smartypants- LOL.. Too funny. I could go in so many directions with this VAL.

LOL to the poster who wanted parents to be able to opt out of this: I'm sorry for what must be your very sheltered, small-world life. CONGRATS Mr. Conway!! Teachers who teach out of the box to enhance their lessons and add art, music, creativity and overall sense of world recognition and awareness plus culture, on a grand scale to whatever subject they are teaching, and manage to *still* stay within the "no child left untested" guidelines: BRAVO!! You are the real teachers who deserve all of the pats on the back anyone can give you. Your students are multitudes more likely to grow up and secure international jobs, foreign relations positions, excel in music, be performers, work in TV/radio/theatrics, etc because they've gotten the taste of it from an inspiring teacher. Job well done for the betterment of our future generations.

Congratulations Mr. Conway! Your love for teaching shows with the extra effort you put into your students. Your efforts should be admired and sought after by all in the work force. Ignore the people on this blog that say otherwise! You are doing a great job and thank you for it!

This just proves some people will complain about anything. Here we have a great man doing great things for our community and there are people willing to criticize him for it.

The world is bigger than Janesville Wisconsin and (brace yourself) even the United States. What is wrong with a teacher exposing students to other cultures?

Sandman- Have you been to India or China? I have no idea why your grouped those countries together. I have been to both and I can tell you that Indian public schools do very little teaching at all. The schools I have visited were lucky to have half of the teachers show up on a daily basis. In China, I have been to several schools that teach ethnic studies. In fact, I would argue that there is no country in the world that understands the importance of global education better than China (the result of which is their current global economic status)

Well done to Mr. Conway and well done to all students involved.

Being smart in the maths, sciences, etc. is important... but not all kids are smart in them. For those of you that complain that the basics are not being taught, think again. Think about how you best learn something new. Many PEOPLE are not the math and science type. I'm okay at it, but I'm better at other things... that's why I'm not a math or science teacher or an engineer... That is why I'm proud to be a social worker!

FRUSION - You seem a bit confused by your own comments. You probably should go the Wisconsin Department Of Public Instruction webpage and read about WI academic state standards. The last I heard is that they are now available for all to read. Don't take my comments and twist and turn them until you understand the focus of academic standards and what students are supposed to learn. I really do not have time to explain all of that to you. As I said before - the teacher sounds like a FIRST CLASS type of guy that knows how to engage his students. FRUSION - Start by reading the section - "Questions And Answers About Academic Standards. Peace. :-)

It is awesome to read so many positive comments about Bill Conway and the Parker Global Studies curriculum! I teach at a charter school in Arizona with a student population of roughly 1/3 Latino. I am continually shocked by the amount of prejudice and discrimination these kids have to put up with in their daily lives. There are the hardest working group of students I have, and come from the most supportive and caring families.

Congrats, Mr. Conway! Don't listen to those who mistakenly think that students' identities and cultures have no place in the classroom. Good teachers know that if you want students to learn, you need to engage them in the material. It sounds like you're a fabulous teacher who has taken this to heart!

ImitationBacon... First of all, I love your username. Second, I couldn't agree with you more. Teaching culture is a very important part of eduction. I hope your teacher doesn't take the statements posted on this website personal. People who post things on these sites can be Negative Nancies with nothing better to do than stir up trouble.

Today I was sitting next to Mr. Conway in the computer lab (he was subbing for 5th period English), and I saw him print out all the comments that people posted on this article. I don't have a class with him, but I heard that the other students think he's awesome. I have a few friends that are in Japanese Club/Guitar Club and they really enjoy it. There is a lot of racism at Parker, and I hear people in my classes shouting derogatory names. Also, to people that look Hispanic and have an accent, people are like "lol u from mexico???" I think this is a great thing to have. Too bad people say it doesn't fit into the curriculum, when it DOES fit in. We just started our Central/Latin America unit, and for our past units we learned about CULTURE, not just history.

Not that a teenager online can make any difference, but it's worth a try.

Mr. Conway made Parker so fun :) He is always happy, and says Hi and how're you doing today? to everyone, it's nice to see a teacher, that really enjoys what he does, a lot of kids really respect him, he teaches in a different, more interesting way, which for me helped me understand, not to mention, pay attention to what was being taught. Congrats Mr. Conway!

I guess there is life after Rush for Geddy Lee in Janesville.

Vatoloc... you have made my day! Thanks for the laugh!

I did get off the topic of the article, so for that, I apologize. Congratulations are in order for Mr. Conway. I had some cool teachers back in the day. Mr. Zimmerman, Mr. Boys, Mrs. Maedke (heck, the entire business ed. department was cool), and my adviser who put up with me for 4 long years, Mr. Dyke.

Seriously though, congrats Mr. Conway for having an impact on your students. It's always fun to look back and have fond memories of your favorite teacher.

That is so true dini. Education is the point here. Not race, as some like econ would use in their posts. And he does look like the guy from REO, funny! Kind of cute! I only had one good looking teacher in my school years, darn!!

And congratulations, Mr. Conway!

econgirl, I guess you didn't take Spanish or reading during your great education. The event is held during one class a year. "Club" in this case (say "kloob") refers to a dance club environment. Get it?
Even in the 1970s, the best teachers were innovators and combined lecture/participation classes with independent study, projects such as putting on curriculum-themed plays and musicals, and learning through listening to songs. I suppose you'd all have a problem with the history teacher who dresses in period garb to grab students' attention, but be OK with something like film strips and videos -- once considered the bane of public education?
These kids come away with an appreciation and a first-person experience that helps lessons "stick." Public education needs all the help and innovation it can get these days.

Wow, I did not know Kevin Cronin of Reo Speedwagon had a second career!

That is right, this class is an elective. What is wrong with you people? I wonder about that daily when I read these posts. I wish they did this kind of teaching when I was in school. Lecturing is boring! This teacher will be remembered by his students their whole lifes and maybe, just maybe, they will turn into POSITIVE posters on the Gazettextra.com. Some of you people are really awful, did you know that? Signed, Karen M.

I should have remembered that! I did go to Parker. When I was at Parker, most of my friends took Global Studies because they were told it was easier.

econgirl419 - "This class is a requirement, no way of getting out of the lesson." Global studies is not a graduation requirement. Sophomores can choose between Global Studies and Western Civilization for their social studies requirement.

Sure did! A club is something that most meetings and activities are held outside of school hours. It also isn't a requirement to join any extracurricular activity.

This class is a requirement, no way of getting out of the lesson.

econgirl419 - "He volunteers to oversee a Japanese language club at Parker as well as a guitar club."

Did you even read the story?

Arizonia help us!

econgirl,
Does Parker High School have German, French, or "African" (I realize that there are likely hundreds of languages from the African continent) speaking students who are immigrants or from a family of recent immigrants who would be interested in participating in such an event? If so, then you have a very valid concern. If that isn't so, then I don't see your question as particularly relevant.
I don't see anything in the article to suggest that Conway is particularly concerned about elevating Latinos above other any other ethnicity, but rather that he is exposing students to other cultures using available student resources.

Does Mr. Conway have a Club German, Club French, or a Club African?

Would he let other students take over the class for the day, or is it just the Latinos?

econgirl419,
you learn better with lectures and some learn better with hands on experience...i think it is funny that you wanted them to inform the parents of this activity and give them the option to opt out. yea, lets do that...and while we are at it lets just make teachers send home their lesson plan for EVERY SINGLE DAY of the school year...that way parents can decide if there are certain lessons that they would prefer their children to "opt out" of...makes no sense. what parent would object to learning about other cultures?!?! especially in a global studies class...correct me if i am wrong...but just by the title of the class i would think that parents and students alike would probably know that they are going to be studying cultures outside of their own when signing up for this class. how come nobody can just be happy for the teacher and the students for actually having a fun yet educational day at school?!

Of course parents should restrict thier children from learning cultural diversity, afterall, that may lead to OMG, openmindedness and tolerance, we certainly can't have that in Janesville! Since we live in the dairy state why don't we just limit our children to classes on how to milk a cows and plant corn? It's way to risky to have the next generation exposed to liberal blather about there being another world outside of Janesville.

royo-I always learned better when the teacher lectured, I still do.

I hope parents were made aware of this lesson and had the option of opting their children out of it. I also hope students were able to opt out of the lesson and do some real work in the library.

To all you negative commenters - This is a GLOBAL studies class. Don't you think that culture is part of learning about global studies? Kids learn better in environments like this, rather than sitting in a classroom listening to the teacher lecture.

I think this sounds really neat and like a lot of fun. I think more teachers should find fun ways to help students learn. I think cultural differences is something that our children should be made aware of and taught how to except. I see nothing wrong with a teacher teaching something like this. I wish I would have had a teacher who would have done something like this and I hope my daughter gets a teacher like this someday! Great job Mr. Conway!

yada, get back to what academic level? What YOU did during your school career? Yes, there are a lot of stupid kids that graduate and you wonder how on earth they got through the system. However, I know many high school students and graduates that have taken AP and honors classes all through middle and high school and I will tell you, these are very intelligent kids. I don't think the academics are lacking in our schools. I believe you should more so be referring to not a lack of academics but rather a lack of support from home to strive for excellence.

I'm sure that standard academics were not depreciated in order to teach cultural diversity.

Congrats to the teacher because it sounds like he really goes out of his way to make an impact on the lives of his students. I must add that I would agree with SANDMAN on this one. I understand that "education is not all math, etc" as one person wrote, but we have a responsibility to make sure that what we teach academics that meet the WI state standards. I know that you can stretch things to say that it does meet the standards, but We need to get back to academics that will better prepare our students.

Sandman: Education is not all math, language arts and science. Learning about different cultures is also important. This program seems to fulfill that goal and more. The "more", in this case, includes helping instill acceptance and inclusion of Hispanic students and their native worlds. In these times, that effort seems more important than ever. Perhaps you were absent from school when this learning took place. Congratulations to Mr. Conway on his award. You are one teacher whom I would wager your students remember forever.

Congrats, as a parent I appreciate what Mr. Conway does. He brings valued art appreciation to the students.

I'm sure it's inventive and entertaining, and this teacher is undoubtedly very popular and liked, but I doubt that schools in India and China waste a lot of classroom time on this time of pablum, which is why their students will leave this country in the academic and work ethic dust in the not so distant future (if it hasn't happened already).

Between dirty dancing and what we find were taxpayer-supported hunter safety classes in the school district, I don't know what more there is to say about the wanton state of our "educational" system. What next? Narcocorrido Appreciation class? The History of Pachuco Fashion? Understanding and Appreciating Gang Graffiti (oops--"Artful Expressionism of the Diaspora")?

Bill is an outstanding teacher! He richly deserves this award. His creativity, and care for his students, should serve as a model for all educators. And to think that it is now illegal to teach ethnic studies courses in Arizona. Let's hope the great state of Wisconsin continues to resist the pressure from the far right.