Our fall forum is a follow-up to the spring forum: Educating for Democracy in a Contentious Election Year where we explored using inquiry, creating authentic discussion for controversial issues, building democratic classrooms and schools, and engaging students in civic participation.

On September 30th, the election will be just over a month away. A panel of educators from very different communities will discuss how they are approaching discussions about the election with their students.

The panel includes:

Pakaj Sharma, a Social Studies and Civics teacher at Niles North High School, a diverse multicultural community

Shonda Ronen, the Principal at Wolf Ridge Education Center (a K-8 school) in Bunker Hill, a small rural community in downstate Illinois

Hector Sanchez, Bilingual Social Studies teacher at Greater Lawndale High School for Social Justice, Chicago.

Our opening speaker, Dr. Leah Bueso, Assistant Professor of Urban Education at the University of Illinois Springfield and a researcher with the Civic Engagement Research Group, will set the stage for the panel.