A Fixed Star: Teaching the First Amendment and Our Most Fundamental Rights

Dates: June 29 to August 12.  There are three webinars: 7:00pm - July 8, 22, & 29 (Webinars will be recorded.) Other than the webinars, participants may work on the course at the time of day of their choosing, though work is due at multiple dates each week. 

Instructor, Kelley Brown, took her students to win the national We the People competition in 2020! 

http://emergingamerica.org/workshops/teaching-first-amendment

The Western Massachusetts Writing Project will again offer the Civics Literacy Leadership Institute in 2020 to help teachers reflect, write, and guide implementation of the standards and the civics mandate to fully prepare students for college, career, and civic life, and to advance as school and community leaders. Priority will go to applicants whose responsibilities include teaching civics, social science, literacy, or English Language Arts in K-12 schools, and who aspire to teacher leadership. Participants will have opportunities to learn and to teach civic engagement—and to practice and model it in preparation for the kind of leadership opportunities they seek.

The institute will be conducted on Google Meet July 6-17, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. (1 p.m. on July 6). Each class will include a 1-hour synchronous meeting, 2 hours of partner/ independent work, and a ½-hour synchronous wrap-up. Reading and writing will be required for each class.

Fall: 1-hour biweekly synchronous meetings from mid-September through early December; 2 additional hours of asynchronous learning per class. Participants will also attend the October 17 WMWP Best Practices Conference.

Instructors: Karen Pleasant, History Department Chair, Stoneleigh-Burnham School; Simon Leutz, Social Studies Department Chair, Amherst Regional High School; and several guest presenters.

Questions? Contact Karen Pleasant at kpleasant@sbschool.org or Simon Leutz at leutzs@gmail.com.

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