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Members of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) gathered this weekend in Nashville, Tennessee to expand their “social justice” horizons and strengthen their commitment to the agenda of the radical left. While many workshops are worth noting, the most disturbing are those that appear to have promoted anti-Israel sentiment in the aftermath of the Hamas terror attack on Israel which took place on October 7 of this year. In less than two months before the conference, an event planned well in advance, the NCSS addressed the urgency to ensure anti-Israel activists had their voices heard by teachers who would turnkey a workshop to their colleagues and reach more students across America. 

In one workshop session covering the topics pertaining to the Israel-Hamas war titled “Crash Course: Palestine,” an outspoken anti-Semitic student at New York University presented resources for teachers, according to the NCSS’ schedule. The 60 minute session was summarized as an opportunity for educators to “engage with documents, visual media, and first-hand accounts of Palestine and Palestinian people. Explore resources and strategies to integrate Palestinian history and current events into social studies classes.” One of the two presenters, Amanda Najib, has shared some disturbing reposts on her X/Twitter account that share absolutely false information about the Israel and Hamas conflict (i.e. the IDF took Palestinians as “human shields), suggesting the direction of this workshop likely took an anti-Israel turn. 

 

Another session titled “Teaching Israel & Palestine: Embracing Complexity & Competing Narratives,” was canceled due to unknown circumstances, but was scheduled nonetheless, and therefore deserves recognition. The one hour session was supposed to help educators “Develop the confidence to teach about this highly fraught, politicized, emotionally charged topic. Learn how to approach it with care, complexity, and nuance. Explore resources that will help students think critically, grapple with multiple perspectives, cultivate empathy, formulate their own educated opinions, and evaluate what they see on social media.” The description of this session is extremely appealing as it addressed a great need for teachers which is learning how to best teach current events and “hard history.” With the trending activism of NCSS speakers and the other workshop, this presentation would have also likely turned into another anti-Israel session. 

*Although The Locke Society was unable to attend the conference this year, the synopses are suggestive of what was taught as is the speech shared by the presenters. These workshops deserve attention as they are the reason educators attend this conference. At each workshop session, teachers look forward to bringing home outstanding resources to turnkey and help build their units with exceptional, high-quality lesson plans.