Keynote Annoucement - Early Registration/Call for Proposals Still Open

[Council on American Studies Education]

Friends of CASE-

We are happy to announce the keynote speaker for this year's CASE Conference: Michael McDermott, a Chicago-based singer and songwriter. See below for more of his musical biography.

We have pushed back the Early Registration deadline to January 20. Go to www.casechicago.org to register, submit a session proposal, or find more information.

Also, please do your part to spread word about the conference through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. Visit (and like!) the CASE Facebook page at www.facebook.com/casechicago

This year's CASE conference, organized by Lake Zurich High School, will be held Friday, Feb. 24, at Roosevelt University in Chicago. The conference theme will explore “Only in America” — how we can teach the whole, unvarnished truth about America.

Here is an overview of this year's theme: 

America is the home of the skyscraper, blues music, and the poetry of Walt Whitman; something in the American character has led to great discoveries, innovations, and art. Our underlying optimism and idealism have led the world in the direction of democracy, freedom, and human rights. Meanwhile, our country has great divides—political, social, racial, economic—that often seem unbridgeable. As teachers, we need to walk a line between showing our students the beautiful and the ugly, the positive and the negative, of the world into which they will soon graduate, all while balancing the need to give them a unbiased and fair vision yet staying true to many of our own beliefs and values. How do we teach the whole, unvarnished truth about America.

Keynote background -- from michaelmcdermott.com

Michael McDermott’s brand of rock n’ roll brims with the kind of well-honed style and wisdom that can only come from a career on the road and a pedigree in the studio. Effortlessly blending natural folk sensibility, pop hooks, and honest rock, McDermott’s music is as much for the outcast as the congregation. It’s an exploration of the dark corners of life’s journey and it resonates middle class truths through the passionate filter of a kid that grew up on Chicago’s Irish South Side.

If you are a fan of Springsteen, Van Morrison, John Steinbeck, Patti Smith … McDermott’s inspirational rock is in your wheelhouse, waiting late night with a guitar, spare smokes and stories of the American heart.

“McDermott’s music helped me to find a part of myself that wasn’t lost, as I had feared, but only misplaced. That’s why we love the ones who are really good at it, I think: because they give us back ourselves, all dusted and shined up, and they do it with a smile…Michael McDermott is one of the best songwriters in the world and possibly the greatest undiscovered rock & roll talent of the last 20 years” -Stephen King

Early registration: 

Register now for the reduced rate of $75 ($85 after January 20). Please visit www.casechicago.org/conference/registration/ 

If you prefer to pay by check, click on "Show other payment options” when you reach the Eventbrite page. Also note there is small processing fee added to this price. 

Conference fee includes: keynote speaker/program, breakout sessions, continental breakfast and luncheon, and time to meet with fellow American Studies teachers. 

Call for proposals: 

Proposals are due January 20! You can submit them online at www.casechicago.org/conference/call-for-proposals/ or e-mail Ian Silverman -- ian.si...@lz95.org

-Names of Presenters 

-School 

-Contact person and e-mail address 

-Title of Presentation 

-Proposal description 

-Special equipment needed 

Some possible session topics: 

-Truth vs. Fiction: How to Conduct Scholarly Research in the Age of Information Overload

-The End of Rhetoric: What’s the Point of Teaching Argumentation in Post-Truth America?

-Literature Will Save Us (Again): The Power of Empathy to Bridge American Divides

-How to Teach Bias Without Bias

-The Politics of Teaching

-Teaching American Paradoxes: Order vs. Freedom and Beyond

-A Call to Arms: “Good” vs. “Bad” Wars

-Manifest Destiny: Teaching the Truth about Westward Expansion

-Language of Hope: Teaching the Founding Documents in Contemporary America

-American Dream vs. Reality

-Suggest your own!