Webinar Focus: How do we help students develop the language and skills to confront today’s issues?
About this webinar: On Monday, August 17 from 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. PDT (2:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m. EDT), join host Mary Hendra for a conversation with Laura Tavares and Armen Menechyan about teaching Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
Creating upstanders starts with giving students the space and opportunity to reflect on their own thinking, to develop a sense of their self, and to start to practice engaging with others. How can teachers do that from day one in their classroom?
Our guest speakers will gladly address your questions via the Google Hangout “Q&A” feature or on Twitter using the hashtags #ConnectedLearning and #Upstander.
In partnership with CLTV, Educator Innovator will be simulcasting this month’s webinars as part of an August 2015 series titled “Creating Student Upstanders in Today’s World,” which is organized by Facing History and Ourselves.
For more info about this series, visit CLTV.
Learn more about Facing History and Ourselves.
Watch and join the conversation on CLTV Google+.
Guests for this webinar included:
- Mary Hendra (host)-leads the Los Angeles program team for Facing History and Ourselves, conducting workshops, seminars, teacher coaching and in-depth school work. She also guides California state-wide efforts in piloting innovations and increasing access to Facing History resources.
- Laura Tavares(host)-is a Senior Program Associate for Facing History and Ourselves and has been a critical voice in the development of the new resource, Teaching Mockingbird. “Both history and literature can be entry points for a reflective exploration of current events and the difficult questions they raise about race and justice,” she wrote in a New York Times Learning blog post.
- Armen Menechyan -is a Program Associate for Facing History and Ourselves in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Facing History, Armen taught in an international school in Barcelona Spain, including teaching To Kill a Mockingbird.
- Sarah Altschul – is a Program Associate for Facing History and Ourselves in in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a former high school English teacher who taught To Kill A Mockingbird, and has always pushed her students to engage in larger societal discussions through the novels read. As an instructional coach in Oakland she supported teachers in setting up spaces for those conversations as well.
- Steven Becton – is Associate Program Director for Urban Education at Facing History and Ourselves, and has worked with educators for many years in Memphis, TN. His blog posts for engaging students in safe and productive conversations about race have received widespread attention this past year.
Resources for this webinar:
- Teaching Mockingbird – Mockingbird Resource Collection
- “The Birthday Party,” a non-fiction piece that complements To Kill a Mockingbird in terms of a young girl learning about the racial norms in Southern society
- Historical video: The Origins of Lynching Culture in the United States
- Zaption tour of video: Understanding Jim Crow (Setting the Setting for To Kill a Mockingbird)
- Mary Hendra Blog Posts at Facing History LA Network
- Laura Tavares at New York Times Learning Network
- Armen Menechyan Blog Posts at Facing History LA Network
- Steve Becton Blog Post – Resilience in the Face of Hatred
- Steve Becton on teaching and creating a safe space for students to discuss race and Michael Brown
- Facing History on Twitter
- Facing History LA on Twitter
- Facing History blog posts related to this series on CLTV
Keep the Conversation going:
- Watch and comment on Google Plus
- Be part of the #connectedlearning chat on Twitter