Teacher Action Group (TAG) and The Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) are pleased to offer an opportunity for teachers to build community, engage as learners, and develop as activists.
Educators are invited to participate in ItAGs that link social justice issues with classroom practice
Below find the description of the five ItAGs for 2012.
1. Context for Change: What Works for Teachers, Students, Schools, and Communities
This ItAG will explore the way school structure impacts teaching and learning. Schools in Philadelphia are the products of a variety of reforms movements, and our current reform initiative to consolidate some schools and increase enrollment in others is further complicating the issue. Federal models for rapid change, including turnaround plans, school closure, charter school takeover, and reconstitution, devalue the experience of teachers and learners in these institutions. These changes profoundly influence our work. Together, we will unpack the ways in which our schools are being transformed to understand how this impacts our teaching practice and how we can best advocate for positive school and community changes.
Facilitators: Sarah Hill is a school social worker, currently working as the Career and Postsecondary Specialist in the Student Success Center at Abraham Lincoln High School. Kathryn May is an English teacher at Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Social Justice. Ted Domers is a principal intern at Furness High School and a doctoral student in Teaching, Learning, and Teacher-Education at Penn GSE.
Location:Philadelphia Writing Project Office, 4201 Spruce Street, Building 1921
Dates: Wednesdays 6:00PM-7:30PM. 2/1, Kick-off 2/9, 2/15, 2/29, 3/14, 3/28, 4/11
2. Being Radical in a Status Quo Environment
What does it mean to be a radical teacher? How does an educator become social-justice-minded? This ItAG will be a space for teachers to explore and evolve their own social justice pedagogy. In this group, we’ll talk about the skills and mindset of radical teaching and explore how we’ve developed them over time. We’ll also share our experiences of upholding the tenets of social justice education while abiding by the constraints of mandated curriculum and status quo culture. Participants will walk away with a renewed commitment to radical teaching and ideas about pedagogical approaches that will ultimately enhance teacher and student critical consciousness.
Facilitators: Naomi Christine Leapheart developed passion for social justice education while an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. She currently teaches math, social studies, science, language arts, and writing in an alternative program for adjudicated youth. Vivian Lim is a doctoral student in the Teaching, Learning and Curriculum program at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Previously, she worked for three years as a high school mathematics teacher in Brooklyn, New York. She is interested in the role of mathematics curriculum for social justice and citizenship development.
Location: 13th and Arch Streets
Dates: Mondays 6:00PM-8:00PM. Kick-off 2/9, 2/13, 2/27, 3/5, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26, 4/9
3. Bilingualism and Multiculturalism
Schools today educate children from a mosaic of varying linguistic, racial, and cultural backgrounds. Teachers, parents, and administrators face challenges in meeting the educational and social needs of these students. Although federal protections and district programs profess to meet their needs, these students continue to experience hardships. What factors contribute to the challenges these students face, and how can these challenges be alleviated? How do our terms for these students, our measures of success, and our policies privilege some students over others? In this ItAG we will explore the role identity plays for students who speak multiple languages, and the extent to which current policies and programs validate or reject a student’s linguistic and cultural identity as the student makes his or her educational journey.
Facilitators: A native Philadelphian and a graduate of SDP schools, Erica Darken has taught bilingual first grade in the district for more than five years. She recently completed her coursework for a master’s degree in Intercultural Communication at Penn GSE. Sania Mirzanschall is currently teaching kindergarten at Andrew Jackson Elementary in South Philadelphia. Before that she was a second grade bilingual teacher in North Philadelphia.
Location: International House, 37th and Chestnut Streets
Dates: Wednesdays 6:00PM-7:30PM. Kick-off 2/9, 2/15, 2/22, 2/29, 3/7, 3/14, 3/21
4. Restorative School Discipline and Community Building
Traditional school discipline is based on a punitive concept of justice. It alienates, antagonizes and criminalizes students, often pushing them down the school to prison pipeline. This approach to discipline is not the only way! In this ItAG, we hope to learn from each other’s experiences with alternative discipline while centering our inquiry on restorative and transformative justice approaches. These approaches encourage students to take responsibility for their behavior and address the needs of those harmed, while also supporting them as students. They open possibilities for addressing both minor disciplinary issues as well as more serious interpersonal harm, such as sexual harassment, through both proactive community building and reactive strategies for responding to specific incidents. During this ItAG, we will address the following essential questions: Why should we as educators use alternative approaches to discipline like restorative justice? How do restorative justice and/or other alternative approaches to discipline become realities in our classrooms? What is the relationship between disciplinary issues and the sense of community in the school or classroom?
Facilitators: Sofia Saiyed is an Americorps member serving at Bartram High School and Chester High School as the coordinator of Youth Court, which is a restorative justice alternative disciplinary program. Sarah Burgess has taught high school Social Studies in public schools for five years. She is currently working with teachers on curriculum and instruction at YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School.
Location: International House, 37th and Chestnut Streets
Dates: Thursdays 7:30PM-9:30PM. Kick-off 2/9, 2/23, 3/1, 3/8, 3/15, 3/22, 3/29
5. Gendered Classrooms, Gendered Learning
Do boys and girls learn differently? Do men and women teach differently? How do gender norms influence the classroom? We’ll ponder these and other questions in this ItAG. Join us as we talk candidly about our own experience of gender perceptions, values, and identities, and read others’ thoughts about relationships between gender and learning. We will walk away with ideas about how to transform our classrooms into gender-conscious spaces.
Facilitators: Naomi Christine Leapheart developed passion for social justice education while an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania. She currently teaches math, social studies, science, language arts, and writing in an alternative program for adjudicated youth. Gabriel Bryant is the Director of the Young Men’s Initiative (YMI) at Philadelphia Futures. Launched in 2006, YMI focuses attention and resources on the special needs of urban young men of color living in poverty who are most at risk. The overall goal of YMI is to help young men achieve academic success – both in high school and in college – and lead productive, fulfilling lives.
Location: Free Library of Philadelphia, Central Branch 1901 Vine Street
Dates: Sundays 4:00PM-5:30PM, Kick-off 2/9, 2/12, 2/26, 3/11, 3/25, 4/1, 4/15
