Free Webinar on Teaching 9/11

Delighted to share news of this terrific program from our colleagues at Harvard.  I'm registering right now! 

Webinar: Responding to the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 in the Classroom

The Outreach Center of Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies is offering a free webinar for teachers featuring educator-created resources and lesson plans for teaching 9/11 in 5th through 12th grade classrooms. Read more about the webinar here.

The one-hour webinar is scheduled for August 25th and will begin at 7 pm EDT. Presentations and discussions will take place entirely online, in an elluminate virtual classroom. This platform runs through Java, and does not require any downloading of additional software.

Register for this webinar here. Once registered, you will be given a URL for the virtual classroom location.

Grants for Social Studies Teachers

This just in from NCCSS.  

If you're a North Carolina teacher, you can get a grant of up to $1,000 to support innovative teaching in social studies.

Deadline is December 31, 2011.  Check out the details and application here (scroll down). 

Make time to do this.  I'll bet you have a great idea simmering . . . .

Meeting K-12 and CC Folks

One of those days when you (okay, I) say, "nothing's better than outreach!"

Had a great opportunity to talk with fifty-five North Carolina K-12 and community college educators, in the brethren-hood of my fellow outreach folks at UNC, Duke, and NC State.  Love to see teachers' expressions when you hand them stuff for the classroom and say there's more if you want it.  And love even more the response when you say, "we'd really like to hear what you'd value most from us."

It'll be a busy summer.  I can't wait to get started!

Teacher Trip to Morocco

Another exciting grant opportunity for June.  This one could take you to Morocco.

"The Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) Program provides a professional development opportunity for middle and high school teachers from the United States to participate in a program aimed at globalizing US classrooms.

TGC is a program of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and administered by IREX.

Activities include:

• An online course designed specifically for US teachers aiming to globalize their classrooms;

• Two Global Education Symposiums in Washington, DC (pre and post travel); and

• An international fellowship through a two week country visit upon successful completion of the online course.

Travel under this program will be to one of the following countries: Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Morocco, or Ukraine."

What can I say?  An online course, pre- and post-travel global education symposium, and, did you see, you get to go to Morocco for two weeks?   


You've got to find out about this.  Read more here.  Deadline is June 15. 

Grant to Teach Turkey

Just heard of this great grant to teach Turkey. Deadline is June 3, so get going!!

Curriculum Development Grants of The American Turkish Society, initiated in the spring of 2010, offer funds to elementary and secondary school teachers nationwide to develop innovative curricula, projects and other classroom activities about Turkey. Our aim with this grant program is to increase knowledge about Turkey among teachers and students and stimulate interest in teaching and learning about Turkey.

Grants will cover the costs of research, materials, speakers, and other costs incurred by the school or the teacher. The amount of grants will range from $250 to $2,500, depending on the scope of the project, availability of total funds, and the number of projects selected through a competitive process. Preference will be given to schools that do not currently have Turkey-related programs in place. The American Turkish Society encourages all applicants to identify additional sources of funding where possible.

Once selected, the grantees will be free to develop their proposed projects without editorial input from The Society. However, they will participate in follow-up activities for evaluation purposes and will be asked to share any teaching plans, materials and activities with The American Turkish Society for future dissemination.

Application process for Fall 2011 Semester:

Application deadline (extended!): June 3, 2011
Notification: July 15, 2011

Please submit proposals including:

1) A 2-page summary with project description, including tools, materials, and methods to be used; objectives and anticipated impact; and the teacher's relevant qualifications.
2) Project budget with detailed breakdown of costs and grant amount requested
3) CV of teacher
4) Letter of support from school

Interested parties may send proposals to The American Turkish Society at info@americanturkishsociety.org or 3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10017.

Middle East Outreach

I'm still for teaching the world on a shoestring, for sure.  But now I'm the Outreach Director for the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies, so resources and support will have a distinctively Middle Eastern flavor.  I'll be adding to resources on our site in the coming weeks. 

And a good time for it!  We're all glued to events in Egypt and Tunisia and Bahrain and beyond. 

Have you been teaching the crucial role of Facebook, Twitter, and informal broadcasting in Egypt?    If so, you may be interested in this recent video from Cairo.  It's a response to international support (also conveyed by social media) in beautiful images and many different languages.  Enjoy!

Nobel Peace Prize 2010--The Missing Laureate

Here's where Liu Xiaobo would have appeared onstage to the receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  During the presentation ceremony in Oslo today, Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland placed the Peace Prize on the empty chair. 

In the Laureate's absence, Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullman read aloud a statement written by Liu shortly before his imprisonment.  You can read the full text here.