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Armenian National Committee - Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
www.anca.org
PRESS RELEASE
August 7, 2008
Contact: Ani Garabedian
Spotlight: Genocide Education Project
Los Angeles, CA - An innovative program called The Genocide Education
Project (GEP) was founded in 2005 in order to instruct educators on
the attempted extermination of the Armenian people in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915. The mission of the GEP is to "help prevent genocide
by assisting educators, students, and educational organizations with
teaching and learning about genocide and other major human rights
violations, with specific focus on the Armenian Genocide", as stated
on the organization's website.
This extraordinary non-profit organization seeks to establish a
national presence in order to bring adequate genocide education to
students and teachers all over the country. In order to achieve this
goal, the organization is working to expand the implementation of GEP
instructional material in school districts across the nation. Raffi
Momjian, co-founder and current Executive Director, explains "...proper
genocide education is lacking at the high school level. What the
Genocide Education Project does is create an opportunity for high
school level educators to teach about genocide effectively."
One of the challenges faced by the creators of GEP was to create
material that would enable educators who are unfamiliar with the
details of the genocide of the Armenians to teach the material to
their students. Momjian states, "We develop resources that can be used
at a high school level as well as a web based resource libraries for
teachers. "We not only educate teachers about the Genocide but also
provide the teaching tools they need and show them how they can be
used." These resources include eyewitness accounts, New York Times
articles, web-based activities for a more hands-on experience and
pre-made lesson plans ready for the teachers to utilize.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has partnered up with
the GEP in order to provide proper instruction and materials to nearly
300 history teachers. This has been a very vital and important step
for the GEP as the LAUSD is the second largest school district in the
nation. Workshops are being conducted several times a year to
familiarize teachers with the material and its importance.
The GEP has partnered with other organizations such as the Choices
Program, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Facing History
and Ourselves at the National Council for Social Studies Annual
Conference (NCSS) in the past in order to hold all-day clinics on the
Armenian Genocide. Momjian emphasizes the important impact these
clinics at the NCSS make as the teachers go back to their own school
district and are able to communicate their new found knowledge to
other educators.
In order to reach a greater number of educators, the GEP is also
creating an intensive week long retreat for teachers. During this
retreat, the teachers will be trained on the details of the Armenian
Genocide, as well as how to present this material to students, with
hopes that these teachers will in turn educate other teachers at their
individual schools. In addition to the retreat, other plans that are
in the works for the GEP also include virtual training. Teachers will
soon be able to access training tools online and take virtual classes
to aid them in teaching the subject matter.
Momjian says that the responsibility to educate future generations
about the Armenian Genocide belongs to us all. He says, "...just
reaching one teacher is great and important but community support is
just as essential, especially to Armenians, for a program such as this
one to thrive." The GEP is truly one of a kind as it provides every
resource and guidance that an educator may need to teach this material
at a high school level and does so effectively.
The Armenian National Committee - Western Region is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in
the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of
offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States
and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR advances
the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.
###
Photo Caption - Educators at the Genocide Education Project's NCSS 2007 booth.
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918
Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
www.anca.org
PRESS RELEASE
August 7, 2008
Contact: Ani Garabedian
Spotlight: Genocide Education Project
Los Angeles, CA - An innovative program called The Genocide Education
Project (GEP) was founded in 2005 in order to instruct educators on
the attempted extermination of the Armenian people in the Ottoman
Empire in 1915. The mission of the GEP is to "help prevent genocide
by assisting educators, students, and educational organizations with
teaching and learning about genocide and other major human rights
violations, with specific focus on the Armenian Genocide", as stated
on the organization's website.
This extraordinary non-profit organization seeks to establish a
national presence in order to bring adequate genocide education to
students and teachers all over the country. In order to achieve this
goal, the organization is working to expand the implementation of GEP
instructional material in school districts across the nation. Raffi
Momjian, co-founder and current Executive Director, explains "...proper
genocide education is lacking at the high school level. What the
Genocide Education Project does is create an opportunity for high
school level educators to teach about genocide effectively."
One of the challenges faced by the creators of GEP was to create
material that would enable educators who are unfamiliar with the
details of the genocide of the Armenians to teach the material to
their students. Momjian states, "We develop resources that can be used
at a high school level as well as a web based resource libraries for
teachers. "We not only educate teachers about the Genocide but also
provide the teaching tools they need and show them how they can be
used." These resources include eyewitness accounts, New York Times
articles, web-based activities for a more hands-on experience and
pre-made lesson plans ready for the teachers to utilize.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has partnered up with
the GEP in order to provide proper instruction and materials to nearly
300 history teachers. This has been a very vital and important step
for the GEP as the LAUSD is the second largest school district in the
nation. Workshops are being conducted several times a year to
familiarize teachers with the material and its importance.
The GEP has partnered with other organizations such as the Choices
Program, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Facing History
and Ourselves at the National Council for Social Studies Annual
Conference (NCSS) in the past in order to hold all-day clinics on the
Armenian Genocide. Momjian emphasizes the important impact these
clinics at the NCSS make as the teachers go back to their own school
district and are able to communicate their new found knowledge to
other educators.
In order to reach a greater number of educators, the GEP is also
creating an intensive week long retreat for teachers. During this
retreat, the teachers will be trained on the details of the Armenian
Genocide, as well as how to present this material to students, with
hopes that these teachers will in turn educate other teachers at their
individual schools. In addition to the retreat, other plans that are
in the works for the GEP also include virtual training. Teachers will
soon be able to access training tools online and take virtual classes
to aid them in teaching the subject matter.
Momjian says that the responsibility to educate future generations
about the Armenian Genocide belongs to us all. He says, "...just
reaching one teacher is great and important but community support is
just as essential, especially to Armenians, for a program such as this
one to thrive." The GEP is truly one of a kind as it provides every
resource and guidance that an educator may need to teach this material
at a high school level and does so effectively.
The Armenian National Committee - Western Region is the largest and
most influential Armenian American grassroots advocacy organization in
the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of
offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States
and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR advances
the concerns of the Armenian American community on a broad range of
issues.
###
Photo Caption - Educators at the Genocide Education Project's NCSS 2007 booth.