May 9, 2018
Fall Meeting Collaborative Learning Group Facilitators – Deadline May 15th
SRI Fall Meeting 2018 will convene in San Antonio, November 8-10. At the center of our annual conference are collaborative learning groups, the experience that sets SRI Fall Meeting apart from other educational conferences.
Collaborative learning groups at Fall Meeting will provide opportunities for every learner to:
- engage in rich and meaningful conversations focused on equity, and specifically, racial equity;
- place themselves on their equity journey;
- articulate their identities, assumptions, and biases and how they can show up in teaching, learning, and facilitation;
- use SRI tools and practices to make their practice public and sustain challenging and complex learning.
Each collaborative learning group is led by two co-facilitators. Facilitators create the conditions for authentic collaborative and reflective discourse to occur. At Fall Meeting we focus the work of the group through a lens of equity and hold space for conversations about racial identity. We plan and co-design agendas for our group, AND actively participate in the group’s learning. By reading verbal and nonverbal cues that might signify safety or danger, we manage potential anxiety and dissonance in ourselves and in our groups. Learning in these ways together demands that we facilitate for the success of the group without becoming the facilitator-as-expert. Less about us, more about others.
Please consider applying to co-facilitate a collaborative learning group this year. And, if you know someone who would be a terrific Fall Meeting facilitator and you’d love to co-facilitate with them, please reach out and ask them to apply!
Read More and Apply to Facilitate
Jamila Lyiscott Webinar – Deadline May 17th
Dr. Jamila Lyiscott is our 2018 Fall Meeting keynote speaker. Dr. Lyiscott will be presenting a webinar exclusively for the SRI community on May 17, 2018 at 7pm Eastern. Space is limited. Read the description below then sign up to attend!
If You Think You’re Giving Students of Color a Voice, Get Over Yourself
When working with students of color, it is high time that we move away from salvation narratives that position historically marginalized communities as perpetually in need of saving. In place of this, it is time for us to acknowledge the powerful ways of knowing and being that students of color bring into our classrooms, even when those ways of knowing and being are not valued by traditional school models. Some of the most deeply problematic issues of inequity within the field of education are sustained by well-meaning teachers embracing progressive politics without intentional frameworks of self-reflection to guide their praxis in a healthy direction. In this webinar, participants will wrestle with the dominant narratives that frame our perspectives of marginalized youth, explore how these models are rooted in racist and colonial logic, and leave with tools for shifting from deficit-centered to asset-centered pedagogical approaches in their classrooms.
Fall Meeting Call for Learning Experience Proposals – Deadline May 23rd
Do you have a great idea for a Learning Experience at Fall Meeting? Are you using SRI tools and practices in exciting ways that you’d like to share with others? Then we invite you to offer up a Learning Experience on Thursday afternoon, November 8, 2018 at the Fall Meeting in San Antonio.
Each year, we utilize a portion of our conference for Learning Experiences. These sessions, either 90 minutes or 3 hours, allow affiliates to learn new skills, dive deep, and explore different concepts, all within the framework of the SRI Mission and Guiding Principles. We are accepting proposals for Fall Meeting Learning Experiences now until May 23. If you are interested in proposing an experience, please utilize the Learning Experience proposal form.
Questions? Email or call Kari (kari@schoolreforminitiative.org or 303.586.1169)
Summer Professional Development Opportunities are Filling Up
The events calendar has multiple opportunities for people new to SRI work, as well as those who are looking to deepen their practice. Below are a sample of opportunities happening around the country this summer! Keep checking the website as new opportunities are continuing to be added. These events will fill quickly, be sure to register ASAP!
- Tucson, AZ – PLC Summer Institute hosted by CITY Center for Collaborative Learning
- Keene, NH – Facilitating Communities of Professional Practice
- Alpharetta, GA – Principles and Practices of SRI Critical Friendship
- Boston, MA – Designing for Adult Learning Practices that Transform
- Cambridge, MA – Practices and Principles of SRI’s Equity Focused Intentional Learning Communities (offered multiple times around MA this summer!)
- New York, NY – Facilitative Leadership Seminar
- Denver, CO – Impact Leadership
Do you have news to share? Interesting things happening in your area? Please let us know so we can share with our community! Email Chris Jones, chris@schoolreforminitiative.org.
Thank you,
Kari Thierer, Heidi Vosekas, Chris Jones, and Beth I Graham
On behalf of School Reform Initiative
