Program+Abstract

Pathways to Freedom and Friendship
The Amistad Incident is a historical event that represented the first human rights issue of its kind to be argued before the US Supreme Court here in Connecticut. This was an event that evoked a strong emotional, current, and intellectual response as well as displayd the event’s historical significance in our state.

Students learn about this event through the discoveries of the slave trade, African cultural and art, and human rights issues. The integration of each has an emphasis on writing and establishing meaningful connections and friendships with partner classes.

Highlights for the year include: a partner-class team building experience at Riverfront Recapture in Hartford, an interactive authentic African performance from Artists Collective from Hartford, a multi-cultural workshop at Yale University in New Haven entitled “Discover the World”, a viewing of the play “Freedom Train” by Theaterworks, a day sailing aboard a Tall Ship that will emphasize sailing fundamentals, cooperative learning and tolerance, and partner visits to each others’ schools as well as email exchanges with partner classes. A new component to the program is the development of classroom teachers to become “Educational Ambassadors”. This new component allows each participating teacher to participate in a teacher swap day that provides teachers with the professional development growth to teach in a different environment with a group of students whom they already know. Teachers also experience the professional development growth in the areas of multicultural awareness then apply these instructional techniques in a different urban or suburban setting. The collaboration of all efforts of the students and teachers is recorded in student portfolios and teacher journals for continuous reflections and final evaluation of the program.