AUGUSTA – Old Fort Western, in cooperation with the Oak Grove School Foundation, will host a one-day workshop called “Teaching about 17th- and 18th-Century Maine Indians,” from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29, in the fort’s Learning Gallery, 16 Cony St.

The goal of the workshop is to provide teachers with the basic historical, cultural, geographical and governance content they need to support units on Maine Indians as required by LD 291 and reflected in Maine’s new social studies standards.

The workshop will be divided into morning and afternoon sessions.

The morning session will address Maine Indians in the 17th century. Specific attention will be paid to operations at the 1628 Pilgrim fur trading post at Cushnoc, now an archaeological site just south of Fort Western.

The presentation will pay attention to linking the content to the history and economics aspects of the unity and diversity sections of the Maine Learning Results social studies standards. It will draw on interpretation and artifacts associated with Old Fort Western’s pre-scheduled school program, “Pilgrims and Indians at Cushnoc.”

The afternoon session will use the verbatim transcripts of 18th-century Massachusetts treaty conferences to compare and contrast the diplomatic and cultural practices and world views of the English and the Abenaki.

The afternoon session will look for evidence of unity and diversity in the language used by the Indian and non-Indian participants. It will draw on materials used in association with Old Fort Western’s pre-scheduled school program, “Maine Indians in the 18th Century.”

The presenter for both sessions will be Jay Adams, director and curator of education, Old Fort Western.

Attendance will be by preregistration only and it will be limited to the first 30 public or private currently-working classroom teachers. Preference will be given to those teaching grades three and up. A $20 stipend will be paid to all registrants who stay through the full workshop day. Lunch will be provided.

The registration deadline is Friday, Feb. 15. Contact Adams at 626-2385 or [email protected], with questions or to register.