Past SEW Sessions

The following are examples of previous SEW sessions. Each year, new sessions may be included and/or these workshops may change to address the changing racial and educational context.

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.

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.

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.

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.