“I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.” ― Elie Wiesel

Last week, we held our second of three webinars in our fall series with Listenwise, this one focused on exploring current events with an attention to Social-Emotional Learning. With the violence that has happened since then, most visibly in Kentucky and Pittsburgh, I find myself this week turning to the words of Elie Wiesel.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and the kick-off of our webinar series with Listenwise.  In the first of our webinars, we share resources from Listenwise and Facing History which can help you have conversations about bullying with the young people in your life and build empathy in classrooms.

How is your listening these days? What do you enjoy listening to?

I love listening to podcasts and audio books, though I can't say I'm always the most attentive listener. Sometimes I listen while "multi-tasking," occasionally perking up for an interesting point. Other times I find myself so engrossed in the listen, I can't help but stop everything else. Years ago I started listening to Tony Morrison read Beloved as background to doing housework - 5 hours later I was sitting on the couch still listening, as the sun set and my house remained a total mess.

Each year, Los Angeles Facing History Partnership Schools are invited to nominate upstanders in their school community - individuals and groups whose actions have made a difference in the lives of others. In 2018, we are pleased to recognize the following upstanders, each described in the words of their nominator

Looking for inspiration? The California Council for the Social Studies holds its annual conference next week in San Diego and we have many activities to share! Not yet registered? There is still time to register. In addition to all of the sessions below where you can find Facing History, Sunday includes a live Gubernatorial Candidates Forum and administrators with one or more teachers registered for the conference can attend the Administrator's Colloquim for free!

We were proud to be part of two sessions at the California Association of Teachers of English conference March 9-11. Thanks to all who joined us, and for those who could not come in person, here’s a taste of what we shared.

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis has inspired a beautifully-animated film soon-to-be released to theaters. Both highlight a role in the world today not often discussed: children of war who must take on the role of provider or "breadwinner" for themselves and/or their family. This role is further complicated in the setting of Afghanistan, where tightly-controlled gender expectations limit what women or girls can do.

Is literature one of your entry points for talking about challenging issues in the world today? Join Facing History and other educators for a unique event series which bridges literature and non-fiction to open new discussions on critical current issues.

On social media and in previous posts on this blog, a number of teachers have identified a video, "The Legacies of Reconstruction" as providing a helpful voice this week. In addition to the opportunity to explore the history that is relevant for understanding today's world, there is a message of hope. For those not as familiar with the history of Reconstruction or this video in particular, we wanted to share an excerpt. We hope it is encouragement through tough conversations, whether at school or in our communities.

Earlier this week, we shared how three teachers interwove setting up their classes during the first days of school with creating space to grapple with current events. (Click here for that initial post.) We've continued to hear from teachers, including one who said poignantly, “basically, we need to teach Reconstruction as thoroughly/often as we teach the Bill of Rights, the writing of the Constitution."

Here are two more examples, one for a student classroom and one for bringing adults into conversation before they create discussion spaces with young people.