It could have been me. In fact, it could have been any of us. By us, I mean the people all over this world who enter churches, synagogues, mosques, and other sacred places of worship to study, to pray, to listen, to sing, and sometimes even to mourn.
Topics: Classrooms, Teaching Strategies, Choosing to Participate, Students, Teaching, News, Upstanders, Facing History and Ourselves, Teachers, Civil Rights, Critical Thinking, Community
I remember driving to work one morning in 2008, vaguely paying attention to the DJ discussing Ashton Kutcher‘s recent Twitter rant about noisy neighbors. I had no idea what Twitter was.I was 25 at the time, right about at the stage in my life where adulthood began to officially set in and my knowledge of all things trendy began to rapidly decrease.
Topics: Professional Development, Antisemitism, Teaching Resources, Social Media, Twitter, EdTech, PLN, Media Skills, Online Learning, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology
Two Flipped Classroom Exercises to Teach "To Kill a Mockingbird"
Posted by KC Kourtz on November 24, 2014
Do you teach Harper Lee's classic To Kill a Mockingbird?
Check out these two flipped classroom exercises that can help engage students in the issues central to the novel—and their own lives—including race, class, gender, justice, and moral growth. The first exercise activates student thinking about "stereotype threat," or how stereotypes can negatively affect us in our daily lives. The second sets the historical setting of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Topics: To Kill a Mockingbird, English Language Arts, Facing History and Ourselves, Video, Stereotype, EdTech, Online Learning, Flipped Classroom, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology
From Our Sister Blog: Student Agency, Student Voice & the Maker Movement
Posted by KC Kourtz on October 23, 2014
As October is Connected Educator Month, we are pleased to announce Facing History's new partnership with Educator Innovator! Educator Innovator, powered by the National Writing Project, provides an online “meet-up” for educators who are re-imagining learning. Educator Innovator is both a blog and a growing community of educators, partners, and supporters. Read more about it on our sister blog Learn + Teach + Share.
Topics: Choosing to Participate, EdTech, Online Learning, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology
Tools You Can Use: Resources From the Facing History Website
Posted by KC Kourtz on September 15, 2014
Happy back-to-school season! We hope the academic year is off to a terrific start and are excited to support you with new readings, streaming video, lesson ideas, webinars, and other opportunities for professional development.
Topics: Facing History and Ourselves, Video, Media Skills, new website, differentiated instruction, Webinars, Online Learning, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology
The annual International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference is the biggest educational technology gathering in the U.S. This year’s ISTE conference, held in June in Atlanta, Georgia, set a new attendance record, drawing over 16,000 people from 67 countries. Here’s my take on hot trends from my time at the conference.
Topics: Social Media, EdTech, Media Skills, Online Learning, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology
As a Facing History-trained teacher, I strive to consistently integrate authentic voices in the classroom through survivor testimony. My students have heard my mantra many times: The greatest gift you can give another person is to listen to his/her story.
Topics: Facing History and Ourselves, EdTech, Innovative Classrooms, Media Skills, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology, Listenwise
Engaging Students in a Study of Identity: A Flipped Classroom Exercise
Posted by KC Kourtz on June 20, 2014
At Facing History, we begin each journey of investigation with a study of identity, focusing on how both individual and national identities are formed, as well as how these identities influence behavior and decision-making.
Topics: Antisemitism, Holocaust and Human Behavior, EdTech, Online Learning, Flipped Classroom, Critical Thinking, Facing Technology
What does national identity mean to you?
Topics: Holocaust and Human Behavior, Media Skills, Critical Thinking
In this new video, psychologist Deborah Plummer describes what she calls a "transracial society": "All of us inhabiting the earth [together]." Do we live in a transracial society today? Plummer says no, but offers ideas on how we can get there:
Topics: Safe Schools, Holocaust and Human Behavior, School Culture, Media Skills, Critical Thinking