Global Education, Human Rights and the Middle East Region

Saturday 21 November 2009

Harvard University

 Themes:  Diversity of ways to discuss human rights in the classroom; global skills and human rights; human rights lenses for teaching; sources and re-sources for effective discussions of human rights; tools for humanizing conflict; establishment of localized best practices; sub-topic case studies on hunger, Iraqi refugees, religious diversity in the US. A focus throughout will be to highlight identity as a tool of analysis to promote human rights teaching on Middle East region themes.

 Workshop is co-sponsored by the Middle East Outreach Council; the Outreach Center, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University; the Middle East Studies Center, Ohio State University; The MacMillan Center, PIER, Yale; and, the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, New York University 

* This workshop will coincide with the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association in Boston, 21-24 November 2009.

 * Speakers who can provide content (rigorous and researched) and application to the classroom (reflect on the evaluations from the Teaching Religion Workshop).  

Note: Following on Andre Keet’s discussion the format needs to reflect the values of the organizers – if about human expression and fulfillment then there needs to be ways to do just that in the workshop.

 AM

9:00 – 9:30      Welcome and Setting the Stage:  Scope and Examples of Problems in                                 Integrating Human Rights In Teaching on the Middle East Region and                          Design of the Day

                        Paul Beran, Director, Outreach Center, Center for Middle Eastern Studies,                                     Harvard University

                        Melinda Wightman, Assistant Director, Middle East Studies Center, Ohio                          State University

                        Greta Scharnweber, Associate Director, Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near                         Eastern Studies, New York University

  9:30 – 10:30    Human Rights Teaching in Global Education: Theoretical and Practical                               Constructions (talk and discussion) (30 minute presentation/remainder                                discussion)

 Felisa Tibbitts is Co-Founder and Director of Human Rights Education Associates (HREA). She has worked as an educator, evaluator and materials developer on the topics of monitoring children's rights, the human rights-based approach to programming and the integration of human rights themes in curricula. Felisa has carried out adult trainings with educators and humanitarian workers in over 20 countries and serves as a consultative expert for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Organization of American States.

 Note: This would be an overview of the topic, presenting the limits of the spectrum of how to approach the topic, what is being done, how is it being done, and ideas of how to structure it based on best practices in line with global education ideas.

10:30 – 10:45  Break

 

10:45 – 12:00  Religion, Identity and American Understanding

                        (30 minute presentation/remainder discussion)

                              Pluralism Project, HDS “Our mission is to help Americans engage with                               the realities of religious diversity through research, outreach, and the                              active dissemination of resources.”  http://pluralism.org/original/

 PM

12:00 – 12:30  Lunch

 12:30 – 2:00    Resources and Local Groups to Tap Into For your Classroom

 Note: This would be an overview of a series of topics that are crucial to human rights teaching and some nuts-and-bolts tips for how to use them in the classroom, from the education experience of educators. 

 ·   Going Global: Acting Local: Humanitarian values (15-20 minutes

Grass Roots International, http://www.grassrootsonline.org/

·   Humanizing Curriculum: "Nothing Like My Home" on Iraqi Refugees     (15-20 minutes) (through Yale),     www.teachablemoment.org/images/myhome.pdf

 ·    More applications to Middle East Region Studies (15-20 minutes) (by the organizers)

 2:00 – 2:15      Break

 2:15 – 3:00      Feedback on the Day and Best Practice Idea Capturing