This week in FAIR News: a new pro-human literature guide, upcoming events, and more!
Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History by Walter Dean Myers
This inspiring picture book biography tells of Frederick Douglass’ courageous journey to literacy and freedom and his heroic actions as an abolitionist.
FAIRstory Literature Guides emphasize pro-human values and support literacy development. Designed for use with elementary-age students, each guide stars a high-quality picture book with discussion questions and activities aligned with FAIR Learning Standards. Students will engage with rich texts and illustrations to explore values of fairness, understanding, and humanity.
FAIR Series: Educational Philosophy
Please join us on Tuesday, February 21st, 5:00 p.m. ET/2:00 p.m. PT, for a FAIR Parent Education Series discussion of educational philosophy and how it drives disagreements over contentious issues such as culturally responsive teaching, social-emotional learning, standardized testing, and how to teach topics like race, sex, gender, and justice. We will explore how differing assumptions about the purpose of schooling lead to holding strong positions on such issues. In session 1 we’ll learn the four basic philosophical positions. In session 2 we will explore how they inform the issues. The sessions will help parents better articulate their own educational priorities while engaging more sympathetically with those whose priorities differ.
FAIR Book Club: The Illusion of Division by Monica Harris
Start the new year off by joining FAIR's Book Club! We'll be reading Monica Harris’s newest publication,The Illusion of Division, and hosting conversations from 7:00pm - 8:30pm ET on February 22nd.
FAIR’s Book Club meets monthly with a goal to read books that challenge and deepen our understanding of humanity and fairness, while enriching our sense of what it means to be pro-human. Join us!
FAIR in the Arts Virtual Community Meetup
Join FAIR in the Arts for our Virtual Community Meetup on Tuesday, February 28th from 1-2:30 PM EST in a discussion moderated by Arts Fellow Heather Blakeslee.
Join us to engage in dialogue with other artists who are modeling FAIR's pro-human values in their work. Arts practitioners, educators, advocates, and media professionals—anyone who wants to create a culture where artists and others are free to express themselves—are welcome.
FAIR News Podcast
For audio versions of our FAIR News and FAIR Weekly Roundup newsletters, subscribe and listen to FAIR News Weekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or via RSS feed.
Join the Pro-Human Movement With FAIR Merch!
FAIR Educators Alliance & Administrators Alliance Happy Hours
Teachers often feel isolated and alone in their schools, but FAIR is here for you! The FAIR Educators Alliance brings together educators from all levels to share experiences and concerns and work on developing resources that can support teachers, community members, and FAIR chapters.
FAIR’s Educator’s Alliance is hosting an informal happy hour every other Thursday evening, alternating between beginning at 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET, and will hold more formal monthly meetings that will address issues based on your interests and needs.
If you’re a K-12 school administrator, we’re here to support you too! You’re invited to join the FAIR Administrators Alliance, which holds meetings the last Thursday of every month at 1:00 p.m. ET.
All teachers and administrators are welcome. For more information and to subscribe to the calendar, reach out to educators@fairforall.org.
Calling all FAIR Member Librarians and Library Staff! FAIR has established a network for members to connect and discuss key issues affecting their profession, advance pro-human principles, and preserve academic freedoms in library systems. The group meets biweekly.
Please contact tanya.simons@fairforall.org if you are interested in joining.
Join the FAIR Community
Join Us, and Become a member of FAIR
Become a FAIR volunteer, or join a FAIR chapter
Sign-up for a Welcome to FAIR Zoom information session to learn more about our mission, or watch a previously recorded session in the Members section of www.fairforall.org.
Take the Pro-Human Pledge and help promote a common culture based on fairness, understanding, and humanity.
Share your reviews and incident reports on our FAIR Transparency website.
Learn more about the pro-human approach to DEI on our FAIR Diversity website.
Good luck with the educational philosophy discussion! A relevant line, from the famous northwest ordinance: “religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
More here on how that important line was misinterpreted over the years and how we’ve thus forgotten the roots of American public school:
https://gaty.substack.com/p/mcculloughs-mistake-and-ours