Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/602151
Free professional development for educators The Museum of Tolerance's Tools for Tolerance for Educators are one- or two-day programs designed to advance anti-bias education and the creation of inclusive and equitable schools. Programs are customized to groups of 30 or more, and can include such workshops as promoting a positive campus climate, Common Core through a social justice lens, and media literacy. CEUs are available. A special grant allows the museum to provide travel, accommodation and meals to 3,600 qualifying educators from beyond the Los Angeles area before June 30. (Qualifying educators are Pre-K–12 public and private school edu- cators, student teachers, teacher candidates, staff at California's schools and school districts, and educator organizations.) The museum also offers Open Enrollment Institutes for individ- uals, in collaboration with partners. For example, Perspectives for a Diverse America is a two-day workshop sponsored by the museum and Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance project. Scheduled for several dates in 2016, it is a literacy-based, anti-bias, social justice curriculum aligned to the Common Core language arts and literacy standards. Details are at museumoolerance.com. How do you teach tolerance? Let us know @cateachersassoc #teachersteachtolerance Complex issues such as human rights abuses and the plight of refugees and displaced persons are presented in age-appropriate and relevant ways. "We have a dialogue on free speech vs. hate speech, constitutional rights and who bears the greatest responsibility," Geft says. "Historical episodes are linked to student experience." Specific program workshops can focus on bullying and violence prevention, cultural awareness and youth lead- ership. In addition, students can hear powerful personal testimony from Holocaust or other genocide survivors. e museum provides educator materials for preparation and discussion. Among the museum's other youth programs: • Service Learning — advanced civic engagement over a three-month period. • Teen Court Program — youth juror training over five days in the summer. • Finding Our Families, Finding Ourselves — connects students with their heritage and community. The museum aims to create an experience that challenges people of all backgrounds to confront their most closely held assumptions. Younger children take part in a bullying prevention workshop, which can include hearing personal testimony from a Holocaust (or other genocide) survivor. While the museum endeavors to reach diverse audi- ences, it strives to show our connections to the greater whole. ere is a 42-foot-long wall exhibit on American histor y called " We the People," which showcases the themes of diversity from the 1500s to present times, intol- erance and discrimination, and the struggles for a more just society. "It breathes life into the Constitution — in depth and across time," Geft says. "Every student can find themselves in this history." For more information, see museumoolerance.com. 49 November 2015