Past Seminars

Fall 2004 Seminar Descriptions

TEACH documentary screening and panel discussion. TEACH is a 35-minute documentary produced by filmmaker Davis Guggenheim. The film follows four new teachers during their first year in the Los Angeles, California, public school system. Designed to inspire and encourage people to become teachers, the film is a powerful recruitment and reflection tool that explores the special bonds which can develop between teachers and their students. After the screening of the film, a panel of education experts ranging from teachers from the Beginning Teacher Panel to education faculty will offer their reactions and answer questions from the audience.

Letters to the President: What We Can Do About the Real Crisis in Education Lecture and discussion by book editor, Dr. Carl Glickman, University Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Georgia. Dr. Glickman will speak and lead a discussion of his most recent book, which intends to directly influence the quality, nature, equity, and resources needed to better serve all public school children. Thirty-three letter writers, ranging in age from 8 to 92 and reflecting the nation’s diversity, have written personal letters with concrete recommendations for a national commitment to education with public purpose. The authors hope that millions will read this book and add their voices to an open discussion about what is meant by an American education for all children and how we need to proceed.

Teaching Through the Storm: A Journal of Hope Lecture and discussion by book author, Karen Hale Hankins, a UGA alumna and teacher in Clarke County.Hankins’ book takes us into her classroom as she addresses the emotional needs of her students while also meeting their needs for literacy development. In the process of writing the narratives of her reflective teaching journal, Hankins discovered that this became a powerful method for understanding students and for shaping curriculum. Woven into the portraits of students are the readings this teacher found most helpful as she attempted to understand and cope with her ongoing inquiry, both about the special needs of these children and the role of narrative to guide her understanding. Above all, this work presents an unforgettable insider perspective on the buoyant hopes of teachers and the sometimes stark realities they face.

Beginning Teacher Panel Session: Meeting the Needs of a Diverse Classroom. In education today, there is a critical need for all teachers to be made aware of strategies and sensitivities for working with diverse learners. In this session, students can find out about the intangibles of the teaching profession that are best learned through practical experiences as shared by panelists who are in their first through fourth years teaching a variety of subjects, levels, and settings. Veteran teachers will moderate this interactive question and answer session, specifically geared toward how to meet the needs of the increasingly diverse population of children in Georgia’s classrooms. The Beginning Teacher Panel Session is targeted at undergraduates who are preparing for their student teaching experience, but can be beneficial to first-year students undecided about a career.