The Warren A. Nord Teachers’ Seminar

“The mixture of scholarly lectures with interactive lesson plan exploration was helpful because it allowed us to immediately apply the content to our classroom.  Most conferences, it is ‘either/or’ – this conference has been unique and wonderful.” ~2012 teacher participant

The 2016-2017 Warren Nord Global Islam & the Arts Teacher Fellows

Rather than a single seminar, Warren Nord Institute transitioned to an exciting year-long program for the 2016-2017 school year: the Global Islam and the Arts Nord Teacher Fellows. This intensive professional development opportunity offers a year-long exploration of Muslim cultures through music, dance, and dramatic performances during the 2016-17 Carolina Performing Arts season, integrated with readings, scholarship, discussion, and pedagogy. This project aims to deepen teachers’ understanding of global Islam through a cultural arts perspective while dispelling misconceptions and encouraging culturally responsible teaching in the K-12 classroom. Through an application process, 15 Nord Fellows were selected from around the state. Read more about the program, the hosting partners, and the participating teachers here.

Warren A. Nord Teachers Seminar

The Warren A. Nord Teachers seminar, named for the long-time director of the Program in the Humanities, is a special professional development event for teachers that is held each summer. The agenda includes lectures on a variety of relevant topics from distinguished collegiate faculty, active exploration of classroom-ready lessons plans on related topics, as well as time to learn from and network with teachers from across the state. 

Check out some of the session topics from previous years’ seminars.

The 2015 Warren A. Nord Seminar: An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the US

Featured speakers from the seminar, hosted at the NC Museum of History in Raleigh, NC, included:

• Race to the Truth: Transforming the Teaching of American Indian Students, Dr. Priscilla Maynor, imaginED Partners
• Colonization, Cooperation, & Resistance: Anglo-Indian Conflicts from Lost Colony to Cherokee Wars, Dr. Wayne Lee, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Learning and Unlearning about American Indian Education, Dr. Jane Haladay, UNC-Pembroke
• American Indians during the Civil War Period,  Dr. Susanna Lee, NC State University
• Indian Removal as Ethnic Cleansing, Dr. Greg O’Brien, UNC-Greensboro
• American Indians and Culturally Responsive Instruction, Kara Stewart, Literacy Coach, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Sappony Tribal Council, and the NC State Advisory Council on Indian Education
• Indian Students, White Schools: A Local Civil Rights Story, Dr. Olivia Oxendine, UNC-Pembroke

Featured lesson plans on American Indian history can be accessed by clicking on the links below:

• Tales & Trails of Betrayal: American’s Indian Removal Policies and accompanying PPT
• The Miseducation of American Indians and accompanying PPT
• Native Americans & World War II and accompanying PPT
• 8 Tribes, One State: Native Americans in North Carolina and accompanying PPT

The 2013 Warren A. Nord Seminar: The Fight for Freedom: From Slavery to Civil Rights

Corresponding lesson plans are listed under each presentation title:

• Slavery into Freedom, Dr. Heather Williams, UNC-Chapel Hill
  • Slave Resistance
  • Against All Odds: The African-American Founding of Princeville, North Carolina
  • Freedom Parade

• Stealing a Little Freedom: Runaway Slaves in North Carolina – Dr. Freddie Parker, History, North Carolina Central University  & author of  “Running for Freedom: Slave Runaways in NC, 1775-1840” & “Stealing a Little Freedom”
  • Stealing a Little Freedom: Slave Runaways and accompanying Power Point
  • Exploring the Hypocrisy of American Slavery with Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” and accompanying Power Point

• Exploring the Wilmington Race Riot with CROW, a novel for young adults, Barbara Wright, author
  • Exploring the Wilmington Race Riot with CROW, a novel for young adults and accompanying PowerPoint
  • The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and accompanying PowerPoint

• The Right to Ride: Exploring Transportation Protests, Dr. Blair Kelley, NC State University
  • Freedom Rides of 1961 and accompanying PowerPoint
  • Journey of Reconciliation, 1947 and accompanying PowerPoint
  • Plessy v. Ferguson & the Roots of Segregation and accompanying PowerPoint

• The Struggle Continues – Debating Modern Issues of Civil Rights, Dr. Christian Lundberg, UNC-Chapel Hill
  • Integrating Blood Done Sign My Name into Social Studies

  *Additional lesson plans on these topics and hundreds more can be found in the Consortium’s Database of K-12 Resources.

“I thank you for allowing teachers the opportunity to join together to learn, share and receive new and exciting materials and lessons to continue to educate our children.  Thank you!!” –  2013 teacher participant

The 2012 Warren A. Nord Seminar: Challenges to Democracy

Corresponding lesson plans are listed under each presentation title:

• Hypocrisy in Democracy: Slavery and Runaways – Dr. Freddie Parker, History, North Carolina Central University  & author of  “Running for Freedom: Slave Runaways in NC, 1775-1840” & “Stealing a Little Freedom”
  • Slave Resistance
  • Stealing a Little Freedom: Slave Runaways and accompanying Power Point
  • Exploring the Hypocrisy of American Slavery with Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” and accompanying Power Point

•  Strength through Struggle: The 1898 Wilmington Race Riot – Lerae Umfleet, NC Department of Cultural Resources & author of “Day of Blood: The 1898 Wilmington Race Riot
  • The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and accompanying Power Point                  

•  Who Can Dream the American Dream: A Discussion with the Author of A Home on the Field – Paul Cuadros, Associate Professor of Journalism & Mass Communication, UNC, and author of A Home on the Field
  • Learning About Immigration in NC with A Home on the Field and accompanying Power Point

•  Exploring Perceptions of American Muslims and Islam in the United States – Dr. Tim Marr , Associate Professor of American Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill
  • Breaking the Muslim Monolith: Exploring Stereotypes and accompanying Power Point
  • Women’s Rights in Iraq and accompanying Power Point
  • Iran’s 2009 Voter Uprising and accompanying Power Point
  • Forbidden Faces: Effects of Taliban Rule on Women in Afghanistan and accompanying Power Point

• What Freedom Might Be: Democracy & Nation Building in Native America – Dr. Daniel Cobb, Department of American Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill & author of Native Activism in Cold War America:  The Struggle for Sovereignty
  • North Carolina’s Tuscarora War
  • Tales and Trails of Betrayal: America’s Native American Policies and accompanying Power Point
  • North Carolina’s Lumbee Fight for Justice: The Battle of Hayes Pond in Maxton, NC

• Equal Protection in a Constitutional Democracy:  Exploring Equality & Women’s Rights with United States v. Virginia – Tom Metzloff, Professor of Law, Duke University & Creator of the Voices of American Law Project
  • United States v. Virginia

• Whose “Right to Life?” Exploring Ethics, Race, and Medicine with the Story of Henrietta Lacks – Dr. Jane Thrailkill, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Admissions, English and Comparative Law
  • Who Owns Your Body? A Look at Property Rights & the Human Body with the Cases of Henrietta Lacks & John Moore and accompanying Power Point
  • The Tuskegee Syphilis Study and accompanying Power Point
  • Against their Will: North Carolina’s Eugenics Program & In re Moore

*Additional lesson plans on these topics and hundreds more can be found in the Consortium’s Database of K-12 Resources.

“I have always wanted to teach controversial topics in my classroom, but I did not know how to approach these sensitive issues.  Thank you for giving me the tools to be successful in the classroom.” ~2012 teacher participant

About Warren Nord

Dr. Nord was the founding director of the Program in the Humanities and Human Values, a position he held from 1979-2004. While he was director of the Program, it sponsored over 700 seminars, workshops, and conferences, attended by more than 40,000 participants. His seminars “Good and Evil” and “God and Suffering” were so popular that they sold out several years in a row. Dr. Nord taught the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of education in at UNC from 1981 until his retirement from the University in 2009, and his research and writing focused on the place of religion in American education. For more information about Dr. Nord’s research, click here.

Upon his retirement, supporters established the Warren A. Nord fund that enables the Program to offer summer training opportunities for teachers. The popularity of and positive response to each summer’s Warren A. Nord Seminar is a testament to Dr. Nord’s legacy.