Facing History and Ourselves
Since 2016, the Center for Children & Youth has steadily developed a working relationship with Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO), a national nonprofit and global educational organization that supports teachers and schools in developing young people’s alertness to history and a readiness for informed civic engagement. Facing History offers teacher professional development, classroom resources, and individual support to educators as they guide students to think critically about identity, our relationship to complex moments in history – with pressure on issues of racism, prejudice and antisemitism – and their potential to influence their communities. Topics include “Holocaust and Human Behavior,” “Choices in Little Rock,” “The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy” and “Teaching Mockingbird.” The organization encourages empathy and social-emotional learning and a widening of perspective in the hope that students will be prepared to stand up for justice, truth and equality.
The Center for Children & Youth has worked closely with the the Chicago office of FHAO and DePaul University. Their collaboration offers a model of the immense possibilities for institutions of higher learning to work deeply and purposefully with organizations like FHAO. In addition, Dr. Jason Endacott, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education at the University of Arkansas, has been instrumental in this endeavor to share FHAO’s award-winning and research-tested pedagogy with the northwest Arkansas teaching community.
2019 Workshop for the Campus & Community
In the spring of 2019, CCY and the University’s Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education hosted a two-day workshop led by FHAO facilitators on “Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age.” The workshop explored issues of race, class, police violence, social media, fake news, and the role of journalism. Attendees included UA students, professors, staff members from student affairs, and community high school teachers.
2017 Workshop for In-Service and Pre-Service Teachers
In the summer of 2017, the University of Arkansas hosted the first Facing History & Ourselves Summer Institute, with secondary teachers from across the state in attendance. The conference used the subject of the Reconstruction Era to demonstrate the FHAO “Scope and Sequence” a pedagogical framework than can be used with a wide range of historical and contemporary topics to push learners toward deeper and more careful understanding of human behavior across time. The summer institute was made possible by the financial support of CCY, the Education Renewal Zone, the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Profession’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and Arkansas Council for the Social Studies. Future collaborations with FHAO, including working with teachers through the school year, are currently in the planning stages.
