Day Two (Elva Card)
I really enjoyed the panel discussion of what it is to be a refugee. I read an article about the "Lost Boys" when they first arrived. Three teenagers had been given an apartment and a stipend on which to live, but other than that pretty much left on their own. The article showed some of the problems they faced in trying to adapt to this wonderful, but very strange to them, country. I guess after you've survived lions and disease and hunger, your survival skills are pretty well honed. Still all that the panelists have accomplished is very impressive.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Thank You Participants at U-Penn Peace Institute
Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
This morning my work partner, Zach and I had the opportunity to facilitate a thoughtful discussion among some wonderful educators who are all working to bring a broader historical narrative to their students. To our participants, let me say thank you. I really appreciate the chance to work with you even though our time together was brief. Hearing a bit of your struggle to step out of the mainstream and create critical thinkers in your classrooms was inspiring. It's a good reminder of how many brave and dedicated people there are in this profession who are willing to take the risk, take a stand and shake up the status quo. It's individuals such as yourselves who give me hope that civil society building is still alive.
We can accomplish so much when we share our knowledge and support one another.
In Peace,
Charlotte DiBartolomeo
Red Kite Project
This morning my work partner, Zach and I had the opportunity to facilitate a thoughtful discussion among some wonderful educators who are all working to bring a broader historical narrative to their students. To our participants, let me say thank you. I really appreciate the chance to work with you even though our time together was brief. Hearing a bit of your struggle to step out of the mainstream and create critical thinkers in your classrooms was inspiring. It's a good reminder of how many brave and dedicated people there are in this profession who are willing to take the risk, take a stand and shake up the status quo. It's individuals such as yourselves who give me hope that civil society building is still alive.
We can accomplish so much when we share our knowledge and support one another.
In Peace,
Charlotte DiBartolomeo
Red Kite Project
I had not thought for a long time of the incident I mentioned in our morning discussion, in which an 11th-grade classmate of mine remarked that Thoreau would have supported the Vietnam war, obviously, because he was a great American writer and great Americans support their government. For me, that was a moment which nudged me into a slightly different and more critical line of thinking. (I remember now that in elementary school, his parents wouldn't allow him to go on a field trip where parents were driving, because he would have had to ride in a car driven by a ---WOMAN!) Not dramatic, but who knows when one of our students might experience a similar insight, and we might never even know.
Resources on Revolution, Media Literacy, Peace Ed
Greetings, All,
It was a pleasure joining you today. I appreciated learning about your work, sharing ideas, and pondering issues with you.
Here are some resources that may be helpful:
1. Media Literacy: On my peace ed website, find links to various media literacy curricula, as well as links to varied news outlets that may be helpful in gaining multiple perspectives on news. At the bottom of the page is a link to Refdesk, featuring state and international newspapers. Listening the the conversation this afternoon, it seems these links may be useful.
2. Link to Swarthmore College's Global Nonviolent Action Database.
4. Visit my website Teach for Peace: Numerous peace education resources for critical and creative thinking, local and global care, and effective social action are here.
5. On my blog, look at Memorial Day & July 4th and other posts to find elaborations on the Lakey and Nonviolent Action database, as well as links to Gene Sharp's work, and more.
Best wishes for continuing fruitful work!
Sue Cannon
It was a pleasure joining you today. I appreciated learning about your work, sharing ideas, and pondering issues with you.
Here are some resources that may be helpful:
1. Media Literacy: On my peace ed website, find links to various media literacy curricula, as well as links to varied news outlets that may be helpful in gaining multiple perspectives on news. At the bottom of the page is a link to Refdesk, featuring state and international newspapers. Listening the the conversation this afternoon, it seems these links may be useful.
2. Link to Swarthmore College's Global Nonviolent Action Database.
- Browse cases: http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/browse
Geographical locator: http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/map
4. Visit my website Teach for Peace: Numerous peace education resources for critical and creative thinking, local and global care, and effective social action are here.
- http://www.teachforpeace.org
5. On my blog, look at Memorial Day & July 4th and other posts to find elaborations on the Lakey and Nonviolent Action database, as well as links to Gene Sharp's work, and more.
Best wishes for continuing fruitful work!
Sue Cannon
Peace Education and Human Rights for High School & Post-Secondary Levels
Panel Discussion: Youth Perspectives on Peace and Revolution
I can not tell you how much I enjoyed today's session. The staff should congratulate itself again for "hitting it out of the ball park".
The morning session was fantastic with instructors who were knowledgeable, great communicators and excellent facilitators. The conversations generated from this seminar was insightful which allowed us to apply real life situations to theories that we were learning. The discussions will definitely help me frame the work I need to do with my students to help empower them to become leaders of tomorrow, instead of just more statistics.
I would be remiss if I did not ask our hosts to convey a special thanks to the guest participants of the afternoon session, who not only shared their personal and their perspective groups' thoughts surrounding the issue of refugees with total strangers, but also braved our penetrating questions and other comments. It was a special treat to be able to place real faces on global issues and concerns. All too often I, as a social studies teacher, had to rely on written narratives to try to convey the human elements of history to my students. Somehow, the message is never quite complete. Although, I am not knocking written narratives, I have used them multiple times in the past. It's just refreshing and some times rather interesting to see a physical being before you, to ask those questions that the written words did not seem to want to answer-no matter how many times my students and I have asked these questions.
Also, I want to thanks the group for sharing their thoughts and concerns. I feel that I have learned so much already. I am looking forward to the next session. Jerry
Panel Discussion: Youth Perspectives on Peace and Revolution
I can not tell you how much I enjoyed today's session. The staff should congratulate itself again for "hitting it out of the ball park".
The morning session was fantastic with instructors who were knowledgeable, great communicators and excellent facilitators. The conversations generated from this seminar was insightful which allowed us to apply real life situations to theories that we were learning. The discussions will definitely help me frame the work I need to do with my students to help empower them to become leaders of tomorrow, instead of just more statistics.
I would be remiss if I did not ask our hosts to convey a special thanks to the guest participants of the afternoon session, who not only shared their personal and their perspective groups' thoughts surrounding the issue of refugees with total strangers, but also braved our penetrating questions and other comments. It was a special treat to be able to place real faces on global issues and concerns. All too often I, as a social studies teacher, had to rely on written narratives to try to convey the human elements of history to my students. Somehow, the message is never quite complete. Although, I am not knocking written narratives, I have used them multiple times in the past. It's just refreshing and some times rather interesting to see a physical being before you, to ask those questions that the written words did not seem to want to answer-no matter how many times my students and I have asked these questions.
Also, I want to thanks the group for sharing their thoughts and concerns. I feel that I have learned so much already. I am looking forward to the next session. Jerry
Day Two - August 7, 2012
The sessions today were stimulating and made me think and rethink about inequality, social justice, prejudice and the tremendous responsibility that lies on our shoulders as educators to shape the thinking of the future generation.
Thank you Summer Institute at Penn for organizing this workshop. I am already looking forward to the rest of the week.
Shruti Gupta
The sessions today were stimulating and made me think and rethink about inequality, social justice, prejudice and the tremendous responsibility that lies on our shoulders as educators to shape the thinking of the future generation.
Thank you Summer Institute at Penn for organizing this workshop. I am already looking forward to the rest of the week.
Shruti Gupta
8/6 Myers
I really enjoyed the lectures and discussion we had today. It was great to be a part of a community of critical, intelligent, expressive, willingly communicative minds. And I am anxious to see where future discussions lead us...I really feel like everyone comes from a unique background in our group and has his/her own story and experiences to contribute to their reflections on our content material.
Today's discussion made me want to learn, relearn and deepen my understanding about more about the various political, social and economic revolutions that have occurred and are occurring in the world. I looked up a "list" of revolutions and revolts on Wikipedia and was shocked to see how long the list was...it'd be interesting to lay each one of those on the list within the Framework we discussed today.
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