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Inquiry to Action Groups (ItAGs) 2012 – Registration open until Wed. Jan 25th!

Courtesy of TSJ-Chicago – http://www.teachersforjustice.org/

The New York Collective of Radical Educators is pleased to offer an opportunity for teachers to build community and develop as activists.  Educators will participate in Inquiry to Action Groups linking social justice issues with classroom practice.  Small groups will meet weekly (for a total of six, two-hour sessions plus a kick-off and possible conference workshop) between January and March to share experiences, respond to readings, exchange ideas and develop plans of action. 

 

2012 ItAGs

1) No Justice, No Peace: Creating a Culture of Peace Through Nonviolence Education

2) Re-Imagining the Identity of Special Education

3) Write On!: Writing for Social Justice

4) Public Education for the 99%

5) Pipeline Pedagogy

 

1. No Justice, No Peace: Creating a Culture of Peace Through Nonviolence Education

Countless lesson plans have been created to help young people 
identify bullying as a form of violence. Yet so often our attempts to teach peaceful conflict resolution in the classroom ignore the structural violence that many of our students and their families face on a daily basis.  In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” So can we hope to teach peace in the 
presence of injustice?

This is an ItAG specifically for educators who work with
 elementary school children.  Participants will examine the various forms of violence that overtly and covertly manifest themselves in daily life. We will explore the philosophies of practitioners of nonviolence including Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, and discuss how to introduce and break down these concepts to even the youngest of learners.  Our goal
 is to develop curriculum that goes beyond anti-bullying to help students identify the pervasiveness of violence and the power of nonviolence.

Facilitators: Karla Tobar is a fourth grade bilingual teacher in the
 Bronx. She is a 2011 Ahimsa Center Fellow, an experience that sparked her interest in nonviolence education.  Alanna Howe is in her seventh year of teaching in New York City
 Public Schools.  She is currently teaching 5th grade at a dual immersion school in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. 

Location: Project Reach, 39 Eldridge Street, 4th Floor, Manhattan

Dates: Tuesdays from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm. Kick off on 1/27; sessions following on1/31, 2/7, 2/14, 2/28, 3/6, and 3/13.

 

2. Re-Imagining the Identity of Special Education

 

What is “Special Education”?  Good question!!

This ItAG seeks to redefine, reinvigorate, and re-imagine what it means for us (educators, service providers, family members) and our students to be a part of the Special Education SYSTEM (roar…). Through the sharing of stories, critical readings/discussions, and transformational art (yes, you might get dirty!) we will collectively re-imagine and recreate the World of Special Education.

 

Facilitators: Margrit Pittman-Polletta is a Brooklyn native and early childhood Special Education teacher at PS 24 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.  Emily Clark is not a Brooklyn native.  She teaches ninth grade English at Manhattan High School, a District 75 high school, in Manhattan. 

 

Location: Manhattan High School, 317 West 52nd Street (Between 8th and 9th Aves), Manhattan

Dates: Thursdays from 5:30-7:30 pm. Kick off on1/27; sessions following on 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 3/1, 3/8, and 3/15.

 

 

3. Write On!: Writing for Social Justice

This ItAG will explore what it means to write for social justice.  Participants will engage in writing activities as both writers and teachers of writing. Participants will discuss standards, literacies, and definitions of social justice in relationship to writing as an educational, artistic, and social act.  Ultimately, our goal is to develop strategies, insights, models, and tools that enrich our teaching practice.

 

Facilitators: Ama Codjoe is the poetry-teaching artist with A.C.T.I.O.N. (a social justice and arts program) and the co-facilitator for the Social Justice Pedagogy Team at DreamYard Project in the Bronx.  Chrissy Williams is a high school English instructor at Arturo A. Schomburg Satellite Academy in the Bronx.

 

Location: Institute for Urban and Minority Education, 2090 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. 8th Floor, Manhattan

Dates: Thursdays from 5:30-7:30pm. Kick off on 1/27; sessions following on 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 3/1, 3/8, 3/15 and 3/22.

 

 

4) Public Education for the 99%

The Occupy movement has taken over the country! This ItAG will begin by exploring public education from the vantage point of the 1% (What’s Wall Street got to do with our schools?) and end by re-imagining what public education will look like when democratically run by the 99%. The ItAG will collaborate with members of Occupy the Department of Education (DOE), Occupy Wall Street (OWS), and will be action oriented throughout the process.

 

Facilitators:  Alba Lamar is a third grade teacher in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.  She is a member of NYCoRE and a member of Occupy the DOE.  Leia Petty is a high school counselor in Bushwick, a member of Occupy the DOE and a contributor to www.socialistworker.org.

 

Location: The Atrium at 60 Wall Street

Dates: Sundays at 12pm (noon). Kick off on 1/27; sessions following on 1/29, 2/5, 2/12 2/26, 3/4, and 3/11.

5) Pipeline Pedagogy

The School to Prison Pipeline is a system of policies and practices within the DOE and the NYPD that push young people away from schools, into the streets, and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Also known as School Pushout, these policies disproportionately affect youth of color, youth with special needs, and youth from low-income families. In these sessions we’ll explore the origins of the pipeline in New York City, what pushout looks like today, and ways in which stakeholders including parents, teachers, administrators and students might work together to help dismantle the system that is depriving the most vulnerable youth populations of a quality education.

 

Facilitators: Wazina Zondon is a social justice-minded educator and NYCoRE member. She currently teaches sex ed to 8th graders in downtown Brooklyn. Angela Jones is the Coordinator of the School to Prison Pipeline Project at the New York Civil Liberties Union. Her work focuses on improving school safety policies and putting an end to the path that leads students away from schools and toward the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

Location: Project Reach, 39 Eldridge Street, 4th floor, Manhattan

Dates: Mondays from 6:00-8:00pm. Kick off on 1/27; sessions following on 1/30, 2/6, 2/13, 2/27, 3/5, and 3/12.

 

 

full descriptions:

ItAG flier 2012

ItAG Kick-Off Meeting

A general kick-off meeting for all ItAG participants will be held Friday, January 27th, 6:00– 8:00 p.m. at NYU, Pless Hall @ 82 Washington Square East (between Greene and Washington Square Park). 3rd floor Lounge. Dinner provided. (Call Ariana @ 917.270.7901 if you have trouble finding the location).

Registration

The registration fee is $30. Multiple teachers from the same school can register together for the same ItAG for a reduced rate of $25 each.  This will cover the cost of materials and support NYCoRE’s ongoing work.  More info on itags available at http://www.nycore.org/projects/itags/.

 

Register here: http://nycoreitags2012.eventbrite.com/

 

 

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12.19.11 – Perspectives on the Student Struggles in Puerto Rico

“Perspectives on the Student Struggles in Puerto Rico”

Dec. 19, Monday – 5:30 PM

CUNY Graduate Center – Rm.5414

34th St. & 5th Ave. – (# 6 Train to 33rd St. or # D to 34th St.)

Speakers: Lirca Feliciano & Sofia Feliciano, Union of Socialist Youth – UJS, Puerto Rico

Sponsors: New York Collective of Radical Educators – NYCoRE, FMPR Support Committee – NY, ProLibertad – (718) 601-4901

Flyer: Perspectives on the Student Struggles in Puerto Rico

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3rd Annual NYCoRE Conference – CfP

Education is a Right!

Not Just for the Rich or White!

NYCoRE’s 3rd Annual Conference

Location: Vanguard High School

317 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10065

Date: Saturday, March 24, 2012

 CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Proposal application due: Tuesday, January 3, 2012

 

Conference Page (for more details)

Conference Overview:

Over the past year, our country and the world have witnessed increasingly visible protests against the influence of private pursuit of profit over our public institutions and interests. This spirit of protest has developed in tandem with the proliferation of spaces for critiquing the injustice of this system and organizing communities of resistance. An ongoing struggle within many of these spaces has been acknowledging the ways in which historical and ongoing racism has caused the pursuit of profit to have far more devastating effects on communities of Color than on White communities. The annual NYCoRE conference seeks to carry out anti-racist work by addressing these disparities in the context of our education system. Our goal is to carry forward the spirit of protest by critiquing the current profit-driven policies and culture of our school system, and specifically identify the ways in which racism is intertwined with those policies. We also seek to be a space for building something new, for taking steps toward the more just, equitable world of which we dream. Through this conference, we hope to build connections, to gain inspiration, and to share practical ideas for creating spaces that work to fight racism rather than ignoring it. To this end, we are seeking workshops that will be of relevance to educators in varied settings that are diverse in their focus topics. Relevant political critiques are welcomed, as are curricular ideas, classroom strategies, presentations on community work, and other ideas for inspiring practice. We are also specifically seeking workshops that contribute to bridging the gap that often exists between educators and young people by bringing the voices of youth into workshop sessions. All proposals should demonstrate relevance to the conference theme, described in detail below.

Goals of the Conference

  • To share information and critical thinking around the conference theme, namely examining the relationship between the influence of private interests and the perpetuation of racial injustice
  • To provide stakeholders in the education system with information and new ideas that can strengthen our effectiveness as activists, both within our classrooms (and other sites) and beyond them
  • To forge connections between and among educators, researchers, parents, activists, and students, fostering new and innovative partnerships and collaborations
  • To develop structures for ongoing discussion and working groups about education and social justice
  • To organize a national voice in the ongoing debate over education reform
  • To plan actions, advocacy, future meetings
  • To bridge the gap between youth and educators by creating a space to make young voices heard.
  • To develop and share ideas for inspiring practice, both inside classrooms and in communities

 

Conference Theme: Education is a Right – Not Just for the Rich or White!

In New York City, public schools have faced merciless budget cuts, resulting in growing class sizes, lack of materials, and huge layoffs. These cuts disproportionately affect schools in communities of Color. Meanwhile, our state and local government continue to award huge contracts to private consulting firms, charter schools, and other corporations. Patterns of resource distribution reveal the values of those making the funding decisions. These patterns are telling in their prioritization of profit over people, as well as in their disregard for communities of Color.

For this year’s conference, we are seeking proposals that explore the connections between the increasing privatization of our schools and racial injustice. We seek to create opportunities for deepening our understanding of the intersection of racism and the neo-liberal agenda so that we can more effectively organize against them. This is a forum for provocative questioning, for story-telling, for information-gathering, for inspiration, for developing our craft, for activism, for providing new fuel to the ongoing struggle for justice.

 

Workshop Topics

We welcome all proposals that are relevant to the theme described above. However, in the past, the following topics have been underrepresented, and we are actively seeking proposals that address them:

  • The perspectives of young people told through their own voices
  • Math
  • Science
  • Elementary school topics and curriculum
  • Special education

 

Workshop Session Format

Applicants may submit proposals to facilitate a workshop. All sessions will be one hour and 30 minutes in length. Workshops are interactive sessions intended for 15-40 participants and may utilize a variety of formats including small group work, multimedia presentations, open discussion, and break-out sessions.

 

Workshop Session Characteristics

We are seeking workshops that are diverse in topic, intended audience, age-level focus, and format. What will unify all accepted proposals are the following characteristics:

  • A critical perspective on the intersection of capitalist values and racism.
  • Consistency with NYCORE’s Points of Unity (which can be found here: http://www.nycore.org/nycore–info/points–of–unity/
  • An engaging, dynamic plan for workshop presentation using interactive pedagogical strategies

 

Please see the attached rubric for more information regarding criteria for evaluating proposals. In addition, please note that while we will be using the scores from the rubric to help inform our decision about which proposals to accept, our final decisions will be made through a more holistic process to ensure appropriate breadth and balance among conference topics.

 

Timeline:

  • Proposal APPLICATION due: Monday, January 3, 2012
  • Submit proposals on-line: http://www.nycore.org/conference/proposal-form/
  • Notification of acceptance: Wednesday, January 26, 2012
  • Accepted Facilitators confirm sessions by emailing us by Monday January 31, 2012

 

Conference Forms & Details

 

Resource Sharing Tables:

Organizations can also participate by setting up an informational table in our resource sharing area. Please contact Rebecca Wolfe-Lamiero: rwolfelameiro@gmail.com or Diana Cordova: dcordova48@gmail.com


Questions/Contact Regarding Workshop Sessions:

Alanna Navitski: anavitski@gmail.com or Karla Tobar: kxtobar@gmail.com

 

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