2011 Illinois Statewide LRE Conference
Featured Workshops
Technology & the Future of the News (All Grades)
Kelly Judge Goldberg, Bannockburn Middle school
Bernard M. Judge, The Chicago Law Bulletin (ret.), CRFC Board Member
Vivian E. Vahlberg, Vahlberg & Associates
This session will focus on the ever changing way in which we receive and deliver our daily news. How does technology affect the way in which we receive our news? Panelists will discuss the role of a free press in an ever-changing digital democracy from various viewpoints.
Choosing Presidential Candidates: Democratic Process or Hot Mess? (Grades 7-12)
Laurel R. Singleton, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago
Caucuses, primaries, and conventions--all are part of the complicated and messy process by which the Republican and Democratic Parties choose their presidential candidates. Participants in this session will be introduced to a new ready-to-use lesson designed to help students understand and evaluate the nominating process, just in time for the rapidly-heating-up 2012 campaign.
Civic Action Project (Grades 9-12)
Hayley Lotspeich, Wheaton North High School & Dee Runaas, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago
Make your government class more exciting by learning how to incorporate the CAP curriculum into your class instruction. The Civic Action Project (CAP) incorporates a range of interactive learning strategies central to good classroom instruction. The civic action process requires students to select a problem or issue relating to policy, examine and analyze the problem or issue, and consider and implement civic actions to effect change. Find out how to participate and receive a free copy of all fourteen lessons!
Deliberating in a Democracy in the Americas (Grades 9-12)
Kristy Poteete-Kriegermeier, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago
Should our democracy block Internet content to protect national security? Participants in this session will examine documents presenting arguments on both sides of this controversial issue and then deliberate using the Structured Academic Controversy discussion method.
Digital Youth Network (Grades 8-12)
Darrell Johnson & Akili Lee, Digital Youth Network
The Digital Youth Network (DYN) is a hybrid digital literacy program that creates opportunities for youth to engage in learning environments that span both in-school and out-of-school contexts. Digital Youth Network gives students tools to be engaged, articulate, critical and collaborative. Facilitate the ability to become creators – designers, builders & innovators – who can envision new possibilities.
Fourth Amendment Seizures in Schools (Grades 9-12)
Diane Redleaf, Family Defense Center & Carolyn Shapiro, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Does the Constitution put limits on the authority to interview children at school about claims of sexual assault? Must police and social workers obtain a warrant before conducting such interviews at school? Two experts who worked closely with this case as it made its way up to the Unites States Supreme Court will weigh in on the issues and what this case may mean for schools.
Greene v. River City Moot Court Experience (Grades 7-12)
Jessica Chethik & Laurel Singleton, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago
This session will feature CRFC's newest dynamic resource for teaching middle school students about the judicial branch of government. Using the facts from this case, students can either participate as justices serving on the highest court, or as participants, taking on all of the roles in a moot court.
Technology and the Fourth Amendment (Grades 9-12
Catherine Hawke & Tiffany Willey Middleton, American Bar Association, Division of Public Education
Wire-tapping, infrared sensors, pagers, GPS, oh my! In the past century, the Supreme Court has repeatedly addressed questions surrounding the use of new technologies to conduct searches, and their relationship to the Fourth Amendment. Participants will explore historic and current cases raising technological challenges to the Fourth Amendment, and discuss practical methods for teaching about these issues. All participants will receive resources for use in their classrooms.
Technology and Evidence (Grades 9-12
Ronald Allen, Northwestern University Law School
This session will explore the increasing role technology plays in collecting, storing, and submitting evidence and social media's influence on evidence and collection procedures.
The United States in Afghanistan (Grades 9-12)
Kevin Conlon, The Choices Program
In this session, participants will use primary source documents, readings, and new media sources to explore the issues as they consider the future of U.S. policy in Afghanistan.
Wartime Press Freedoms: From the Pentagon Papers to WikiLeaks (Grades 9-12)
Shawn Healy, McCormick Foundation Civics Program
Freedom of the press illuminates the inner workings of government. Its limits are most challenged during wartime, when the interests of national security collide with citizens' cherished right to information. This session will address contemporary, Information Age challenges to freedom of the press by examining current news stories, with a specific focus on WikiLeaks, and conclude with a brief debate about its founder's culpability in disseminating classified, stolen government documents.
