SESSION 1: READING TOWARD FREEDOM (K-12)
JAN 4, 5, 6 (Thu, Fri, Sat) – 8:30AM to 4PM
Developing students’ critical thinking skills is urgent, necessary work, and teachers play a crucial role in helping students read the world in ways that empower them to discern bias, misinformation, and disinformation. In this hands-on workshop, participants will engage in practical classroom strategies as we explore the following queries:
- How can we deepen our own and students’ understanding of how their identities, experiences, and biases impact the way we read and respond to texts?
- How do we help students develop critical thinking skills in this climate of disinformation and fear?
- How do we hold space for nuanced and complex conversations in class while also being responsive to students’ personal and social identities?
- How can we ultimately work with colleagues and alongside students in creating a just society?
From our youngest learners to young adults, we know that it is never too early or too late to build and strengthen our students’ critical thinking skills — and in doing so, we can realize the full potential and promise of creating classrooms rooted in justice and freedom.
Schedule
Each day will begin at 8:30AM and end around 4PM. Each day includes a boxed lunch. A more detailed schedule will be available soon.
Recommended Grade Levels
Grades K to 12
Registration opening soon
SESSION 2: WRITING TOWARD FREEDOM (3-12)
MAR 21, 22, 23 (Thurs, Fri, Sat) – 8:30AM to 4PM
Throughout history, social justice and antiracist leaders have used writing as a powerful tool in the pursuit of equality and freedom. Such writers have used their words to raise awareness, point out injustices, and compel fellow citizens to take action. Classrooms are where students can feel empowered — or disempowered — to see and use writing as a vehicle for social change, and teachers play a crucial role in supporting students in using their voices in service of causes they believe in. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore the following queries:
- What does a culturally responsive writing workshop look, sound, and feel like?
- How can we encourage kids to write about issues that matter to them?
- How do we meet the challenges and opportunities of technology and artificial intelligence in the writing classroom? How can we support all kids in bringing their authentic voices to life on the page?
- How can we invite students to write in multiple and diverse modalities and genres to better reach their audience?
- How do we help students develop a writing identity that is reflective of and responsive to their personal and social identities?
- And how can we model all of the above as teachers of writing and teachers who write?
Join us as we (re)imagine writing instruction as identity-affirming pedagogy where students have the freedom to draw from their cultural and linguistic knowledge and lived experiences — their interests, realities, joys — as they write toward an equitable and just world.
Schedule
Each day will begin at 8:30AM and end around 4PM. Each day includes a boxed lunch. A more detailed schedule will be available soon.
Recommended Grade Levels
Grades 3 to 12