Mtea Member Is Nationally Recognized For Innovative Teaching About 9/11

Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association member Bob Peterson has won a national award for his innovative approach to teaching elementary students about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Bob Peterson at the 2000 WEAC Convention in Madison

The award is being given to Peterson by Dickinson College's Clarke Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Contemporary Issues, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The Clarke Center's Web site, www.teaching9-11.org, provides teaching resources on 9/11, terrorism, human rights and international issues.

The honor includes a $1,000 cash prize and a trip to Washington, D.C., where on Thursday (September 9, 2004) Peterson will participate in recognition events at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Peterson, a 26-year veteran of Milwaukee Public Schools, teaches 5th grade at La Escuela Fratney, a bilingual school that he helped to establish. He is also the founding editor of Rethinking Schools, a national journal that advocates for equality and school reform.

Peterson received the award for his work in developing a special section for Rethinking Schools titled "War, Terrorism and Our Classrooms." It included a variety of perspectives from educators seeking to address students' emotional and intellectual needs, background articles that provided social and historical context to the attacks, and an article about using poetry, photography and news reports in teaching about the event.

"The tragic events of 9/11 and the subsequent wars that have followed are all reminders of how important it is for teachers and parents to stay closely connected to our children and youth," he said.

Peterson has won many awards for teaching excellence during his career. Most notably, the Department of Public Instruction named him Wisconsin Elementary Teacher of the Year in 1996, and WEAC honored him with the Richard Lewandowski Memorial Humanitarian Award in 2000.

He has also co-edited a number of books, served on MTEA's Executive Board, and is the founder and former co-chair of the National Coalition of Education Activists.

Peterson plans to donate his prize money to Rethinking Schools "to help further its work for global justice education," he said.

The special section, which was originally published in the Winter 2001/2002 issue of Rethinking Schools, is available on the journal's Web site.

Posted September 8, 2004