BRI Enjoyed A Busy October

The Bill of Rights Institute is in the thick of its fall season of spreading the message of civics education nationwide. Those efforts were still displayed during the second half of October. BRI staff traversed the nation to offer professional development and present at conferences and other events, including hosting a civics summit.

BRI hosted the summit in North Dakota last month, which featured a lecture by Dr. Wayne Journell, a professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Wayne, along with BRI’s Program Partnerships Manager Scott Petri and Joe Schmidt, BRI’s Senior Director of Programs, discussed how to approach contentious issues, media literacy, and teaching about elections.

North Dakota State Schools Superintendent Kirsten Baesler also gave a speech to remind the educators in attendance how critical they are to ensuring the civic success of young people.

A teacher who attended the summit said it was “one of the most valuable trainings I’ve attended in my 14 years as an educator.”

“I look forward to implementing these strategies and sharing them with my colleagues to strengthen our students’ civic understanding," they said.

BRI also provided training and professional development for teachers in Arizona and Oklahoma. A teacher who attended the training in Arizona said it made them “feel like a Supreme Court wonk,” while another teacher said, “with district funds becoming more limited, community support is critical for us to learn, connect, and plan.”

BRI also participated in webinars held by the Kentucky Department of Education and PBS that focused on voting processes, rights, elections, and civic responsibilities. Following those events, BRI led a session at the Dallas Holocaust & Human Rights Museum, which focused on the Electoral College and the foundations of government.

One teacher described the session as a “phenomenal learning experience” and another added “the ability to think and discuss why we teach civics and government, and how to engage learners was incredibly valuable.”

October ended with BRI presenting at the Georgia Council for the Social Studies annual conference. Attendees learned about BRI’s new BRI Jr. curriculum, which teaches U.S. history to elementary school students, using BRI primary sources to teach historical literacy to elementary school students, and the history of U.S. immigration policy.

Visit our Events page on the BRI website for more information on upcoming sessions and workshops.