Advancing Racial Justice in Education
The Summer Education Workshop (SEW) is a 4-day workshop held in June for educators broadly defined including K-12 teachers, community-based organization educators, and early childhood educators who are interested in advancing racial justice in their classrooms, schools, and organizations.
We hosted 56 educators at the 2023 Summer Education Workshop at UIC and are looking forward to a 2024 workshop.
The 2024 Summer Education Workshop will be held June 10-13, 2024. Please click on "Apply" below to learn more about registering for SEW.
SEW Heading link
Past Workshops Heading link
The following are examples of previous workshops. In the coming year, new workshops may be included and/or these workshops may be revamped to address the changing racial and educational context.
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Race, Identity, and Classrooms
Racial Identities in the Classroom defined and considered why and how race matters in schools.
Identity, Power, Oppression brought together participants to develop practices to name, interrupt, and transform oppression in schools, communities, and daily interactions.
Race & Teacher Identity had participants work individually and collectively to investigate how teacher identity is shaped by institutional/systemic modes of oppression.
What’s Structural Competence Got to Do With It?! asked participants to utilize structural competence frameworks to build racial equity in schools and move beyond cultural competence.
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Tuesday: Developing Teachers and Students as Transformative Intellectuals
Situating Justice-Centered Work in Schools addressed the need for social justice work in relation to the current social, political, and economic moment.
Subject Content & Social Justice: Teaching Youth as Transformative Intellectuals led participants through a curriculum development process to reimagine classrooms as spaces that center students as transformative intellectuals.
Lesson Planning as an Act of Resistance? addressed how to build curriculum starting with issues that youth are already thinking about and how to connect this to racial and social justice.
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Wednesday: Restorative Practices and Culture
Teaching Against the School-to-Prison Pipeline offered strategies that teachers can use to address the connections between the adult beliefs and behaviors, school climate and culture, and student outcomes that feed the school-to-prison pipeline.
Restorative Justice breakout sessions provided a general overview of restorative justice and how to use these practices to build a restorative school culture.
Intro to Talking Circles & Rethinking School Culture introduced participants to the practice of circles and how they can deepen relationships and build connections.
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Thursday: Developing Youth as Engaged Citizens
Youth Voice in the Classroom and Beyond: An Intergenerational Panel brought together youth activists to share their experiences engaging the community and developing a positive self-identity as black and brown people.
Youth as Change Makers: Implementing Grassroots Campaigns worked through strategies for student engagement that facilitate spaces fostering youth voices and agency.
State of Racial Justice in Chicago Report as a Tool for Planning had participants gather in small groups to synthesize lessons learned during the workshop series and share the work they would do moving forward.
