Sam Chaltain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sam Chaltain is an educator and First Amendment activist. He is the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project, a national organization that equips local educators with the leadership development, coaching and support they need to address two of America’s greatest challenges – improving the performance of our public schools, and strengthening the quality of our civic discourse.

In addition to his work with the Five Freedoms Project, Chaltain works with individual U.S. schools and school districts providing professional development and consulting on issues ranging from First Amendment law to whole-school change.

Contents 1 Education and work history 2 Selected publications 2.1 Articles 2.2 Books

[edit] Education and work history

Before founding the Five Freedoms Project, Sam spent five years at the First Amendment Center as the co-director of the First Amendment Schools program, a national K-12 reform initiative. Chaltain came to the Center from the public school system of New York City, where he taught high school English and History. He also spent four years teaching the same subjects at a private school in Brooklyn.

Sam’s first teaching experience was in Beijing, China, where he joined the faculty of the Foreign Languages department at Beijing Normal University as a visiting lecturer. He taught two American History & Literature courses to third-year undergraduates.

Chaltain’s writings about his work have appeared in both magazines and newspapers, including Education Week and USA Today. He is also the author of two books: The First Amendment in Schools (ASCD, 2003), and First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America (Oxford University Press, 2006). His next book (with Ron Collins) is We Must Not Be Afraid to be Free (Oxford, 2008).

[edit] Selected publications

[edit] Articles

• "Balancing Freedom and the Greater Good" (September 17, 2007) Philadelphia Inquirer
• "To Make Schools Safe, Make All Children Visible" (October 25, 2006) Education Week
• "Does the First Amendment Have a Future?" (April 2005) Social Education
• "Red Lake Shooting: No More Quick Fixes" (March 30, 2005) USA Today
• "Laboratories of Democracy" (May 2004) School Administrator
• "Lessons in Liberty" (October 2003) Social Education
• "Is Freedom Safe?" (Spring 2002) Teaching Tolerance

[edit] Books

• "First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America", Oxford University Press 2006
• "The First Amendment in Schools", ASCD 2003