IREX Civic Education Fair Demonstrates New Models for Teachers

On a recent morning at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, secondary-school teachers from Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, and the United States came together to discuss strategies to teach the Holocaust to teenagers. A few feet away, Americans, Indians, and Georgians talked about slam poetry, an urban genre of literature that is often highly political and uses injustices based on race, gender, or economic status as its subject matter. In another corner of the room teachers from Tajikistan and Ukraine traded ideas with teachers from the United States on how to start a student government in their respective schools.  

These are three of the many topics discussed at a recent Civic Education Fair developed by IREX for the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), a program of the US Department of State. The Civic Education Fair acts as a model to facilitate the sharing of ideas and best practices about civic education, as well as creates cooperation across teaching disciplines and countries.  

Teachers from across the United States demonstrated how they promote civic education outside of their normal school curriculum. Additional topics covered at the fair also included use of student poll workers, service learning, family fun fairs, Hispanic Heritage month, and global poverty awareness.

In school systems around the world, civic education is a growing priority, as teachers and parents strive to create an atmosphere where students develop skills that lead to active engagement, civic mindedness, and social consciousness. The Civic Education Fair allowed American teachers to share what their students had accomplished as well as inspire the international teachers. International teachers were excited to apply new ideas in their home schools. One visiting teacher stated that: “…there were some fantastic ideas and thoughtful projects that are realistic and workable in our own school settings”

TEA is a bilateral exchange program that provides professional development opportunities for secondary teachers from Eurasia, South Asia and the United States. During their program, teachers develop expertise in their subject area, enhance their teaching skills, and increase their knowledge about the United States. In the spring of 2009, 15 US teachers will visit Eurasian and South Asian countries for two weeks to share best practices, conduct workshops, and co-teach with international secondary-school teachers.