Back in 1988 as a senior in college, I arrived in Chicago to do my student teaching through the Associated Colleges' of the Midwest's Urban Education Program. I was pretty idealistic, naive and unaware of the world at the time. As I reflect back, I had sort of a missionary attitude as I began my career as a teacher in the city. I quickly realized I had a great deal to learn, and I soaked up much of my student program, particularly because of its leaders. Not only did we work on basic pedagogical and classroom management skills through this program, but we participated in a course called Dimensions in Multiculture. During this class, we were introduced to social justice concepts via neighborhood walks and discussions with people who participated in the Sanctuary Movement, Green Peace, and Stop AIDS Chicago. I even recall one visitor telling us about how his activism had gotten him banned from South Africa (when apartheid was still going on) and he had to sneak into the country underneath the beds of trucks in order to continue his work. These experiences left an deep impression on me, and while I haven't always been as focused on social justice issues as much as I'd like, my view of the world definitely changed and became more expansive.
None of this experience would have been possible without the leadership of the Urban Education Program leaders, and in particular, Marilyn Turkovich, a noted expert in multicultural education. We've stayed in touch over the years and I am pleased today to share with you her current work, the Voices Education Project (http://www.voiceseducation.org/). The mission of this is as follows: "We help people understand and transcend the roots of violence by hearing and giving voice to personal stories."
Marilyn would like to bring attention to a new program within Voices Education called Playback. According to her, "We are looking for people who would interview or reflect back on a story of someone who experienced the trauma of war or violent conflict. Voices believes that telling stories can help create peace and that stories pull us out of our skin, connect us, open our hearts. Playback is about hearing a story from the heart of violent conflict, and then retelling it. With compassion. Sharing knowledge. Building wisdom. Stories can be written individually or as a team project. You can comment and add to your own stories and those of others. Get involved. Go to Voices: http://www.voiceseducation.org/ and click on Post your story on Playback. Sign in and follow the directions."
The Voices Education project contains a great deal of rich, primary source content related to peace and justice. I hope that you will consider participating in this worthy project on your own or with your students if appropriate. Please let me know if you have any questions or feel free to contact Marilyn yourself. Her contact info is on the web site and she is also a member of the Global Education Collaborative! Please forward this information to other interested parties.
None of this experience would have been possible without the leadership of the Urban Education Program leaders, and in particular, Marilyn Turkovich, a noted expert in multicultural education. We've stayed in touch over the years and I am pleased today to share with you her current work, the Voices Education Project (http://www.voiceseducation.org/). The mission of this is as follows: "We help people understand and transcend the roots of violence by hearing and giving voice to personal stories."
Marilyn would like to bring attention to a new program within Voices Education called Playback. According to her, "We are looking for people who would interview or reflect back on a story of someone who experienced the trauma of war or violent conflict. Voices believes that telling stories can help create peace and that stories pull us out of our skin, connect us, open our hearts. Playback is about hearing a story from the heart of violent conflict, and then retelling it. With compassion. Sharing knowledge. Building wisdom. Stories can be written individually or as a team project. You can comment and add to your own stories and those of others. Get involved. Go to Voices: http://www.voiceseducation.org/ and click on Post your story on Playback. Sign in and follow the directions."
The Voices Education project contains a great deal of rich, primary source content related to peace and justice. I hope that you will consider participating in this worthy project on your own or with your students if appropriate. Please let me know if you have any questions or feel free to contact Marilyn yourself. Her contact info is on the web site and she is also a member of the Global Education Collaborative! Please forward this information to other interested parties.
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