1. LSC Victory Celebration [download pdf here]   2. Northeast Side Regional School Discipline Summit:  Project Nia April 29 - 5:30 p.m. With the release of new data from the Chicago Public Schools in February, we learned that during the last school year, 307 students were kicked out of charter schools, which have a total enrollment of about 50,000. In district-run schools, there were 182 kids expelled out of a student body of more than 353,000. We also learned that African-American students face a higher rate of disciplinary action in the district. Last school year, approximately 75 percent of all suspensions were handed to African-Americans, a group that makes up about 41 percent of CPS' student body. (Suspended students are allowed to return to school, as opposed to students who are expelled.) Chicago Public Schools has decided to focus on reducing the use of harsh disciplinary policies and to that end has developed a "suspension and expulsion reduction plan." CPS is seeking community input on how to best address school discipline issues. We at Project NIA are partnering with CPS to organize a regional forum about school discipline on Tuesday April 29 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Our allies at Alternatives Inc. are hosting us for the evening at 4730 N. Sheridan Road. Please join us for the forum. Food will be provided. Please register here!!(especially if you need child care at the event): Details about the event can be found here!: Attached is a flyer that you can distribute as well.  3. Jobs with Pedro Albizu Campos High School [download flyer here]   4. Progressive, Democratic Education in an Era of Standardization  The DePaul College of Education, in cooperation with Francis Parker School and the Teachers' Inquiry Project, is hosting public events to offer educators, parents, and community members opportunities to explore alternatives to high stakes testing, standardization, de-professionalization of teaching and other current "reform" approaches.    These events are planned around the visit of faculty from Boston's Mission Hill School and the release of the film Good Morning Mission Hill. * Thursday, April 24th from 6-9 pm at DePaul University (Lincoln Park Student Center): A forum and interactive small group discussions with Ms. Gavins and Ms. Ruggiero, with the framing question: So much discussion of education practice and policy today is centered on critique -- of high stakes testing, value-added measures for teacher evaluation, growth of charters, de-professionalization of teaching through short alternative programs, etc.  We find that our students are hungry for models, exemplars, alternatives to today's current "reform" prescriptions. Mission Hill offers one such example. What can the larger world of American education take away from one school's experience?  For more information, contact Diane Horwitz here. PLEASE JOIN US! 5. New Issue of Rethinking Schools "Queering Our Schools" Check out the special section on Resisting Teach for America, including an article by Chicago's (and TSJ's) Katie Osgood! And also check out RS's new book and fundraising campaign for:Rethinking Sexism, Gender, and Sexuality-Join our campaign to publish the book we wish our own teachers-and our children's teachers-had well-thumbed copies of in their classrooms. 6. Milwaukee Conference in Anti-Racist, Anti-Bias Teaching-Car pool w/ TSJ to attend our sister org's annual conference! Email here to carpool with us!!  And download pdf here

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Bronzeville Education Summit: Monday, Jan 20, 11-3 Mollison School, 4415 S. King Dr. UIC Students of Color Forum: Jan 30, 5-7PM UIC College of Ed, 1040 W. Harrison, Rm 3233

Two important events! See flyers below!!

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1. CTU is organizing meetings in the networks, along with other GEM members (community organizations). Download a flyer here with ALL meetings and addresses. If you are interested in attending or helping to organize at/for these meetings (in particular, working w/ other TSJ members), please sign up here. The TSJ organizers below will contact you (but their emails are here so you can contact them as well). The network meetings that TSJ people will be attending are:

• Pilsen-Little Village (Mon 3/18, 6PM); contact Rosi or Byron
• Fulton (Tue 3/19, 6:30PM); contact Phil or Pauline
• Lake Calumet (Wed 3/20, 4PM); contact Rosi
• Englewood-Gresham (Wed 3/20, 4:30pm); contact Tonya
• Pershing (Wed 3/20, 4:30pm); contact Byron or Rico
• Rock Island (Thu 3/21, 3:30pm); contact Kelly
• Ravenswood-Ridge (Thu 3/21, 6PM); contact Katie

2. Help TSJ phone bank our members for the March 27th NO SCHOOL CLOSINGS rally. We will be phone banking Thurs March 21, 7-9pm (location near downtown). Sign up here to phone bank.

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Join the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), parents, students, educators, and community organizations across Chicago in community canvassing on Saturday, Jan. 19th in the morning and early afternoon hours!

The Mayor and Board of Education have closed or taken over dozens of schools every year, targeting Black and Latino neighborhoods. These closings take resources that students deserve, destabilize our neighborhoods, and increase racial inequality in the schools. The Board of Ed is now planning to close dozens more schools, taking even more from the communities that have lost the most. They plan to close schools in part to pay for corporate handouts and more privatized charter schools controlled by the Mayor's supporters--taking our community's schools, jobs, and VOICE.

Join us in spending a few hours of the Marting Luter King, Jr. Day weekend fighting for our communities, our students and our schools.

For details on locations and times throughout the city, please click here for the flier.

NORTH SIDE LOCATIONS/TIMES
With Northside Action for Justice
Stockton Elementary School
4420 N. Beacon St
11:00am - 1:00 pm

With Albany Park Neighborhood Council
APNC Office
4749 N. Kedzie, 2nd Floor
11:00 am - 2:00 pm

WEST SIDE LOCATIONS/TIMES
With Blocks Together
BT Office
3455 W. North Ave
10:00am - 1:00 pm

With Action Now
Lewis Elementary
1431 N. Leamington Ave
11:00 am - 1:00 pm

SOUTH SIDE LOCATIONS/TIMES
With Kenwood Oakland Community Organization
KOCO Office
4242 S. Cottage Grove
11:00 am - 1:00 pm

With Action NOW
Ruggles Elementary
7831 S. Prairie Ave
11:00 am - 1:00 pm

Fenger High School
11220 S. Wallace Street
11:00 am - 1:00 pm

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Teachers for Social Justice and CORE will be having two joint events in the coming month, both related to the work of Lois Weiner, a life-long union activist, educator, and scholar on urban education and teachers unions.

The first will be a discussion of Weiner's new book, The Future of Our Schools: Teachers Unions and Social Justice. This is an important, short, very readable book. You can buy it from Haymarket Books (they'll send it right out) or via email (julie [-at-] haymarketbooks[-dot-]org). We will be discussing Part 1, pp. 3-81 and Chapter 12.
Here are details and a link to RSVP:

TSJ/CORE Book Discussion
Sat., Jan 26th
1:00-3:00 pm
UIC College of Education, Room 3233
RSVP here

Here is what Karen Lewis of the CTU had to say about Lois Weiner's new book:

"Lois Weiner's book should be a wake-up call for all of us who work in K-12 schools. Her analysis of the current political climate is clear, sharp and desperately needed. The Future of Our Schools provides a template for rank and file members to be pro-active in their unions and a nudge to union leadership to open the process to defeat the corporate agenda." --Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union

The second event will be a public forum with Lois Weiner on Friday, February 8th. The exact time and location are TBD, so please stay tuned!



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Support the Ethnic Studies Program in Tucson, Arizona and around the nation! Come make connections between Raza Studies in Arizona and Chicago education with a panel discussion, performances and local art work. Indulge in meaning dialogue with the panelist: Dr. David Stovall- UIC professor Dr. Mirna Garcia- Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce Jonah Bondurant, Jackie Rodriguez & Students -Teachers at Rudy Lozano Academy Performances by: Reggie Eldridge- Spoken Word Kuumba Lynx JaroChicanos Sponsored by Teachers for Social Justice Co-sponsored by: VILLARTE- Little Village Art Festival SURCUL/VILLAPOLOOZA $5 in advance $10 at the door Light refreshments will be served.

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The following are some upcoming events that should be of interest to the TSJ community.

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Teachers for Social Justice, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) and Social Justice High School (SOJO) are excited to welcome Norma Gonzales and Jose Gonzales of the Tuscon Unified School District to speak about their struggle to save ethnic studies.

Friday, Feb. 25, 2010
7-10pm
Little Village Lawndale Social Justice High School

On facebook
Download Flyer | En Español
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The Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce is a volunteer grassroots group working on curriculum development of A Peoples Chicago: Our Stories of Change and Struggle.

An invitation from the Taskforce:

We aim to create at least eight core curricular units, including:
- Urban Renewal or Urban Removal?
- A Look into Chicago School & Educational Struggles with Connections to Surrounding Communities - Past, Present, and Future


This space provides participants with a collective structure to brainstorm new units, decide on our "best practices" and develop relevant, creative, interdisciplinary curriculum for grades 3 - 12. They've got an excellent & attractive newsletter which you can Check out here. Read on for details for the monthly Curriculum Nights.


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Sunday, Feb 13
1-3pm
UIC College of Education

--Get Involved! Learn about current & upcoming projects: TSJ Voter Guide, Raza Educators Tour, Campaign for the Elected Representative School Board, and more...

-- At 2:00pm hear Bob Peterson (Rethinking Schools editor and candidate for president of the Milwaukee Teachers Union) speak on how Milwaukee educators and activists defeated Mayoral control of Milwaukee schools!

On facebook.
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Chicago Urban Art Society
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*Postponed!!  New Date!!!*

UPLIFT Community High School's *First Annual Social Justice
Expo* postponed.  Due to snowstorm, the new date will be Wednesday,
February 9, 2011.

UPLIFT's Social Justice Expo is a collaborative effort of Uplift
students, teachers, after-school programs and community organizations.

The Expo will feature some of the social justice related learning and
action that UPLIFT students, teachers, staff and community partners have been engaged in.


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Proposal Deadline:  January 21, 2011 
Full Proposal Download

BACKGROUND

Free Minds, Free People is a national conference presented by the Education for Liberation Network,
The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, the Chicago Freedom  School and Youth in Action that brings together teachers, high school and college students, researchers, parents and community-based activists/educators from across the country to build a movement to develop and promote education as a tool for liberation.
The conference is a space in which these groups can learn from and teach each other, sharing knowledge, experience and strategies. 

Education for liberation prepares the most excluded, under-served members of our society, in particular low-income youth and youth of color, to fight for a more just world by: 

• Exploring with students the causes of inequalities and injustices in society and how communities
  have fought against them. 
• Helping students to develop both the belief in themselves that they can challenge those injustices
  and the skills necessary to do that. 
• Supporting students in taking action that leads to disenfranchised communities having more power.

The goal of Free Minds, Free People is to provide a forum for sharing knowledge, experiences and
strategies that support the use of education as a tool for liberation by:

• Building and sustaining connections between people from different backgrounds with an interest in justice-oriented education work 
• Supporting participants in developing and deepening their practice as learners and educators
  committed to social justice 
• Nourishing justice-oriented education work in various communities, with an emphasis on the host city, by making strategic connections to collective action in other parts of the country 
• Acting as a catalyst for the continued development of a social movement around education for
  liberation 
• Supporting and promoting youth-led education and organizing efforts  
• Utilizing a collaborative conference planning process that elevates the leadership of students, parents, teachers, researchers and community-based organizers/educators.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

We invite K-12 teachers, community-based educators, students, activists/organizers, artists, parents and academic researchers to submit proposals

Full Proposal Download

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Both Teachers for Social Justice (TSJ-Chicago) and Chicago Youth Initiating Change (CYIC) invite you on a movie date to see:

AVATAR in 3D Film & Discussion
Saturday, January 23 6pm showtime
AMC River East 21 322 East Illinois Street
Chicago, IL

TBA. James Cameron's "Avatar" tells of the mystic, nature-loving Na'vi – tall blue creatures who inhabit the planet Pandora and must contend with humans intent on grabbing its resources. The film uses fantastic 3D technology, and aside from it's entertainment value, also prods discussion around capitalism, imperialism, occupation, eco-destruction, ableism, dissertion, resistance and traditional Hollywood race narratives. It has earned more than $1.1 billion worldwide since its release last month.

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Saturday, December 5
5:30pm - 7:00pm
DECIMA MUSA
1901 S. LOOMIS St., Chicago

* Hear from our very own TSJ delegates who went to Honduras with the La Voz de los de Abajo delegation in October...as they share in depth what TEACHERS are doing on the front lines of the Honduran People's Movement. To include video, photos & audio with Honduran teacher activists.
* Update on the struggles of the Honduran people for constitutional democracy!

All are welcome- please join in.

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