This button will darken the page's background color to black while making all text white. This high contrast will make it easier to read the website's content.
This button will increase the size of all elements on the page.
This button adds a visible focus state to all interactive elements when using the keyboard. This allows the user to know exactly where they are on a site while tabbing through with a keyboard. Note: this will only affect sites that do not currently have visible focus states.
This button will add an outline to all links and buttons on a page that a user can interact with.
This triggers a check of all images on a page for either an 'alt', 'title', or an 'aria-label' attribute. Images that are purely decorative or do not include any information to convey to the user do not need alt text. In these cases, the alt attribute should still be present but should be left empty. Our checker will still flag empty alts as an error just in case.
This triggers a check of all text to ensure that it's color has a high enough contrast against the color of the background it is on. In some cases our checker will flag contrast errors for text that is on top of an image or when either the text or the background element has a position of 'absolute'. In these cases it is up to the site administrator's discretion to determine if the text is legible.
This triggers a check of all the page's links and buttons. Links and buttons without text or an aria-label describing what the link or button accomplishes will fail. Without text (including hidden screen reader only text) or an aria-label, assistive technology will not be able to determine the purpose of the link/button.
This triggers a search for all IDs on a page. Duplicate IDs will be flagged as an error. Duplicate ID errors are known to cause problems for assistive technologies when they are trying to interact with content. SVGs tend to be a major source of this failure. It's beneficial to remove all IDs from SVGs before placing them on a page.
ICJS Teacher Fellows develop skills to transform classrooms and schools into places where learning about religious diversity prepares students for fuller participation in the life of our city, nation, and world.
Because many young people first encounter religious difference in the classroom, teachers are uniquely positioned to foster a culture of religious understanding and inclusion. Helping teachers gain facility in leading these intellectual and human encounters is a key goal of the ICJS Teachers Fellowship.
The 10-month Fellowship provides professional development opportunities for Baltimore-area educators to explore how to provide students with an informed appreciation of the religious diversity that contributes to civic life. This cohort-based program equips secondary school educators with skills to foster interreligious literacy in their classrooms and to become interreligious leaders in their schools.
The fellowship is directed by Christine Gallagher with support and instruction provided by ICJS resident interreligious scholars.
Interested in learning more about our Fellowship? Submit the Teacher Fellowship Interest Form below.
Over the course of the past year, there have been many conversations and discussions that I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in on during the ICJS Teachers Fellowship. I say “sitting in” because I was not much of a participant during many of these gatherings, only an attentive observer. This is unlike my typical nature.…
When I first started teaching 25 years ago and realized that teaching religion was my vocation, I threw myself into doing summer research so that I was prepared to teach scripture. My primary goal was to anticipate my students’ questions before they even asked. My secondary goal, though, was to be authentic to the faith…
I originally decided to make religious studies a part of my career path when I was working as a teacher in a middle school 10 years ago and realized the lack of importance being placed upon religious literacy in practically all the areas where it should be most important. As I started to dig in…
Coming out of the ICJS Teachers Fellowship, I’ve gained a lot more comfort teaching and learning about religion with students, and creating space for them to have dialogue.
Armed with increased knowledge, new community, and techniques and strategies, incorporating religious literacy into my high school world history class no longer feels overwhelming; it feels exciting and I am ready to get started.