Programs

Just over 130 years ago, the town of Eatonville, Florida was incorporated just 6 miles north of Orlando.  It was successfully established by African American freedmen as an all black city.  For writer Zora Neale Hurston, it served as a place to grow up and as a setting for her book Their Eyes Were Watching God.

This webinar will focus on the portion of the book that deals with the character Jody and his obsession with building his community through the exertion of power. He tries to purchase and control everyone and everything around him including his wife Janie.  He fails to understand that a community is built on an exchange of ideas and talents provided by everyone. 

This presentation will include an example lesson created by David Lockart, who teaches English Language Arts at East Bay High School.  We will provide resources to teach related concepts in Economics, Florida History, and Literature.

During this webinar, all participants will be able to interact verbally with the presenters and other attendees.  Book excerpts and video clips will provide economic, historic, and literary perspectives of Ms. Hurston’s writings and early life.

This webinar series, From the Classroom to the Workplace, is part of: The Coca-Cola Academy of Global Economic Education Scholars, a program of the USF Stavros Center with generous support of The Coca-Cola Foundation. The purpose of the webinars is to provide educators with information about 21st Century skills and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) that are essential for success in the current and future workplace. During the sessions, we welcome guest speakers from the USF Stavros Center Advocacy Board to provide real world examples. In addition, we will provide activities that educators can use in K-12 classrooms to help students develop these essential skills. Teaching strategies include inquiry-based activities: Decision-making, Design Thinking, Problem-solving, and Socratic Seminars. Although these webinars are part of a series, you can also attend them as stand-alone sessions. The stipend applies only to the first 20 who sign up for and attend all three webinars.

The webinars: 

1. Monday, January 25 (5:00-6:30 PM) From the Classroom to the Workplace: Diversity and Social Emotional Learning
2. Monday, February 1 (5:00-6:30 PM) From the Classroom to the Workplace: Problem Solving and Decision-making Strategies
3. Monday, February 8 (5:00-6:30 PM) From the Classroom to the Workplace: Using Entrepreneurial Thinking

During this webinar, we welcome Ms. Jodi Pushkin, Newspaper in Education Manager, Tampa Bay Times, who will partner with Dr. Deborah Kozdras to provide diverse texts and activities to use during African American Heritage Month. With a focus on the arts and creative entrepreneurial thinking, we will provide examples of ways in which African Americans have used their rich cultural heritage to enhance the financial wellness of their communities. Some of the activities and diverse texts include: 

• Using a film clip from the new Disney film Soul and an excerpt from the picture book Rent Party Jazz, we will provide ways in which to engage students in the historical and current impact of music in African American communities.  
• Investigating primary and secondary source texts from the Tampa Bay Times Newspaper curriculum and e-newspaper, to illustrate other ways in which Florida-based African American innovators have impacted society through their entrepreneurial thinking. 
• Providing links to resources and digital tools to engage students with creating their own songs and poetry. 

All resources will be provided to attendees, including links to a Nearpod decision-making lesson and other multimedia texts to engage students with critical and creative thinking.

Former President Barak Obama once said that, “Where you start, should not determine where you end up.” This simple statement helps us define the meaning of opportunity.  No two people enter life under the same circumstances, but all people should have the opportunity to progress and become better.  Education, character, and motivation are three keys to unlocking opportunities for our society and our students, but all to often, it is hard to understand and internalize this relationship.  Stories can engage our students.  True storeies can inspire them.

 This pair of webinars will share true stories that have been popularized through Hollywood movies.  The first presentation will focus on individuals who unlocked opportunity during the space race (October Sky, Hidden Figures, and First Man).  The second presentation will provide examples in sports (Cinderella Man, 42, and Queen of Katwe).  The true stories behind these films demonstrate the keys to opportunity in spite of poverty, racism, and gender bias.

We will combine written and video resources to create lessons applicable to curriculums in Social Studies, Career Technical Education, History, Science, and English Language Arts for grades 6-12.

During this webinar, all participants will be able to interact verbally with the presenter and other attendees.

The first 20 educators who register AND attend BOTH webinars will be eligible for a $50.00 stipend.