Literacies in Conversation Series
For Fall 2026, we will hold joint sessions with the REC as part of the new Literacies in Conversation Series. Details on upcoming sessions will be here and in the newsletter.
Oct. 6 — Beyond The Metaphor: How Literacy Research and Theory Can Inform Religious Literacy
Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 4pm ET Heidi Hadley, Auburn University The “literacy” part of religious literacy is not just a metaphor for knowing something about
Past Sessions
Heather Miller Rubens (Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies) and Annabella Pitkin (Lehigh University)
The newly elected Pope, Leo XIV, and the aging Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, have both been in the news recently. This workshop will help teachers understand and teach effectively about their distinctive roles in Christian and Buddhist life. Scholars Heather Miller Rubens and Annabella Pitkin will briefly present on these leaders and answer questions. Join other educators in exploring how to address issues of global religious news in your classroom.
Henry Goldschmidt (Interfaith Center of New York)
This workshop will introduce community-based, experiential pedagogies for the study of religion, with a focus on student site visits to houses of worship. How, we will ask, can K-12 teachers help students understand the religious lives of their diverse neighbors? How can they foster embodied, experiential learning while respecting the boundary between observation and participation? How can they incorporate the voices of religious leaders into a secular academic curriculum? The workshop will explore these big-picture pedagogic issues, and share practical advice for leading site visits. Participants will learn how to enrich the conventional “world religions” curriculum by teaching in partnership with local faith leaders and communities.
This session brings together a panel of religious leaders to talk about the often-overlooked diversity of religious life within African American communities. Panelists will briefly introduce their traditions and share core beliefs, historical roots, and what these traditions look like in everyday life. Teachers will then have the chance to ask questions and engage directly with the panelists in conversation. The program will conclude with time for educators to reflect on how these perspectives might show up in their own classrooms and curricula in practical, meaningful ways.
The question of who belongs in America is central to the nation’s history of immigration. Religion is a key part of that question, having shaped experiences of both inclusion and exclusion. This session will explore how to navigate conversations about immigration and religion in the K-12 classroom. We will hear from James Baker and Matthew Diles, two experienced classroom teachers whose work combines deep historical understanding with how ideas of identity and difference have evolved in America. They will discuss strategies to conduct civil conversations about immigration that make connections with student identities and experiences. The session will include opportunities to share resources and discuss how different approaches can be applied in participants’ own classrooms.
The Teaching Together Network is a collaboration between the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, the Interfaith Center of New York, the Religion and Education Collaborative, and the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding.
Sponsoring Organizations
Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies
The Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS) envisions an interreligious society in which dialogue replaces division, friendship overcomes fear, and education eradicates ignorance. Our educator programming seeks to help build teacher confidence in facilitating discussions about religion. Through our fellowship program, we promote an “interreligious framework” as the intersection of what’s in your curriculum, who’s in your classroom, and who you are as a person. All three of these elements are crucial to acknowledging the reality of religion in a classroom.
Interfaith Center of New York
The Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY) is a secular non-profit organization with a mission to overcome prejudice, violence, and misunderstanding by activating the power of the city’s grassroots religious and civic leaders and their communities. ICNY regularly hosts the Religious Worlds of New York Summer Institute, which helps K-12 teachers teach creatively and effectively about the everyday lives of diverse faith communities. The institute brings teachers from throughout the United States to New York City, where they work with leading scholars of religion, meet with diverse religious leaders, visit local houses of worship, explore the religious life of the city, and develop their own curriculum projects
Religion & Education Collaborative
The Religion and Education Collaborative (REC) is an interdisciplinary network of educators, students, and scholars who examine issues involving religion and education in the United States, Canada, and around the globe. The REC strives to bridge gaps between academic fields and educational arenas to promote research and initiatives on religious literacy education, relationships between religion and public schools, and other topics at the intersections of religion and schooling.
Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding
The Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding promotes justice and builds respect for religious difference by transforming individuals and institutions to reduce prejudice, hatred, and violence. Our Education program partners with educators and educational institutions to help K-12 students build behaviors of respect for difference, including religious differences. Our Education Advisory Board has met since 2021 to share classroom experiences and develop best practices in inclusive education about religion.
The Network is open to all educators interested in promoting religious literacy and religious diversity education.
No registration fee is required to join.
This network aims to:
Provide professional learning opportunities for teachers practicing academically and constitutionally sound K-12 education about religion.
Create a space for respectful discussion on best practices in religious literacy and religious diversity education.
Share expertise drawn from classroom experiences of teaching about religion.
Build connections between educators working to promote religious literacy and religious diversity education.
Create a national network of educators for resource-sharing and mutual support.