-Community Empowerment Strand -Open Space Strand
To register for these strands, follow the link to Registration.
Anit-Racist Learning & Teaching SET A
Monday, September 29
10:00 am – 11:30 am
A03 Collectivism and Social Justice in a Mathematics Classroom: Tools for Developing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy for All Teachers
Educators from all levels and disciplines will learn how to use the cultural precepts of collectivism and realness to foster student inclusion, promote social justice, and de-center the teacher's role in the classroom. Discover how to make your classroom a place where ALL students are engaged, share responsibility for each other's successes and failures, and hold each other accountable for learning. Use student testimonials, classroom videos, current research, sample lessons, and assessments to explore culturally responsive strategies that challenge students to examine issues of social and racial justice. Become part of a learning community to support the implementation of strategies developed during and after this session.
Zachary Bissinger, Math Teacher/C.A.R.E. Cadre Member, Overland High School, Cherry Creek School District, Aurora, CO.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
A05 Equity and Opportunity in a Culturally Responsive Classroom
Explore the idea of race and culture as they apply to educators and education, and examine how power and privilege disparities within our schools and society create inequitable experiences for students of color. Develop an awareness of how our own culture and racial background influences our beliefs and practices as educators; explore the impact of power and privilege, both individually and institutionally; begin the developmental process of becoming a culturally responsive educator; and recognize culturally responsive pedagogy and practices for student achievement.
Jeana Khalaf Cheetany, CARE Teacher and Facilitator, and Ronald Garcia Y Ortiz, CARE Teacher, Eaglecrest High School, Cherry Creek School District, Aurora, CO.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
MOVED TO SESSION F09
Do white students and families have a vested interest in creating equitable schools? Prepare for a deep exploration of how being educated in inequitable schools actually harms white students; examine how they learn internalized white supremacy; and generate new understandings of the "costs" they pay for such educational environments. Practice using Courageous Conversation strategies for engaging white students and parents in a process of understanding their own vested interest in eliminating racial educational disparities and creating equitable schools.
Graig Meyer, Coordinator, Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Program, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Chapel Hill, NC.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
A11 Beginning the Drive Towards Equity in a Failing School
The most persistent obstacle faced by failing schools that serve large numbers of students of color is the persistent belief among educators that they are doing all they can for these students. Discover how--to effectuate change in a failing school--it is first necessary to convince teachers that as they change their teaching practices to better address the needs of their diverse learners, students of all races and backgrounds will succeed in their classrooms. Explore the Learning Framework and how it has been applied in St. John the Baptist Parish Schools just outside of New Orleans, LA.
Stacy Spies, Director of Special Education, St. John the Baptist Public School System, Reserve, LA.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
A13 Distinguished Lecturer: Mica Pollock -- Everyday Antiracism: Getting Real about Race in School
Dr. Pollock is an anthropologist and associate professor of education at Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She studies how youth and adults struggle daily to discuss and address issues of racial difference, discrimination, and fairness in school and community settings. Her first book, Colormute: Race Talk Dilemmas in an American School, winner of the 2005 AERA Outstanding Book Award, explores when it helps and harms to talk in racial terms about people and patterns in schools.
Dr. Pollock’s forthcoming book, Because of Race: How Americans Debate Harm and Opportunity in our Schools (Princeton University Press), builds on her experience working in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, where she investigated and addressed claims of discrimination in schools. Because of Race explores ongoing American arguments over opportunity denials experienced by students and families of color in educational settings. Pollock is also spearheading The Project on the Preparation of Educators for Diversity, a new national research effort examining efforts to prepare and assist teachers to serve diverse populations.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
ADDED--MOVED FROM SESSION B03
A14 Applied Differentiation: How to Succeed at Differentiating Instruction in the Classroom for Diverse Learners
Differentiation is a widely touted strategic solution to addressing the needs of diverse learners. But how is it actually applied in the classroom? Learn about the Applied Differentiation model that presents educators with a clear matrix that guides them in successfully planning, managing, and executing differentiated lessons. Discover how Applied Differentiation guides teachers in identifying student differences and needs based on race, language, learning style, and readiness; analyzing the curriculum and teaching methods accordingly; and authentically assessing students with formative data. See teachers apply this model successfully in the classroom and overcome racial achievement disparity through the power of differentiated instruction.
Blanch Linton, President, School Improvement Network, Sandy, UT.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching SET B
Monday, September 29
1:20 pm – 4:30 pm
MOVED TO SESSION A14
Differentiation is a widely touted strategic solution to addressing the needs of diverse learners. But how is it actually applied in the classroom? Learn about the Applied Differentiation model that presents educators with a clear matrix that guides them in successfully planning, managing, and executing differentiated lessons. Discover how Applied Differentiation guides teachers in identifying student differences and needs based on race, language, learning style, and readiness; analyzing the curriculum and teaching methods accordingly; and authentically assessing students with formative data. See teachers apply this model successfully in the classroom and overcome racial achievement disparity through the power of differentiated instruction.
Blanch Linton, President, School Improvement Network, Sandy, UT.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
B04 Developing and Supporting Culturally Responsive Teaching through Action Research
Learn how teachers in the Cherry Creek School District's CARE (Collaborative Action Research for Equity) Cadre engage in action research to create culturally relevant schools and classrooms. Discover how teachers examine their work with target groups of students of color using a process of self-reflection and structured peer observation. Explore the components of culturally responsive instruction and the role of district and school administration in leading and supporting this process. See how personal attitudes and beliefs about race interact with instructional practice; and understand the importance of school and district structures for building a culture of equity.
Elliot Asp, Assistant Superintendent/Performance Improvement, Shawn Colleary, Executive Director/Staff Development & G/T Instruction, Tera Helmon, Executive Director of Excellence and Equity, and Mary Johnson, Consultant, Cherry Creek School District, Aurora, CO
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
B07 Good Teaching is Not Just Good Teaching: Engaging Courageous Conversation and Culturally Relevant Teaching Practices to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Education
Explore the concept of "Systemic Equity/Anti-Racism Transformation" through a framework that applies Courageous Conversation to our work in learning and teaching. Examine how traditional, whole school models of school restructuring rarely focus on essential student-teacher relationships and specific learning improvements for the lowest performing student groups. Learn how "good teaching" does not currently meet the needs of all students; and discover how to use culturally relevant instruction to eliminate racial disparities in our schools. Develop a corps of educators who are prepared to discover, implement, and document culturally relevant teaching to improve learning for our most underserved student populations.
Jamie Almanzan, Director of Learning and Teaching, Pacific Educational Group, Inc., San Francisco, CA.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching SET C
Monday, September 29
1:20 pm – 2:50 pm
C06 Big Gap, Big Ideas, Big Plans for a Big District
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), the nation's 16th largest district, is using Courageous Conversation to initiate and deepen meaningful dialogue and collaborative problem solving to move toward racial equity. Learn how the Diversity Training and Development Team is building the will, skill, knowledge, and capacity of staff to eliminate racial disparity and predictability in education through on-going, job embedded, and data-driven professional development that is centered on helping staff understand the depth and complexity of systemic racism and how it impacts learning and teaching.
Donna Graves, Supervisor; and Angela Burrell, Nora Nasser, and Bryan Avila, Instructional Specialists, Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
C07 Personal History of Otherness/Equity In Action
In order for teachers to begin to approach the competency necessary to promote culturally responsive curriculum, they must examine who they are in terms of the structures of subordination and domination in our culture (race, gender, SES, age, religion, sexual orientation, language, and ability). Explore how our relationship to these structures helps construct our own identities. Engage in a process of self-evaluation around dominant and subordinate structures in American society, then participate in a collaborative activity to examine how our identity affects the students we teach.
Jeffery A. Heil, Adjunct Professor, Cal State University, San Marcos, CA
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
C08 How to Teach Biracial and Multiracial Students: Racial Literacy for Today's Classroom
What are you? Biracial and multiracial students often face this question. Examine the "nonbelonging" these students face, and how it impacts their achievement. Learn about the research on biracial and multiracial students and how that research can inform classroom practice. Share stories and build a community of learners dedicated to understanding and supporting biracial and multiracial students.
Bonnie M. Davis, A4Achievement Consulting, Laguna Beach, CA and Dorothy Kelly, Director of Student Services/Assistant Principal, Wydown Middle School, Clayton, MO.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching SET D
Monday, September 29
3:10 pm – 4:40 pm
D02 Voices of Color: Using Student Voice to Transform Learning Environments and Achieve Educational Equity
Student voice is one of the most effective tools for transforming learning environments and addressing critical issues of educational equity. Learn how Voices of Color, a 17-minute film, offered one school district the rare and unique opportunity to view the world through the eyes of its students. Discover how, by tapping into the hearts and minds of young people, Kyrene School District teachers and administrators were able to recognize and understand the devastating impact of institutionalized racism. Examine how your district/organization can use the power of student voice as a springboard for Courageous Conversation and the identification and elimination of racial inequities.
Cheryl S. Greene, Principal, Kyrene de la Esperanza, Kyrene School District, Phoenix, AZ; Executive Director, Voices of Color, L.L.C.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
ONLY AVAILABLE DURING SESSION I05
Professional learning is critical to any sustained, systematic effort to provide equitable learning opportunities and classrooms for traditionally underserved students. Explore the essential components of professional learning that focuses on equity, anti-racist pedagogy and practice. Learn strategies for developing, implementing, and monitoring a professional learning plan. Develop a deeper understanding and skill-set for building equitable classrooms through professional learning.
Diana Levy, Director of Professional Development, Hayward Unified School District, Hayward, CA.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
D07 What Does It Mean to be White and an Anti-Racist Leader?
Traditionally, anti-racist leaders have been people of color; but true racial equity cannot be achieved without the full and active participation of White people. Consider that Whites, as the recipients of racial privilege, have the obligation to drive the conversation about what it means to live in a culture that strives to provide equitable privilege to all of its members, regardless of race. Learn how White anti-racist leaders can move past White guilt into White responsibility, and more deeply authenticate their own lives and that of their White community. Engage in a Courageous Conversation about Whiteness, for without honest White participation, true racial equity will never be attained.
Curtis Linton, Vice-President, School Improvement Network, Sandy, UT.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching SET E
Tuesday, September 30
8:45 am – 12:00 pm
E01 No Excuses! How to Increase Minority Student Achievement with the Equity Framework
What do highly diverse schools--with no achievement gaps--do? "Join" Curtis Linton as he traveled the country with the School Improvement Network documenting on video and in print highly diverse schools that have eliminated achievement disparities. See schools where all students reach grade level year-after-year, regardless of race, economics, or language. Visit these schools, learn about the Equity Framework, and see how these educators and systems use the principles of equity to lift all students to high levels of success.
Curtis Linton, Vice President, School Improvement Network, Sandy, UT.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
E03 Transforming Culturally Responsive Teaching Knowledge into Practice One Teacher at a Time
The most critical change that must take place in our schools to end racial achievement disparities is in the classroom. Learn how guidance and individualized coaching helps teachers to implement the knowledge and skills of culturally relevant teaching they gain through training. Experience culturally relevant learning techniques, and explore strategies to support teachers' planning, implementation, and reflection of culturally relevant classroom practices.
Linda Maccagnan, Staff Developer, Cherry Creek School District, Aurora, CO.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
SESSION CANCELLEDSchools and districts that have already anchored themselves in Courageous Conversation about race and institutional racism must next engage in implementing and monitoring pedagogy that is good for all students, but is essential for underserved African American students. Discover the demands and rewards of moving from equity awareness to leadership for equity. See how teachers are engaging in both personal and institutional transformation--extending rigor and deepening cultural proficiency in their instructional practices and professional behaviors.
Pamala Noli and Edward Porter, Noli-Porter Associates, San Francisco, CA, and members of the Memphis City School Leadership Team
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
E07 Tools for Courageous Conversations: Protocols for Examining Equity and Engagement in Classrooms
Across the country, instructional coaches, specialists, and building leaders are eager to visit classrooms to see if all students are engaged at high and sustained levels. Learn about data-gathering protocols that enhance classroom visits and strengthen the effectiveness of "side-by-side" coaching exchanges with teachers. Observe how these tools and coaching conversations can result in a clearer understanding of neglected or disenfranchised students, and in teacher actions that engage students more respectfully and effectively. Review actual case studies of teachers who changed their classroom practice based on these protocols and understand how the tools can support equity in our schools.
Mike Murphy, Director of Education, Institute for Excellence in Urban Education, Dallas, TX.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching SET F
Tuesday, September 30
8:45 am – 10:15 am
F05 Distinguished Lecturer: Bonnie Davis - How to Teach Kids Who Don't Look Like You: Applying Equity in the Classroom
Dr. Davis will discuss how our primarily White teaching corps can succeed with students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds through examining culture and its impact on student achievement, recognizing the barriers to working across race and culture, and understanding how one's own race and culture forms a "lens" which impacts our work with students in the classroom. She will provide examples of how teachers successfully use culturally relevant teaching strategies to increase the academic achievement of ALL students; demonstrate brain-based differentiated instructional strategies; review current research; and engage participants in self-reflection.
Dr. Davis’ new book, How to Coach Teachers Who Don’t Think Like You: Using Literacy Strategies to Coach Across Content Areas, is now available from Corwin Press. For 30 years, Davis taught English in middle schools, high schools, universities, homeless shelters, and a men’s prison. Her publications include African-American Academic Achievement: Building a Classroom of Excellence (2001) and numerous articles on literacy and cultural instruction. She appears in The School Improvement Network’s video, No Excuses! How to Increase Minority Student Achievement (2006), and is the co-author, with Curtis Linton, of the workbook of the same title, due out in 2008.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
ADDED—MOVED FROM SESSION A10
F09 The Hidden Costs of Power and Privilege: How Racial Disparities in Education Harm White Students
Do white students and families have a vested interest in creating equitable schools? Prepare for a deep exploration of how being educated in inequitable schools actually harms white students; examine how they learn internalized white supremacy; and generate new understandings of the "costs" they pay for such educational environments. Practice using Courageous Conversation strategies for engaging white students and parents in a process of understanding their own vested interest in eliminating racial educational disparities and creating equitable schools.
Graig Meyer, Coordinator, Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate Program, Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, Chapel Hill, NC.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching SET G
Tuesday, September 30
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
ONLY AVAILABLE DURING SESSION H11
Attacking racial disparities in schooling takes "Ganas." Learn to apply skills and knowledge to the complex intersections of racial identity development, institutional racism, and language. Use the tenets of Courageous Conversation in a compassionate strategy to explore how districts and schools often focus on serving low performing English Learners, and yet do not eliminate racial disparities. Examine how the study of language acquisition is often used as both a proxy for race and a way to maintain the current oppressive racial hierarchy. Learn ways to challenge racism and how it manifests today in our understanding of language, culture, and pedagogy.
Jamie Almanzan, Director of Learning and Teaching, Pacific Educational Group, Inc., San Francisco, CA.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
NO LONGER AVAILABLE
'Cultural Democracy' (CD) is a philosophical concept that speaks to an institutional approach for recognizing and respecting the existence of diverse cultural paradigms that are different from those of the dominant culture. Learn about the experiences, challenges, and current efforts to establish and institutionalize this initiative at Sacramento City College. Examine the pedagogical process of creating educational environments that recognize, respect, show sensitivity to, and support the diverse communities from which students come. See how CD works to promote student success and eliminate racial achievement disparities. Share your own experiences and challenges with institutional change, and brainstorm strategies to address those challenges.
Gerri Scott and Lisa Gunderson, Sacramento City College, Sacramento, CA.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching SET H
Tuesday, September 30
3:05 pm – 4:35 pm
H03 Q & A With Rosa Smith (30 minutes only)
Doing and leading work that improves the lives and education of children, especially poor children and children of color, are the core purposes of Rosa's work and life.
Dr. Rosa A. Smith served as president and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education from 2001-2007. Prior to joining Schott, Smith served as a school superintendent in Columbus, Ohio, and Beloit, Wisconsin. She also served as assistant superintendent, high school principal, and teacher in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, and South Bend, Indiana. She is currently the Regional Educational Manager for New Leaders for New Schools, working to help rebuild the New Orleans public school system.
Smith has made numerous presentations and published several articles regarding the intersection of race, class, and gender in public education. In the forward to the 2006 Schott Foundation Report Card on Public Education and Black Male Students, Dr. Smith wrote that we must continue "to focus on the issue of how well our public schools meet their responsibilities in regard to Black male students because history tells us that this is the group least likely to be the focus of such efforts, the group most likely to be blamed for their own neglect by those responsible for the education of all of our children. We know that when it is normal for Black male students to graduate on time and college-ready, it will be normal for all students to do so."
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
MOVED TO SESSION I07
Can professional development drive the development of equity in schools? Examine how school systems must succeed in changing actual teaching and administrative practices in order to eliminate racial achievement disparities; and see how this requires constant and rapid professional development that is tied to the immediate needs of educators--not the management and schedule of the central office. Discover the benefits of on-demand professional development that allows teachers and administrators alike to access the knowledge and practices they most need, when they actually need it. Learn new ways of delivering equity-based professional development through the use of technology, classroom observation, and action research.
John Linton, Founder and Director, School Improvement Network, Sandy, UT.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
H06 Excellence Without Equity is Privilege: Building Instructional Leadership that Eliminates Racial Disparities in Education
Eliminating racial achievement disparities is a reality at the FAIR School in Crystal, Minnesota. Experience a capacity-building model for school change. Learn how the FAIR School has used integration policy, an extensive equity plan, culturally responsive classroom training, and a community commitment to achievement for all students to transform learning and teaching.
Patrick Exner, Director of Teaching and Learning, West Metro Education Program, Edina, MN; and Kevin Bennett, Principal, FAIR School, Crystal, MN.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
H11 Broken English or English Broken: The Intersections of Race and Language Acquisition in the Development of Culturally Relevant Instruction
Attacking racial disparities in schooling takes "Ganas." Learn to apply skills and knowledge to the complex intersections of racial identity development, institutional racism, and language. Use the tenets of Courageous Conversation in a compassionate strategy to explore how districts and schools often focus on serving low performing English Learners, and yet do not eliminate racial disparities. Examine how the study of language acquisition is often used as both a proxy for race and a way to maintain the current oppressive racial hierarchy. Learn ways to challenge racism and how it manifests today in our understanding of language, culture, and pedagogy.
Jamie Almanzan, Director of Learning and Teaching, Pacific Educational Group, Inc., San Francisco, CA.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
NO LONGER AVAILABLE
Student voice is one of the most effective tools for transforming learning environments and addressing critical issues of educational equity. Learn how Voices of Color, a 17-minute film, offered one school district the rare and unique opportunity to view the world through the eyes of its students. Discover how, by tapping into the hearts and minds of young people, Kyrene School District teachers and administrators were able to recognize and understand the devastating impact of institutionalized racism. Examine how your district/organization can use the power of student voice as a springboard for Courageous Conversation and the identification and elimination of racial inequities.
Cheryl S. Greene, Principal, Kyrene de la Esperanza, Kyrene School District, Phoenix, AZ; Executive Director, Voices of Color, L.L.C.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching SET I
Wednesday, October 1
8:30 am – 10:00 am
ONLY AVAILABLE DURING SESSION A03
Educators from all levels and disciplines will learn how to use the cultural precepts of collectivism and realness to foster student inclusion, promote social justice, and de-center the teacher's role in the classroom. Discover how to make your classroom a place where ALL students are engaged, share responsibility for each other's successes and failures, and hold each other accountable for learning. Use student testimonials, classroom videos, current research, sample lessons, and assessments to explore culturally responsive strategies that challenge students to examine issues of social and racial justice. Become part of a learning community to support the implementation of strategies developed during and after this session.
Zachary Bissinger, Math Teacher/C.A.R.E. Cadre Member, Overland High School, Cherry Creek School District, Aurora, CO.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
I05 Building Equitable Classrooms: The Critical Role of Professional Learning
Professional learning is critical to any sustained, systematic effort to provide equitable learning opportunities and classrooms for traditionally underserved students. Explore the essential components of professional learning that focuses on equity, anti-racist pedagogy and practice. Learn strategies for developing, implementing, and monitoring a professional learning plan. Develop a deeper understanding and skill-set for building equitable classrooms through professional learning.
Diana Levy, Director of Professional Development, Hayward Unified School District, Hayward, CA.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
ADDED--MOVED FROM SESSION H04
I07 Delivering On-Demand Professional Development that Drives Equity
Can professional development drive the development of equity in schools? Examine how school systems must succeed in changing actual teaching and administrative practices in order to eliminate racial achievement disparities; and see how this requires constant and rapid professional development that is tied to the immediate needs of educators--not the management and schedule of the central office. Discover the benefits of on-demand professional development that allows teachers and administrators alike to access the knowledge and practices they most need, when they actually need it. Learn new ways of delivering equity-based professional development through the use of technology, classroom observation, and action research.
John Linton, Founder and Director, School Improvement Network, Sandy, UT.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
I09 Good Teaching is Not Just Good Teaching: Engaging Courageous Conversation and Culturally Relevant Teaching Practices to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Education
Explore the concept of "Systemic Equity/Anti-Racism Transformation" through a framework that applies Courageous Conversation to our work in learning and teaching. Examine how traditional, whole school models of school restructuring rarely focus on essential student-teacher relationships and specific learning improvements for the lowest performing student groups. Learn how "good teaching" does not currently meet the needs of all students; and discover how to use culturally relevant instruction to eliminate racial disparities in our schools. Develop a corps of educators who are prepared to discover, implement, and document culturally relevant teaching to improve learning for our most underserved student populations.
Jamie Almanzan, Director of Learning and Teaching, Pacific Educational Group, Inc., San Francisco, CA.
Strand: Anti-Racist Learning and Teaching
