Dear School Leader,

As educators, we share an essential mission to help all students become active, informed, and engaged participants in our democracy.  We must prepare students for college, careers and civic life.  The professional development opportunity described below, now available in multiple locations throughout New York State, will help your school community meet this essential challenge.

Please share this information with educators in your network.
 
Participants will be empowered with instructional strategies and resources to foster essential civic knowledge and key citizenship skills in all students.  Our program is Common Core / C3 aligned and is open to teachers of all grade levels and disciplines.  Pre-service teachers are also encouraged to enroll. 
 
Content will include essential literacy and citizenship skills such as:

·        Helping students understand our shared civic values and their rights and responsibilities as citizens, especially as consumers and publishers of information and the news in a digital world.

·        News literacy skills including-

o   Helping students identify what information is news.

o   Helping students identify what information is credible.

o   Helping students identify bias.

o   Helping students identify what information is “actionable.”

·        Strategies for improving student civic engagement.

·        Instructional strategies for engaging students as active, informed, impactful participants in our democracy.

We will have our four day institute at the Touro Law Center in Central Islip (Long Island).  We are also offering one day institutes in Syracuse, Albany, and White Plains. 

Further information and online registration for all locations is available at www.civicspdny.org.

We offer opportunities for either in-service credit or a graduate credit option through Stony Brook University.
 
As retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has warned, “the fundamental skills and knowledge of citizenship are not handed down through the gene pool. They must be taught and learned anew by each generation.”  We will meet this challenge by empowering teachers from all grade levels and disciplines to build civic knowledge and foster civic engagement for all students.

To add to the excitement of our Long Island Institute at Touro Law Center, please note that our keynote speaker is Karen Korematsu.  Ms. Korematsu is the daughter of Fred Korematsu, plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States.  During WWII Fred Korematsu defied and fought the government’s order that required persons of Japanese ancestry to report to internment camps.  President Clinton later awarded Fred Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his courage in speaking out against discrimination and fighting the government’s unjust order.  Ms. Korematsu will provide a powerful and memorable presentation that honors her father and speaks to broad themes of human dignity, constitutional rights, and our shared civic responsibility in upholding the civil rights of all people.  

I have attached informational flyers for each location for you to review and share with teachers in your network. Please share the information related to the program which is most appropriate for your region. 

Thank you for your consideration of the above.  Feel free to contact me at 631 521-1773 or David.Scott@stonybrook.edu  with any questions.  Space is limited.  Early enrollment is strongly encouraged.