Teaching Controversial Issues: Webinar for Teachers

Fulbright Czech Republic invites teachers and teaching assistants to participate in webinar “Teaching Controversial Issues, Lessons Learned from Cross-National Research – Frameworks, Strategies, and Resources” from 4 to 5 pm on Thursday, February 23 on platform ZOOM. The webinar will feature recent Fulbright Scholar to the Czech Republic Dr. Elizabeth Yeager Washington and her American colleagues Dr. Judith Pace & Dr. Eric Soto-Shed.

Key Components of the Webinar 

• What can we learn from research?
• What can we learn from skilled teachers?
• What can we learn from teacher educators who work with students in a teacher preparation program?
• What practical tools and resources to use in diverse school context?
• How to design lessons about controversial issues while mitigating potential harm to our students?

Dr. Elizabeth Yeager Washington is a Professor and Coordinator of Secondary Education and Social Studies Education in the College of Education at the University of Florida. She teaches courses in secondary social studies methods, critical democratic citizenship education, and effective teaching and classroom management. Her research interests include civic education, critical democratic citizenship education, the teaching of social issues, and the teaching and learning of history. Dr. Washington spent the 2022/2023 Fall semester as a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar in the Faculty of Pedagogy at Masaryk University in Brno, where she focused on students’ school experiences with civic education. 

Dr. Judith Pace, University of San Francisco

Judith L. Pace is a Professor in the Teacher Education Department at the University of San Francisco’s School of Education. She is a qualitative researcher who examines classroom teaching and curriculum — focusing on social studies — and its relationship to diversity, democracy, and sociopolitical contexts. She has studied classroom authority relationships and academic engagement, teaching for democratic citizenship in government classes, social studies under high stakes accountability, and teacher preparation for teaching controversial issues. Her last study was conducted in Northern Ireland, England, and the Midwestern U.S., and she is fascinated by curriculum and teaching in politically divided and post-conflict societies. 

Dr. Eric Soto-Shed, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education 

Eric Soto-Shed is a lecturer on education. Prior to coming to HGSE, Soto-Shed was the director of secondary history/social studies education at Brown University. He received his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Teacher Education from Stanford University, and has also served as a methods instructor at New York University, and with the Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP). His work as a teacher educator has been greatly informed by eight years of experience as a high school social studies teacher in three distinct types of urban schools: a small alternative high school, a large comprehensive high school, and an early college magnet school. From the Bronx to Harvard University, Soto-Shed’s passion for helping struggling students become critical thinkers has been the driving force in his fifteen-year career as teacher and teacher educator.

How to register?

Please complete this Google form  to register for the webinar by Tuesday, February 21.

All registered participants will receive an e-mail with the link to the webinar in the morning of Thursday, February 23.

If you wish to submit any specific questions in advance, please type them into  this shared document.