Join us at Nano Brew on September 22nd as we kick off a year-long look at the public good: what is it, and how do we teach it?
Welcome back, teachers! It’s been a heck of a year and a half for all of you, but we’re hoping you’re ready for some professional self-care. We don’t know what the next year will bring, and who can commit to a year-long Teaching Cleveland Institute when we don’t know what will happen next month? This series of gatherings (online through January, hopefully transitioning to in-person) will focus on helping your students build a sense of investment in their community by asking them to step beyond enlightened self-interest, towards a worldview of care for their community. But we’d like to start with an in-person gathering to reconnect with our peers and re-build the sense of community that is so important to us, and – we hope – to you as well.
Our friends at Facing History talk about a universe of obligation, that sense that there is a kind of compassion that exists beyond ourselves, extending in all directions, and encompassing our communities, the environment, and the world at large. The concentric rings of the self and the family are easy for our students to understand, but the larger circles of community and region are harder for our students to relate to at an emotional level. For this series, we’ll focus on the Northeastern Ohio area, talking with scholars and professionals whose job it is to identify issues of concern to local communities as a whole; how do they make their case for public support, and how do we help students understand how these issues have an impact on their well-being?
The online series will start in October, but we’re kicking off in September with an in-person event at Nano Brew on September 22nd featuring a conversation with Dr. Tom Sutton, Baldwin Wallace Professor of political science and director of BW’s Community Research Institute; you may have seen him on WEWS Channel 5 or heard him on 90.3 WCPN discussing current issues and sharing the findings of the institute’s public opinion research. Our conversation with Dr. Sutton will focus on why public opinion matters, and how its collection is essential to understanding issues and pursuing solutions to public challenges.
Topics will include, among others:
● Policing and incarceration
● Public health, health disparities and environmental racism
● Public education, curriculum and education funding
● Taxes, wages, and the workforce
● Neighborhood leadership, stewardship, and sustainability
● Gentrification and economic development
Click here to register. As usual, we’ll have snacks and a cash bar, but if you register in advance, your first drink is on us!
**Nano Brew does not currently require patrons to wear a mask indoors; Teaching Cleveland encourages all in-person attendees to be vaccinated, and mask as they feel appropriate.
Save the dates:
September 22 – in person
October 20 – zoom
November 17 – zoom
January 19 – zoom
February 16 – TBD
March 16 – TBD
April 20 – TBD
