in Society: Public libraries,
LA4: OUP: It is often forgotten that Oxford University Press school libraries, academic research libraries; intellectual
is a department of the University. In this session, participants freedom, copyright, censorship; the evolution of library
meet the team responsible for constantly revising the Oxford science.
English Dictionary. They explain how they use libraries to
guide and inform their endeavors. • Shakespeare in History
SH5: Shakespeare Re-Written: Restoration Shakespeare;
• Shakespeare in History interpretations, revisions, and happy endings; Nahum Tate’s
Preliminary Program
SH4: Contemporaries and Collaborators: This session King Lear; William Davenant’s The Tempest; the Romantic
explores the interplay and influence between Elizabethan Shakespeare; the birth of bardolatry.
and Jacobean theater, as well as Fletcher, Marlowe, Middleton,
the culture of patronage, and the business of theater. • The Boundaries of Scientific Knowledge
SK5: Science for New Materials: What position will materials
• The Boundaries of Scientific Knowledge science occupy on the landscape of scientific research in the
SK4: Rediscovering Life’s Best Ideas: A User’s Guide to 21st century? We pay particular attention to the core-shell
Biomimetics. Why look to Nature for answers to today’s nanoparticles used in hydrogen fuel cell applications.
problems? It has a billion-year head start. Technologies and
products using natural solutions. • Leadership Challenges in Contemporary Education
CE5: Trip to Radley College: In this session participants visit
• Leadership Challenges in Contemporary Education Radley College, a famous boarding school outside Oxford.
CE4: The Death of Science and the Triumph of the Arts: The group discusses meritocratic education. What role will it
How to make Science and Math attractive. play in 21st-century teaching?
12.30pm · Lunch 12.30pm · Lunch
2.00pm · Plenary Session: Why Math is Relevant to All 2.00pm · Plenary Session: How Does Electricity Flow
Subjects Through A Single Molecule?
Prof. Christopher Sangwin Dr. Jan Mol
Professor Sangwin discusses how to make math fun and
relevant to all school disciplines. Dr. Mol studies quantum transport in nano-scale silicon
transistors and single molecule junctions. In state-of-the-art
The Professor of Mathematics Education at Edinburgh University, silicon transistors the active channel region is so small that it may
Christopher worked for over a decade with the UK Higher Education only contain a single dopant atom. Using a series of microwave
Academy to promote the learning and teaching of university pulses this atom can be brought into a coherent superposition
mathematics. He is the author of the award-winning book How of quantum states, which can be read-out electrically. Similarly,
Round is Your Circle? evidence of quantum interference in a single molecule can be
found by measuring the charge transport through it. The aim of
4.00pm · Tea his research is to harness quantum interference and superposition
in atomic and molecular electronic devices.
4.30pm · Plenary Session: The Easter Rising and
Modern European History
“Unlike many professional development programs and
Dr. Marc Mulholland conferences the Oxford Teacher Seminar was truly a
A Fellow of St. Catherine’s College, Dr. Mulholland began his academic refreshing week of intellectual stimulation, allowing
career as an expert on Ulster Unionism. Since then his interests have participants to encounter new ideas and rekindle that love
bifurcated: Irish history since the Famine on the one hand, the history of of learning that led them to become teachers in the first
political thought since the French Revolution on the other. place.”
2017 Literature and the Fantastic Participant
6.30pm · Dinner
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