Genocide Education Network of Illinois
PO Box 220,
Arlington Heights, IL 60006-0220
Tel. (917) 428-1918
Fax (718) 651-3637
Email: [email protected]
Internet: genocideeducationnetwork.org
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 2, 2006
Contact: Karine Birazian
Email: [email protected]/ Phone (917) 428-1918
Meeting the Mandate in Illinois by Teaching the Other Genocides
Lisle, IL- Over two hundred social studies teachers attended the annual
Illinois Council for the Social Studies (ICSS) conference September 29
and 30th visiting various exhibitors and attending numerous sessions
allowing for personal and professional development for educators
reported the Genocide Education Network of Illinois (GENI).
This year’s conference entitled Literacy and the American Mind had over
forty 60-minute sessions and several 2-hour workshops, as well as an
exhibition of over one hundred groups. Present at the conference as an
exhibitor and presenter was the Genocide Education Network of Illinois
(GENI), a newly created organization in response to the Illinois
mandate on teaching genocide that came into affect in August of 2005.
Sharing the booth with GENI was the "Xeniteas," the Pontian Society of
Chicago, Distributing folders of materials on
educating teachers about the Armenian Genocide and Pontian Genocide,
the conference also gave members and volunteers of GENI to speak one
on one with history teachers and promote their upcoming teachers’
seminar on October 20th, 2006.
Co-founder of GENI, Karine Birazian, and members from the Armenian
community in Glenview, Silva Bedian and Mourad Meneshian volunteered
their time and efforts to help out at the event. George Mavropoulos,
Thomas Mantzakides, Savvas Koktzoglou, and Soula Skoupas from Pontian
community also helped at the conference along with Ron Levitsky
from Sunset Ridge School in Northfield, Illinois. Displaying at
the booth the different resources available for teachers, including
materials from the Genocide Education Project, CHOICES, and Facing
History and Ourselves, Levitsky commented: "conferences like these
offer teachers an excellent opportunity, not only to gain background
information on the Armenian Genocide, but to access valuable resources
and teaching tools. The more help teachers can be given, the more
likely they are to teach about the Armenian Genocide, and to teach
about it effectively."
The afternoon concluded with a 2-hour session called The Other
Genocides, where members from GENI and the Pontian community presented
on the Armenian and Pontian Genocide. Afterwards, Levitsky, 2006
recipient of the Aharonian Award awarded by the Genocide Education
Project for excellence in teaching the Armenian Genocide, reviewed
various lesson plans teacher can take back to their classrooms.
Birazian presented on history of the Armenian genocide and Mantzakides
presented for the first time in front of educators the history of
the Pontian Genocide. "We were very pleased to meet with teachers
who are interested in including genocide education as part of their
curriculum," said George Mavropoulos, President of "Xeniteas",
"this is an important first step in educating students and teachers
alike on this sadly overlooked tragedy that took the lives of so many
people and for all intents and purposes…" Birazian also commented,
"This was our first time presenting and exhibiting not only at ICSS
but with the Pontian Society of Chicago. We are very grateful
with the support we receive from the Armenian community as well
as Illinois history teachers. Because the mandate is not funded,
our organization has been working to raise money to attend these
conferences and hosting seminars."
The Genocide Education Network of Illinois is a non-profit initiative
founded in 2006 in response to the passage of Public Act 094-0478,
mandating the expansion of genocide instruction in the public schools
to include the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Ukrainian Famine
Genocide, the Cambodian Genocide, the Bosnian Genocide, the Rwandan
Genocide, the Darfur Genocide and others.
The Genocide Education Network of Illinois,
is a volunteer-based organization
dedicated to assisting educators identify genocide education resources
and make them accessible, obtain the training needed to effectively
teach about genocide, create a forum for educators to network,
sharing their, and experiences to develop new materials and methods
####
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
