7th Annual BESJ Conference
2017 Keynote Speakers
Valeria Do Vale
|
Jose Vilson
|
2017 Conference Schedule
8:30-9:00 Breakfast
9:00-10:00 Welcome and Keynote 10:00-11:15 Workshop Session 1 11:20-12:35 Workshop Session 2 12:40-1:40 Lunch & Resource Fair 1:45-3:00 Youth Performances Open Mic |
2017 Workshops
SESSION ONE: 10:00AM—11:15am
Art Spaces: Creating Opportunities for Youth to Develop and Practice Using their Voices Room 109
Developing and Using Voice are learned skills. Youth learn how to Use their Voices in similar ways to how they learn other skills - through life experiences, exposure, lessons, trial and error, reflection and most of all, through practice. As Artists and Arts Educators, we work to develop spaces where students are allowed and encouraged to explore, create, try, fail, reflect, grow, and try again. Practice is the most fundamental aspect of Arts Learning, and education in general, but is often left out of the conversation about Youth Voice. We often silence Youth Voices or give opportunity for Youth to Speak, but without adequate opportunity for practice, and therefore set them up for failure. In this workshop, we’ll discuss approaches for creating Art Spaces where students can engage in Art-Making to practice building, developing and using their Voices.
Nate Thompson, Allam Mella, Jyren Alves, Matthew Garza, Avi David, students and artists-in-residence, Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts
Mathematics and Social Justice in a 6-12 classroom Room 322
This session will focus on a math social justice unit, " Is there racial discrimination in who is stopped and frisked? How do you know? What is the evidence?" The session will also discuss other social justice math projects possible for a math classroom. The sessions hopes to help math teachers feel comfortable teaching social justice topics.
Benadette Manning, Fenway High School Teacher
Empowering LGBTQ+ Youth: Education, Safety and Awareness Room 321
Description: This session will allow educators to more deeply explore the LGBTQ+ youth community through vocabulary, facts/statistics and current events. Educators will have the opportunity to hear from an LGBTQ+ high school student about their experiences. The session will also focus on current school trends and making classrooms and schools more LGBTQ+ inclusive and safe. Finally, the session will lay out different national and Boston resources that educators can refer their LGBTQ+ students to or seek more information and support from.
Dylan Lang, MSW student at Boston College and Clinical Social Work Intern at Boston Arts Academy
Building Sanctuary Schools from the Ground Up: How to Lead the 'Week of Action' at Your School! Rm301
The Week of Action:
Unafraid Educators is organizing a district-wide Week of Action (WOA) for the week of May 1st. The Week of Action's goal is to have schools send a message to students, staff, and families that our undocumented immigrant students are welcome and will be supported in our schools. The WOA will be composed of public displays of support (photo-shoots, posters), knowledge-building activities (know-your-rights nights for families, lessons for students, and handouts & briefings for staff), and will encourage school leaders to make institutional commitments to supporting undocumented families. This Week of Action is an essential component of our grassroots efforts to build sanctuary schools from the ground up.
The Workshop:
This workshop's objective is to thoroughly prepare educators from schools across the city to lead the Week of Action (WOA) at their own schools. We'll provide workshop participants with a toolkit containing resources, logistical information, and guidance for the WOA. We hope that participants will leave with everything they need to successfully lead a week that empowers students, staff, and community members to participate in the greater movement to create sanctuary schools for our undocumented students.
Maya Taft-Morales, Daniela Petuchowski, Afra Khan, Molly McKay Bryson, Vero Navarro, Claudia Martinez, Unafraid Educators & BTU Teachers
Mentors Engaging Masculinities Against Gender-Based Violence Room 305
Mentors (educators) will learn how to support youth who are expanding beyond traditional forms of masculinity, learn about unpacking privilege because of ageism and masculinity, and practice being allies to young people and people experiencing forms of gender-based violence.
Lily Tang, Selina Li, Tiffany Tsang, Sonny Mei, Janice Quach, Youth from Engaging Masculinities at Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline Room 201
Our BSAC subcommittee works on addressing having more mental health and wellness in schools and making sure that school resource officers are trained for de-escalation and trained to be with all students. This is all apart of the larger goal of Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline, which is to fight against young people's oppression and disproportionate measure of school discipline.
Fania Joseph, Youth Leader, Boston Student Advisory Committee (BSAC)
Healing broken communities from racism: Native peoples and Truth and Reconciliation in New England Room 132
How do communities heal from centuries of land dispossession, racism, and other forms of persecution? We will screen a 13-minute documentary, First Light, about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Maine that concluded its inquiry in June 2015 between the Wabanaki People and the state’s child welfare agency over the decades-long practice of removal of Native children from their families for the purpose of forced assimilation. Maine was a province of Massachusetts until 1820. The short documentary contains powerful testimony from adults who were taken from their families as children. After viewing we will begin a conversation about how to use primary sources to teach rich historical content while promoting both critical and creative thinking. We are especially interested in promoting self-awareness and social awareness so more students understand structural racism and choose to become upstanders.
By teaching disturbing chapters of our local history we can have meaningful conversations about genocide, identity, and historical trauma, and also improve relationships in our classrooms and schools. Ultimately the thoughtful use of social issue films and egalitarian discussion techniques can help cultivate anti-bias awareness and proficiency, embed social emotional learning in content-rich lessons, and encourage a strong commitment to justice.
Dr. Mishy Lesser, Learning Director, and Adam Mazo, Director, Upstander Project
Being Empowered in Disempowering Environments Room 131
Most of us work and study in disempowering environments... But this shouldn't ever keep any of us from being empowered. If we can’t change the environment.- than we'll change the minds of students and empower them to not let their surroundings hold them back from being ambitious, doing good, and making a change. If we want students to speak up, if we want to give them power, if we want them to rise and be unafraid- we need to allow them to overcome the obstacle of their disempowering environment.
Michael Martinez, Weston Empowerment Initiative
Breaking the silence on Suicide Room 307
In this workshop I plan to talk to/ work with students on the topic of Suicide. I want to have the students write about suicide, and open up the conversation more on not being afraid to talk about suicide.
Suicide effects everyone for millions of different reasons. Everyone can relate to the topic but a lot of people do not want to talk about suicide because it is not known as something someone just brings up in regular conversation. Except in this day and age suicide has become almost a part of the human condition, meaning everyone can relate in some way.
For the outcome of this program I want the students to learn more about suicide because it is something effecting the youth community, rapidly. The students should also take away from the workshop that the first step to fixing a problem no matter how big or how small is talking about it, and not being afraid to talk about it. Also, I want the students to learn that youth voice is effective but it might not be for everyone, and writing can be just as effective as speaking.
Tajah Lee, Student, Boston Arts Academy
The Human Faces of Global Warming: Stories from the Frontlines Room 113
Terms like “climate change” and “global warming” can make this issue seem both huge and remote. One challenge we have as teachers is to “story” the climate crisis by helping students encounter real people in the world for whom climate change is not happening in some distant future, but is happening now. Come participate in and explore lessons from Rethinking Schools newest book, A People’s Curriculum for the Earth and learn ways to engage students in this crucial topic.
Adam Sanchez, NYC Teacher and Rethinking Schools Editor
A parent-controlled online news site for BPS parents Room 202
The voices of students, parents, and teachers are rarely heard through commercial media, which usually look to BPS officials and the business elite. A parent-controlled news site could present a very different view of the schools. A group of parents and teachers have begun meeting to launch a site that tells it like it is. The goal is to reach a broad audience with personal stories from those most affected by the schools — students, parents and teachers — and to present the major issues facing BPS as they affect real lives. We are looking for ideas and for help.
Boston Educational Justice Alliance (BEJA)
Engaging bilingual youth through language and immigrant justice Room 111
This workshop will look at the ways in which educators can engage bilingual immigrant youth in their community through an introduction to the concepts of language and social justice. As part of the Welcome Project's Liaison Interpreters Program Somerville (LIPS), bilingual immigrant youth are taught the skills needed for community interpretation, as a means of showing students the ways in which language can be used to isolate and exclude certain groups. Participants in this workshop will learn how to create programming to engage bilingual students by helping them recognize their unique role, as bilingual youth, in working towards creating a more just and inclusive community by increasing access to multilingual spaces.
Allison Kuah and Youth from The Welcome Project's Liaison Interpreters Program Somerville (LIPS)
Interactive Environments for Learning and Dialogue about Intersectionality Room 109
A “Social Location & Identity” space that is interactive for participants through the use of images, quotes and statistics that illustrate the structures and identities that influence our interrelated opportunities and experiences in the world. Within the space, participants can move freely, choosing to interact with the information through reflective methods. There will be adult and youth facilitators knowledgeable of the information and frameworks about race, intersectionality, and power, and capable of supporting pop-up conversations. However, there is no set agenda for where and how learning will take place. Prompts intended to help participants analyze issues will be provided.
Pegah Rahmanian, Youth In Action and Leigh Patel, Boston College
The QFT: Teaching students to ask their own questions Room 315
Have you ever had a problem, but you didn’t know what questions to ask in order to solve the problem? All people, but especially disenfranchised people, face this dilemma every day, and this workshop will teach participants how to use a simple tool called the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to formulate their own questions about any topic. The QFT is a simple, but rigorous, step-by-step process designed to help students produce, improve, and strategize on how to use their questions. The QFT allows students to practice three thinking abilities in one process: divergent, convergent and metacognitive thinking. Teaching students the QFT is important because asking questions is the most basic and essential form of self-advocacy. Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, the creators of the QFT, have used this strategy to help recent immigrants navigate the welfare system, to help prisoners get what they need from the criminal justice system, and to help parents advocate for their children in schools, just to name a few uses of the QFT.
Ling-se Chesnakas, Urban Science Academic, Boston
Developing and Using Voice are learned skills. Youth learn how to Use their Voices in similar ways to how they learn other skills - through life experiences, exposure, lessons, trial and error, reflection and most of all, through practice. As Artists and Arts Educators, we work to develop spaces where students are allowed and encouraged to explore, create, try, fail, reflect, grow, and try again. Practice is the most fundamental aspect of Arts Learning, and education in general, but is often left out of the conversation about Youth Voice. We often silence Youth Voices or give opportunity for Youth to Speak, but without adequate opportunity for practice, and therefore set them up for failure. In this workshop, we’ll discuss approaches for creating Art Spaces where students can engage in Art-Making to practice building, developing and using their Voices.
Nate Thompson, Allam Mella, Jyren Alves, Matthew Garza, Avi David, students and artists-in-residence, Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts
Mathematics and Social Justice in a 6-12 classroom Room 322
This session will focus on a math social justice unit, " Is there racial discrimination in who is stopped and frisked? How do you know? What is the evidence?" The session will also discuss other social justice math projects possible for a math classroom. The sessions hopes to help math teachers feel comfortable teaching social justice topics.
Benadette Manning, Fenway High School Teacher
Empowering LGBTQ+ Youth: Education, Safety and Awareness Room 321
Description: This session will allow educators to more deeply explore the LGBTQ+ youth community through vocabulary, facts/statistics and current events. Educators will have the opportunity to hear from an LGBTQ+ high school student about their experiences. The session will also focus on current school trends and making classrooms and schools more LGBTQ+ inclusive and safe. Finally, the session will lay out different national and Boston resources that educators can refer their LGBTQ+ students to or seek more information and support from.
Dylan Lang, MSW student at Boston College and Clinical Social Work Intern at Boston Arts Academy
Building Sanctuary Schools from the Ground Up: How to Lead the 'Week of Action' at Your School! Rm301
The Week of Action:
Unafraid Educators is organizing a district-wide Week of Action (WOA) for the week of May 1st. The Week of Action's goal is to have schools send a message to students, staff, and families that our undocumented immigrant students are welcome and will be supported in our schools. The WOA will be composed of public displays of support (photo-shoots, posters), knowledge-building activities (know-your-rights nights for families, lessons for students, and handouts & briefings for staff), and will encourage school leaders to make institutional commitments to supporting undocumented families. This Week of Action is an essential component of our grassroots efforts to build sanctuary schools from the ground up.
The Workshop:
This workshop's objective is to thoroughly prepare educators from schools across the city to lead the Week of Action (WOA) at their own schools. We'll provide workshop participants with a toolkit containing resources, logistical information, and guidance for the WOA. We hope that participants will leave with everything they need to successfully lead a week that empowers students, staff, and community members to participate in the greater movement to create sanctuary schools for our undocumented students.
Maya Taft-Morales, Daniela Petuchowski, Afra Khan, Molly McKay Bryson, Vero Navarro, Claudia Martinez, Unafraid Educators & BTU Teachers
Mentors Engaging Masculinities Against Gender-Based Violence Room 305
Mentors (educators) will learn how to support youth who are expanding beyond traditional forms of masculinity, learn about unpacking privilege because of ageism and masculinity, and practice being allies to young people and people experiencing forms of gender-based violence.
Lily Tang, Selina Li, Tiffany Tsang, Sonny Mei, Janice Quach, Youth from Engaging Masculinities at Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline Room 201
Our BSAC subcommittee works on addressing having more mental health and wellness in schools and making sure that school resource officers are trained for de-escalation and trained to be with all students. This is all apart of the larger goal of Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline, which is to fight against young people's oppression and disproportionate measure of school discipline.
Fania Joseph, Youth Leader, Boston Student Advisory Committee (BSAC)
Healing broken communities from racism: Native peoples and Truth and Reconciliation in New England Room 132
How do communities heal from centuries of land dispossession, racism, and other forms of persecution? We will screen a 13-minute documentary, First Light, about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Maine that concluded its inquiry in June 2015 between the Wabanaki People and the state’s child welfare agency over the decades-long practice of removal of Native children from their families for the purpose of forced assimilation. Maine was a province of Massachusetts until 1820. The short documentary contains powerful testimony from adults who were taken from their families as children. After viewing we will begin a conversation about how to use primary sources to teach rich historical content while promoting both critical and creative thinking. We are especially interested in promoting self-awareness and social awareness so more students understand structural racism and choose to become upstanders.
By teaching disturbing chapters of our local history we can have meaningful conversations about genocide, identity, and historical trauma, and also improve relationships in our classrooms and schools. Ultimately the thoughtful use of social issue films and egalitarian discussion techniques can help cultivate anti-bias awareness and proficiency, embed social emotional learning in content-rich lessons, and encourage a strong commitment to justice.
Dr. Mishy Lesser, Learning Director, and Adam Mazo, Director, Upstander Project
Being Empowered in Disempowering Environments Room 131
Most of us work and study in disempowering environments... But this shouldn't ever keep any of us from being empowered. If we can’t change the environment.- than we'll change the minds of students and empower them to not let their surroundings hold them back from being ambitious, doing good, and making a change. If we want students to speak up, if we want to give them power, if we want them to rise and be unafraid- we need to allow them to overcome the obstacle of their disempowering environment.
Michael Martinez, Weston Empowerment Initiative
Breaking the silence on Suicide Room 307
In this workshop I plan to talk to/ work with students on the topic of Suicide. I want to have the students write about suicide, and open up the conversation more on not being afraid to talk about suicide.
Suicide effects everyone for millions of different reasons. Everyone can relate to the topic but a lot of people do not want to talk about suicide because it is not known as something someone just brings up in regular conversation. Except in this day and age suicide has become almost a part of the human condition, meaning everyone can relate in some way.
For the outcome of this program I want the students to learn more about suicide because it is something effecting the youth community, rapidly. The students should also take away from the workshop that the first step to fixing a problem no matter how big or how small is talking about it, and not being afraid to talk about it. Also, I want the students to learn that youth voice is effective but it might not be for everyone, and writing can be just as effective as speaking.
Tajah Lee, Student, Boston Arts Academy
The Human Faces of Global Warming: Stories from the Frontlines Room 113
Terms like “climate change” and “global warming” can make this issue seem both huge and remote. One challenge we have as teachers is to “story” the climate crisis by helping students encounter real people in the world for whom climate change is not happening in some distant future, but is happening now. Come participate in and explore lessons from Rethinking Schools newest book, A People’s Curriculum for the Earth and learn ways to engage students in this crucial topic.
Adam Sanchez, NYC Teacher and Rethinking Schools Editor
A parent-controlled online news site for BPS parents Room 202
The voices of students, parents, and teachers are rarely heard through commercial media, which usually look to BPS officials and the business elite. A parent-controlled news site could present a very different view of the schools. A group of parents and teachers have begun meeting to launch a site that tells it like it is. The goal is to reach a broad audience with personal stories from those most affected by the schools — students, parents and teachers — and to present the major issues facing BPS as they affect real lives. We are looking for ideas and for help.
Boston Educational Justice Alliance (BEJA)
Engaging bilingual youth through language and immigrant justice Room 111
This workshop will look at the ways in which educators can engage bilingual immigrant youth in their community through an introduction to the concepts of language and social justice. As part of the Welcome Project's Liaison Interpreters Program Somerville (LIPS), bilingual immigrant youth are taught the skills needed for community interpretation, as a means of showing students the ways in which language can be used to isolate and exclude certain groups. Participants in this workshop will learn how to create programming to engage bilingual students by helping them recognize their unique role, as bilingual youth, in working towards creating a more just and inclusive community by increasing access to multilingual spaces.
Allison Kuah and Youth from The Welcome Project's Liaison Interpreters Program Somerville (LIPS)
Interactive Environments for Learning and Dialogue about Intersectionality Room 109
A “Social Location & Identity” space that is interactive for participants through the use of images, quotes and statistics that illustrate the structures and identities that influence our interrelated opportunities and experiences in the world. Within the space, participants can move freely, choosing to interact with the information through reflective methods. There will be adult and youth facilitators knowledgeable of the information and frameworks about race, intersectionality, and power, and capable of supporting pop-up conversations. However, there is no set agenda for where and how learning will take place. Prompts intended to help participants analyze issues will be provided.
Pegah Rahmanian, Youth In Action and Leigh Patel, Boston College
The QFT: Teaching students to ask their own questions Room 315
Have you ever had a problem, but you didn’t know what questions to ask in order to solve the problem? All people, but especially disenfranchised people, face this dilemma every day, and this workshop will teach participants how to use a simple tool called the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) to formulate their own questions about any topic. The QFT is a simple, but rigorous, step-by-step process designed to help students produce, improve, and strategize on how to use their questions. The QFT allows students to practice three thinking abilities in one process: divergent, convergent and metacognitive thinking. Teaching students the QFT is important because asking questions is the most basic and essential form of self-advocacy. Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, the creators of the QFT, have used this strategy to help recent immigrants navigate the welfare system, to help prisoners get what they need from the criminal justice system, and to help parents advocate for their children in schools, just to name a few uses of the QFT.
Ling-se Chesnakas, Urban Science Academic, Boston
SESSION TWO: 11:20am—12:35pn
What's Involved in Creating Powerful, Holistic Learning Communities in Urban Education Settings? Room 322
In this highly participatory workshop we will explore how urban schools could be transformed into powerful, just and holistic learning communities centered in students' passions, fundamental interests and concerns and in the community's self-defined educational needs. Participants will address the question of how would the purposes, roles and relationships among students, teachers, administrators, parents & community, and public officials change as a result of this student and community-centered educational process.
Sandra Mcintosh, Coalition for Equal, Quality Education (CEQE), Citizens for Public Schools, former Parent Coordinator at English High; Malikka Williams, Co-Chair of City-Wide Parent Council; Mary Jo Hetzel, CEQE, educator, activist & author;
Chris Summerhill, Teacher, Monty Neill, FairTest; Gabi Pereira, Luis Navarro, Brian Britz Foster, Kalea Samuel, Trinity Kelly, Tatiana Hawkes, Johnson Le, Dixon Marroquin, Erik Lazo, YOUNG Coalition
Engaging and Empowering Student Voices at the Elementary Level Room 109
Classroom strategies for empowering elementary age students and their families to have a voice in their own educational outcomes and develop agency and reasoning skills in the process. It is never too young to teach children how to self advocate and advocate for others. By viewing themselves as an integral and contributing member of a 3-part education team comprised of the student, his/her family, and his/her teacher(s), children can learn to use logical reasoning and observation to identify issues in their own education and in the school community, and help to develop actions to address those issues. The school experience in many ways mirrors the social politics of post school life. Learning the skills of social advocacy early will prepare students to become powerful voices in their communities and beyond.
Jennifer Tomaneng, Classroom Teacher, Countryside Elementary, Newton
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire! Helping Middle School Students Make Sense of Fake News Room 132
There is currently a heightened awareness, and increased use, of the term ‘fake news.’ News organizations and media literacy experts are discussing the need to decipher and distinguish credible news sources, call out bias, and identify the intent to fabricate. This environment can be confusing to young people, especially those who are still learning to distinguish different forms of media. In this session, we’ll discuss various techniques that teachers, librarians, and others can use to help middle school aged students navigate the environment and gain confidence in their ability to distinguish ‘real’ news. We’ll also refer specifically to Mass Media Literacy’s work with 5th and 6th grade library students at Swampscott Middle School.
Alison Kenney, Mass Media Literacy
Empowering and Advocating for LGBTQ+ Students Room 321
Run by youth-led organization LGBTQ.ed, this session gives a brief overview of LGBTQ topics and identities, and then guides educators through ways to empower LGBTQ youth and amplify their voices in the classroom.
Our session is run by LGBTQ-identified high school and college students who not only have a deep knowledge of LGBTQ identities and issues, but also are able to draw on their own experiences to describe how best to empower LGBTQ youth and amplify LGBTQ voices. Our session will begin with a quick overview of LGBTQ identities and issues, as well as trauma-informed teaching, and then guide educators through ways to empower LGBTQ students in their classrooms and schools. The bulk of the session’s time will be spent brainstorming and collaborating on ways to improve our schools and communities so that they are more inclusive and supportive of LGBTQ students.
Heather Cohen and Francie Ackerman, Youth Leaders from BU/LGBTQ.ed
Train the Trainers: Know Your Rights for Educators Room 201
This Workshop will train teachers so that they may go back to their schools and lead a Know to Lead a Know Your Rights Workshop for the families from their schools. We hope many teachers will lead these workshops to help disseminate much-needed knowledge to our communities during the Week of Action of May 1st.
Farah Assiraj, Unafraid Educators
UndocuAlly 101: Understanding and Supporting the Needs of Undocumented Students and Their Families Room 227
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas has referred to educators as the necessary leaders in developing a “21st century Underground Railroad” for undocumented students’ educational success. As educators invested in the well-being and success of all students, this workshops seeks to explore the role of educators (including teachers, counselors, and out of school practitioners) in supporting the specific needs of this particular student population. Consequently, this workshop will introduce the concept of “UndocuAlly” to participants and pose the question “how do we make ourselves visible allies to undocumented students and their families?”
This workshop is intended to help educators understand the circumstances and needs of undocumented students and their families. (It is also important to consider that some of our students may belong to mixed-status families, where at least one parent is undocumented.) Furthermore, it will also provide participants with the knowledge and tools necessary to become an “UndocuAlly”.
Stephany Cuevas, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Yes, You CAN Go to College: Assisting Undocumented Students Applying to College Room 301
Many people believe that undocumented students cannot attend college in the United States -- but they can. What they need in order to get there is support from a knowledgeable school support team that understands the nuances the college application process as it applies to undocumented youth. This session will give participants resources to better understand multiple facets of the college application experience, including submitting FAFSA, locating private scholarships, and understanding sanctuary campuses and "Undocumented-Friendly Schools."
Nora Paul-Schultz, teacher at the O'Bryant
Claudia Martinez, guidance counselor at Boston Latin Academy
Lena Papagiannis, teacher at the O'Bryant
Engaging Masculinities Against Gender-Based Violence Room 305
In this session, youth will be able to learn how traditional forms of masculinity and gender-based violence are linked. They will explore and practice how to become better allies to survivors of dating and domestic violence. This workshop will be applicable to people of all genders. Engaging Masculinity Committee (EMC) recognizes that people of all genders and expressions have a part in upholding traditional forms of masculinity and undervaluing forms of femininity/ androgyny.
Lily Tang, Selina Li, Tiffany Tsang, Sonny Mei, Janice Quach, Youth from Engaging Masculinities at Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
Organizing and Mobilizing Room 307
Youth will facilitate a workshop on mobilizing and organizing a citywide student walkout. Youth will share their experiences in organizing over 1000 Providence students to walkout. Facilitators will cover topics such as campaign building, fighting resistance, and the power of people.
Latifat Odetunde, Thaina Merlain, Federico Martinez, Jayleen Salcedo, Pegah Rahmanian, Zack Mezera--Students and staff from Youth In Action & Providence Student Union
New Ways Teachers Can Build the Movement to Opt Out of State Tests Room 202
The opt-out movement reached over 20% in New York State last year but had only limited success in Massachusetts. This year, teachers are working with parents and students to organize a stronger opt-out movement here. They are developing new tactics that include conscientious objection, opting out their own children, or simply signing a public statement saying high stakes tests are hurting our students. Testing season is upon us. Find out what you can do and join the movement.
Monty Neill and Lisa Guisbond, FairTest and Citizens for Public Schools will co
Whose got the mic?: Negotiating voice in youth work Room 131
This session will be an exploration of youth voice, how, why, and for whom it is shared or enacted, as well as what implications this has for how youth and adults share, balance, and enact power. The session will be co-facilitated by youth and myself, we will share what we have learned about youth voice, and the complicated process of adults attempting to promote and empower youth voice. We will do so based in our experience planning a youth summit to address education equity in Worcester Public Schools. We will invite participants to engage in dialogue about our analysis and findings, to share knowledge and experiences, and to push for further insights into youth voice and power, as well as how adults can make space for youth to share their voice and enact their power.
Jacob Folsom-Fraster and HS youth presenter Indira Anderson, The HOPE Coalition, Worcester, MA
Peer Leadership 101 Room 111
The Peer Leadership Institute is a youth leadership institute that promotes healthy lifestyles for Boston’s inner-city youth. PLI is a peer to peer experience that focuses on health education and empowers youth to take ownership of their personal health and engage in their communities. Our Mission is to inspire youth to realize they can make a difference and become professional change makers in their own lives and communities, through civic engagement, social justice, health education, and parent engagement. We hope this session will be an introduction to being a peer leaders and how to utilize those skills.
Youth Leaders from BPHC- Peer Leadership Institute
Survivors Room 315
Educators will explore primary source documents and other resources (visual media, and print media) to retell the narrative of West African culture, the Transatlantic slave trade and modern African American culture to empower students of color to reclaim their history.
Natasha Huggins, Lawrence Academy
Social Justice and Movement Unionism Room 113
How do unions play an important role in building the movement for social, economic and racial justice? How are teachers union members across the state engaged in transforming teachers unions from traditional, transactional "service" models to transformational, organizing and "movement building" models? This workshop will present work both locally and nationally around social justice unionism and engage participants in dialogue and action steps to continue to build this movement.
Jessica Tang, Boston Teachers Union
In this highly participatory workshop we will explore how urban schools could be transformed into powerful, just and holistic learning communities centered in students' passions, fundamental interests and concerns and in the community's self-defined educational needs. Participants will address the question of how would the purposes, roles and relationships among students, teachers, administrators, parents & community, and public officials change as a result of this student and community-centered educational process.
Sandra Mcintosh, Coalition for Equal, Quality Education (CEQE), Citizens for Public Schools, former Parent Coordinator at English High; Malikka Williams, Co-Chair of City-Wide Parent Council; Mary Jo Hetzel, CEQE, educator, activist & author;
Chris Summerhill, Teacher, Monty Neill, FairTest; Gabi Pereira, Luis Navarro, Brian Britz Foster, Kalea Samuel, Trinity Kelly, Tatiana Hawkes, Johnson Le, Dixon Marroquin, Erik Lazo, YOUNG Coalition
Engaging and Empowering Student Voices at the Elementary Level Room 109
Classroom strategies for empowering elementary age students and their families to have a voice in their own educational outcomes and develop agency and reasoning skills in the process. It is never too young to teach children how to self advocate and advocate for others. By viewing themselves as an integral and contributing member of a 3-part education team comprised of the student, his/her family, and his/her teacher(s), children can learn to use logical reasoning and observation to identify issues in their own education and in the school community, and help to develop actions to address those issues. The school experience in many ways mirrors the social politics of post school life. Learning the skills of social advocacy early will prepare students to become powerful voices in their communities and beyond.
Jennifer Tomaneng, Classroom Teacher, Countryside Elementary, Newton
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire! Helping Middle School Students Make Sense of Fake News Room 132
There is currently a heightened awareness, and increased use, of the term ‘fake news.’ News organizations and media literacy experts are discussing the need to decipher and distinguish credible news sources, call out bias, and identify the intent to fabricate. This environment can be confusing to young people, especially those who are still learning to distinguish different forms of media. In this session, we’ll discuss various techniques that teachers, librarians, and others can use to help middle school aged students navigate the environment and gain confidence in their ability to distinguish ‘real’ news. We’ll also refer specifically to Mass Media Literacy’s work with 5th and 6th grade library students at Swampscott Middle School.
Alison Kenney, Mass Media Literacy
Empowering and Advocating for LGBTQ+ Students Room 321
Run by youth-led organization LGBTQ.ed, this session gives a brief overview of LGBTQ topics and identities, and then guides educators through ways to empower LGBTQ youth and amplify their voices in the classroom.
Our session is run by LGBTQ-identified high school and college students who not only have a deep knowledge of LGBTQ identities and issues, but also are able to draw on their own experiences to describe how best to empower LGBTQ youth and amplify LGBTQ voices. Our session will begin with a quick overview of LGBTQ identities and issues, as well as trauma-informed teaching, and then guide educators through ways to empower LGBTQ students in their classrooms and schools. The bulk of the session’s time will be spent brainstorming and collaborating on ways to improve our schools and communities so that they are more inclusive and supportive of LGBTQ students.
Heather Cohen and Francie Ackerman, Youth Leaders from BU/LGBTQ.ed
Train the Trainers: Know Your Rights for Educators Room 201
This Workshop will train teachers so that they may go back to their schools and lead a Know to Lead a Know Your Rights Workshop for the families from their schools. We hope many teachers will lead these workshops to help disseminate much-needed knowledge to our communities during the Week of Action of May 1st.
Farah Assiraj, Unafraid Educators
UndocuAlly 101: Understanding and Supporting the Needs of Undocumented Students and Their Families Room 227
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas has referred to educators as the necessary leaders in developing a “21st century Underground Railroad” for undocumented students’ educational success. As educators invested in the well-being and success of all students, this workshops seeks to explore the role of educators (including teachers, counselors, and out of school practitioners) in supporting the specific needs of this particular student population. Consequently, this workshop will introduce the concept of “UndocuAlly” to participants and pose the question “how do we make ourselves visible allies to undocumented students and their families?”
This workshop is intended to help educators understand the circumstances and needs of undocumented students and their families. (It is also important to consider that some of our students may belong to mixed-status families, where at least one parent is undocumented.) Furthermore, it will also provide participants with the knowledge and tools necessary to become an “UndocuAlly”.
Stephany Cuevas, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Yes, You CAN Go to College: Assisting Undocumented Students Applying to College Room 301
Many people believe that undocumented students cannot attend college in the United States -- but they can. What they need in order to get there is support from a knowledgeable school support team that understands the nuances the college application process as it applies to undocumented youth. This session will give participants resources to better understand multiple facets of the college application experience, including submitting FAFSA, locating private scholarships, and understanding sanctuary campuses and "Undocumented-Friendly Schools."
Nora Paul-Schultz, teacher at the O'Bryant
Claudia Martinez, guidance counselor at Boston Latin Academy
Lena Papagiannis, teacher at the O'Bryant
Engaging Masculinities Against Gender-Based Violence Room 305
In this session, youth will be able to learn how traditional forms of masculinity and gender-based violence are linked. They will explore and practice how to become better allies to survivors of dating and domestic violence. This workshop will be applicable to people of all genders. Engaging Masculinity Committee (EMC) recognizes that people of all genders and expressions have a part in upholding traditional forms of masculinity and undervaluing forms of femininity/ androgyny.
Lily Tang, Selina Li, Tiffany Tsang, Sonny Mei, Janice Quach, Youth from Engaging Masculinities at Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
Organizing and Mobilizing Room 307
Youth will facilitate a workshop on mobilizing and organizing a citywide student walkout. Youth will share their experiences in organizing over 1000 Providence students to walkout. Facilitators will cover topics such as campaign building, fighting resistance, and the power of people.
Latifat Odetunde, Thaina Merlain, Federico Martinez, Jayleen Salcedo, Pegah Rahmanian, Zack Mezera--Students and staff from Youth In Action & Providence Student Union
New Ways Teachers Can Build the Movement to Opt Out of State Tests Room 202
The opt-out movement reached over 20% in New York State last year but had only limited success in Massachusetts. This year, teachers are working with parents and students to organize a stronger opt-out movement here. They are developing new tactics that include conscientious objection, opting out their own children, or simply signing a public statement saying high stakes tests are hurting our students. Testing season is upon us. Find out what you can do and join the movement.
Monty Neill and Lisa Guisbond, FairTest and Citizens for Public Schools will co
Whose got the mic?: Negotiating voice in youth work Room 131
This session will be an exploration of youth voice, how, why, and for whom it is shared or enacted, as well as what implications this has for how youth and adults share, balance, and enact power. The session will be co-facilitated by youth and myself, we will share what we have learned about youth voice, and the complicated process of adults attempting to promote and empower youth voice. We will do so based in our experience planning a youth summit to address education equity in Worcester Public Schools. We will invite participants to engage in dialogue about our analysis and findings, to share knowledge and experiences, and to push for further insights into youth voice and power, as well as how adults can make space for youth to share their voice and enact their power.
Jacob Folsom-Fraster and HS youth presenter Indira Anderson, The HOPE Coalition, Worcester, MA
Peer Leadership 101 Room 111
The Peer Leadership Institute is a youth leadership institute that promotes healthy lifestyles for Boston’s inner-city youth. PLI is a peer to peer experience that focuses on health education and empowers youth to take ownership of their personal health and engage in their communities. Our Mission is to inspire youth to realize they can make a difference and become professional change makers in their own lives and communities, through civic engagement, social justice, health education, and parent engagement. We hope this session will be an introduction to being a peer leaders and how to utilize those skills.
Youth Leaders from BPHC- Peer Leadership Institute
Survivors Room 315
Educators will explore primary source documents and other resources (visual media, and print media) to retell the narrative of West African culture, the Transatlantic slave trade and modern African American culture to empower students of color to reclaim their history.
Natasha Huggins, Lawrence Academy
Social Justice and Movement Unionism Room 113
How do unions play an important role in building the movement for social, economic and racial justice? How are teachers union members across the state engaged in transforming teachers unions from traditional, transactional "service" models to transformational, organizing and "movement building" models? This workshop will present work both locally and nationally around social justice unionism and engage participants in dialogue and action steps to continue to build this movement.
Jessica Tang, Boston Teachers Union