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ITOC has functioned as an in-person convening for its first nine years, and transitioned to an on-line program during the pandemic in 2020. Below is a list of all of our speakers and workshops since we started in 2011.
2019 ITOC Keynotes
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Miguel Gutiérrez is a Lecturer in the Chicana/o Studies Department at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He was introduced to Augusto Boal's “Theater of the Oppressed” while he was still in high school in Omaha, Nebraska. Subsequently, he became a founding member of the first Center for the Theater of the Oppressed (CTO) in North America, through which he personally met Paulo Freire and worked numerous times with Augusto Boal for over a decade. Since his initial exposure to Boal's work, he has conducted scores of Theater of the Oppressed workshops and demonstrations for thousands of people throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Elexia Reyes McGovern is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills. She was born in the Hub City of West Texas to a third-generation Mexican-American mom and an Irish father. Her early experiences with her parents in the Hub City taught her the ways that people are racialized and therefore marginalized or privileged, depending on their proximity to whiteness. She later became a high school teacher in the Boston Public Schools and then a teacher educator.
Meryah A. Fisher has a Masters of Public Administration from Cheyney University and a BA in Africana Studies from Cal State Dominguez Hills. They are currently teaching in the Africana Studies Dept. at Dominguez Hills and a fellowship student at Claremont Graduate University pursuing the school’s first interfiled Ph.D. in Cultural Studies and Policy/Politics. Meryah is a small-town Jersey native who has worked for several years as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference, founded a small New Jersey-based homeless-to-work initiative, and has a long history of case management for disabled persons, those suffering with mental health, and families impacted by homelessness. Meryah’s passion is challenging human rights and social justice threats through intuitively bridging sociopolitical gaps created by disparities, marginalization, and lost voices.
Roberto C. Gaona was born and raised in the Eastern Coachella Valley. He received his B.A. in Chicano Studies, with a concentration in Education, Social, and Community Development from California State University, Dominguez Hills. He has spent ten years in L.A, working with youth in and out of school settings. For the last five years, he served as the Founding Expanded Learning Director for a middle school in Huntington Park. Roberto has recently returned to the Coachella Valley and is currently working for the City of Indio as a community program assistant, providing youth services for the city’s teens.
Elexia Reyes McGovern is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Education at California State University, Dominguez Hills. She was born in the Hub City of West Texas to a third-generation Mexican-American mom and an Irish father. Her early experiences with her parents in the Hub City taught her the ways that people are racialized and therefore marginalized or privileged, depending on their proximity to whiteness. She later became a high school teacher in the Boston Public Schools and then a teacher educator.
Meryah A. Fisher has a Masters of Public Administration from Cheyney University and a BA in Africana Studies from Cal State Dominguez Hills. They are currently teaching in the Africana Studies Dept. at Dominguez Hills and a fellowship student at Claremont Graduate University pursuing the school’s first interfiled Ph.D. in Cultural Studies and Policy/Politics. Meryah is a small-town Jersey native who has worked for several years as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference, founded a small New Jersey-based homeless-to-work initiative, and has a long history of case management for disabled persons, those suffering with mental health, and families impacted by homelessness. Meryah’s passion is challenging human rights and social justice threats through intuitively bridging sociopolitical gaps created by disparities, marginalization, and lost voices.
Roberto C. Gaona was born and raised in the Eastern Coachella Valley. He received his B.A. in Chicano Studies, with a concentration in Education, Social, and Community Development from California State University, Dominguez Hills. He has spent ten years in L.A, working with youth in and out of school settings. For the last five years, he served as the Founding Expanded Learning Director for a middle school in Huntington Park. Roberto has recently returned to the Coachella Valley and is currently working for the City of Indio as a community program assistant, providing youth services for the city’s teens.
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Alayna Eagle Shield (Húŋkpapȟa Lakȟóta), is from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. She is a Native American Community Academy (NACA) Fellow and currently works as the Health Education Director and also does consulting work in culture and health. Her previous work includes a Lakota Language instructor at the Lakota Language Immersion Nest and as the Language Specialist for the Language & Culture Institute. Alayna serves on multiple committees as well as a board chair. She earned her B.S from the University of Mary and MPH from North Dakota State University. |
Artists:
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Workshops:
Eliminating the "School to Jail" Track
Emilio Lacques-Zapien & Angela McNair Turner
The Battle of Imaginations: Emergent Organizing in the face of White Nonsense
Stephanie Gallardo, Eileen Yoshina, & Tamasha Emedi
The Racialized Educational Experiences of Foster Youth: Unpacking Racism, Trauma, and Family Privilege
Kenyon Lee Whitman, Briana Harvey & Mayra Mendoza
La Loteria and Art Education as Creative Resistance: Embracing Working Class Occupations in Our Classrooms
Dr. Luis-Genaro Garcia
The P5: A Model for Transformative Science Instruction
Dr. Salina Gray
Transformative Justice: Transforming Educational Space through Rigorous Love
Sagnicthe Salazar & Ariel Benavides
Community Cultural Wealth Pedagogies: Im/migrant Lived Experiences as Knowledge & Power
Rosa M. Jimenez
Organizing for Power: Building Coalitions to Fight for the Soul of Public Education
William Page
Racial Justice in the Mathematics Classroom
Neven Holland & Armani Alexander
Shifting Beliefs about Dis/ability and Race: The Importance of Teachers of Color
Saili S. Kulkarni
Critical Issues for Teacher Educators of Color
Dr. Betina Hsieh, Lillian (Sharon) Leathers & Nallely Arteaga
Circle Work for Collaboration, Community and Conversation: Building Restorative Practices in a Teacher Education Program
Dr. Joaquin Muñoz
Huelga! LA Activist: Being a Teacher Activist and Changing the Narrative of Governance in your Districit
Erika Alvarez
Puertas Abiertas Leadership Academy: Re-Centering Latinx Student Experiences through a De-Colonized Pedagogy
Jim Garcia
Toward a Freedom School: Permission to Be Radical
Pam Segura & Jenn Leyva
How Racist Are We? Assessing Racial Justice in Schools to Identify Next Steps for Change
Altagracia Montilla
2018 ITOC
Dr. Subini Annamma is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas. Her research focuses on increasing access to equitable education for multiply-marginalized communities. She critically examines the mutually constitutive nature of racism and ableism, how they interlock with other marginalizing oppressions, and how these intersections impact education in urban schools and youth prisons. Further, she positions students as knowledge generators, exploring how their resistance disrupts systemic inequities and reimagines education as a liberatory space. Dr. Annamma’s book, The Pedagogy of Pathologization, was published in 2018 and focuses on the education trajectories of incarcerated disabled girls of color. She was awarded a Ford Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2018-19 school year to serve at UCLA.
Dr. Django Paris is the inaugural holder of the James A. and Cherry A. Banks Professorship in Multicultural Education and incoming director of the Banks Center for Educational Justice in the College of Education at the University of Washington. His teaching and research focus on understanding and sustaining languages, literacies, and lifeways among Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander students in the context of social change and revitalization. Most recently, he has been building with community to understand and contribute to education in movement spaces from Standing Rock to Black Lives Matter. Paris is author of Language Across Difference: Ethnicity, Communication, and Youth Identities in Changing Urban Schools (2011) and co-editor of both Humanizing Research: Decolonizing Qualitative Inquiry with Youth and Communities (2014) and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World (2017).
Mike Tinoco is a high school educator, nonviolence trainer, and teacher organizer from San José whose work focuses on nonviolence education and leadership. He is committed to working alongside his students, educators, and the people in transforming oppressive conditions and creating a culture of positive peace that demands justice, centers love, and holds room for everyone to be part of Beloved Community. He co-organizes Critical Friends, a critical teacher inquiry group in the South Bay, and supports nonviolence work and training with the East Point Peace Academy; MAESTR@S: A Movement for Raza Liberation through Educación; the Nonviolent Leadership for Social Justice Retreat; Teachers 4 Social Justice; and Rock The School Bells, an annual youth empowerment hip-hop conference.
Artists:
(Clockwise) D’Lo; Reina Prado; Denisha "Coco" Blossom Bland; Patrice Hill; Brandon Davis
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Workshops:
Fostering Language So They Can Call It What It Is: Racial Literacy in the Elementary Classroom
Gloria Muñoz Hughes
Know Your Rights: Legal Tips for Activist Teachers of Color
Nitasha Sawhney
Transformative Justice: Tools to Restructure within a Racist Educational System
Sagnicthe Salazar & Ariel Benavides
Writing to Heal
Patrice Hill & Denisha “CocoBlossom” Bland
We are our Ancestor's Dreams: Finding Resilience, Purpose and Joy as a Radical Teacher of Color
Candice Valenzuela
Spatial Analytics, Mapping, and Visualization: Using Geospatial Technology for Social Justice
Edgar Orejel
Teaching While Black When Misogynoir and Whiteness Enter the Classroom: Strategies for Sustainability
Dara Nix Stevenson
“They Say Pushout, We Say Pushback!": A Transformational Resistance Framework for Student Empowerment and Activism
Dr. Johnny Ramirez, Ivette Ocampo & Tim Tobin
Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Theater of the Oppressed as Tools for Student Engagement and Empowerment
Dr. Miguel Gutierrez & Dr. Elexia Reyes-McGovern
Critical Issues for Teacher Educators of Color
Dr. Oscar Navarro & Dr. Tanya Maloney
(W)holistic Science Pedagogy as a Framework for Critical Science instruction
Dr. Salina Gray
Calling Our Spirits Back: Standing Rock and Beyond
Alayna Eagle Shield
Testimonio as a Tool for Healing: Reclaiming Schools as Spaces of Orgullo [Pride]
Ramona Meza & Joanna V. Maravilla-Cano
La Loteria and Art Education as Creative Resistance: Embracing Working Class Occupations in Our Classrooms
Dr. Luis-Genaro Garcia
Cultivating Power: Utilizing Ethnic Studies to Reconstruct the Educational Outcomes of High School Students of Color
Johnny Gonzáles, Alfonso Taboada & Luis Pinedo
Beyond the Narrative/Counternarrative Binary: Teaching Ethnic Studies as Imagining and Writing our Liberation
Darlene Lee & Ayuri Terada
Whatever It Takes: Creating Authentically, Socially Conscious Classrooms and Schools through Transformative Justice
Kruti Parekh
Transforming Communities through Critical Parent/Family Engagement
Guadalupe Cardona, Carolyn Torres, Ndindi Kitonga, Santos Zuñiga, Daisy Lomeli, Raul Cardona, Nadia Garcia
Strategies to Forge Balance, Harmony, Clarity, and Creativity in the Face of Teacher of Color Struggles
Malayka Cornejo
Fostering Language So They Can Call It What It Is: Racial Literacy in the Elementary Classroom
Gloria Muñoz Hughes
Know Your Rights: Legal Tips for Activist Teachers of Color
Nitasha Sawhney
Transformative Justice: Tools to Restructure within a Racist Educational System
Sagnicthe Salazar & Ariel Benavides
Writing to Heal
Patrice Hill & Denisha “CocoBlossom” Bland
We are our Ancestor's Dreams: Finding Resilience, Purpose and Joy as a Radical Teacher of Color
Candice Valenzuela
Spatial Analytics, Mapping, and Visualization: Using Geospatial Technology for Social Justice
Edgar Orejel
Teaching While Black When Misogynoir and Whiteness Enter the Classroom: Strategies for Sustainability
Dara Nix Stevenson
“They Say Pushout, We Say Pushback!": A Transformational Resistance Framework for Student Empowerment and Activism
Dr. Johnny Ramirez, Ivette Ocampo & Tim Tobin
Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Theater of the Oppressed as Tools for Student Engagement and Empowerment
Dr. Miguel Gutierrez & Dr. Elexia Reyes-McGovern
Critical Issues for Teacher Educators of Color
Dr. Oscar Navarro & Dr. Tanya Maloney
(W)holistic Science Pedagogy as a Framework for Critical Science instruction
Dr. Salina Gray
Calling Our Spirits Back: Standing Rock and Beyond
Alayna Eagle Shield
Testimonio as a Tool for Healing: Reclaiming Schools as Spaces of Orgullo [Pride]
Ramona Meza & Joanna V. Maravilla-Cano
La Loteria and Art Education as Creative Resistance: Embracing Working Class Occupations in Our Classrooms
Dr. Luis-Genaro Garcia
Cultivating Power: Utilizing Ethnic Studies to Reconstruct the Educational Outcomes of High School Students of Color
Johnny Gonzáles, Alfonso Taboada & Luis Pinedo
Beyond the Narrative/Counternarrative Binary: Teaching Ethnic Studies as Imagining and Writing our Liberation
Darlene Lee & Ayuri Terada
Whatever It Takes: Creating Authentically, Socially Conscious Classrooms and Schools through Transformative Justice
Kruti Parekh
Transforming Communities through Critical Parent/Family Engagement
Guadalupe Cardona, Carolyn Torres, Ndindi Kitonga, Santos Zuñiga, Daisy Lomeli, Raul Cardona, Nadia Garcia
Strategies to Forge Balance, Harmony, Clarity, and Creativity in the Face of Teacher of Color Struggles
Malayka Cornejo
2017 ITOC
Dr. Jamila Lyiscott is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Teachers College, Columbia University within the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) where her research and praxis focus on the intersections of race, education, and social justice. The recently awarded Cultivating New Voices among scholars of color fellow also serves a teacher educator, spoken word artist, community organizer, consultant and motivational speaker locally and internationally. Her scholarship and activism work together to prepare educators to sustain diversity in the classroom, empower youth, and explore, assert, and defend the value of Black life. As a testament to her commitment to educational justice for students of color, Jamila is the founder and co-director of the Cyphers For Justice (CFJ) youth, research, and advocacy program, apprenticing inner-city youth, incarcerated youth, and pre-service educators as critical social researchers through hip-hop, spoken word, and digital literacy.
Dr. Enrique Alemán, Jr., is Professor and Chair in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A native of Kingsville in South Texas and a first-generation college student, Dr. Alemán melds his personal and professional interests with research that has the potential to address the racialized and institutionalized inequities that have historically underserved students and communities of color. His research agenda includes studying the impact of educational policies on Latina/o and Chicana/o students and communities, the utilization of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latina/ Critical Theory (LatCrit) frameworks in educational research, and the application of community-based research methods as a way of informing the creation of pathways to higher education. Dr. Alemán is the co-author of “Transforming Educational Pathways for Chicana/o Students,” published by Teachers College Press, that describes the ten-year journey he and Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal took in creating and maintaining the Adelante Partnership, a university-school-community partnership in Salt Lake City, Utah. In late 2014, he executive produced and co-wrote Stolen Education, a documentary about the forgotten history of a little-known federal desegregation court case from the 1950s, Hernandez et al. v. Driscoll Consolidated School District (1957).
Stephanie Cariaga has served the Los Angeles community for 10 years as a high school English teacher, a founder of Young Empowered Women, a Teacher Education Adjunct Professor at Cal State Dominguez, and a founding member of the People's Education Movement-Los Angeles. Stephanie is now a graduate student in the Social Science and Comparative Education division at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research explores ways to integrate body, mind, and spirit into the classroom, develop critical literacies of healing for/with students of color, and nurture a sustainable teaching practice through self/collective care. All of her work is inspired by her best teachers, daughter Laila and son Catalino.
Artists:
(Clockwise) Nisha Sembi, Seti X, Luis Genaro Garcia, Micia Mosley, Gingee (Marjorie Light)
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Workshops:
Students, Parents, and Teachers Organizing Together Against Racism and for What Students Deserve
Erica Huerta, Maricela Lopez, Ashunda Norris, Kahllid, Al-Alim, & Daniela Suarez, Christabel Ukomadu
There Can Be No Racial Justice Without Gender Justice: Confronting Heteropatriarchy in People of Color Movement Spaces
Cecily Relucio Hensler & Asif Wilson
Using Critical Literacy and K-5 Children's Books to Teach About and Against Islamophobia in the Elementary Classroom
Farima Pour-Khorshid
CrippinJustice: Understanding the Links Between Racial and Disability Justice
Dr. Subini Annamma
A Force More Powerful: Cultivating Critical, Loving, and Transformative Spaces Within and Beyond the Classroom through Teaching and Living Nonviolence
Mike Tinoco
Teaching Intersectionality: Representing Queer People of Color in Classroom Curriculum
Maurice Sievers
The Politics of Space: Centering Student Voice through YPAR
Mariana Ramirez & Alice Im
Rejuvenation Space: Supporting Black Educators in Anti-Black Institutions
Micia Mosely & Itoro Udofia
Confronting Racism in Teacher Education: Resilience and Resistance
Dr. Nini Hayes, Tanisha Johnson & Dr. Oscar Navarro
Ethnic Studies Pedagogy: Four Tenets for Bringing an Ethnic Studies Lens to Any Content
Dr. Elexia Reyes McGovern & Darlene Lee
Serving Undocumented Students in a Politically Volatile Atmosphere
Dr. Jennifer Nájera
Practice Courage: Restorative Justice as Humanizing Pedagogy
Michelle Ferrer
We Can't Do This Alone: Supporting Decolonizing Pedagogy through a Teacher-Led Inquiry Group
Dr. Oscar Navarro, Sara Diaz, Emily Bautista, & Ron Espiritu
Give Them the Language So They Can Call It What It Is: Racial Discourse in the Elementary Classroom
Gloria Muñoz-Hughes
Integrating Knowledges & Telling Our Stories Through Mapping
LaToya Strong
Teambuilding Activities to Create Cross-Cultural Communities & Safe Spaces for Students of Color
Kristina Williams
Health Is Wealth: Promoting Students’ Healthy Romantic Relationships, Discussing a Taboo Topic within Communities of Color
Amreen Karmali & Dr. Kari Kokka
The Challenge of Our Times: Awakening to Creative Struggle and Healing in the Face of Fear and Threat
Edmundo Norte
Students, Parents, and Teachers Organizing Together Against Racism and for What Students Deserve
Erica Huerta, Maricela Lopez, Ashunda Norris, Kahllid, Al-Alim, & Daniela Suarez, Christabel Ukomadu
There Can Be No Racial Justice Without Gender Justice: Confronting Heteropatriarchy in People of Color Movement Spaces
Cecily Relucio Hensler & Asif Wilson
Using Critical Literacy and K-5 Children's Books to Teach About and Against Islamophobia in the Elementary Classroom
Farima Pour-Khorshid
CrippinJustice: Understanding the Links Between Racial and Disability Justice
Dr. Subini Annamma
A Force More Powerful: Cultivating Critical, Loving, and Transformative Spaces Within and Beyond the Classroom through Teaching and Living Nonviolence
Mike Tinoco
Teaching Intersectionality: Representing Queer People of Color in Classroom Curriculum
Maurice Sievers
The Politics of Space: Centering Student Voice through YPAR
Mariana Ramirez & Alice Im
Rejuvenation Space: Supporting Black Educators in Anti-Black Institutions
Micia Mosely & Itoro Udofia
Confronting Racism in Teacher Education: Resilience and Resistance
Dr. Nini Hayes, Tanisha Johnson & Dr. Oscar Navarro
Ethnic Studies Pedagogy: Four Tenets for Bringing an Ethnic Studies Lens to Any Content
Dr. Elexia Reyes McGovern & Darlene Lee
Serving Undocumented Students in a Politically Volatile Atmosphere
Dr. Jennifer Nájera
Practice Courage: Restorative Justice as Humanizing Pedagogy
Michelle Ferrer
We Can't Do This Alone: Supporting Decolonizing Pedagogy through a Teacher-Led Inquiry Group
Dr. Oscar Navarro, Sara Diaz, Emily Bautista, & Ron Espiritu
Give Them the Language So They Can Call It What It Is: Racial Discourse in the Elementary Classroom
Gloria Muñoz-Hughes
Integrating Knowledges & Telling Our Stories Through Mapping
LaToya Strong
Teambuilding Activities to Create Cross-Cultural Communities & Safe Spaces for Students of Color
Kristina Williams
Health Is Wealth: Promoting Students’ Healthy Romantic Relationships, Discussing a Taboo Topic within Communities of Color
Amreen Karmali & Dr. Kari Kokka
The Challenge of Our Times: Awakening to Creative Struggle and Healing in the Face of Fear and Threat
Edmundo Norte
2016 ITOC
Keynote Addresses:
Dr. Cynthia B. Dillard is the Mary Frances Early Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Georgia in Atlanta. Dr. Dillard’s major research interests include critical multicultural education, spirituality in teaching and learning, epistemological concerns in research and African/African-American feminist studies. Most recently, her research has focused in Ghana, West Africa, where she established a preschool and an elementary school. She is the author of many academic articles as well as the books On Spiritual Strivings: Transforming an African American Woman's Academic Life, and Learning to (Re)member the Things We've Learned to Forget: Endarkened Feminisms, Spirituality, and the Sacred Nature of Research and Teaching
Dr. Wayne Au is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington, Bothell, and editor of Rethinking Schools, a critical resource for social justice oriented teachers. Dr. Au’s academic interests broadly encompass critical education theory and teaching for social justice. More specifically his research focuses on educational equity, high-stakes testing, curriculum theory, educational policy studies and social studies education. He is the author of numerous articles and the author/editor of books including Unequal by design: High-stakes testing and the standardization of inequality, Critical Curriculum Studies: Education, Consciousness, and the Politics of Knowing, and is Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice.
Roxana Dueñas is an 8th year Ethnic Studies and History teacher at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights — the same community in which she grew up. Through an inquiry-based and student-centered approach, she brings history to life by making it relevant and hands-on. She both designed and teaches the curriculum for an ethnic studies course titled “Boyle Heights and Me” with an emphasis on community history, student activism and civic and artistic engagement that is seen as a model for Ethnic Studies teaching in LAUSD. The United Way of Los Angeles named Ms. Dueñas the 2015 most inspirational teacher.
Artists:
Mayda Del Valle got her start at New York City's Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, where she was the 2001 Grand Slam Champion and went on to win the 2001 National Poetry Slam Individual title, the youngest and first Latina poet to do so. She went on to appear on 6 episodes of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam and was a contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. Since 2011 Mayda has been a teaching artist with the poetry-based non-profit youth organization Street Poets, facilitating workshops around the LA area in high schools and probation camps.
Gingee (Marjorie Light) is a DJ producer and vocalist from Los Angeles, known for her unique take on electronic music, which blends elements of global bass, world music, and hip hop. Her work is a reflection of the sounds and cultures she has been exposed to growing up as well as the musical world of her ancestors and beyond. From the percussive rhythms of instruments such as the Filipino Kulintana, kettle drum and cowbells, to synths, turntables and rapping, she seeks to speak the language of music and poetry and us it to communicate a message of empowerment and celebration.
Micia Mosely is a comedian, actress and educator performs her brand of social justice stand up comedy across the country. She has been praised by newyorktheatre.com as, “smart, timely and also downright hilarious.” This bi-coastal black lesbian and socio-political performer earned her Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley and has kept audiences laughing in a variety of contexts and venues. Micia wrote and starred her one-woman show, “Where My Girls At?,” an off-Broadway comedy about Black lesbians.
Andreas “Dre-T” Tillman Jr. is an international Hip-Hop Performing Artist, one of Sacramento’s lead Poet-Mentor Educators, and founder of creative expression-based organization, Foreign Native. While investing over 5 years of his time reaching out to the youth, the 23 year old MC simultaneously continues to expand his audience through college appearances; sharing stages with the likes of Talib Kweli, KRS-ONE & Ab-Soul, to name a few.
Workshops:
Telling Our Own Narratives: Using Story Circles to Heal, Affirm and Educate
LaToya Strong
Re-imagining Discipline: The Importance of Removing Shame From Our Learning Spaces
Michelle Ferrer
Nurturing Critically Compassionate Classrooms: Integrating Trauma and Healing-Informed Strategies with Students of Color
Stephanie Cariaga
The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Using Data to Inform Teacher Activism
Dr. R. Nicole Johnson-Ahorlu
Taking a Deeper Look: Critical Teacher Research for School Transformation
Dr. Eduardo F. Lopez
Decolonizing the Elementary Classroom: Possibilities in Practice
Dr. Carolina Valdez
Practice Courage: Restorative Justice As Humanizing Pedagogy
Michelle Ferrer
Centering Women’s Liberation and Organizing in the Struggle for Educational Justice
Jollene Levid
Grassroots PD: Creating Our Own Critical Professional Development Spaces
Farima Pour-Khorshid, Mike Tinoco & Colin Ehara
Storytelling as a Tool for Transformation
Street Poets, Inc.
Teacher Educators of Color: Mapping the Landscape We Labor in to Support Teachers and Students of Color
Dr. Nini Hayes & Cecily Relucio Hensler
Undocumented and Educated: Supporting and Building on the Knowledge of Undocumented Students
Dr. Jennifer R. Nájera & Vicente Rodriguez
Critical Teaching: Making the Case for Youth Participatory Action Research in Our Schools
Eddie Lopez
Engaging Youth in Classrooms through Digital Narrative
Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal & Dr. Socorro Morales
Black Teacher Affinity & Sustainability
Dr. Micia Mosely
We Don't Care What You Know, 'Til We Know That You Care
Andreas "Dre-T" Tillman Jr.
Telling Our Own Narratives: Using Story Circles to Heal, Affirm and Educate
LaToya Strong
Re-imagining Discipline: The Importance of Removing Shame From Our Learning Spaces
Michelle Ferrer
Nurturing Critically Compassionate Classrooms: Integrating Trauma and Healing-Informed Strategies with Students of Color
Stephanie Cariaga
The School-to-Prison Pipeline: Using Data to Inform Teacher Activism
Dr. R. Nicole Johnson-Ahorlu
Taking a Deeper Look: Critical Teacher Research for School Transformation
Dr. Eduardo F. Lopez
Decolonizing the Elementary Classroom: Possibilities in Practice
Dr. Carolina Valdez
Practice Courage: Restorative Justice As Humanizing Pedagogy
Michelle Ferrer
Centering Women’s Liberation and Organizing in the Struggle for Educational Justice
Jollene Levid
Grassroots PD: Creating Our Own Critical Professional Development Spaces
Farima Pour-Khorshid, Mike Tinoco & Colin Ehara
Storytelling as a Tool for Transformation
Street Poets, Inc.
Teacher Educators of Color: Mapping the Landscape We Labor in to Support Teachers and Students of Color
Dr. Nini Hayes & Cecily Relucio Hensler
Undocumented and Educated: Supporting and Building on the Knowledge of Undocumented Students
Dr. Jennifer R. Nájera & Vicente Rodriguez
Critical Teaching: Making the Case for Youth Participatory Action Research in Our Schools
Eddie Lopez
Engaging Youth in Classrooms through Digital Narrative
Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal & Dr. Socorro Morales
Black Teacher Affinity & Sustainability
Dr. Micia Mosely
We Don't Care What You Know, 'Til We Know That You Care
Andreas "Dre-T" Tillman Jr.
2015 ITOC
Keynote Addresses:
Radical Love: Teacher Activists Supporting Themselves as They Support Their Communities
Dr. Yolanda Sealy-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University
In this interactive keynote address, teacher activist reflected on the year that was -- Ferguson, Baltimore, Detroit, North Carolina, and other places where communities of color rose against oppression. They examined and shared not only how they addressed these historical moments in their teaching, but how they took care of themselves as they worked on front lines in classrooms, community centers, and at protests. Drawing on the knowledge in the room, teachers engaged in a multimodal exploration of what it means to do the work we do and care for self along the way.
Dr. Yolanda Sealy-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University
In this interactive keynote address, teacher activist reflected on the year that was -- Ferguson, Baltimore, Detroit, North Carolina, and other places where communities of color rose against oppression. They examined and shared not only how they addressed these historical moments in their teaching, but how they took care of themselves as they worked on front lines in classrooms, community centers, and at protests. Drawing on the knowledge in the room, teachers engaged in a multimodal exploration of what it means to do the work we do and care for self along the way.
Using the Tools of Critical Race Theory and Racial Microaggressions to Examine Everyday Racism
Dr. Daniel Solórzano, University of California, Los Angeles
is the director of UC/ACCORD and Associate Dean for Equity and Diversity in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of Califorina, Los Angeles. He is a professor in the Social Science and Comparative Education department, with affiliations in Chicana/o Studies and Women’s Studies. A former teacher in juvenile hall, his teaching and research interests include critical race and gender studies on the educational access, persistence and graduation of underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students in the United States. Solórzano has authored more than 60 articles, book chapters and reports on issues of educational access and equity for underrepresented minority populations in the United States.
Dr. Daniel Solórzano, University of California, Los Angeles
is the director of UC/ACCORD and Associate Dean for Equity and Diversity in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of Califorina, Los Angeles. He is a professor in the Social Science and Comparative Education department, with affiliations in Chicana/o Studies and Women’s Studies. A former teacher in juvenile hall, his teaching and research interests include critical race and gender studies on the educational access, persistence and graduation of underrepresented minority undergraduate and graduate students in the United States. Solórzano has authored more than 60 articles, book chapters and reports on issues of educational access and equity for underrepresented minority populations in the United States.
Student Literacies and Labor: Ethnic Studies Pedagogies and (Re)Making of Curriculum
Roger Viet Chung, Laney College & San Quentin Prison Facility
This talk explored the collision between the standardization of knowledge in educational institutions and the racial and gendered literacies of students of color. Chung critically examined both visible and invisible forms of labor students employ to co-construct/reconstruct curriculum, and how teachers, using Ethnic Studies methods, can find ways to value these forms of student agency pedagogically. He looked to multiple student subjects: incarcerated, mixed race, mothers and grandmothers, to name a few, and explored the ways they have forced teachers, like Chung, to rethink classroom approaches and practices, demonstrating how ALL students, including "traditional students," have benefited from their "non-traditional" literacies.
Artists:
Roger Viet Chung, Laney College & San Quentin Prison Facility
This talk explored the collision between the standardization of knowledge in educational institutions and the racial and gendered literacies of students of color. Chung critically examined both visible and invisible forms of labor students employ to co-construct/reconstruct curriculum, and how teachers, using Ethnic Studies methods, can find ways to value these forms of student agency pedagogically. He looked to multiple student subjects: incarcerated, mixed race, mothers and grandmothers, to name a few, and explored the ways they have forced teachers, like Chung, to rethink classroom approaches and practices, demonstrating how ALL students, including "traditional students," have benefited from their "non-traditional" literacies.
Artists:
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Jenny Yang is a Los Angeles-based writer and stand up comedian who produces the first-ever (mostly) female, Asian American standup comedy tour, Dis/orient/ed Comedy and has been a writer and performer on the viral Buzzfeed videos "If Asians Said the Stuff White People Say," "What if Adults had Tantrums Like Toddlers?" and the "Ask An Asian" video series. Jenny was dubbed one of Los Angeles' "most fascinating people" of 2015 in LA Weekly's annual "People" issue. She was also a featured standup comic on Joan Rivers' 2013 Showtime documentary Why We Laugh: Funny Women. She is the regular co-host of AngryAsianMan.com Phil Yu's "Angry Asian America" talk show on ISAtv.
Candice “Antique” Wicks, M.A.Ed., is a singer, songwriter, educator, personal and professional coach and professional development specialist with an emphasis on education. She is the founder of Antique Edutainment, a company that uses the science of music as a tool for healing and educating, the lead singer of a beatbox-sing soul band called Antique Naked Soul, and has a solo project coming in Fall 2014. This past summer she toured Ghana and performed at Emancipation Day to support the healing of the relationship between Ghanaians and Black Americans.
Poet and performer Mayda Del Valle has been described by the Chicago Sun Times as having “a way with words. Sometimes they seem to flutter and roll off her lips. Other times they burst forth like a comet streaking across a nighttime sky.” A proud native of Chicago’s South Side, Mayda got her start at New York City's legendary Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, where she was the 2001 Grand Slam Champion and went on to win the 2001 National Poetry Slam Individual title, becoming the youngest and first Latina poet to do so. She went on to appear on 6 episodes of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on HBO, and was a contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. Since 2011 Mayda has been a teaching artist with the poetry-based non-profit youth organization Street Poets, faciliatating workshops around the LA area in high schools and probation camps.
Candice “Antique” Wicks, M.A.Ed., is a singer, songwriter, educator, personal and professional coach and professional development specialist with an emphasis on education. She is the founder of Antique Edutainment, a company that uses the science of music as a tool for healing and educating, the lead singer of a beatbox-sing soul band called Antique Naked Soul, and has a solo project coming in Fall 2014. This past summer she toured Ghana and performed at Emancipation Day to support the healing of the relationship between Ghanaians and Black Americans.
Poet and performer Mayda Del Valle has been described by the Chicago Sun Times as having “a way with words. Sometimes they seem to flutter and roll off her lips. Other times they burst forth like a comet streaking across a nighttime sky.” A proud native of Chicago’s South Side, Mayda got her start at New York City's legendary Nuyorican Poet's Cafe, where she was the 2001 Grand Slam Champion and went on to win the 2001 National Poetry Slam Individual title, becoming the youngest and first Latina poet to do so. She went on to appear on 6 episodes of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on HBO, and was a contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. Since 2011 Mayda has been a teaching artist with the poetry-based non-profit youth organization Street Poets, faciliatating workshops around the LA area in high schools and probation camps.
Workshops:
Anti-Black Racism | Bringing Students Into the Conversation
Jamie Jenkins
From Burnout to Reclaiming Bodymindspirit: Personal and Classroom Strategies to Better Care for Yourself and your Students
Stephanie Cariaga
The Arch of Empowerment Education: Classrooms for Social Transformation
Candice Wicks
“Ew, Why are you wearing a pink shirt, Mr.?”: How an Intersectional Approach Frames my Critical Pedagogy as a Queer Latino Educator
Dr. Eduardo Lara
Movement of the People: Teacher Organizing for Critical Curriculum Development
Dr. Carolina Valdez, Emily Bautista
Community Responsive Pedagogy and Teacher Activism: A Campaign to Stop the Co-Location of Charter Schools
Mariana Ramirez
“All We Wanna Do is Be Free”: The Role of Critical Hip Hop Educators in the Movement for Transformative Justice
Dr. Anthony Ratcliff
A Critical Race Analysis of the Community College Pathway
Dr. Dimpal Jain
Decolonizing the Classroom: A Reflection and Share-Out of "Boyle Heights and Me" Ethnic Studies course
Roxana Dueñas, Jorge Lopez
Fixing School Discipline: Racial Justice in the Classroom
Sarah Omojola
Apoyo as Parent Engagement: From Acknowledging to Co-Building the Leadership Capacity of Parents in Educational and Community Spaces
Dr. Pedro E. Nava
Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Developing Applications to Confront Power in K-12 Schools
Ed Curammeng
Fugitive Memories: Using the Archive to Rupture Dominant Historical Narratives and Transform Communities.
Yusef Omowale, Michele Welsing, Roberto Rodriguez
Facilitating Freirean Culture Circles Across Contexts
Cati de los Rios
Fostering a Culture of Restorative Justice
Michelle Ferrer
Building and Thriving: Engaging Students for Personal, Political, and Intellectual Excellence in our Schools and Classrooms
Dr. Louie F. Rodriguez
2014 ITOC
Keynote Addresses:
Our Students as Holders and Creators of Knowledge: Disrupting Curricular & Pedagogical Boundaries
Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal, University of Utah
To demonstrate why it is important to disrupt normative curricular and pedagogical boundaries within our public schools, Delgado Bernal begins with a discussion of the educational pipeline for students of color. She then draws upon the notion of storytelling to address concrete practices for how to engage in this type of disruption. These practices, far from revolutionary, range from school-wide partnership work to classroom-based curricular interventions and offer pockets of hope and small spaces of transformation. Foundational to all the practices are the ideas that: 1) students of color are holders and creators of knowledge, and, 2) recognizing students' ways of knowing is crucial to their academic success.
Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal, University of Utah
To demonstrate why it is important to disrupt normative curricular and pedagogical boundaries within our public schools, Delgado Bernal begins with a discussion of the educational pipeline for students of color. She then draws upon the notion of storytelling to address concrete practices for how to engage in this type of disruption. These practices, far from revolutionary, range from school-wide partnership work to classroom-based curricular interventions and offer pockets of hope and small spaces of transformation. Foundational to all the practices are the ideas that: 1) students of color are holders and creators of knowledge, and, 2) recognizing students' ways of knowing is crucial to their academic success.
Looking for Rainbows in the Midst of the Storm: The State of US Teacher Education
Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Madison, Wisconsin
The inverse relationship between who our K-12 students are and who their teachers are has been problematic for many years. However, most teacher education programs have not been courageous enough to use the tools they do have to develop more diverse teaching cohorts. While these minor changes could lead to some important advances, this talk discusses more radical impacts from a revamped culturally relevant pedagogy that employs hip hop culture to help the next generation of teachers work more effectively with "new century" students.
Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Madison, Wisconsin
The inverse relationship between who our K-12 students are and who their teachers are has been problematic for many years. However, most teacher education programs have not been courageous enough to use the tools they do have to develop more diverse teaching cohorts. While these minor changes could lead to some important advances, this talk discusses more radical impacts from a revamped culturally relevant pedagogy that employs hip hop culture to help the next generation of teachers work more effectively with "new century" students.
Trauma & Healing in Urban Schools: Eco-psychological & Indigenous Perspectives
Candice Valenzuela, Castlemont High School Teacher
This talk uses eco-psychological and indigenous perspectives to shed light on challenges teachers of color face working in high violence areas, marginalized communities and/or under-resourced schools. An emphasis will be placed on expanding the current dialogue on trauma in youth of color, and empowering teachers of color to appreciate their own role in the collective healing process.
Artists:
Candice Valenzuela, Castlemont High School Teacher
This talk uses eco-psychological and indigenous perspectives to shed light on challenges teachers of color face working in high violence areas, marginalized communities and/or under-resourced schools. An emphasis will be placed on expanding the current dialogue on trauma in youth of color, and empowering teachers of color to appreciate their own role in the collective healing process.
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Lighthouse Charter School Leadership class was created by Dr. Tony Cuevas as part of a project to demonstrate the power of counterstorytelling for at promise students in Oakland. Directed and produced by Veronica Haro, the students uncovered, wrote, and now perform their families’ migration stories in this play, America Untold: The Empty Pages of the History Books.
Candice “Antique” Wicks, M.A.Ed., is a singer, songwriter, educator, personal and professional coach and professional development specialist with an emphasis on education. She is the founder of Antique Edutainment, a company that uses the science of music as a tool for healing and educating, the lead singer of a beatbox-sing soul band called Antique Naked Soul, and has a solo project coming in Fall 2014.
M’Kala Payton just graduated Fremont High School in East Oakland in 2012, where she started her own spoken word poetry club, and was a lead student organizer for Youth Together. She is now a student at Merritt College in Oakland, where she is majoring in Creative Writing.
Talia Taylor is an Oakland based spoken word artist and Emcee. She worked as an artist in residence with Youth Speaks, teaching and mentoring young people to develop their talent in spoken word poetry. She also works at Youth Together, an organization that empowers youth to act on the pressing social justice issues at their schools.
Workshops:
Nonviolent Communication as the Heart of Decolonizing Our Mind, Body, and Spirit
Edmundo Norte, Bay Area Nonviolent Communication
Dismantling the Pipeline to Prison
Dr. Macheo Payne, Cal State University East Bay
Critical Rage: Working with Girls of Color in Schools.
Dr. Connie Wun, University of California, Berkeley
Restoring the Justice in Our Education System
Sagnicthe Salazar, Director of Restorative Justice at Elmhurst Community Prep
Applied Critical Race Theory in the Classroom
Dr. Tony Cuevas & Veronica Haro, Downtown College Prep
The Kinesiology of Race: Implications for Teachers
Dr. Myosha McAfee, Racial Equitecture
Growing a Community Responsive Teaching Pipeline
Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP)
Developing Respectful Relationships with Boys and Men of Color
Mario Ozuna-Sanchez, National Compadres Network
Remembering the Role of Self Love in Our Liberation Struggle
Ebony Sinnamon-Johnson, Castlemont High School
Robin Morales, Reach Ashland Youth Center
Interdisciplinary Racial Justice Curriculum for the K-8 Classroom.
Dr. Sumer Seiki, San José State University
Creating a Professional Environment of Healing and Liberation for Educators of Color
Patricia Reguerin & Merle Boxill, Escuela Popular
The Arc of Empowerment Education: Leveraging Our Classrooms as Training for Social Justice Activists
Candice "Antique" Wicks, M.A.Ed., Antique Edutainment
"From Coping to Hoping”: Teaching Youth to Thrive through Trauma
Dr. Patrick Camangian, University of San Francisco
Teaching Race thru Pop Culture: Ethnic Studies Methodology.
Roger Chung, Laney College, City College of San Francisco, UC Berkeley
“I’m Straight. I don’t need to take Gender Studies Class”: Gender, Sex, and Sexuality, and Why We All Need This Class
Liza Gesuden, Oakland School for the Arts, Peoples Education Movement Bay Area
Keeping it real as a professional: Performance and Authenticity as a Teacher of Color.
Kafi Payne, Oakland Unified School District
Teacher Trauma & Healing Circle
Candice Valenzuela, Castlemont High School
Candice “Antique” Wicks, M.A.Ed., is a singer, songwriter, educator, personal and professional coach and professional development specialist with an emphasis on education. She is the founder of Antique Edutainment, a company that uses the science of music as a tool for healing and educating, the lead singer of a beatbox-sing soul band called Antique Naked Soul, and has a solo project coming in Fall 2014.
M’Kala Payton just graduated Fremont High School in East Oakland in 2012, where she started her own spoken word poetry club, and was a lead student organizer for Youth Together. She is now a student at Merritt College in Oakland, where she is majoring in Creative Writing.
Talia Taylor is an Oakland based spoken word artist and Emcee. She worked as an artist in residence with Youth Speaks, teaching and mentoring young people to develop their talent in spoken word poetry. She also works at Youth Together, an organization that empowers youth to act on the pressing social justice issues at their schools.
Workshops:
Nonviolent Communication as the Heart of Decolonizing Our Mind, Body, and Spirit
Edmundo Norte, Bay Area Nonviolent Communication
Dismantling the Pipeline to Prison
Dr. Macheo Payne, Cal State University East Bay
Critical Rage: Working with Girls of Color in Schools.
Dr. Connie Wun, University of California, Berkeley
Restoring the Justice in Our Education System
Sagnicthe Salazar, Director of Restorative Justice at Elmhurst Community Prep
Applied Critical Race Theory in the Classroom
Dr. Tony Cuevas & Veronica Haro, Downtown College Prep
The Kinesiology of Race: Implications for Teachers
Dr. Myosha McAfee, Racial Equitecture
Growing a Community Responsive Teaching Pipeline
Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP)
Developing Respectful Relationships with Boys and Men of Color
Mario Ozuna-Sanchez, National Compadres Network
Remembering the Role of Self Love in Our Liberation Struggle
Ebony Sinnamon-Johnson, Castlemont High School
Robin Morales, Reach Ashland Youth Center
Interdisciplinary Racial Justice Curriculum for the K-8 Classroom.
Dr. Sumer Seiki, San José State University
Creating a Professional Environment of Healing and Liberation for Educators of Color
Patricia Reguerin & Merle Boxill, Escuela Popular
The Arc of Empowerment Education: Leveraging Our Classrooms as Training for Social Justice Activists
Candice "Antique" Wicks, M.A.Ed., Antique Edutainment
"From Coping to Hoping”: Teaching Youth to Thrive through Trauma
Dr. Patrick Camangian, University of San Francisco
Teaching Race thru Pop Culture: Ethnic Studies Methodology.
Roger Chung, Laney College, City College of San Francisco, UC Berkeley
“I’m Straight. I don’t need to take Gender Studies Class”: Gender, Sex, and Sexuality, and Why We All Need This Class
Liza Gesuden, Oakland School for the Arts, Peoples Education Movement Bay Area
Keeping it real as a professional: Performance and Authenticity as a Teacher of Color.
Kafi Payne, Oakland Unified School District
Teacher Trauma & Healing Circle
Candice Valenzuela, Castlemont High School
2013 ITOC
Keynote Addresses:
Teaching for Transformation: Critical Race Theory into Praxis
Dr. Tara Yosso, University of California, Santa Barbara
Yosso provided overview pedagogical tools for social justice educators, including counterstories, community cultural wealth, and critical race media literacy. Each of these tools builds on critical race theory to challenge the unequal structures, practices, and discourses along the educational pipeline.
Dr. Tara Yosso, University of California, Santa Barbara
Yosso provided overview pedagogical tools for social justice educators, including counterstories, community cultural wealth, and critical race media literacy. Each of these tools builds on critical race theory to challenge the unequal structures, practices, and discourses along the educational pipeline.
Growing Our Own Teachers: Creating Counter-Pipelines in Communities of Color
Dr. Allison Tintiangco-Cubales, San Francisco State University
Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales shared her experiences in the development of Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP). She provided a brief history about PEP’s strategic positionality in the intersections between public schools, the community, and institutions of higher education. Then, she exposed the challenges PEP has faced in a climate that has been hostile to ethnic studies. Beyond the challenges, she gave examples of the pedagogy that has grown from PEP’s responsiveness to community needs. And, finally she shared lessons learned in creating a “grow your own” teacher pipeline.
Dr. Allison Tintiangco-Cubales, San Francisco State University
Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales shared her experiences in the development of Pin@y Educational Partnerships (PEP). She provided a brief history about PEP’s strategic positionality in the intersections between public schools, the community, and institutions of higher education. Then, she exposed the challenges PEP has faced in a climate that has been hostile to ethnic studies. Beyond the challenges, she gave examples of the pedagogy that has grown from PEP’s responsiveness to community needs. And, finally she shared lessons learned in creating a “grow your own” teacher pipeline.
Nonviolent Communication: Walking the Talk of Transformative Social Change
Edmundo Norte
Even those of us who are deeply committed to actively creating a more just and life-affirming world are not free from the legacy of oppression and historical trauma as it manifests itself in our own contradictory attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. This interactive session explored what the presenter asserts is the most powerful and pervasive form of internalized oppression we all carry, and also, a radically different and life-affirming set of principles and practices paradigm for understanding human motivation, behavior, and transformation. Both conceptual and behavioral tools for taking action consistent with our highest values for personal and social transformation was shared, and participants have an opportunity to experience the basic principles and practices of Nonviolent Communication as a way of applying emotional intelligence to transformative social-justice work. The Native American Medicine Wheel was be used as our guide, our “compass”, for pursuing personal, social, and political transformation.
Workshops:
Reinvisioning Classroom as Village
Candice Valenzuela
Movement of the Teachers: Teacher-led Inquiry as a Practice of Self-determination
Antonio Nieves Martinez, Jerica Coffey, and Emily Bautista
ARISE UP as a School Community of Critical, Caring, & Culturally Responsive Educators Because our Lives Depend On It
G Reyes
Making our Visions a Reality: Social Studies, Literacy, Social Justice and the Common Core
Dr. Ruchi Agarwal
Healing in Education: Building Resiliency Through Cultura in Action
The Andariega Collective: Rosanna Alvarez, Marlene Chavez, Ana Lilia Soto
Educators for Immigrant Rights: Critical Strategies and Global Struggles
Luis Genaro Garcia, Enrique C. Ochoa and Gilda L. Ochoa
Combating Stereotype Threat While Preparing Secondary Students for High Stakes Testing
Katrina Traylor
Overcoming Vulnerability in the Face of Whiteness: Conversations for Strengthening the Resolve of Educators of Color
Virginia Necochea and Sarah Santillanes
Culture Clash’s Teatro as Pedagogy: Engaging Students in Writing and Performing Community Oral Histories
Dr. David G. García
Our Classrooms: A Place for Resisting Systems of Oppression
Artnelson Concordia
Restoring Justice in Our School System
Sagnicthe Salazar
Edmundo Norte
Even those of us who are deeply committed to actively creating a more just and life-affirming world are not free from the legacy of oppression and historical trauma as it manifests itself in our own contradictory attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. This interactive session explored what the presenter asserts is the most powerful and pervasive form of internalized oppression we all carry, and also, a radically different and life-affirming set of principles and practices paradigm for understanding human motivation, behavior, and transformation. Both conceptual and behavioral tools for taking action consistent with our highest values for personal and social transformation was shared, and participants have an opportunity to experience the basic principles and practices of Nonviolent Communication as a way of applying emotional intelligence to transformative social-justice work. The Native American Medicine Wheel was be used as our guide, our “compass”, for pursuing personal, social, and political transformation.
Workshops:
Reinvisioning Classroom as Village
Candice Valenzuela
Movement of the Teachers: Teacher-led Inquiry as a Practice of Self-determination
Antonio Nieves Martinez, Jerica Coffey, and Emily Bautista
ARISE UP as a School Community of Critical, Caring, & Culturally Responsive Educators Because our Lives Depend On It
G Reyes
Making our Visions a Reality: Social Studies, Literacy, Social Justice and the Common Core
Dr. Ruchi Agarwal
Healing in Education: Building Resiliency Through Cultura in Action
The Andariega Collective: Rosanna Alvarez, Marlene Chavez, Ana Lilia Soto
Educators for Immigrant Rights: Critical Strategies and Global Struggles
Luis Genaro Garcia, Enrique C. Ochoa and Gilda L. Ochoa
Combating Stereotype Threat While Preparing Secondary Students for High Stakes Testing
Katrina Traylor
Overcoming Vulnerability in the Face of Whiteness: Conversations for Strengthening the Resolve of Educators of Color
Virginia Necochea and Sarah Santillanes
Culture Clash’s Teatro as Pedagogy: Engaging Students in Writing and Performing Community Oral Histories
Dr. David G. García
Our Classrooms: A Place for Resisting Systems of Oppression
Artnelson Concordia
Restoring Justice in Our School System
Sagnicthe Salazar
2012 ITOC
Keynote Addresses:
Liberatory Pedagogy in the Age of Value-Added Education (The Metrics of Teacher Evaluation)
Dr. Dolores Calderón, University of Utah
In today’s high stakes testing driven educational context, there is little thought given to implementing relational pedagogies (how we facilitate learning by building relationships with students and community) let alone liberatory pedagogies (a practice that enables students to become critical citizens). Moreover, the current political climate has shifted what is perceived as the failure of students to “achieve” directly onto teachers’ backs under the guise of value-added ratings—how effective are teachers in raising student performance. We explored how we “teach to transgress” (hooks 1994)—“to educate as the practice of freedom…in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students” (hooks 1994; 13)—in the age of value-added education.
Dr. Dolores Calderón, University of Utah
In today’s high stakes testing driven educational context, there is little thought given to implementing relational pedagogies (how we facilitate learning by building relationships with students and community) let alone liberatory pedagogies (a practice that enables students to become critical citizens). Moreover, the current political climate has shifted what is perceived as the failure of students to “achieve” directly onto teachers’ backs under the guise of value-added ratings—how effective are teachers in raising student performance. We explored how we “teach to transgress” (hooks 1994)—“to educate as the practice of freedom…in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students” (hooks 1994; 13)—in the age of value-added education.
Let’s Break Free: Applying an Education for Liberation
Dr. Patrick Camangian, University of San Francisco
In the Fanonian (1963) spirit of understanding the psychological effect of colonization on the consciousness of dispossessed people and its broader implications for a liberatory education in urban schools, this presentation discussed pedagogical tenets to understand the educational experiences of colonized people in the United States. More importantly, this talk considered ways in which the problems facing them can be more effectively remedied in our classrooms. The colonial condition on students of color is clear: a substantial amount of youth in urban communities: 1) internalize varying levels of cultural self-hate, 2) participate in divide and conquer, and 3) are immobilized in collective false consciousness. This presentation analyzed these contradictions and discuss ways to effectively confront them by teaching students: 1) self-love, 2) solidarity, and 3) self-determination in and beyond designated grade levels and subject areas. Together, these tenets fulfill decolonizing theory (Cesaire, 1972; Smith, 1999) and critical pedagogy’s (Darder, Baltadano, & Torres, 2008; Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008) call to better provide holistic learning opportunities for dispossessed youth of color to respond to the dehumanizing conditions imposed on their communities.
Teatro: La Guerra Cultural: A Culture Clash!
Middle School Students from Lighthouse Charter School, Oakland Unified School District
Teatro Libertad, led by Tony Cuevas and Veronica Haro, is proud to a present La Guerra Cultural: A Culture Clash! Teatro Libertad is the resident theatre company of Lighthouse Community Charter in Oakland and is made up of 21 middle school students. The students perform original plays based on the true history of their ancestors. All material is written and performed by the students and is based on interviews of family members. We believe that our stories liberate us and have the power to overcome negative stereotypes. The curriculum is based on counterstorytelling and challenges the hegemonic narrative that oppresses people of color. "Our parents have had these stories in their hearts for many years, and when they tell us, we set them free, and they set us free!"
Workshops:
Making **it Matter: A Curricular Model of Bridging the Gap Between Academic Content and Youth Popular Culture in a High School Social Studies Classroom
Nikhil Laud
How we be . . . Como soy: How women of color lead authentically in high level education positions
Kafi Payne
Using Mindfulness to Create Compassionate Classrooms
Candice Valenzuela & Ebony Sinnamon-Johnson
Exploring the Intersectionality of Race and Gender in Urban Classrooms: A Black Feminist Perspective
Monique Lane
Expecting Success: Creating a Culture of High Expectations through Rigorous, Relevant Curriculum
John Lynch & Christina "Ms. V" Villarreal
Combating Stereotype Threat While Preparing Secondary Students for High Stakes Testing
Katrina Traylor
Restorative Justice: Restoring Justice in our School System
Sagnicthe Salazar
Connecting Across Differences: Nonviolent Communication and Walking the Talk of Personal, Social, and Political Transformation
Edmundo Norte
Lessons from Organizing Filipino Youth Toward Building Broad Anti-Imperialist Solidarity
Artnelson Concordia
Dr. Patrick Camangian, University of San Francisco
In the Fanonian (1963) spirit of understanding the psychological effect of colonization on the consciousness of dispossessed people and its broader implications for a liberatory education in urban schools, this presentation discussed pedagogical tenets to understand the educational experiences of colonized people in the United States. More importantly, this talk considered ways in which the problems facing them can be more effectively remedied in our classrooms. The colonial condition on students of color is clear: a substantial amount of youth in urban communities: 1) internalize varying levels of cultural self-hate, 2) participate in divide and conquer, and 3) are immobilized in collective false consciousness. This presentation analyzed these contradictions and discuss ways to effectively confront them by teaching students: 1) self-love, 2) solidarity, and 3) self-determination in and beyond designated grade levels and subject areas. Together, these tenets fulfill decolonizing theory (Cesaire, 1972; Smith, 1999) and critical pedagogy’s (Darder, Baltadano, & Torres, 2008; Duncan-Andrade & Morrell, 2008) call to better provide holistic learning opportunities for dispossessed youth of color to respond to the dehumanizing conditions imposed on their communities.
Teatro: La Guerra Cultural: A Culture Clash!
Middle School Students from Lighthouse Charter School, Oakland Unified School District
Teatro Libertad, led by Tony Cuevas and Veronica Haro, is proud to a present La Guerra Cultural: A Culture Clash! Teatro Libertad is the resident theatre company of Lighthouse Community Charter in Oakland and is made up of 21 middle school students. The students perform original plays based on the true history of their ancestors. All material is written and performed by the students and is based on interviews of family members. We believe that our stories liberate us and have the power to overcome negative stereotypes. The curriculum is based on counterstorytelling and challenges the hegemonic narrative that oppresses people of color. "Our parents have had these stories in their hearts for many years, and when they tell us, we set them free, and they set us free!"
Workshops:
Making **it Matter: A Curricular Model of Bridging the Gap Between Academic Content and Youth Popular Culture in a High School Social Studies Classroom
Nikhil Laud
How we be . . . Como soy: How women of color lead authentically in high level education positions
Kafi Payne
Using Mindfulness to Create Compassionate Classrooms
Candice Valenzuela & Ebony Sinnamon-Johnson
Exploring the Intersectionality of Race and Gender in Urban Classrooms: A Black Feminist Perspective
Monique Lane
Expecting Success: Creating a Culture of High Expectations through Rigorous, Relevant Curriculum
John Lynch & Christina "Ms. V" Villarreal
Combating Stereotype Threat While Preparing Secondary Students for High Stakes Testing
Katrina Traylor
Restorative Justice: Restoring Justice in our School System
Sagnicthe Salazar
Connecting Across Differences: Nonviolent Communication and Walking the Talk of Personal, Social, and Political Transformation
Edmundo Norte
Lessons from Organizing Filipino Youth Toward Building Broad Anti-Imperialist Solidarity
Artnelson Concordia
2011 ITOC
Keynote Addresses:
Race in Our Space: How Racism Impacts Learning Environments and Steps Toward Change
Dr. Robin Nicole Johnson, University of California, Los Angeles
This talk identified how racism in schools impacts the well-being of students of color and teachers of color. Participants were provided with tools to reflect on racism in their school environment, and identify ways in which it negatively impacts the education of their students, as well their lives as teachers. Johnson-Ahorlu also offered a strategies to navigate and challenge the racism in schools.
Race in Our Space: How Racism Impacts Learning Environments and Steps Toward Change
Dr. Robin Nicole Johnson, University of California, Los Angeles
This talk identified how racism in schools impacts the well-being of students of color and teachers of color. Participants were provided with tools to reflect on racism in their school environment, and identify ways in which it negatively impacts the education of their students, as well their lives as teachers. Johnson-Ahorlu also offered a strategies to navigate and challenge the racism in schools.
Humanizing Education: Utilizing a Harmonizing Pedagogy Centered on Love and Resistance
Norma Gonzalez & José Gonzalez, Tucson Unified School District
Through our keynote, we shared our experiences and lessons as teachers in the Raza Studies Department of Tucson Unified School District, which has been at the center of an epic political battle in Arizona, as the legislature has sought to eliminate our program. Our work has led to dramatic increases in test scores, graduation rates, and college attendance for our students.
We operate from a humanizing paradigm embedded in an indigenous epistemology to counter the lethal and negative manifestations of colonization and counteract our historical trauma. In the spirit of holistic teaching, our relationship with our students is rooted in the recognition of our interconnection as evident through an indigenous epistemology that we seek to reconnect with. As such, our curricula are centered on self-reflection in the context of fostering the evolution of every aspect of our humanity: emotional, intellectual, physical and interconnectedness. The concepts embedded within our curriculum are concepts that are re-introduced in order to activate our student’s genetic memory. As such it is hoped that the energy, through the content of our work, will have a transforming effect on all who participate, with the understanding that decolonization happens one mind at a time.
Workshops:
Using the dramatic arts to facilitate problem-posing education
Dr. Jolynn Asato
Teaching Through Lies: Ideological Literacy and Critical Consciousness
Dr. Patrick Camangian
Teachers Working Collectively to Identify and Address Race and Class Inequalities in Schools
Alicia Casas
Expecting Success: The Importance of Creating a Culture of High Expectations in Urban Schools
John A. Lynch & Christina "Ms.V" Villarreal
Teaching As a Noble Profession: A Pedagogy of Hope
Dr. Arlando Smith
Connecting Across Differences: Nonviolent Communication and Walking the Talk of Personal, Social, and Political Transformation
Edmundo Norte
Norma Gonzalez & José Gonzalez, Tucson Unified School District
Through our keynote, we shared our experiences and lessons as teachers in the Raza Studies Department of Tucson Unified School District, which has been at the center of an epic political battle in Arizona, as the legislature has sought to eliminate our program. Our work has led to dramatic increases in test scores, graduation rates, and college attendance for our students.
We operate from a humanizing paradigm embedded in an indigenous epistemology to counter the lethal and negative manifestations of colonization and counteract our historical trauma. In the spirit of holistic teaching, our relationship with our students is rooted in the recognition of our interconnection as evident through an indigenous epistemology that we seek to reconnect with. As such, our curricula are centered on self-reflection in the context of fostering the evolution of every aspect of our humanity: emotional, intellectual, physical and interconnectedness. The concepts embedded within our curriculum are concepts that are re-introduced in order to activate our student’s genetic memory. As such it is hoped that the energy, through the content of our work, will have a transforming effect on all who participate, with the understanding that decolonization happens one mind at a time.
Workshops:
Using the dramatic arts to facilitate problem-posing education
Dr. Jolynn Asato
Teaching Through Lies: Ideological Literacy and Critical Consciousness
Dr. Patrick Camangian
Teachers Working Collectively to Identify and Address Race and Class Inequalities in Schools
Alicia Casas
Expecting Success: The Importance of Creating a Culture of High Expectations in Urban Schools
John A. Lynch & Christina "Ms.V" Villarreal
Teaching As a Noble Profession: A Pedagogy of Hope
Dr. Arlando Smith
Connecting Across Differences: Nonviolent Communication and Walking the Talk of Personal, Social, and Political Transformation
Edmundo Norte