Why did you become a teacher? Was it to help youth learn how to think more critically and become more conscientious decision makers? Was it to encourage them to become more compassionate citizens? Maybe it was to provide youth with important skills and tools to understand the world around them? Or maybe it was to inspire students to make the world a better place?
Many educators are drawn to teaching because they want to help the next generation lead meaningful and fulfilling lives that can benefit both the student and the greater world. However, it can be challenging for teachers, even those who care about humane education, to incorporate social issues in the classroom when they are trying to get kids to understand the fundamentals.
At HEART, we have an antidote to assist teachers with this dilemma. We offer a professional development course in partnership with the NYC DOE’s ASPDP (After School Professional Development Program). This P-Course is for NYC department of education employees to gain the necessary tools to implement humane education into their classrooms while addressing both literacy and science standards. HEART demonstrates how to effectively teach about human rights, animal protection, and environmental ethics by simply modifying content that they are already expected to teach and by using it as a catalyst to meet common core state standards, NY state standards, and Danielson Competencies. (Sign up for our 2015 p-course by February 20th)
We have offered this course for the past five years to hundreds of teachers and the response has been tremendous. Not only have the teachers been excited to learn about teaching humane education, but most are amazed at how well it fits into their pre-existing curriculums.
Last year one teacher said that she could not believe how easy it was to meet the literacy standards she needed to address with her first grade class by using humane education concepts and humane education literature.
A second grade classroom teacher said that the unit she taught that included humane education was her students’ favorite unit of the entire year and that she planned to continue teaching it year after year after year.
Most recently, a former course participant shared this with us about her experience:
“Taking the Humane Education p-course influenced my personal approach to teaching by giving me tools to incorporate new material into my classroom. The course covered topics which interested me (including animal and worker rights) as well as provided lesson ideas and prompts that expanded my own understanding of these issues. It inspired me to bring humane education values into the classroom in a way that allowed students to have a broader understanding of current events and helped them develop possible solutions through knowledge and critical thinking. Ultimately, as a new teacher the course gave me a broader definition of teaching and showed me that any curriculum can be expanded with humane education.”
It excites us to hear that many teachers are interested in humane education and that when they incorporated it into their lessons, their students embrace it. This year we wanted our course to be more accessible to teachers than it has been in the past, so, for the first time, this course will be offered online.
Register for the P-course today and learn how to merge academic skills with humane education to help your students grow to be compassionate leaders and changemakers, working to create a better world for all life.
Register on the ASPDP website by February 20. The course runs from March 8 through May 22.
The P-Course is only available to NYC Department of Education Employees.