2012 Hatton W. Sumners Institutes
| Lubbock-101 | June 18-22, 2012 |
| Lubbock-201 | June 18-20, 2012 |
| Lubbock-301 | June 21, 2012 |
| El Paso-101 | June 18-22, 2012 |
| Arlington-101 | July 16-20, 2012 |
| Arlington-201 | July 16-18, 2012 |
| Arlington-301 | July 19, 2012 |
This institute is designed for upper elementary, middle, and high school teachers. The three levels of these institutes are available to teachers FREE OF CHARGE... A registration form with a $50 holding fee is required, but the participant's check will not be cashed unless he or she does not attend or cancel within a week before the institute. At forty-hour institutes, lunch is provided, along with snacks and soft drinks.
101: This five day, forty hour training begins with an in-depth study of the Declaration of Independence. Participants will then be taken by Constitutional scholars through the ancient and European origins of the United States, followed by the American origins. The training will continue with a famous Federalist debating a famous Anti-Federalist over whether the New York State convention should vote to ratify the Constitution in 1788.
Then attending teachers will be taken on a walk through the seven articles of the Constitution. The remainder of the time will be spent studying the First Amendment and landmark Supreme Court cases on the First Amendment, including the current term cases.
The agenda is divided into blocks of time spent with scholars, followed by break out sessions where activities are demonstrated on the curriculum covered in the scholar sessions.
The State Board for Educator Certification approves the institute for continuing education credit for teacher certification, and optional graduate credit is available through the University of St. Thomas in either Political Science or Education. At least six hours are devoted to gifted and talented/advanced placement lessons in break out sessions. ) Participants having completed 101 as many as five years ago may choose to repeat that session or attend the 201 session.
201:This three day, eighteen hour training is available to those teachers who have completed the 101 session. The advanced session begins with a look at the "Ladder of the Bill of Rights." The remainder of the time is spent studying the concepts of property, justice/due process of law, and the rights reserved to the states and the people found in Amendments Two through Ten. Additionally, Supreme Court cases decided under each of these amendments will be analyzed. Breakout sessions follow each scholar session with activities on the Bill of Rights.
301: This one day, seven hour update session is available to those teachers who have previously attended both 101 and 201. Participants will spend most of the time discussing Supreme Court cases that have been decided during the past few years with the scholars. 301 may be repeated by those teachers having completed 101 and 201 any number of times.