December 19, 2018
We are excited to open registration for the 2019 ‘Equity First’ retreats, as well as share two new webinar series in partnership with SF-CESS and Dr. Liza Talusan. Check out these opportunities and register ASAP as space is limited in each event.
Equity First Retreats
Join SRI this winter for two days of reflection and renewal in three fabulous locations across the country:
- Philadelphia – March 7-8 at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
- Los Angeles – March 21-22 at California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson CA 90747
- Chicago – April 25 & 26 at University of Illinois at Chicago, Student Center East 750 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60607
Together we’ll reflect upon where we are in our equity journey, refresh our practice of collaboration and reflective discourse, and renew our fierce commitment to improving teaching and learning for every student. As always, we’ll learn from artifacts and issues that we’ll share from our professional practice, using protocols from School Reform Initiative.
The SRI retreats, “Equity First,” will offer a host of opportunities to:
- gather, share, and reflect with others on what we’re learning as we continue to develop a practice centered on equity;
- build our capacity to access, engage, and sustain complex and challenging conversations about equity, identity, and implicit bias that lead to action;
- strengthen our resolve to work as agents of change, with formal or informal authority;
- refresh our perspective on the work we do in schools and districts, non-profit organizations, early childhood and post-secondary institutions — across and among cities, states, regions and on the international scene;
- use SRI tools and processes to remain true to and sustain our fierce commitment to making schools better places for every child.
NOTE: SRI welcomes any participant who wishes to attend, regardless of experience; however, “Equity First” is not designed to be an introduction to SRI’s work or a training session.
More Information and Registration
Disrupting Inequities Webinar Series
Disrupting Inequities Webinar Series – led by SF-CESS .
January 10, 1pm CST – Implicit Bias and Microaggressions
In the first session, attendees will be introduced to links between school climate, microaggressions, and student learning, and engage with SF-CESS’ Theory of Transformation to reduce the conditions that lead to microaggressions and a harmful school culture.
January 17, 1pm CST – Discourse 2 Probing Questions
In the second session, attendees will be introduced to the concepts of Discourse 1 and Discourse 2 and use these to invite more radical discourse through the use of probing questions.
The series is offered as individual sessions, so you can register for one or both.
More Information and Registration
Culturally-Relevant Recruitment, Retention, and Responsibility Webinar
Back by popular demand! We are offering the Culturally-Relevant Recruitment, Retention, and Responsibility Webinar again. Join SRI and Dr. Liza Talusan for a 3-part series on culturally relevant attitudes, behaviors, and actions that support recruitment, retention, and responsibility towards employees from institutionally underrepresented backgrounds.
- Part 1 will focus on why diversity, equity, and inclusion matters in the hiring process. We will go over the big questions that you and your institution should be asking itself about why you would engage in a culturally relevant process.
- Part 2 will focus on creating a more inclusive process that pays attention to the foundation of why we do this work together.
- Finally, Part 3 will explore the big questions around whether the culture, climate and behaviors of your institution are prepared to support and authentically engage with communities from institutionally underrepresented backgrounds.
More information and registration
We still have openings for the webinars we announced last week, but space is limited:
Facilitating Virtual Learning Communities
January 17, 24, 31, February 7, 2019 – 8pm EST
Cost: $75 for the series for SRI affiliates; $115 for non-affiliates
Julie Moore and Natalie Berger will help participants in these sessions engage in a variety of SRI protocols and practices to explore how SRI critical friendship can foster and sustain transformational learning communities in a virtual space. Ample time will be reserved to debrief the virtual experience, examine implications for our work, and develop next steps in using virtual transformational learning communities to engage more teachers and students in SRI’s Mission and Guiding Principles.
Leveraging Descriptive Feedback for Classroom Observations
January 29, 2019 – 8pm EST
Cost: $25 for SRI affiliates; $35 for non-affiliates
Educators might not know what constitutes high-quality written feedback when some of them have never received it themselves. Join Thomas Van Soelen in this webinar and close the gaps in your practice as we explore, study, and write feedback of our own. Leave with an appetite to further develop skills needed to create an environment where teachers say, “Are you coming to my room today?” and they really mean it.
SRI Office will be closed December 24, 2018 – January 2, 2019
The SRI office will be closed for staff holiday travel from Dec 24 – January 2nd. Order shipping will be paused during this closure, so if you need anything by early January, please place your order now.
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, Chris Jones, and Beth I Graham
On behalf of School Reform Initiative
