We are excited to announce the keynote speakers for the 2015 SRI Winter Meeting. The theme of this year’s Winter Meeting is Place. Tucson is located in the beautiful and diverse Sonoran desert. It is also only forty miles from the Mexico border. Tucsonans are deeply impacted by both of these unique characteristics. When examining our practice as educators, it is necessary for us to examine the places that have shaped us and the places that have shaped our students. In this context, place means the unique geographical, political, social, and cultural characteristics of a community or region.
Our keynote speakers are both local to Tucson and represent their culturally rich and diverse community.
We will open with a message of kindness from Jeannette Maré, founder of Ben’s Bells Project in Tucson. We will close our conference with a keynote from Curtis Acosta, an award winning Latino educator working to support the Xican@/Latina@ community through teacher preparation, social justice pedagogy, and community organizing. You can learn more about each of our keynote presenters below.
Opening Keynote – Jeannette Maré
Jeannette Maré, Ben’s Bells founder and Executive Director, will lead “A Conversation on Kindness”, an in depth discussion of the challenges and opportunities we encounter in every interaction as we strive to create a kinder community. During this presentation, Jeannette will reflect on her own personal experiences with kindness in the face of devastating grief, as well as her work with Ben’s Bells Project and the power of kindness and collaboration to transform people, schools, and communities. She will discuss the emerging body of research on the science of kindness.
Jeannette Maré is the founder and Executive Director of Ben’s Bells Project. Jeannette’s leadership has anchored the organization through remarkable growth, including the opening of three studios, collaborating with hundreds of local organizations and recruiting over 25,000 annual volunteers. As part of her vision, Ben’s Bells has become nationally recognized and “kindness” is becoming part of the nation’s collective consciousness.
Closing Keynote – Curtis Acosta
Curtis Acosta was a high school teacher for nearly 20 years in Tucson, where he developed and taught Chican@/Latin@ Literature classes for the renowned Mexican American Studies program in the Tucson Unified School District. He is an award-winning educator who was recently named one of the “Top 10 Latinos to Watch in US Politics” by the Huffington Post. Curtis was featured in the documentary Precious Knowledge, and his teaching also received profiles on The Daily Show with John Stewart, CNN, PBS, The New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times amongst many other media outlets. He has been fortunate to have articles published in The English Journal, Voices in Urban Education, Multicultural Perspectives and the book Educational Courage: Resisting the Ambush of Public Education.
In response to the elimination of Mexican American Studies in Tucson, Curtis created the Chican@ Literature, Art and Social Studies (CLASS) program where high school students receive free college credit through a partnership with Prescott College. He is also the founder of the Acosta Latino Learning Partnership; an educational consultation firm committed to help educators create empowering and engaging pedagogical practices in their classrooms and schools, along with being a founding member of the newly established Xican@ Institute for Teaching and Organizing (XITO). XITO is a sponsored program through Prescott College that strives to support the Xican@/Latin@ community through teacher preparation, social justice pedagogy, and community organizing.
Remember to register now to attend the Winter Meeting to gain insight from these amazing keynote speakers. Space is limited this year, and we anticipate the meeting reaching our capacity.
We will see you in Tucson!
Kari Thierer, Heidi Vosekas, Chris Jones
On behalf of School Reform Initiative
JoAnn Groh, Santo Nicotera, Erika Guerrero, Carrie Brennan, Brett Goble, Chad Blair, and Taylor Johnson
On behalf of the 2015 Winter Meeting Planning team
