THE COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLE RECEIVES GRANT FOR
GLOBAL CHILD LABOR TEACHING AND CURRICULUM PROJECT
CNR and Isaac E. Young Middle School to Collaborate on Project

NEW ROCHELLE, NY, September 25, 2006 –- The School of Arts & Sciences at The College of New Rochelle (CNR) announced that it has received a grant from Teaching Tolerance for a curriculum project focusing on the causes and consequences of Global Child Labor.  Spearheaded by Dr. Linda Swerdlow, Associate Professor of Education at CNR, and Tony Martino, Social Studies teacher at Isaac E. Young Middle School in New Rochelle, this collaborative project will be conducted with eight undergraduate students from CNR and students from the middle school. The project will begin in Fall 2006 and continue for five years.

“Our objectives with this project are to provide pre-service educators with an in-depth understanding of this important issue, familiarize them with available curriculum resources, and to have them use this knowledge to teach and inspire middle school students to work for social change,” reported Dr. Swerdlow.  “We also plan to provide eighth grade students with an enrichment experience which gives them a deeper understanding of child labor around the world and motivates them to take action for social justice.”

The Global Child Labor Teaching and Curriculum Project will be part of The College of New Rochelle’s (CNR) Teacher Education Program’s collaborative partnership with Isaac Young Middle School.  The partnership between the two schools began three years ago with a Vietnam Veteran’s Oral History Project.  Approximately 30 middle school and 10 CNR students participated in this nationally recognized project.

As part of the middle level certification program at CNR, undergraduates take a course on Middle Level Education. The curriculum component of the course requires that CNR students develop and teach an interdisciplinary unit to small groups of students at Isaac Young as part of an enrichment program.  Teacher education candidates will also help the middle school students develop social action projects and activities such as letter writing campaigns, fundraising activities and participation in existing youth action programs (Operation Day’s Work, Free the Children, Net Aid, etc.)

Global Child Labor is one of the many tragic social problems which have intensified as a result of globalization.  Currently, there are 246 million child laborers worldwide. The majority (69.5%) work in hazardous situations or conditions. These include forced and bonded labor, trafficking, armed conflict, and prostitution and pornography.

Teaching Tolerance generally funds projects that promise the most direct and immediate student impact.  The grant will be used to purchase books, magazines, a DVD and a curriculum guide. These materials will be lent to pre-service education students and used each year for the development of the project’s curriculum units. The texts selected for this project are written to ensure that they are accessible to middle school students.

Founded in 1991 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance provides educators with free educational materials that promote respect for differences and appreciation of diversity in the classroom and beyond.  Their magazine and curriculum kits have earned Oscar nominations, an Academy Award, and more than a dozen honors from the Association of Educational Publishers (EdPress) including the Golden Lamp Award.