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At the Minority Affairs Conference
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | August 26, 2008
The Minority Affairs Conference was held this year on Aug 12 and 13 at KahNeeta. This conference is an annual event for educators (mostly teachers attended this year) who work with minority students. This summer, people came from all around the state to learn from one another and be inspired by experts in the field of equity, teaching and learning and social justice. Click here to learn more, and see a video about the conference
I attended the conference, and presented there too, with Patricia Martinez, former principal and Executive Director for the Oregon Council of Hispanic Advancement (OCHA). We offered two presentations of our talk, The Third R: Strong Relationships Help Keep Kids in School and Achieving. These were a great opportunity for both Patricia and I to share stories about how building relationships can make a difference with kids at risk of dropping out of school, and ALSO with coworkers, parents and members of the community. The stories we told, and the stories shared in the workshops illustrated the power of connecting with the people in our community, and the positive difference that even something as simple as a smile can make.
If you have stories about relationships – both good and bad – and how they affected your willingness to stay in school, your desire to teach or work with kids, or your sense of yourself, please share them on this blog. Experience and research shows that, for many of us, it’s the stories that we hear and read that inspire us to work harder to help kids (and they help us to understand ourselves better too.)
During our talks, Patricia listed several resources that teachers in the classroom, and mentors who work with culturally diverse kids can use to extend their learning about how to work with kids and families from diverse cultures. These are some of the suggestions.
If you attended the conference, and/or, if you have ideas for resources (books, speakers, websites, etc.) that teachers and mentors can use to learn more about subjects such as Cultural Competence, Social Justice and How to Bring Family and Community into the Schools and learning community, please add your ideas to the list by clicking the COMMENT button below.
Building Culturally Responsive Classrooms: A Guide for K-6 Teachers
By Concha Delgado-Gaitan
Published by Corwin Press, 2006
ISBN 141292619X, 9781412926195
166 pages
http://books.google.com/books?id=_aCWtZmBFSUC
Con Respeto: Bridging the Distances Between Culturally Diverse Families and Schools: An Ethnographic Portrait (Paperback) by Guadalupe Valdes
http://www.amazon.com/Con-Respeto-Distances-Culturally-Ethnographic/dp/0807735264
Alma Flor Ada (San Francisco State Univ)
http://www.almaflorada.com/
This website shows the collection of work by the extremely talented and prolific writer. There are books, resources and learning opportunities on the site.
Topics: Creating a Positive, Recommended Resources, Recommended reading |