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Diverse Approaches to Teaching Diversity: The plenary sessions in Cowin Conference Center

Jacob Riis STARS
Jacob Riis STARS

Among the highlights of “Reimagining Education were the many plenary sessions held in Cowin Conference Center. These included: 

  • “Cyphers for Justice,” a high school student performance group founded and led by Jamila Lyiscott and facilitated by Danielle Filipiak, both TC students, which performed original hip-hop works and participated in a panel talking about their experiences with race at school.

  • A ballet performance by Jacob Riis STARS, a student performance group

  • A panel discussion, “How Could I Possibly Have a Positive Racial Identity!? I’m White! Teacher Racial Identity Matters for Student Outcomes.” The discussion was led by Ali Michael, director of K-12 Consulting and Professional Development at the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of director of the Race Institute for K-12 Educators; and Detra Price-Dennis, Assistant Professor of Elementary and Inclusive Education and Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Associate Professor of English Education.

  • “Culturally Sustaining Leadership: Policy for Racially Diverse Schools,” led by Mariana Souto-Manning, Associate professor of Early Childhood Education; Angelica Infante-Green, deputy commissioner of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Instructional Support who oversees bilingual education and world languages; and Alumnus David Johns, executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

  • A presentation by Christopher Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education and the author of For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education, with high school students who performed hip hop songs about complex scientific concepts in a session called, “Reimagining Academic Rigor.”

  • Final session led by Glenn Singleton, president and founder of the Pacific Educational Group, Inc. Singleton is creator of Courageous Conversations About Race (2006) a protocol for sustained, deep dialog; and “Beyond Diversity,” the curriculum that has taught hundreds of thousands of people across the world how to use it.

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