Category: News and Updates

Defending Democracy: Lessons for Building Resilience and Taking Action is a free, downloadable curriculum from Woven Teaching created for high school educators who want to engage their students in the fight to protect democracy and fight authoritarianism.  Based on the framework of Professor Timothy Snyder’s, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, these lessons offer practical applications and actions that young people can take in their communities and as global citizens. 

Highlights of Defending Democracy: An emphasis on critical thinking, media literacy, and collaboration, and community buildingHighly accessible, practical, and action-orientedAdaptable and created for either high- or low-technology environmentsGlobal and US-based examples, as well as historical and contemporary case studies15 lessons that encourage civic engagement and global citizenship – Summaries of each lesson are available hereConsiderations for Teaching Ethically and Effectively, including tips on facilitating difficult conversations in the classroom.Additional materials, including: glossary, group work roles, pre- and post-assessment, and resources for further learning.

 You can download Defending Democracy here. To learn more, check out the curriculum overview.

Defending Democracy was created by Woven Teaching, the human rights education practice of Woven Foundation. Woven Teaching’s work is dedicated to supporting classroom teachers with practical help for ethical and effective instruction. We believe that by weaving human rights education into the curriculum, educators can create socially responsible global citizens.

For more information about other Woven Teaching materials and resources, please visit woventeaching.org/resources.  

For more information about Woven Teaching or to schedule a workshop for your school or district, please contact info@woventeaching.org.

Register | Schedule | Keynote | Workshops

ONLINE via ZOOM
Saturday, November 2, 2024
12:00PM – 3:00PM ET /  9:00AM – 12:00PM PT

Register

The annual 2024 Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In, hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in collaboration with Teaching for Change, is an opportunity for educators around the world to access classroom resources from NMAI’s online education portal Native Knowledge 360°, the Zinn Education Project, and more. This event will be hosted ONLINE via Zoom.

Teachers select two workshop breakout sessions that include relevant and resource-rich experiences to support effective use of American Indian-focused classroom lessons and resources from Teaching for Change and NMAI. The goal of the Teach-In is to support awareness of the museum’s Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) national education initiative and its classroom lessons to promote improved teaching about American Indian communities. Teachers play a crucial role in advancing the museum’s work to transform popular understandings of Native history, cultures, and contemporary lives.

Teaching for Change and NMAI museum educators will share key concepts from NMAI’s Essential Understandings Framework, children’s literature from Social Justice Books, and classroom materials from NMAI’s Native Knowledge 360° education initiative. See highlights from the 2023 Native Knowledge 360° & Teaching for Change Teach-In.

Professional development credit and ASL interpretation will be available.

Register today!

November 11 at 1 p.m. ET

A longtime advocate for immigrant, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ communities, Arely Westley works with numerous organizations in New Orleans to uplift LGBTQ+ youth, stop abuses in ICE detention facilities, and expand access to immigrant support services. Westley was recognized as this year’s RFK Human Rights Award for her tireless efforts to combat injustice and speak truth to power.

Register here for the panel and receive accompanying lesson materials.

Sponsored by Citizens for Global Solutions, Minnesota

Date: Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Time: 7:00 – 8:00 PM (Central Time – USA)
Where: Zoom Webinar (register at link below)
Cost: FREE and open to the public

Register in advance: https://www.globalsolutionsmn.org/upcomingevents   

After registering you will receive the Zoom link in your email address.

Join us for an insightful event featuring Mr. Hanson as he discusses the pressing global challenges in this election year and how they impact the upcoming elections in November. Learn about key international events shaping the political landscape and their significance for voters and policymakers alike.

Thomas Hanson is a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State whose diplomatic postings included East Germany, France, Norway, the Soviet Union, Sweden, and the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. He also participated in the opening of new U.S. embassies in Mongolia and Estonia, worked on the Foreign Relations Committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and served as Director for NATO and European Affairs at the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Hanson currently is Diplomat in Residence at the Alworth Institute for International Affairs at the University of Minnesota – Duluth and teaches diplomacy at Carleton College. He serves as Chair of the Minnesota Committee on Foreign Relations and as Co-Chair of the Minnesota International Business Council. He is a past board member of the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights and Director at the Institute for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (IEECA). He is also a member of the U.S. Foreign Policy Working Group of the British International Studies Association (BISA) as well as the Council of Advisers at the Museum of Russian Art and the Minnesota Peace Initiative (MPI) at Norway House.

Mr. Hanson holds a BA degree from the University of Minnesota and graduate degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; the Institute of Advanced International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland; and the national School of Administration (ENA) in Paris, France.

Join the Teach Climate Network and presenter Marie Fargo on Wednesday, October 16th at 12:00pm CT for a workshop covering key practices for early elementary climate change education.

Register for the Webinar!

Do you want to address climate change with your elementary students, but don’t know where to begin? Are you concerned that climate change may overwhelm or scare your students? Then this workshop is a good place to start! We will discuss key practices for early elementary climate change education and introduce Climate Generation’s new resources for grades K-2, Healthy Habitats and Food Solutions. You will leave with more confidence to teach about climate change with your elementary students, and knowledge of two standards-supported resources to get you started! This workshop will apply best to formal or non-formal educators working with K-2 students, but preschool and 3rd grade educators may also find it applicable. We encourage you to download the Healthy Habitats and Food Solutions resources before the session to familiarize yourself with the content! 

We understand that some of these workshops do not work for educator’s schedules, so all registrants will receive a recording and additional resources to their e-mail within 1 week of the event. We are striving to make our events more welcoming to all, with specific goals about racial equity and inclusivity. Your answers during registration will help us to know how we are doing. The workshop will be from 12:00-1:00pm CT.

Please join us for a one-hour webinar, Child Labor Exploitation: What Caring Adults Need to Know this Wednesday. Register here!

October 9, 2024 05:00 PM CT

The Albert Shanker Institute and AFT are partnering to host a back-to-school season event for educators, health care professionals, and other caring adults on child labor laws and possible warning signs of child labor infractions. We will be joined by the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

Educators and health care professionals see young people often in their professional settings. When are student/patient behaviors like, sleepiness or absenteeism, signs of a child being exploited in the workplace and what should educators and health care professionals do about it?

Additionally, state legislatures have been enacting changes to loosen child labor laws at the same time they are introducing vouchers, which contributes to an environment where children are more vulnerable to exploitation in the workplace.

With evidence of child labor violations on the rise and many states loosening state child labor laws and expanding vouchers, more children than ever are vulnerable to child labor exploitation. Following the widely read New York Times investigative story, Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S., more adults are learning about the perils of child labor and want to do something about it.

This webinar will provide participants with background information on child labor laws, where to find additional resources and support for children and their families, and examples of union-community partnerships to end child labor exploitation.

Featured Speakers include:

Randi Weingarten, President AFT and Albert Shanker Institute
Jessica Looman, Administrator, Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor
David Weil, Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University 
Kent Wong, Project Director for Labor and Community Partnerships, UCLA Labor Center
Jack Kearns, UCLA Labor Center.

November 14 at 1 p.m. ET—RFKHR Book Club—The Movement, by Clara Bingham: On the next installment of our RFKHR Book Club, author Clara Bingham will discuss her latest book, The Movement. Through the captivating individual voices of the people who lived it, The Movement tells the intimate inside story of what it felt like to be at the forefront of the modern feminist crusade. We hope you’ll join us for the discussion!