As an educator I have found that FHAO’s greatest resources are their human resources. Over the past few years I have been very fortunate to get to know each of the members of the Toronto Office, and as such have found a wealth of knowledge and support through them that I have been able to bring into my classroom. The Toronto Office runs a variety of workshops (such as the Bully Film Workshop, Literature Workshop, and the Facing History Urban Education Workshop, to name a few) that I have found invaluable in my personal and professional development. They run workshops that are immediately relevant to both our curriculum and our students. They deliver the information in pedagogically relevant ways, modelling wonderful new and creative tools and strategies as they take us through new and interesting (and though sometimes disturbing, frequently uplifting!) content.
Beyond the workshops, I have found the program associate (Jasmine Wong, who will be on maternity leave and covered by Ben Gross for the 2013-2014 school year) a fantastic resource. The program associate can and will help you to tailor FHAO lessons to your specific classroom culture and needs. She/he can connect you directly with other resources, and will keep you informed of upcoming events. It is like having your own dedicated teaching coach! This human resource provided by FHAO is perhaps the greatest teaching resource I have ever been so fortunate as to come across.
The best way to take advantage of this resource is to join the Holocaust and Human Behaviour Summer Seminar. In this week-long course, which runs August 12-16, you will be introduced to the FHAO journey, a whole variety of useful classroom resources and strategies, and you will get to meet the people who run the Toronto Office (as well as several like-minded peers). If you have not yet attended this workshop, I highly encourage you to do so. And if you are a TDSB teacher, there are several bursaries available to cover the cost of the course. Please take advantage!
You can register online by going to facinghistory.org.
[See also Collaboration: The FHAO Way.]
