Session 1: Building Partnerships, Strengthening Practices
Workshops demonstrated how resource people are best used to enhance
the learning environment. Tips on forging meaningful partnerships
will be provided.
1. Youth Act!: Taking Civics Out of the Classroom
Presenters: Erin Hull, Artemis Carter (Street Law, Inc.)
Young people want to improve their communities and be a force for positive change but often lack the self-confidence and skills to do so. Through Youth Act!, young people learn to act for positive change at the public policy level. Through the application of the human rights framework, students learn about the connection between the problems in their communities and human rights. This interactive session provides an overview of Street Law's Youth Act program and information on bringing it to your community.
Involving School Resource Officers in Law-Related Education
Presenters: Lt. Don Fraser (School Resource Officer, NC)
Positive interaction with students in the classroom and community setting is one of the most important roles of a school resource officer. SROs are looking for ways to develop positive bonds with young people, to be relevant in the learning environment and to provide a practical understanding of law and the legal system. Street Law's Police as Community Teachers and Community Work Program will be highlighted in this session as a means of affording SROs the opportunity to share their knowledge and experience, while students in school and community settings gain a better understanding of the law, personal and community safety and their understanding of law, rights and responsibilities.
2. Feel the Synergy of Youth and Community Partnerships
Presenter: Lori Jackson (National Crime Prevention Council)
Did you know 1+1 can equal 3? Find out how this can happen when you bring community resource people into your school or community setting to help youth tackle important issues. This highly interactive workshop will get you excited about starting, maintaining, and/or improving relationships between youth and adults in your community. Participants will learn how to use a fun, interactive education tool, Community Works, to help bridge the gap between youth and community resource people, particularly school resource officers and other law enforcement officials. Come join us, as we explore new ways to use community resource people in your setting.
3. The "Search" for Justice: A 4th Amendment Exercise
Presenters: Annette Boyd Pitts (Florida LRE Association), Justice Fred R. Lewis (Supreme Court of Florida)
Using the actual case and a state Supreme Court justice as our resource person, participants will follow the trail of justice to decide the outcome of a U.S. Supreme Court search and seizure case. Emphasis will be placed on constitutional application, case study techniques and judicial decision making. A Supreme Court conference activity will be demonstrated.
4. Youth Courts: Unveiling the National Volunteer Curriculum & Exploring Statewide Associations
Presenters: Margaret Fisher (Washington Youth for Justice), Pam Inglesby (Washington State Bar)
Engage in interactive lessons from the new National Youth Court Volunteer Curriculum as we explore the fit with LRE. Identify the best practices embedded in the curriculum and in professional development seminars. Review what is happening in statewide youth court associations around the United States. Share what is happening with youth courts in your state.
5. Late Breaking News: Supreme Court Pyramid Scheme
Presenter: Susie Grosvenor (LRE Consultant Tallahassee, FL)
This session will provide an overview of the Florida Supreme Court's annual Justice Teaching Institute. Twenty-five teachers are selected to attend a four-day session at the Court to learn about the state judicial system. Additionally, audit judges attend all sessions and in turn, partner with the teachers returning to their communities to present innovative approaches to teaching about the Court. In a "pyramid-like scheme," thousands of students are impacted by seven justices.
Session 2: Fostering
Civic Engagement: Lessons from the Field
Workshops offered innovative approaches to civic education and
civic participation, on the local, national, and/or international
level.
1. Beyond Traditional Training: Coaching and Study Groups in LRE
Presenters: Barbara Miller, Laurel Singleton, Jacquelyn Johnson (Social Science Education Consortium)
Nearly every state center director has had this experience: You conduct a top-notch workshop, are given rave reviews by participants, but when you talk to the teachers months later, none has used the material presented. Research shows that study groups and coaching are forms of staff development that can produce real changes in teachers' practice. Experiences from Colorado and Illinois will be shared as participants examine and apply criteria for use of study groups and coaching.
2. Practicing What We Teach: Fostering Citizenship Skills Through Due Process Protections
Presenter: David Scott (Project P.A.T.C.H.)
Empowering young people to manage and resolve conflicts within the confines of the laws, regulations, and rules that govern our schools is an important aspect of citizenship education. By instituting procedural safeguards that model respect for "due process" rights of students, school communities can build students' social confidence and help them acquire better conflict resolution skills. Strategies will be presented detailing how the Northport-East Northport Union Free School District has utilized an Educational Ombudsman as a resource for the entire school community to manage conflict and build citizenship skills as part of a comprehensive instructional, discipline, and conflict resolution/mediation program. Strategies for replication including the introduction of a new Internet- accessible database containing summaries of over 1,400 court decisions and Commissioners rulings related to the rights and responsibilities of students in school settings will be presented.
Youth Court: Giving Youth a Voice in the Community
Presenter: Scott Peterson (U.S. Dept of Justice - OJJDP)
Youth Court, also called Teen Court, is the fastest growing crime prevention/intervention program in the United States. Youth Court utilizes youth in the community decision making process for sentencing other youth who have committed a crime or offense. Youth Court provides youth with hands-on learning experiences while educating them about the legal system and laws and responsibility. Youth Court is a voluntary alternative to the juvenile justice system for young people who have committed a crime or offense. This workshop will inform participants of numerous resources developed by the American Bar Association and other national Youth Court partner agencies.
3. First Amendment Schools: Educating for Freedom and Responsibility
Presenter: Samuel Chaltain (First Amendment Schools)
This session will introduce the attendees to a new national initiative in education, designed to help schools utilize First Amendment principles in the creation of school cultures based on individual rights, civic responsibilities, and communal respect for open dialogue. Topics will include information about the First Amendment Schools national grant program, and how schools can create organizational structures, allocate time and resources, and develop policies and curricula designed to promote more democratic learning communities.
4. Teaching Advocacy in the Schools and Beyond
Presenters: Richard Roe, Carla Cartwright, Jessica Feierman (Georgetown Law Center)
This session will model and then discuss a participatory workshop on advocacy. The workshop uses the topic of special education to lead students through the process of identifying their legal rights and developing the skills to become their own advocates. The workshop will also be a springboard for a discussion of the role of law-related education - and particularly advocacy education - in a variety of settings including high schools, homeless shelters, low-income job-training sites and prisons.
5. From the Classroom to the Courthouse: An Interactive Model to Promote Civic Involvement
Presenter: Eileen Gallagher (American Bar Association Office of Justice Initiatives)
This session is designed to introduce educators to a new resource developed by the American Bar Association and the Kettering Foundation that will assist in teaching about the justice system and citizen involvement in justice system reform. The ABA has developed a National Issues Forum booklet on the justice system. This booklet is designed to foster community discussion about the judiciary with an aim to develop a community-centered initiative for justice system reform. Not only does the booklet allow for an opportunity to teach about the justice system and the role of judges, but it also affords an opportunity to critically discuss the way the justice system operates today and whether all citizens have access to a fair and impartial justice system. Depending on issues identified during session, the students can then turn to reform ideas and initiatives. The ABA will provide copies of the booklet and a starter video to all meeting attendees and will also offer guidance and resources for the advanced stage of planning reform initiatives.
Session 3: Exploring Challenging Legal Issues in the Classroom
Workshops offered examples of exemplary practices that bring controversial
legal issues into the classroom and explore them meaningfully
and respectfully.
1. America Responds to Terrorism: A New Teaching Resource from the Constitutional Rights Foundation
Marshall Croddy (Constitutional Rights Foundation)
After the events of September 11, CRF launched a new web page to provide teachers with resources to address the political and legal issues raised by America's response. Marshall Croddy will provide a rationale and overview of the web site and demonstrate an interactive lesson drawn from it. Handouts will be provided.
2. Conversations on Law & Liberty: Addressing September 11th in the Classroom
James Landman (American Bar Association, Division for Public Education)
This workshop will introduce the ABA Division for Public Education's new "Conversations on Law and Liberty" project. The project is designed to promote dialogue in classrooms and communities about the issues facing our nation in the wake of September 11. Topics will include an introduction to the project's online materials and resources, models for classroom conversations, and ideas for using resource people in your classroom.
3. Restricting Rights in Time of War or Terrorism
Ed O'Brien (Street Law, Inc.), Dr. Isidore Starr (Queens College), Margaret Fisher (Washington Youth for Justice)
How far will government go in restricting rights in times of war or terrorist attacks? This session will take a historical look at what has happened, including the Japanese internment, as well as examine the restrictions of rights since September 11, 2001, including issues such as privacy, freedom of expression, counsel, habeas corpus, and ethnic profiling. These issues will be addressed through discussion as well as demonstration of new lessons.
4. Drawing Boundaries and Dividing a Region: The Middle East after World War I
Mary Louise Williams (Education Quest)
Through secret agreements and international treaties imposed during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the West divided the "Middle East" with little regard for geographic, historic, religious or political realities. The results have bred resentment and alienation at best, conflict and war at worst. Participants will experience a interactive high school unit that examines legal mechanisms recognized in international law that impacted the inhabitants of this diverse region, giving some construct for understanding the unresolved problems.
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