CP&I Newsletter #AISDEquity
CULTURAL PROFICIENCY & INCLUSIVENESS November 2019
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Message from Dr. Ward, Austin ISD Race, Equity Administrative Supervisor
Fall brings with it cold weather and many traditions and celebrations in our communities. As educators and community members on our personal journeys to cultural proficiency we are aware that below the surface many traditions have underlying meanings. Some traditions we learned from our family about cooking, only to ask one day and learn that grandma cut the turkey in half because her pan wasn't big enough. Other traditions we learn at work, in school or at community events. One tradition at many fall carnivals and festivals is the cakewalk. We all love to win the tasty treats and have fun competing. We share the article below not to spoil your sweet tooth, just as food for your thoughts and awareness building.
After reading "The Extraordinary Story Of Why A 'Cakewalk' Wasn't Always Easy," consider this:
How can you lead meaningful dialogue about the traditions in your home and school communities?
CP&I PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
FALL 2019 SESSIONS
No partial credit available. Please check the session times and plan accordingly.
Free To Be Me: Action Poster Series- 3 hours
Nov. 6th 8:30-11:30 session #93010
Nov. 6th 12:30-3:30 session #93008
Bringing together fine art, hip hop, and anti-bias education; this session will showcase a collaborative Action Poster Series from the Blanton Museum of Art, AustinISD, Anti-Defamation League, and CREATE LAB. The posters feature a full lesson plan and action projects that invite us to critically analyze a work of art that speaks to issues of Identity relevant to preK-12 students. Participants will build on their analysis by creating visual art and spoken word poetry, and engage in community building circles.
Check out the video below to learn more about this session!
Dec. 11th 8:00-11:00 session #93446
As the largest No Place For Hate district in the nation we create this opportunity for participants to review Austin ISD board policy on harassment, examine the ADL's Pyramid of Hate, learn strategies to speak up, and practice interrupting biased language or stereotypes.
Principals who attend will receive materials to conduct the Speak Up session with staff. Please share this session with principals so they can facilitate Speak Up on their campus!
Please help our partners!
The AntiDefamation League (ADL) is looking for volunteers to support the No Place for Hate Youth Summit. See No Place for Hate section of this newsletter to learn more.
SPRING 2020 SESSIONS
Sessions will be posted in the HCP during the first week of November.
How do I sign up for CP&I professional learning?
Austin ISD Staff
1) Search the session number, or
2) To view all CP&I sessions in the HCP, search "cultural proficiency" and click "view all sections" under each of the three CP&I courses.
Community Members
We welcome community members to our professional learning sessions. If you are a community member interested in attending any of the CP&I sessions, please email cultural.proficiency@austinisd.org to receive an the EventBrite registration link.
No partial credit available. Please check the session times and plan accordingly.
Cultural Proficiency: The 6th C
April 8th session #93133
Isolating Race- *This session is a prerequisite session for the others below.*
January 16th session #93557
January 22nd session #93121
January 30th session #93122
February 18th session #93123
Participants use the Courageous Conversations About Race Protocol to racialize their daily lived experiences, gain awareness of personal bias, consider racial disparities within educational structures, and examine Austin ISD data to highlight local racial inequities in education.
Becoming an Antiracist Educator: Words Have Power
February 11th session #93124
An interactive, critically self-reflective process designed to enable participants to develop an awareness of equity words, notice the feelings equity words create, strengthen AntiRacist commitments, and take action in daily professional practice.
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
It’s Not Discipline: Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices 101
February 13th session #93125
Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices (CRRP) model is a culturally proficient, child centered, developmentally appropriate, social, emotional, academic and trauma informed process founded on indigenous roots of harmony and community connection. Participants experience academic and social, emotional processes, and protocols on a continuum of affective language, affective questions, and intentional conversations to develop campus wide Tier 1 implementation of CRRP. * Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Want to know more about the Austin ISD CRRP Model?
Check out the CRRP section of this newsletter
White Fragility:
Understanding Whiteness to Overcome Discomfort in Conversations About Race
February 20th session #93449
March 4th session #93127
Designed for white educators and community members to engage in, sustain and deepen conversations about race, examine the presence and role of whiteness in American society, explore their own racial identity, identify white cultural norms prevalent in our schools, and practice strategies for sustaining conversations about race to support the creation of identity-safe school spaces for students. Please note: this session will require participants to lean into the feelings quadrant of the Courageous Conversations About Race Compass.
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Institutional Racism in an Austin, TX Context
February 25th session #93128
AntiRacist educators and community members grow through critical self-reflection and collaborative learning about situational and systemic inequality in Austin, Texas. In support of effective, equitable instructional outcomes, participants will apply their understanding of racism’s centrality in Austin ISD personally, practically, and professionally.
Attend this session to consider:
How deeply embedded is racism across American historical, social, and political traditions? How has racist policy and practice evolved in two centuries, since Stephen F. Austin?
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Connecting with Families: Exploring & Planning to Interrupt Implicit Bias & Stereotype Threat
February 27 session #93126
Participants deepen understanding of family communication from an Antiracist lens, think deeply about how schools operate in ways that can negatively impact communication to and with families, and recognize how to support healing and connection with families.
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Equity and Belonging
March 31st session #93129
Educators and community members do you recall your years in school preK-12? If so, what about that school experience made you feel like a valued member of the school community? Educational equity aims to provide developmentally appropriate, high quality instruction to all students. We recognize if students do not feel connected in school or in class our schools are not able to achieve educational equity. This session was created in response to the persistent predictability of who succeeds and fails in public school across the cultural factors of race, economics, age, gender, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity...., and for AntiRacist educators who seek to improve their practices through meaningful professional learning opportunities. * Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Mindfulness and Unconscious Bias
April 2nd session #93130
In the field of education mindfulness and unconscious bias are rarely linked together in formal professional learning opportunities, yet they are deeply connected. Attend this session to explore mindfulness through experiential practices and learn how the age-old practice of Mindfulness (and its more modern iterations) can help us solve age-old problems that arise due to unconscious bias and institutional racism that exists in our schools.
* Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Mindfulness Session with James Butler
(for more info email james.butler@austinisd.org)
Mindfulness Leadership for Sustainability: Mindfulness 301
# Section Number: 93193 on November 20th
# Section Number: 93194 on December 4th
Participants will build upon already existing mindfulness knowledge and expertise. Participants will also learn more ways to advocate, integrate and build capacity on their home campus.This section is intended for elementary AND secondary teachers and staff. This is the ADVANCED mindfulness course. This section is intended for those who have a regular personal mindfulness practice, and have been practicing in the classroom consistently for at least 1 full school year.
*Completion of Isolating Race required to register.
Latinx Summit for Courageous Conversation
The 2020 Latinx Summit for Courageous Conversation
will be held April 15-18, 2020
at the Hyatt Regency Downtown in Houston, Texas.
The Latinx Summit for Courageous Conversation is our annual convening of Latinx people to build capacity for racial equity leadership in the United States and beyond. Uniquely different from our annual National Summit for Courageous Conversation (NSCC), the Latinx Summit for Courageous Conversation (LSCC) is specifically designed and developed to meet the unique and pressing racial equity needs of Latinx people. To this end, PEG staff, speakers and participants may freely engage in the languages spoken by Latinx communities while discussing relevant issues that draw on community-based experiences unique to members of the Latinx diaspora. While recognizing the importance of creating affinity space for cultivating emerging Latinx racial equity leadership, all are welcome to join this rich and rare gathering.
Learn more and register at: https://summit.courageousconversation.com/latinx-summit/
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE RESTORATIVE PRACTICES
Austin ISD is focused on Creating Identity-Safe Classrooms
"Identity-safe classrooms foster belonging and value for students of all backgrounds. Because social identity affects students' experiences, identity-safe teaching can help students become successful learners.
Though teachers across the nation share the goals of successfully educating all students, disproportionate numbers of low-income students and students of color are pushed out and fail to graduate. So what prevents us from meeting each student's educational needs? We propose that one barrier is educators who often don't recognize the link between students' social and cognitive development, and that without addressing each student's needs for belonging and value, we cannot successfully teach them."
Volunteer to be a facilitator for the No Place For Hate Youth Summit!
The Anti-Defamation League is gearing up for the annual No Place for Hate® Youth Summit, and are looking for facilitators. The Summit will be hosted on Tuesday, December 10th at the Austin Convention Center from 8AM to 2PM. They are looking for facilitators to help lead a group of 25 middle school students in exploring their own bias and empowering them to become allies in their communities. ADL will provide you with the exercises to use, a partner facilitator, and the tools you will need to lead your group of students at our facilitator training.
To volunteer as a facilitator, please sign up for one 3 hour facilitator training at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZLMW5RN
Check out the video below of a past Youth Summit!
WHAT WE'RE READING
How To Be An AntiRacist
Troublemakers
The 1619 Project
Free copy and resources: https://bit.ly/2PCGWJH
Listen to the project: https://bit.ly/2PCGWJH
1619 Project Curriculum: https://bit.ly/2JIdyOs
Follow us on Twitter and mention #AISDEquity when sharing about
your learning and engagements in #AISDEquity work.
Past CP&I Newsletters
October 2019 https://www.smore.com/7te4p
September 2019 https://www.smore.com/7z9hk