A 4-day workshop to advance racial justice in education
The Summer Education Workshop is a 4-day workshop that runs from 9am to 4pm in the summer for educators broadly defined including K-12 teachers, community-based organization educators, 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 from June 12th to 15th at UIC and are looking forward to a 2024 workshop. Check back here in the Fall for the dates of the 2024 workshop.
COVID-19 protocols: As you all know, we are still in a pandemic. We ask that all people are vaccinated against COVID-19 and have a booster. We ask that everyone wear masks at all times in the building unless folks are eating or drinking. Our speakers might take off their masks while speaking at the front of the room at least 6' from participants. We will have multiple air filters throughout the room and, if possible, we will open some windows (the dust and noise make it difficult to have windows open).
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
