Citizenship Community

Hello Friends of Human Rights: 

It is less than a month before NCSS Annual Conference in San Francisco.  Your Human Rights Education Community will be there with presentations, showcases, workshops and discussions in the "lounge".  I hope many of you can be there, too.  Dr. Glenn Mitoma and his students from the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center are graciously putting together a guide to the human rights related presentations at NCSS 2017.  I will pass it on to you as soon as it is completed.  In the meantime, here are some highlights from the HRE Community's planned participation in the NCSS Annual conference:

1) Thursday, November 16,

1. a) The HRE Community officers will participate in a day-long NCSS Community Leaders Roundtable, facilitated by Lawrence Paska, Executive Director of NCSS. This will be an opportunity for NCSS Communities to strategize how to take a more dynamic role in setting the direction and priorities of NCSS and how to share our expertise, resources and experience with social studies educators around the nation.
2. b) Pre-Conference Clinic on Transformative Human Rights Education through Creative Arts, 10:00am to 4:00pm

This clinic introduces participants to the potential of arts-based education to engage students in critical dimensions of human rights practice and understanding.  Clinic presenter/trainers include Human Rights Education experts from The World As It Could Be (TWAICB), an initiative of the Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Activity League and faculty from the University of San Francisco Human Rights Education Master's Program. This full-day workshop will present sample content and activities from the highly successful TWAICB. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the transformative potential of human rights education and increased confidence on how they bring this new knowledge into their own classrooms.

Fee:  $35 for members, $50 for nonmembers

Presenters: Susan Katz, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Monisha Bajaj, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Sandy Sohcot, The World As It Could Be/Alameda County Deputy Sheriffs' Activities League, San Francisco, CA.

1. c) While not an official part of the NCSS Conference Program, Human Rights Educators USA, a civil society advocacy program for human rights education, and a consistent friend to the NCSS HRE Community will hold a Reception for human rights educators and friends, to introduce HRE USA and to provide a networking opportunity for human rights friendly educators, scholars, advocates and practitioners. The Reception will be held 5-7 PM at the brand-new Google Community Space, 188 The Embarcadero (just 3 ½ blocks from the convention center).

 HRE Community members and HRE-friendly NCSS members are encouraged to attend and get to know this vital group of human rights education leaders. Since use of the Google Free Space requires that the hosting group have a list of expected attendees, the NCSS HRE Community will be sending an invitation to our Community and related NCSS groups through the NCSS Connect website.  Please RSVP to the electronic site listed on the invitation when you get your invitation.  If we miss you somehow, please let the NCSS HRE Community and/or HRE USA know that you'd like to attend and we'll get you an invitation right away. The arrangement with Google Community Space is fairly flexible; so HRE USA will have someone at the door to vet and greet those who arrive, including drop-ins from NCSS.  Still it will help if HRE USA has a reasonable estimate of who will be attending.

2) Friday, November 17:

1. a) HRE Community Officers will be participating in the meetings of the House of Delegates, where our community has a proposed HOD resolution:

RESOLUTION # 17-04-4: NCSS to Encourage and Support School-wide and District-wide Programs that Promote and Model Respect for the Dignity and Humanity of Every Person

A draft of this resolution is attached to this discussion posting. This resolution, if adopted, will provide both an opportunity and an obligation for the HRE Community to promote school-wide programs that use human rights principles to build a culture of respect and caring for all. In addition to promoting our own resolution, the HRE Community will lend its support to resolutions proposed by other communities and affiliated groups supporting continued protection of immigrant students in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program.

3) Saturday, November 18:

1. a) Human Rights Education Community Business Meeting, Room: InterContinental Hotel, Golden Gate Room, 3rd Floor . Officers will be chosen, planning for the HRE Community for the coming year. An opportunity to shape the future direction of our Community
2. b) Community Scholar Speaker, Dr. Monisha Bajaj, Chair of the International and Multicultural Education Department at the University of San Francisco: Educating for Human Rights in Complex Times. 2:55-3:55pm, Room 3014, Moscone West.  Bajaj is Director of the Human Rights Education Master of Arts Program, the only program in the US offering a master's degree in human rights education. In her talk, Professor Bajaj will discuss the global field of human rights education, focusing on specific ways that teachers can bring notions of universal human rights into their classrooms. She will also highlight the programs at the University of San Francisco preparing leaders in the field of human rights education.
3. c) Human Rights Education Community Reception: 4:30-5:30pm, Telegraph Hill Room, InterContinental Hotel. This will be an opportunity to meet and greet, socialize and snack. There will be complementary snacks and a no-host bar.
4. i) During the HRE Community Reception, Human Rights Educators USA will announce and present the 3^rd Annual Edward O'Brien Human Rights Educator Award to an outstanding human rights program and an outstanding individual HRE educator.

So, I hope many of you can be there.  Hope you'll let me and the HRE Community know that you're coming and how we can get in touch with you.  Even if you can't join us in San Francisco, keep working with us to promote human rights education throughout the field of social studies education.  We have a lot to do to develop a human rights friendly culture in our schools, in our communities, in our nation and in our world.

 

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Rosemary Blanchard
Retired: Associate Professor of Education Emerita and Adjunct Instructor in Peac
Sacramento State Univ & Univ of NM
Albuquerque NM

[rblnchrd@emeritus.csus.edu]
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