| June 4, 2001 | ||
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| STORY: |
| The University of Alabama at Birmingham, (UAB) School of Education, in partnership with State Farm Insurance Companies, is launching a new project called “Don’t Laugh at Me” to help address the problem of teasing and bullying among children. UAB will kick-off the project with a two-day training seminar for educators on how to use the “Don’t Laugh at Me” curriculum in order to sensitize school children to the effects of uncaring behaviors. The seminar is free. |
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| WHEN: |
| 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., September 5-6 |
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| WHERE: |
| UAB Hill University Center |
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| WHO: |
| Teams of classroom and special education teachers, counselors and principals in the Jefferson County and the Birmingham, Fairfield, Midfield, Bessemer and Tarrant City schools have been invited to attend. UAB plans to expand “Don’t Laugh at Me” to other school districts in Alabama beginning in 2002. |
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| WHAT: |
| Seminar participants will learn effective ways to implement “Don’t Laugh at Me,” which targets grades 2-8. The curriculum uses song, CDs, videos, games and class activities to teach children about compassion and appreciation of differences in others. The curriculum empowers children to create a more compassionate classroom and safer school environment. Linda Lanteri, founding director of the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program, will lead the seminar. Following the seminar, participants will receive additional assistance through group meetings and online support. The “Don’t Laugh at Me Project,” founded by singer and social activist Peter Yarrow of the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, is the result of a collaboration among leading organizations in the fields of character and diversity education and conflict resolution. They include the Educators for Social Responsibility, and its Resolving Conflict Creatively Program, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program, the McGraw-Hill Company, the Character Education Partnership, CharacterPlus, the Center for the Advancement of Ethics and Character at Boston University and Challenge Day. The “Don’t Laugh at Me” project in Birmingham is supported with a $23,000 grant from State Farm Insurance Companies. |
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| CALL: |
| UAB assistant professor Loucrecia Collins, Ed.D., (205) 975-1984 |
"Don't Laugh at Me"
The University of Alabama at Birmingham, (UAB) School of Education, in partnership with State Farm Insurance Companies, is launching a new project called “Don’t Laugh at Me” to help address the problem of teasing and bullying among children.