8:00AM Welcome and Keynote:

The Imperative for A Pedagogy of Cross-Cultural Awareness and Hope In A Multi-Racial and Advanced - Technological Society: Teaching African American History
Dr. Benjamin Foster, Jr.

Dr. Benjamin Foster, Jr. is a Public Intellectual. He is the recent recipient of the Distinguished Service Award presented by the 400 Years African American History Commemoration Commission. Foster is the Convener, Institute for CrossCultural Awareness and Transformative Education. In addition, he serves as Adjunct Professor of African American Studies and Religion at Central Connecticut State University.

8:50AM Healthier Discussions in the Social Studies Classroom
Josh Haverlock, Program Officer, High School Outreach, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)

This workshop explores the concept of 'classroom climate' and strategies to adjust the temperature as needed. We will cover conversational strategies ranging from small talk to debate to handling disagreements, drawing from established counseling practices. Educators will also be introduced to the Discourse Club initiative — a prepared 5-tier system so students can ‘preserve relationships and improve conversations.’ Any teacher interested in starting a Discourse Club at their school will have the opportunity to request a complimentary ‘starter pack’ of materials that has everything needed to get a club started at their school.

9:50AM Break

10:00AM Bringing it Home: Incorporating Local History into Connecticut’s New Black and Latino Studies Curriculum                 
Kristen Levithan, Education Project Specialist, Connecticut Historical Society

In this interactive workshop, educators will explore ways in which they can incorporate state and local history into the teaching of Connecticut’s new Black and Latino Studies curriculum. By considering the triumphs and challenges that were specific to Black and Latino Connecticans, teachers can help students use their own communities to better understand the past, contextualize the present, and gain new perspective on contemporary movements for social justice and change. Educators will leave the workshop with sample local sources and will feel empowered to find more such materials and incorporate them into their work with students.

11:05AM Creating Community Partnerships to Provide Students Learning Opportunities to Display Citizenship
Amy Perry JFK Middle School, Southington
Barbara Blau, Director of Therapeutic Recreation, The Summit of Plantsville, CT

It takes a village to raise a child.  This session will provide you with strategies and award-winning examples of how you can build partnerships within your community to give your students opportunities to display exemplary citizenship. 

12:10-1:00 PM Puerto Rican and Latino Studies in the Curriculum

Francisco A. Scarano, Ph.D.

This session will identify key issues of the Puerto Rican and Latino experience, both in their sending societies and in the United States, that could inform the construction of a high-school curriculum in Connecticut districts and communities. It will point out crucial aspects of the Latino experience: characteristics of the home countries, migration flows to the United States, areas of settlement, adaptive strategies, population movements, racial distribution, cultural self-identification, and political attachments. Because of the complexity of the Latino population and the variety of group experiences it harbors, the session will focus on three groups: Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puerto Rican Americans. The second part of the session will focus solely on Puerto Ricans in Connecticut, counterposing their experiences to those of Latinos in general. It will underscore the special case of these American citizens who hail from a longstanding Caribbean colony of the United States, highlighting what state residents need to know about their Puerto Rican neighbors.

1:05-2:05 PM Fostering a Culturally Responsive Classroom through Personal Connections & Voice
Juan Cabrera

This session explores foundational principles and elements of culturally responsive learning and how teachers can foster inclusive and equitable classrooms in practical manners, with Savvas Learning Company programs serving as examples.  

2:10-3:10 PM Multimodality..Using the Blues to Engage Students in the Toughest Topics
Eric Finland and Adam Taylor

Eric will model an interactive experience for teachers, illustrating how to help students better understand and connect to our country’s history and culture through the power of music. Eric will use the universal language of music combined with the opportunities presented by digital technology to promote historic awareness, social emotional learning, anti-bias and anti-racism education. At a time when there is so much racial tension in our country, we believe that this fresh approach to music and history will help students appreciate how far we have come as a country, but also how far we still have to go.