Free Workshop on Iraq



Watercolor and Black Ink by Lukman Ahmad

Score one for integrating the arts and social studies. 


My colleague at UNC, history professor Sarah Shields, had the brilliant idea of a workshop for North Carolina teachers that would introduce what we seldom see in textbooks and on the news--the art, music, and literature of Iraq.


Yes, art, music, and literature.  And, yes, Iraq.  We're so used to thinking about Iraq in terms of war, we've forgotten its rich traditional (and contemporary) culture.  And we can't teach what we've forgotten, or didn't know about in the first place.


So Professor Shields proposed inviting artists, two Iraqi and one Kurdish, to Chapel Hill, to present and discuss their art with North Carolina teachers.  The Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies, the UNC History Department, and the UNC Honors Program stepped up to provide the necessary funding.  The workshop is scheduled for November 12th.  More information here. 


Just last week we began to publicize the event among our state's teachers.  And the response? 


Overwhelming.  More than half the available spaces are claimed already by teachers eager to learn more about Iraqi culture and art. 


If you're a North Carolina teacher interested in enriching your teaching of the Middle East, contact me now.  I'll save a seat for you! 

Funding for Field Trips

Look into this funding for field trips for yourself and/or forward to a colleague now.  Deadline is October 3, 2011.


Target Corporation is accepting applications from education professionals for the Target Field Trip Grants program to bring K-12 students in the United States to museums, historical sites, and cultural organizations.

Since launching the program in 2007, Target has awarded $9.76 million in grants -- providing 1.2 million students in all fifty states with the opportunity to enhance their studies in the arts, math, science, and social studies. Grants are intended to fund visits to art, science, and cultural museums; community service or civic projects; career enrichment opportunities; and other events or activities away from the school facility.

Over five thousand grants of up to $700 will be awarded in January 2012. Grants are available to applicants from the U.S. for trips to be taken between January 1, 2012, and the end of the 2011-12 academic year (May/June 2012). Funds may be used to cover field trip-related costs such as transportation, ticket fees, food, resource materials, and supplies.

Education professionals who are at least 18 years old and employed by an accredited K-12 public, private, or charter school in the U.S. that maintains 501(c)(3) or 509(a)(1) tax-exempt status are eligible to apply. Educators, teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, or classified staff at these institutions must be willing to plan and execute a field trip that will provide a demonstrable learning experience for students.

The Target Field Trip Grants program is managed and administered entirely by Scholarship America.

Visit the Target Web site for complete program guidelines and access to the application form.

Teaching Ramadan

If you're in session (and some of you are already), take some time to mention that we're in the middle of the month of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting and prayer. 

Very helpful background information about Ramadan here. 

And share these beautiful photos of Ramadan celebrated around the world.

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.