1. Building Bridges: Connecting Black Lives Matter to the Dyett Hunger Strike and Beyond. (Jason Ware & Johnae Strong, Black Youth Project 100; Jitu Brown, Journey for Justice Alliance/Dyett Hunger Striker; Jeanette Taylor-Ramann, Dyett Hunger Striker; Monique Redeaux-Smith, TSJ/Dyett Hunger Striker).

Education justice and Black liberation are inextricable. Black people's imagination, resilience, and resistance against State oppression make Black youth a target of attack. The Dyett hunger strike, led by parents and teachers of the Bronzeville community, was a last stand against one such attack on Black schools and easily found solidarity with Chicago's young Black organizers. The Dyett fight is a great example of inter-generational campaigns and connections between struggles in the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Room: Little Theater.

2. Cities of Peace: Harm, Healing & Trauma-Informed Pedagogy. (Stefan Caizaguano, Lauren O'Brien, Pamela Quintana, Moses Williams, Irina Zadov,  Jane Addams Hull-House Museum).

Schools are a site of violence, harm, and trauma for many young folks. What is our role as educators in recognizing trauma and supporting harm reduction? Together we will map moments of harm and opportunities for healing within our schools and classrooms. We will identify triggers, explore root causes, and practice trauma-informed pedagogy. Teachers will have an opportunity to sign up for Cities of Peace: A Trauma-Informed Curriculum and Teach-In Series launching this spring. Room 106.

3. Collecting and Connecting- Zines As Praxis. (Silvia Gonzalez & Paulina Camacho, 96 Acres).

How do we engage the communities we work with in addressing the value of human interaction and spatial awareness by using non-traditional visual and performative artistic practices? In this interactive workshop, participants will create zines encapsulating our reflections of the self, collective and space. Room 107.

4. “Desks Feel Like Caskets:” Youth Voices on Education

(Adam Gottlieb & Diana Zwinak, Revolutionary Poets Brigade Chicago).

The RPBCHI offers a sample of a workshop we wish to provide at no cost for educators and young people throughout Chicago. Local schools can invite teaching artists to classrooms to encourage students to think and write about their experiences in the public school system, and tell stories about classroom realities. Inspired by models, students discuss their experiences, what they value or would change, and describe their idea of a quality education. Room 108.

5. Healing Matters: The Necessity & Value of Healing in Movement Work. (Nerissa Osby, Stephanie Hicks, Sage Health Collective).

Facilitators will guide a conversation around the following questions/ideas: What is healing? What does it mean to you? What are the connections between the work of movement building and the necessity of healing? What are/can be individual/collective healing practices? Given the context of anti-blackness and the expectation of black pain, how do we create collective healing spaces with/for people of color? Room 109.

6. Decolonizing, Defending and Transforming Elementary Social Studies Education. (Paola Alcantara, Joanna Blaszynska, Maryam Raja & Cecily Relucio Hensler, University of Illinois at Chicago).

7. Lynching and the New Jim Crow. (Jennifer Johnson, Chicago Teachers Union).

Educators will explore a high school History unit which investigates the practice of and resistance to lynching of Blacks in the U.S. during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow Era, when Blacks had nominally achieved great freedoms, but the ability to exercise them was purposefully and violently limited.  Activists made anti-lynching a real campaign and anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, though none passed.  Learners will examine history and connections to modern institutionalized racism, especially mass incarceration. Room 116.

8. Winning the schools Chicago’s students deserve – CTU contract bargaining and organizing to defend public education and win a Just Chicago. (Chicago Teachers Union).

Despite public services cutbacks, growing income inequality, “Broke on Purpose” budgets, and politicians defending the wealthy, the growing movements for Black Lives, Fight for $15, and immigrant rights show strong community fight back.  How do CTU’s contract demands connect to and advance these broader fights? What is CTU fighting for in contract negotiations?  How are community issues also contract issues?  What are ways to support, organize and educate to win great schools and strong communities? Room 117.

SESSION TWO: (2:00 – 3:15)

9. Building and Sustaining an Inclusive Classroom Community Through Global Children's Literature (Dr. Sadia Warsi, National Louis University; Kiran Younus, University of Chicago Lab School).

The purpose of this workshop is to address the needs of teachers wanting to include global social justice learning in the classroom.  Teachers in this workshop will be provided with a comprehensive list of award winning children's literature around the themes of displacement, disenfranchisement, empowerment and resilience.  Teachers will have an opportunity to critically analyze a select group of books during the workshop and brainstorm ideas about how to use these books with their students and build accessible classroom libraries. Room 106.

10. Keeping the "Community" in Community Colleges. (Michael Held, Sean Noonan, Jennifer Alexander, Cook County College Teachers Union).

11. Elected Representative School Board-- The time is now! (Larry Miller, Vice President, Milwaukee School Board; Jaribu Lee, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization; Rhoda Rae Gutierrez, Parents 4 Teachers; Pauline Lipman, TSJ).

There are over 50 sponsors on HB4268 –this is OUR bill for an elected representative school board in Chicago. Now is the time to organize to make it happen! This is an educational and organizing workshop. Learn more about why we need an elected school board, what an elected school board can do, the Grassroots Education Movement campaign, and how you can get involved. Room 108.

12. Environmental Justice/Environmental Racism. (Cheryl Johnson & Marguerite Jacobs, People for Community Recovery). Environmental Justice is our cry of defiance against the onslaught of oppressive toxins and toxic oppressions that threaten to submerge our homes.

This workshop will explore the “toxic donut” of Altgeld Gardens on Chicago’s far Southside, one of the most polluted places in the nation. Learn about and join in the struggle against environmental racism, with residents and community organizations, for health, safety, and justice everywhere in Chicago. Room 109.

13. How do you feel? What do you need? Restorative Justice Practices to Enhance Students’ Relationships. (Brian Peterson, Irving Middle School; Jason Smith, Nichols Middle School; Adrian Harries, Dundee-Crown High School).

Two simple questions when used strategically can lead to improvements in student behavior, staff morale, and student learning. Learn how multiple schools are using Restorative Practices as a mean of enhancing the ability of students to communicate with each other in an effective manner. Additionally, learn how the implementation of a student behavior management system rooted in restorative practice, led to a climate of cultured focused on learning and ultimately led to extremely high levels of student academic growth. Room 110.

14. Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality Now: Teachers’ and Students’ Own Approaches for K-12 Classrooms. (Boyd Bellinger, UIC; Rachel L. S. Harper, Depaul/UIC; Mark Sujak, Morton East High School; Melissa Bollow Tempel, Rethinking Schools).

Where does sexism show up in 2nd grade?  Should 6th graders get to choose which gender bathroom they use?  What do LGBTQIA terms mean for my teaching?  Teach sex ed in Health or Social Studies?  We all struggle with many issues around gender and sexuality at school.  Participants will leave this welcoming workshop with implementable curriculum, and lots of resources from a new book of teachers’ tested approaches, to support your specific students. Room 116.

15. Students and Teachers: Unite and Fight! (Matthew Mata, Walter Peyton High School; Denise Hernández & Ed Hershey, Lindblom High School).

This workshop will be a space for students, teachers and community organizers to come together to coordinate the fight to defend public education.  We will discuss recent student actions around the city, the history of student organizing during the 2013 school closings fight and then break out into a student lead session and a session to help teachers learn how to participate in this organizing.  This workshop aims to build a powerful student movement in the city. Room: Little Theater.

16. Why we say Black Lives Matter:  Affirming Our Existence in Schools. (Aja Reynolds, Stephanie Hicks, Dave Stovall). What are our freedom dreams for Black children? Teachers, scholars, activists will dialogue to ground ourselves in how Black bodies are dehumanized in educational spaces, while imagining and envisioning our freedom dreams. This workshop will push us all to reconsider and re-evaluate our approach to affirming Black children’s humanity in this political movement. This conversation will be unsettling, yet provocative, as we move towards building a praxis centering Blackness and making room for radical forms of self-determination. Room 117.