The This is My Home e-Newsletter is designed
specifically for teachers, administrators, and other school partners,
working to integrate Human Rights Education into their curriculum
and schools. This forum will showcase Human Rights Education news
from across the state of Minnesota as well as the emerging human rights
practices conducted in our classrooms, schools, and larger communities.
Please encourage your friends and colleagues to register online -
www.thisismyhome.org .
All Minnesota educators can receive a free This is My Home toolkit in the mail following registration!
This is My Home has reached educators and activists throughout Minnesota, the United States, and even the world; As of May 19, 2008, our registration total is 2,822!
In this Issue:
Close the Gap: New Resources for Educators and Community Members
Training Opportunities and Events Update
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Twin Cities Compass
The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI)
From Human Rights Education Workshop May 1, 2008 at the Multicultural Resource Center in St.Paul.
“This experience helped me feel less isolated as a Human Rights committed educator in a standardized test word!”
“After this workshop I feel excited, intellectually stimulated, and eager to apply what I have learned in my classroom.”
-“I feel hopeful and impatient to keep going with what we started at this workshop.”
Close the Gap: New Resources for Educators and Community Members
Close the Gap: The Case for Change 
http://www.mnchannel.org/partners/closethegap/index.php
The new 5-part documentary series produced by the Twin Cities Public Television (tpt) in partnership with the Itasca Project examines the widening gaps between Minnesotans. The Itasca Project commissioned the Brookings Institution to research disparities in the Twin Cities. The Mind the Gap report has identified race, class, and place as factors of key importance to the vitality of the Twin Cities region. The series focuses on Minnesotans facing daunting struggles because of the color of their skin, their income, and where they live. It also offers some new ideas, solutions, and hope.
The Educator and Community Guides
http://www.hrusa.org/closethegap/main.php
The University of Minnesota Human Rights Center developed guides for teachers and community leaders to foster dialogue and action around disparities. The Educator Guide provides curriculum resources for engaging youth in grades 8-12. The Community Guide offers key discussion activities for Human Rights Commissioners, community leaders, and other interested individuals to better understand these disparities and their causes, as well as to work to overcome them. We hope that these guides will encourage students, educators and community members to learn about race, class, and place disparities and take action to bridge the gap.
Training Opportunities and Events Update
Summer Curriculum Writing Academies
The Summer Curriculum Writing Academy is a professional development model developed by the Human Rights Center based on the This is My Home pilot workshops, observations, and continuous feedback from Minnesota educators. During the 4-day Writing Academy, educators will learn about human rights and integrating human rights into school curricula as well as create their own curriculum units using the online interactive Curriculum Planning Tool. This year participants have the option to earn graduate credit from the University of Minnesota. This 2-credit course option will be available at the reduced rate for teachers of $388.25/credit. Credits will be issued by the Institute for Global Studies in the College of Liberal Arts Contact your institution's advisor to determine if these credits can be applied to your degree program.Two academies will be offered this summer:
1) 2008 Summer Multicultural Curriculum Writing Academy in cooperation with Multicultural Resource Center and Northwest Suburban Integration School District (NWSISD).
Dates: June 23-26, 2008 8:00am-4:00pm
Location: Multicultural Resource Center, Brooklyn Park
Who should attend: Pre K-12 classroom teachers, cultural liaisons, curriculum specialists, and administrators from NWSISD’s seven member districts, who are interested in human rights education, as well as developing and implementing human rights curriculum.
Registration Deadline: June 3, 2008. To register, email a completed application form to hdehmer@nws.k12.mn.us. For questions and more information, call Heidi Dehmer at 763-450-1328. Download a registration form at http://www.nws.k12.mn.us.
2) 2008 Curriculum Writing Academy
Dates: July 28 - 31, 2008 8:30am – 4:30pm
Who should attend: Pre K-12 classroom teachers, cultural liaisons, curriculum specialists, and administrators from Minneapolis and St. Paul Public Schools. This academy is made possible through the General Mills Communities of Color grant; therefore, we would like to encourage applicants representing and serving communities of color.
Registration Deadline: June 20, 2008. To register, email a completed application form to home@umn.edu. For questions and more information, call Natela Jordan at 612-625-2857. Download a registration form at www.thisismyhome.org.
ACADEMY GOALS:
- Introduce the concept of human rights and human rights education;
- Introduce and involve participants in using This is My Home online multi-media tools;
- Build a team of human rights educators;
- Develop or enhance human rights curriculum-building skills;
- Develop curriculum units/ lesson plans.
About This is My Home: This is My Home is a Minnesota-based, pre-K-12 Human Rights Education (HRE) initiative. In partnership with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the League of Minnesota Human Rights Commissions, the Human Rights Center has developed, piloted, and launched one of the most innovative, emergent human rights education programs in the country. This is My Home (www.thisismyhome.org) was designed and developed to provide a systematic framework to assist educators, school administrators, education support professionals, and community members in promoting and protecting human rights by connecting students to one another and their schools, families, and communities.
The primary objectives of This is My Home are threefold: (1) to engage all members of the school community in creating a learning environment in which everyone can grow to their full potential with their human dignity and human rights upheld; (2) to motivate all members of the school community to take responsibility for promoting and protecting human rights so that student achievement, development, and performance can thrive; (3) to develop new tools for sharing and monitoring emerging and effective HRE practices.
New This is My Home resources for the 2008 Academy!
The University of Minnesota Human Rights Center developed guides for teachers and community leaders based on Close the Gap, a new 5-part documentary series produced by the Twin Cities Public Television (tpt). The Educator Guide provides curriculum resources for engaging youth in grades 8-12. The Community Guide offers key discussion activities for Human Rights Commissioners, community leaders, and other interested individuals to better understand these disparities and their causes, as well as to work to overcome them.These resources can be accessed here: http://www.hrusa.org/closethegap/main.php
2008 Curriculum Writing Academy: Human Rights Education Facilitators
Kristi Rudelius-Palmer has been involved in the field of Human Rights Education (HRE) since 1986 in various capacities. She founded a University of Minnesota campus Amnesty International group, facilitated prejudice reduction workshops for teachers, taught decision groups and parenting classes for fathers in prison and for mothers on the outside, and developed a self-esteem class for young children with parents in prison. Kristi edited the first report for Article 19, a freedom of expression organization, in London and assisted economically disadvantaged individuals in obtaining legal assistance with the Minnesota Justice Foundation for two years. In 1989, Kristi became a founding Co-Director of the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota. She organized numerous community-wide HRE series, including a mock trial of Christopher Columbus in 1992, which was carried in newspapers throughout the world. In 1997, Kristi was a founding member of Human Rights USA and creator of the national Human Rights Resource Center and web site, which services the nation with resources and training for building a human rights movement in this country. Kristi directs the publishing of The Human Rights Education Series, produced by the Human Rights Resource Center with diverse organizational partners, and also worked with more than 100 educators and community members to develop This is My Home: A Minnesota Human Rights Experience.
Natela Jordan has worked in the field of education since 1999. Her experience comes from the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and the US with such international non-profit organizations as Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation), Central European University, and Freedom House. Natela coordinated projects on human rights and civic education and interactive student-centered methodology. She worked with teachers and school administrators to make this methodology a part of schools’ culture. Inspired by the human rights aspect of her work, she graduated from the Central European University with an MA degree in Human Rights. She organized international human rights advocacy conferences, coordinated other international human rights education events, and worked as a human rights trainer and course director. Natela joined the Human Rights Center in 2006 and now works as Education Coordinator for This is My Home.
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
The Freedom Center is a museum and learning center which celebrates the legacy of courage and multi-cultural cooperation embodied in the story of the American Underground Railroad. It uses lessons of history to reveal stories about freedom’s heroes from the past and present — to challenge and inspire individuals to become vanguards of freedom, human rights, and human dignity. The Center provides virtual tours and other free online educator resources on contemporary slavery.
Twin Cities Compass
The goal of this site is to provide unbiased, credible information about how our region is faring; to alert policy makers, community leaders and the public to significant trends; to promote coordinated efforts to address them; and to measure and communicate progress. Educators can use information and statistics to inspire dialogue and action among their students.
The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI)
The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) promotes a human rights vision for the United States that ensures dignity and access to the basic resources needed for human development and civic participation. Towards this end, NESRI works with organizers, policy advocates and legal organizations to incorporate a human rights perspective into their work and build human rights advocacy models tailored for the United States. The site contains information, publications and factsheets on various human rights, such as the right to work, education, healthcare, etc.