Inservice Workshops January 19, 2009 Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC)

2:00 - 3:30 PM

The MLK Holiday Committee is partnering with the Duluth Public Schools to present a selection of workshops which are designed for teacher inservice, but are also open to the public. These workshops will be held at the DECC following the rally.

Workshop options include:

• Teaching for Change: Inspiring Students to Action - DECC AUDITORIUM
  Presented by Dr. Curtis Austin, Keynote Speaker
  Dr. Austin has a unique perspective to share with educators. His message is consistently reassuring and challenging. His experience teaching and working with young people provides Dr. Austin with valuable insight into the dynamics of developmental changes and social challenges faced by today’s youth. Dr. Austin provides articulate insight into institutional obstacles to education for many of our children. As an educator and author he provides options for other teachers on how to inspire students to action.
  
  

  Dr. Curtis Austin serves as the Director of the Center for Black Studies at University of Southern Mississippi. Prior to that, he was the director for the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. His most recent book is Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party.

  
  
• Teaching Tolerance On The Elementary Level - Goosebery Falls Room II
  By Katherine Livadaros and Liza Tarnowski, ISD 709 Cultural Center Coordinators.
  Teaching Tolerance On The Secondary Level - Goosebery Falls Room III
  Presented by Jebeh Edmunds and Robert Miller, ISD 709 Cultural Center Coordinators.
  ISD 709 Cultural Center Coordinators will provide resource tools using the Teaching Tolerance Organization classroom kits. The Cultural Center staff will also provide multicultural perspectives on various topics of tolerance in our classrooms. These kits range from Pre K-Grade 12. The Teaching Tolerance is an organization sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center which provides tools to utilize in the classroom.
  
  
• Leadership in a Changing School Environment: The Denfeld Project - French River Room I
  Presented by Joan Sargent, Tom Tusken, Laura Lafontaine
  Change. It’s one thing you can count on. In this rapidly changing world, we’re continually faced with the stress of meeting new challenges. How can we create opportunities for supporting each other, our students, and the families with which we work?
  
  For the past 2 1⁄2 years, Denfeld High School has embarked on a journey designed to build community by equipping all faculty and staff with leadership skills and resources for motivating and supporting each other, particularly during times of change. You will learn about some of the core leadership competencies we’re incorporating, as well as a new way of thinking about and navigating cultural differences using the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity. Come prepared to be challenged and inspired!

• Diversity -- A Developmental Perspective for Duluth and ISD 709 - Goosebery Falls Room I
  Presented by Ron Hagland, MSW, Office of Education Equity -- ISD 709
  We sometimes feel like we’re in a rock tumbler while in the midst of transition. The face of the larger Duluth community and ISD 709 are changing. We live the change every day. This in-service is designed to provide some tangibles and statistics of our reality and share an intended direction from a diverse perspective. This workshop had to be canceled due to a death in the family.
  
  
• Race, History, and Literacy in the Secondary Classroom - French River Room II
  Presented by David Beard - Professor of Rhetoric, Scientific and Technical Communication Department of Writing Studies at UMD, Carl Crawford - Intercultural Center Coordinator for LSC and Clayton Jackson McGhie Board Member; and Catherine Nachbar, Social Studies Teacher.
  The Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Board invites Duluth educators to participate in an interdisciplinary introduction to race, history and literacy. The ninety minute session will include an overview of the CJM Memorial, which offers a unique local opportunity to discuss the history of race relations and to discuss current race relations in our nation. Each teacher will leave with a lesson plan that includes using the Memorial to spark a discussion in the classroom, applicable immediately to discussions of the inauguration of our first African-American President. Please bring your own USB jump drive to this session.
  
  
• Understanding Racial Identity Development - St. Louis River Room
  Presented by Bill Howes, Project Coordinator of the Ojibwe Language & Culture Education Program at The College of St. Scholastica, and Sebastian Witherspoon, Diversity/Integration Specialist from the Office of Education Equity – Duluth Public Schools
  Racial Identity Development is a series of stages one goes through when they have discovered that racism exists and is a part of their life and the lives of their students.
  
  The break-out session will provide information on the process of Racial Identity Development and how profound the effects can be on the academic and social success of students. Participants will gain understanding of the various stages that exist and how to identify where a student may be at in this process.
  
  The session is applicable to all staff K-12.