Posted Date: July 2, 2008

Chesapeake Elementary Teacher Receives Teaching Tolerance Grant

CHESAPEAKE, Va. – The nationally renowned education program Teaching Tolerance has awarded a $1,500 grant to teacher Erica Davidson of Deep Creek Central Elementary School.
  The grant will support a project that uses noted photographer Gordon Parks’ work as a catalyst for critical thinking and activism related to issues of tolerance. Students will make connections between his work and current societal issues of cultural bias, discrimination and socioeconomic status.  They will study and discuss Parks’ photos and create their own art to express their personal experiences with prejudice and inequity.  Through artistic expression, students will explore tangible ways in which they can improve society.
  “This is the kind of program we hope to see implemented in classrooms across the country,” said Jennifer Holladay, acting director of Teaching Tolerance. “We believe tolerance education can make a difference in every classroom and in every school.”
  Teaching Tolerance awards grants of up to $2,500 to fund innovative tolerance projects that have the potential to serve as models for educators throughout the nation. Exemplary projects are highlighted in Teaching Tolerance magazine, the award-winning semiannual publication sent to more than 600,000 educators nationwide, and on the Internet at www.teachingtolerance.org.
  The goal of the project is to help foster respect and understanding in the classroom and beyond. Proposals from educators affiliated with community organizations and churches are considered based on direct student impact.
  Teaching Tolerance is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that combats hate, intolerance and discrimination through education and litigation.
More information about SPLC and its programs can be found at www.splcenter.org.

 

Click Here to Subscribe to the New Journal and Guide.