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#TSJCF16 - the 2016 TSJ Curriculum Fair - Workshop Schedule!

October 19, 2016 0 comments

The 15th Annual Teaching for Social Justice Curriculum Fair 
#TSJCF16

Uplift High School
900 W. Wilson Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640

Saturday, November 19, 2016
10:00 am - 4:00 pm




ThemeDefund Policing: Fund Schools and Communities

KeynoteMariame Kaba, Project NIA. 
Mariame Kaba is an organizer, educator, curator, and founding director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization that works to end youth incarceration. She has co-founded several organizations including the Chicago Freedom School and the Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls and Young Women. Mariame is currently organizing with Survived and Punished to address the criminalization of survivors of violence. Mariame is an abolitionist who is committed to transformative justice. 

Register online NOW!: here


Workshop Titles and Facilitators

TEACHERS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE CURRICULUM FAIR WORKSHOPS
Download session descriptions here.

SESSION 1-12:00 - 1:15 PM
1. "ODE: Operation Defend Education" -- Poetry Writing Workshops for the Education Struggle(Adam Gottlieb, Diana Zwinak, ODE: Operation Defend Education/Chicago Revolutionary Poets Brigade).
2. Restorative Justice in Schools: Abolishing the Schools to Prison Pipeline. (Jason Ware).
3. Deschooling Ourselves and Liberating Education. (Uplift Community High School Students and Teachers).
4. Education Not Militarization: If Our City/Country Truly Cares About Youth and Stopping Violence, Fund Education. (Arny Stieber, Veterans For Peace - Chicago Chapter).
5. WE ARE STILL HERE: Building a People of Color-Led Ethnic Studies Movement in Chicago (Ethnic Studies Educators of Color - Chicago)
NOTE: This workshop is designed to be a healing and building space for people of Color.
6. Creating a Sustainable Community School District: From the Dyett Hunger Strike to the CTU Contract Victory (Johnaé Strong, Grassroots Education Movement, Chicago; Monique Redeaux, TSJ/CTU; Jitu Brown, Dyett Hunger Striker/Journey for Justice Alliance)
7. Anti-Racist Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education. (Sarah E. Dennis, Ph.D., Loyola University).
SESSION-2:00-3:15
8. '63 CPS Boycott: The Legacy of Racial Inequalities in Chicago Public Schools (Rachel Dickson, Kartemquin Films).
9. In Search of Justice in the Social (Aja Reynolds, Lamar Sanders, Evan M. Taylor, Jessica Suarez, Concerned Students of Color [UIC])
10.  The Struggle for Social Justice Adult High Schools in Chicago: Politics and Possibilities(Byron Sigcho, Rita Sacay, Megan Wells, Janise Hurtig, UIC Center for Literacy, Community Writing Project, Centro Autónomo Popular Education Adult High School, Dorothy Stang Adult High School)
11. "Coins, Cops, & Communities." A toolkit for youth workers & educators (Melisa Stephen, Alexandra Marie, Nicole Trinidad, Debbie Southorn, American Friends Service Committee, Chicago)
12. Understanding and Transforming Whiteness(Naomi Milstein, Chicago Freedom School).
13. The Attacks on Special Education: Know Your Rights and Fight! (Sarah Chambers, Natasha Carlsen, Tammie Vinson, Katie Osgood, Chicago Teachers Union).
14. Build Your Dream School! (Georgette Boateng & Hira Siddiqui, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago [KINETIC youth program])
15. The Fight to Keep Uptown Affordable and Diverse: A Walking History Tour of Uptown. (Paul Siegel, Northside Action for Justice).
16. "Resisting Federal Efforts to Eradicate Our Culture": Two Oaxacans of La CNTE in Resistance Fighting for Human Rights and Indigenous Curriculum. (Mayem Arellanos Cano, Zapotec Lawyer; Fernando Sobernes Bojorques, Educator). 

CLOSING SESSION
Dialogue: Teaching after the Trump Election

Volunteer to help, email here. We need help with outreach, social media, documentation, setup, cleanup, food serving/cleanup, registration, art and t-shirt making, day-of help, translation (Spanish-English, ASL), and more.

Download flyers in color and in black and white!

Help promote the Curriculum Fair by putting up posters at your school, library, local coffee shop, or favorite community space. Poster distribution points:

  • North side - contact emmahardy29@gmail.com 
  • South side - Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, 4242 S. Cottage Grove (ask for TSJ posters)
  • Central - UIC College of Education, 1040 W. Harrison Street (ETMSW building), 3rd floor copy room (look for box marked TSJ posters)

Please email teachersforjustice@hotmail.com with the number of posters you took and where you posted them (note we have limited posters)

 
You can view and share our Google Slides presentation about the curriculum fair here



Watch a short video from the 2010 CF here


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The Challenge of Teaching in a Racially and Politically Polarized Time

October 18, 2016 0 comments



Our panelists will address the complex issues faced by K-12 teachers struggling to help students make sense of the current tumultuous environment: the heated rhetoric around race, immigration and xenophobia in the 2016 election, the debates around race and policing here in Chicago and throughout the country and other  controversial issues.  What are the challenges of these developments for teachers and what are the different ways that educators meet these challenges?  The panelists will address how to engage students in meaningful discussion, how to create safe classroom spaces and how to develop a mind-set of civic responsibility.

Dr. Horace Hall, Associate Professor, DePaul College of Education will present introductory remarks and moderate the panel.

Panelists include:

Liz Robbins, Social Science teacher, Lindbloom High School; Civic Instructional Specialist for Chicago Public Schools

Mario Perez, Coordinator and Social Science teacher, the Newcomer Center, Township High School District 214, Arlington Heights

Johnae Strong, Elementary school teacher and restorative justice coordinator, Chicago Public Schools

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Born Out of Struggle: A Book Talk by David Stovall

October 6, 2016 0 comments




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Stand With CTU

October 3, 2016 0 comments

TSJ Strike Support Bulletin #1

As you probably know CTU voted 95% to authorize a strike, and the House of Delegates (union delegates from each school) voted to strike Oct. 11 if CPS does not meet their contract demands.

Key issues CTU is fighting for are:

  • RESTORE cuts to art, music, librarians, and staff-classrooms are overcrowded and understaffed!
  • RESTORE cuts to special education, which is in a desperate situation as CPS is balancing the budget on backs of the most vulnerable students
  • NO teacher pay cuts
  • YES job security

The challenges in the schools require money to fix so the Board of Education and the city will have to come up with it. CTU and GEM (the Grassroots Education Movement), along with other community groups, have proposed solutions that include tapping into TIF funds, taxing corporations, imposing a financial transaction tax, and more. The city council can pass the TIF ordinance sponsored by Garza/Cárdenas to restore TIF funds to CPS. Contact your alderperson if you live in Chicago and demand that they support the ordinance!

Actions-We urge everyone to participate!
Oct. 4: GEM and the Chicago Teacher Solidarity Committee joint press conference. 10:00 AM, at City Hall. We need to dispel the narrative that "greedy teachers" are holding parents and students hostage.

Oct. 6: School walk-ins. 8 am. This is in conjunction with a national day of walk-ins sponsored by AROS (Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools). See list of schools here. Students, parents, teachers, and residents will be walking into schools, rallying for the schools they deserve, before the school day begins. Please go to your neighborhood school or a school you have a relationship with to support them and tell them you read this here.

Oct. 10: GEM student/youth forum. Time and location TBA (tentative).

Oct. 11: Potential start of strike,. Again, please go to your neighborhood school/school you know to support them, walk the picket line, help out any way you can, and again, tell them you read this here! Picket lines start before and at the beginning of the school day (FYI, in 2012, they stayed up for 2-3 hours)

Stay Tuned! Please communicate with us by emailing here and letting us know what you are involved in and what is happening in your school community.

See CTU Contract FAQ, their proposal for A Just Chicago, and their info on the contract campaign.

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