IWitness Teacher Trainings and Presentations in Chicago

Thu, 01/28/2016 - 5:00pm

USC Shoah Foundation's Chicago Regional Consultant and middle school teacher Brandon Barr has been busy introducing IWitness to educators in the Midwest.

On Friday, January 22, Barr led an joint IWitness/Echoes and Reflections teacher training session at South Cook Intermediate Service Center in Chicago Heights, Ill. He showed the participants how to register for IWitness and discussed quick ways that testimony could be used to develop classroom conversations. They also explored the Helen Fagin Information Quest activity.

Barr will lead another IWitness training session at the 2016 Northern Illinois Computing Educators (NICE) Mini-Conference on Saturday, January 30 in Skokie, Ill. The NICE Mini Conference is an opportunity for educators to gain access to a wide range of professional development with sessions ranging from digital storytelling to 1:1 iPad initiatives.

Barr also spoke eloquently about the importance of humanities education at a recent conference for the Yale National Initiative, which aims to strength teaching in public schools through professional development, curricular resources and publications. Barr was a national fellow in the Yale National Initiative and is currently Chicago’s city representative. Watch his remarks below: