Arizona Events

● K-8 teachers: Worlds of Words has global story boxes and culture kits that you can check out. And now, to save you the time and the expense of parking on campus, they are offering free delivery of the boxes to Tucson schools! First, to find out more information, click here. Then, to check out a language/culture kit, click here, or to check out a global story box, click here.

● Sign up NOW to attend the Holocaust Education summer teachers’ conference. It’s organized by the Martin-Springer Institute at Northern Arizona University and is held in Flagstaff from June 4-5. The cost is only $25 for one day, $40 for both days, but that includes the program fees, a continental breakfast and full lunch each day, and teaching resources. Plus you get a certificate for 6 hours each day of PD credit. For a lot more information and a registration form, please email: Melissa.cohen@nau.edu. You can also check out their Facebook page. (CMES is telling you about this event as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular program that has triggered this comment.)

●The University of Arizona Center for Educational Resources in Culture, Language & Literacy (CERCLL) has some great spring teachers’ events scheduled.

• CERCLL’s biannual “Language Teacher Symposium (LaTeS): Literacy-based lesson planning, from Cherice Montgomery” will take place on April 4, 2020, on the University of Arizona campus. Attendees will learn strategies for integrating textbook materials into the classroom. For a lot more information on the program(s) and how to register, click here.

• UA CERCLL is holding “Transdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Language in the 21st Century,” which will take place on April 24, 2020. Dr Gillian Lord will speak on revising teaching methods for Language courses. For a lot more information on the program(s) and how to register, click here.

 ● There are soooo many great, FREE opportunities through the Arizona Geographic Alliance that I can’t even list them all. So you should join AzGA – it’s FREE – and get on their mailing list. Then you can find out about all these opportunities. (Some even have travel allowances for people who don’t live in the site where the workshop is located.) To join AzGA, click here. (CMES is telling you about this opportunity as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular program that has triggered this comment.)

● Tucson teachers: How would you like a speaker for your classroom, school group, or event? I can send you a speaker for FREE on a Middle East-related topic. I have Outreach Scholars, UA students who can speak about life in their country of origin, or students in Middle Eastern and North African Studies who can speak about a topic they study. If interested, just email: jellison@arizona.edu. Be sure to tell me exactly what you want and when you want it! 

● Tucson teachers: Do you want a community partner in working on a project? Someone to host a field trip? A speaker for your class? Check out the CommunityShare website/database of free opportunities. Connect with someone or create your own project. Click here.

 

Competitions, PD, and Summer Travel Opportunities for Educators

 ● Win cash, prizes, and recognition! Each year CMES sponsors a K-12 lesson plan competition for lessons in any grade level or content area on a Middle Eastern topic. (The Middle East is defined as Afghanistan, the Arabic-speaking world, Iran, Israel, and Turkey – or possibly on the religions of Islam or Judaism.) The deadline isn’t until Sept. 17, but you can submit at any time. Plus, you may want to be thinking about it over the summer. For more information, click here.

 ● The Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC), the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs, and other area studies book awards program are holding a FREE spring 2018 Global Read Webinar Series “Reading Across Cultures: Diverse Social Justice Books for the 6-12 Grade Classroom.” Once a month, the World Area Book Awards will sponsor a 60 minute webinar on a book recognized by one of the awards and facilitate a discussion with the author on how to incorporate the book into the classroom. We encourage you to read the books with your colleagues, students, and community, and then join us to hear more from the author. You may participate in one or all of the webinar sessions, BUT if you participate in all, you receive a certificate of completion. Be sure to join the conversation with our webinar hashtag #2018ReadingAcrossCultures. All sessions are free and open to the public. All times listed refer to Central Standard Time (CST).Click here to register.

 ● Secondary teachers: Holocaust education programs

           ● Secondary teachers: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC has some amazing teacher fellowships. Whether or not you have any experience in teaching about the Holocaust, you can attend a session of the Belfer national conference. For educators more experienced with the Holocaust, there is the Museum Teacher Fellowship program. There are also some scholarships available here. If you teach middle school or high school English Language Arts or something Humanities-related, the session is from July 20-22. If you teach middle school or high school Social Studies, the session is from July 23-25. Applications are due June 15, 2020. For a lot more information and the applications for each Belfer session, click here. For information on the Museum Teacher Fellowship program click here.

●Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies is offering a summer institute for educators: "China in the Middle East and Africa." There is even some funding for out-of-state educators - if you apply now. The institute will take place in Washington DC. from August 6-10. For more information and an application form, click here. (CMES is telling you about this opportunity as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular program that has triggered this comment.) 

 ●  “Echoes and Reflections” has some free webinars for teachers – several times a week – on different topics related to the Holocaust, anti-Semitism, and genocide. For more information on the webinars and how to register for them, click here.

 ●  An interesting PARTLY FUNDED summer program in the San Francisco Bay Area is “Changing Lives in Modern China” for middle and high school teachers. The 2-day seminar is on Friday and Saturday, July 27-28. There is a stipend for teachers: $400 for out-of-state, $300 for non-local California teachers, and $200 for Bay Area teachers. For more information and an application, click here.

 ●  Yale University also has a well-reputed summer institute for K-12 and college educators through their PIER program. This year’s institute, held in New Haven, Connecticut from July 9-13 is “Building Religious Literacy: Teaching on African and Middle East Religions.” The charge is $180, NOT including housing; however, they seem to have some financial aid available since there is a box to check on the registration form if you are interested in financial aid. Also, see #23 below for other possible funding. For more information, click here, and click on the different links for the Summer Institute for Educators program. (CMES is telling you about this event as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular program that has triggered this comment.)

 ●  The University of Texas/Austin has a great summer program each year, put on by centers on several different world regions (including their Center for Middle Eastern Studies). This year the theme is: “Windows into Other Times and Places: Explore a World of Art and Performance.” You have to pay a registration fee, but they also have very affordable housing for out-of-town people. Registration with no housing is $100, but registration with a shared room/shared bath is only $125. (Registration with a shared room/private bath is $225.) The summer institute lasts for four days: June 12-15. For a lot more information and to register, click here. And see a QFI opportunity to get some funding to attend…. (CMES is telling you about this event as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular program that has triggered this comment.)

● If you were interested in attending a program in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the summer but were disappointed to hear how disorganized the Srebrenica program was last year, well, you're in luck. There is a much more promising program in the lovely, fascinating city of Sarajevo called "Learning from the Past: Bosnia-Herzegovina 1995-2017: Lessons Not Learned?" The program will feature lectures, visits to different government agencies and NGOs, etc. It is a for-pay program, but not too pricey. The program is NOT specifically for teachers, but you get a certificate of completion of the program - which your schools might accept for PD credit. AND you get to spend 2 weeks in the incomparable city of Sarajevo! If you have any questions about traveling to Bosnia, ask Julie Ellison-Speight - jellison@arizona.edu. For information about the program itself, click here.

● GEEO  (Global Exploration for Educators Organization) offers cost-subsidized Winter Break, Spring Break, and Summer teacher travel programs to destinations that you might not go to on your own. I’ve done several of their programs and enjoyed them immensely. The bad thing is that they are not free, but the good thing is that you can be a full or part-time educator, AND a non-teaching adult other can sign up to go with you. (My husband has accompanied me on GEEO programs to Peru and Morocco. He had fun too.) Some of their programs are on sale now, so check it out here. If you have spring break from March 10-17, check out their Morocco trip – in conjunction with UT Austin!! And check out their “multi-stan” trips to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. I’ve heard Uzbekistan described as “the greatest place in the world you never knew you wanted to visit”!!

● K-12 teachers: Colorado State University is putting on a FUNDED summer Bimson seminar for teachers: “Challenging Student Perceptions of the Middle East.” The intensive seminar will be held in Ft. Collins, Colorado, from June 18-23. It is geared toward middle and high school social studies teachers, but they specifically said that teachers in other areas are also welcome to apply. Accepted participants get a $250 stipend and $300 for books/materials as well as the opportunity (if you want it) to register for credit through Colorado State University. There may also be additional funding for travel and lodging. To find out more and to apply, click here. The deadline is April 30. (CMES is telling you about this event as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular program that has triggered this comment.)

● American Friends of Russian Folklore has some programs to Russia – during the summer and some other times. You normally have to pay to go on the program; however, there is some financial aid and scholarship money if you apply now. For more information on the programs and the funding, click here. (CMES is telling you about this event as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular program that has triggered this comment.)

● An interesting PARTLY FUNDED summer program in the San Francisco Bay Area is “Changing Lives in Modern China” for middle and high school teachers. The 2-day seminar is on Friday and Saturday, July 27-28. There is a stipend for teachers: $400 for out-of-state, $300 for non-local California teachers, and $200 for Bay Area teachers. For more information and an application, click here. (CMES is telling you about this event as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular program that has triggered this comment.)   

● Some funding opportunities for teachers:  

 K-12 Social Studies, Humanities, or Fine Arts teachers: Qatar Foundation International is providing $2000 grants for teachers to participate in programs related to the Arab World. This includes attendance at workshops, conferences, summer institutes, seminars, or educational courses. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. To learn more, click here.  

Fund for Teachers: The new grant cycle just opened!! These grants can assist teachers in going abroad or to another city to participate in professional development programs. And they don’t fund 1 or 2 people but thousands of teachers! Check it out here.

K-12 teachers: CMES has so many great, FREE online materials for teachers! And our lesson plan page has a SEARCH ENGINE, so that you can search by grade, subject, and content area - simultaneously. (No more having to look at a list, going back a page, and scrolling down!!) We’re still working out a few kinks – posting lessons that were missing from the original file, making sure the lessons are searchable by ALL categories, etc. So there may be a few things missing. But check it out anyway in all its awesomeness. There is everything from an awesome 2nd-5th grade lesson on "Water in the Desert" (though that file is too big to fit totally online, so if you want it, email me your address and I'll send you a CD) to middle and high school lessons in English, History, Geography, Current Events, etc.... Click here to learn more.

A well-established non-profit, LEAP (Learning for the Empowerment and Advancement of Palestinians) runs a 5-week summer program for children born and raised in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. People can volunteer to teach English or Music in a camp. You pay your airfare and some money for maintenance, but you get to make a difference and make some weekend field trips in Lebanon. Volunteers arrive on June 29, have orientation June 30-July 5, and teach from July 6-August 8. For a lot more information and an application, Click here. (No previous teaching experience is necessary in case you want to go with a spouse, friend, or young adult son/daughter.) Application deadline: Feb. 12. (CMES is telling you about this opportunity as a courtesy and does not endorse the program. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about this particular one that has triggered this comment.)

Also:

K-12 teachers: CMES has so many great, FREE online materials for teachers! And our lesson plan page has a SEARCH ENGINE, so that you can search by grade, subject, and content area - simultaneously. (No more having to look at a list, going back a page, and scrolling down!!) We’re still working out a few kinks – posting lessons that were missing from the original file, making sure the lessons are searchable by ALL categories, etc. So there may be a few things missing. But check it out anyway in all its awesomeness. Click here. There is everything from an awesome 2nd-5th grade lesson on "Water in the Desert" (though that file is too big to fit totally online, so if you want it, email me your address and I'll send you a CD) to middle and high school lessons in English, History, Geography, Current Events, etc.... 
- There are plenty of handouts and background sheets and powerpoints on the CMES website. For example, there are some powerpoints on the Jewish High Holy Days, info on the Persian New Year, teachable ideas about the Ottoman Empire, and lots, lots more. Click here to learn more.

- Check out the other resources such as suggested book lists for K-12 classrooms (by grade level), film guides (for films available at our Center or through Netflix), links to websites to counter Islamophobia, and AP World History resources. 
- We have a YouTube channel
- Like our Facebook page (for K-12 and community college educators - including pre-service teachers)

● For those of you who moonlight teaching a community college class: Here is a new website specifically for community college educators who want to internationalize their curriculum!!! A number of Title VI National Resource Centers on a variety of world areas are coming together to put information on it. (We will have more and more materials as time goes on.) You can find background information for yourself or to hand out to students, curricular materials, PD opportunities, movie/book suggestions, links to great resources, and more. Best of all, it’s searchable by subject, world area, etc. Be sure to check it out! Click here to access the website.   

●  Great opportunity! Qatar Foundation International (QFI) along with the Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC) is offering a program that will provide FREE classroom sets of books - up to 3 books - for award-winning K-12 books about the Middle East that teachers will really use in their classrooms. For well over a decade, MEOC has been giving awards to recently-published children's/youth books about the Middle East. Now QFI is providing grants to teachers who choose books off the MEOC list, use them in their classrooms, and create lesson plans based on the books. There are 3 categories: picture books, literature, and non-fiction. However, these span a variety of genres and topics: everything from personal accounts to graphic "novels" (some of which are personal accounts) to poetry/short stories to all kinds of fiction. You get to choose a book or books (up to 3) from the MEOC list (see below) and apply to QFI to fund them. (Note: Ask me - adeli@email.arizona.edu - if you need suggestions about a particular type of work. I have been on the book awards committee for a decade!) To find out more information about the grant, click here.

● Here are some materials to help you teach about the Jews in world history and the Arab-Israeli conflict: (CMES is telling you about these materials as a courtesy and does not endorse them. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs/materials; there is nothing about these particular materials that triggered this comment.)   

• Centropa is focused on “preserving Jewish memory – bringing history to life.” On this website, you will find interviews, short films (with educators’ guides), and other materials for teachers. There’s even a video about Jews during the Bosnian war of the 1990s! To see what’s available, click here.
• At the National Council for History Education conference last weekend, I came across some educational materials put out by the Institute for Curriculum Services, a Jewish history organization, that I found useful. Check them out at here.

● The Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC) is an organization of educators interested in the Middle East. Groups of teachers and Middle East content specialists read recently-released books about the Middle East appropriate for K-12 students and give awards for those that are well-written, appeal to kids at the intended grade level, and give an accurate, nuanced portrayal of life in the Middle East (or of Middle Eastern-Americans). There are 3 categories of entries: picture books, youth literature, and youth non-fiction.

For a list 2017 winners, click here. For previous winners, click here.

If you would like to become a member of MEOC, it’s free, but you pay a whopping $10 per year if you want to participate on the book awards committee or apply for funding to attend a MEOC workshop. To join, click here. It’s the least expensive professional organization around!!

If you want to serve on the book awards committee for next year, contact Susan Douglass at: susan.douglass@georgetown.edu. You choose which sub-committee to be on (picture book, literature, or non-fiction). Then during the summer, you receive a box of books to read, evaluate, and send on to the next reviewer. At the end, you receive some free books for your classroom or school library. AND it’s a professional participation to put on your resume. Just saying…..

●  For women’s history month, check out some document-based, interactive lessons on women in the Middle East developed by the gifted educator, Joan Brodsky Schur.

- “The First Feminists of Egypt: The Early Twentieth Century” 

- “The Salon Heritage and its Transformation in the Middle East” (about the literary salons, organized by women, in the Arab world in the 19^th-20^th centuries)

- “Scripting/Enacting a Salon Session”

(CMES is telling you about these materials as a courtesy and does not endorse them. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about these particular materials that has triggered this comment.)

● If you teach about world religions, you might find the website of the American Sikh Council to be useful. How better to learn about the Sikh religion/culture than to hear it from members of the religion themselves. There are recommended books for adults and children, info about the faith, and resources for teaching about human rights violations perpetrated against them. Click here. (CMES is telling you about these materials as a courtesy and does not endorse them. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about these particular materials that has triggered this comment.)   

● Witness to War is an organization dedicated to “preserving the oral histories of combat veterans.” Through the website’s video interviews, you can bring veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or other wars into your classroom. There are memoirs, photos, videos – and the website is constantly growing. Check it out here. (CMES is telling you about these materials as a courtesy and does not endorse them. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about these particular materials that has triggered this comment.)    

● High school/college educators: Choices has many great curriculum units, some that you buy for a low price, some that are free. In the “free” category is their “Teaching with the News” short lessons, click here. The most recent one is “South China Sea: Maritime Conflicts,” but there are good Middle East-related ones too, such as “Syrian Refugees: Understanding Stories with Comics,” “ISIS: A New Threat,” “Graffiti in Egypt’s Revolution,” and lots more. Check them out!! (CMES is telling you about these materials as a courtesy and does not endorse them. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about these particular materials that has triggered this comment.)

●  There are K-12 book awards in other world areas:

      The Americas Awards (for books about Latin America or Latinos in the U.S.) from CLASP (Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs)

      CABA (Children’s Africana Book Awards) for books about Africa or African-Americans.

      SABA (South Asia Book Awards) for books about South Asia.           

●  Qatar Foundation International, which has a lot of great cultural materials for teachers, has a free mosaic tile maker application that introduces students to fundamental concepts of Islamic art and architecture through the exploration and creation of mosaic tile art. It’s a cool app! Check it out here.

● The Southern Poverty Law Center’s has an interesting short report on Islamophobia in the U.S. Click here to check them out. From there, you can also click on the links at the top of the page to find resources to combat hate and prejudice of all kinds as well as other materials/maps.

● IEEE is THE association for engineers, so I was surprised to see them at the National Council for History Education. No, they weren’t lost; they have a new program for history teachers/students: REACH (Raising Engineering Awareness through the Conduit of History). There are some very interesting lessons/videos and hands-on activities for history classes. For example, there’s a unit on “Triremes: How to Build Your Vessel” or a multimedia presentation “Lost at Sea: Early Maritime Navigation Inquiry Unit.” To see these and other materials, click here. (CMES is telling you about these materials as a courtesy and does not endorse them. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about these particular materials that has triggered this comment.)

● The University of Chicago has a great webpage “Chicago’s Muslims in Their Own Voices.” You can click on interviews with Muslims from all different countries, see a map to locate these people’s places of origin, and some resources. Check them out here.

● If you teach about human rights, there is a human rights website that is just getting started. You can even go online and request a virtual speaker for your classes, maybe a genocide educator in Bosnia or Rwanda or an expert from a university in another state or country. For that particular service, however, you have to pay the speaker (but it may not be a big fee if you have a speaker from Bosnia or Rwanda…..). Anyway, check it and the other features of the website out here.   

● Secondary teachers: Choices has some great curriculum units: some for free, some for which you have to pay a small amount. The newest paid one – not expensive – less than $30 for a fully reproducible set of 2 materials books – is “The Middle East: Questions for U.S. Policy.” One of the FREE ones is: “Syrian Refugees: Understanding Stories with Comics.”  

● The Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (in Washington DC – with information from/about Oman) has a fantastic resource for teachers: the Indian Ocean in World History website. This has online lesson plans with maps, primary sources, and all kinds of information on the Indian Ocean trade in various historical eras, spanning the world trade between East Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Far East. Check it out here.

● The Pulitzer Center has some great lesson plans for upper elementary, middle school, high school, and community college classes. One of their newer featured lessons is on “The Agreement between the U.S. and Iran." And there’s a new one on “Peacebuilding: Taking Home Lessons Learned in Africa." Check out their other Middle Eastern-themed lessons (on refugees, Afghani poetry, climate change, women’s rights, etc.) and lessons on other world areas: here. The newest is “Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides.” There is a 10-minute documentary (included) plus a lesson plan. Click here. Other lessons include: “Young People’s Revolutions: Examining Youth Movements around the World” – with lessons on Tunisia during the Arab Spring, Venezuela, Kashmir, and the Philippines. click here. Another series for middle school-college is entitled “Geographies of the Mind: Mentally Mapping the Silk Road,” click here. Some other newly featured ones are linked on a page “5 Lesson Plans to Celebrate Women’s History Month,” which for some reason has seven lessons!! Three interesting Middle East-related ones: “Saudi Arabia’s First Female Lawyers,” “Afghanistan: On Love and Suicide,” and “Finding Home” (about refugees). Check them out here. (CMES is telling you about these materials as a courtesy and does not endorse them. We are now required to provide a disclaimer for non-UA programs; there is nothing about these particular materials that has triggered this comment.)

 

● Abdelkader was a 19^th century humanitarian, who was such a worldwide inspiration that a town in Iowa was named after him! Honoring his legacy are two Global Leadership scholarship competitions. (The poster competition is new this year.) There are awards at both the high school and college level, an essay contest and a poster contest. For more information on all the competitions, click here. The deadline is May 15

Tell high school students

• U.S. State Department summer leadership program with Iraqi students.
  World Learning is currently recruiting U.S. high school students to participate in a fully-funded exchange program (within the U.S.) with visiting Iraqi teenagers. Selected students will travel around the United States with the Iraqi students, learning about social justice, peace-building, and leadership. The program is funded by the Department of State. IYLEP is a fantastic opportunity for U.S. students interested in the Middle East to learn more about Iraq and strengthen the U.S.-Iraq relationship. Please share our flyer or the blurb with students who could benefit from the program! For any questions or inquiries, email Iylep@worldlearning.org or Damilola.akinyele@worldlearning.org