Kids, Books & Anti-Racism Series 2024

Friday, March 8, 2024

How to Engage Your Students in Meaningful Race Conversations with Jennifer Orr

Even our youngest learners have questions about race, both historically and in their current lives. As educators we need to be prepared and capable to facilitate conversations around these questions in our classrooms. In today’s political climate that task may feel even more challenging and the fact that we will make mistakes can feel daunting. That does not make this work less important.

Join Jennifer to learn strategies you can employ to set yourself and your students up for success with these conversations and gain pedagogical understandings that can help you plan and navigate challenging conversations well.

Participants will: 

• Explore strategies for building community and trust before engaging in challenging conversations 
• Learn about teaching moves and rationales that support facilitating challenging conversations in your classroom 
• Identify children’s books that can prompt and support race conversations

Registered participants will receive a copy of the professional text, We’re Gonna Keep On Talking: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Elementary Classroom (co-written by Jennifer Orr and Matthew Kay).

This full-day workshop will be recorded. Registered individuals will have through June 30 to access this recording. Instructions to access the recording will be sent about 1-2 weeks following the session. Due to the workshop’s interactive structure, we highly recommend that registrants participate live on the day of the event.

Attendees will earn 6 professional development hours for their participation.

For details and pricing for this workshop with Jennifer Orr, click here.

Monday, May 6, 2024

Centering What Matters to Children: How to Connect Your Teaching to Your Students’ Passions and Inquiry Questions with Vivian Vasquez

Critical engagement that centers on matters of importance to children creates a space for them to systematically investigate questions or tensions about the world. This kind of work is generative, culturally sustaining, and allows for the development of new understandings, new questions, and issues of importance that make a difference in the lives of children and those around them. A critical comprehension framework will be shared that creates a space for teachers to connect their teaching to their students’ passions and inquiry questions.

Participants will: 

• Learn how to use children’s books and other everyday texts such as print ads and food packaging that children encounter daily from a critical literacy perspective. 
• Develop an understanding for building critical curriculum using the inquiry questions of children. 
• Explore and experience what it means to read with and against text. 
• Experience working with children’s books using the critical comprehension framework. 
• Learn how to help children to read with a critical stance, as well as identify and examine problems. 
• Understand how to use literacy to teach children to become more socially conscious, and work for social action to make a difference in their lives, the community, and the world around them. 

Registered participants will receive a copy of the professional text, Critical Comprehension: Lessons for Guiding Students to Deeper Meaning (co-written with Vivian Vasquez, Katie Kelly and Lester Laminack).

For details and pricing for this workshop with Vivian Vasquez, click here.

Cancellation Deadline & Refund Policies

For a registrant who purchased the Complete Bundle and would like to cancel their registration, the last day to get a full refund is January 3, 2024. A cancellation must be submitted in writing.

For a registrant who purchased individual sessions and would like to cancel their registration, the last day to get a full refund for Carla España’s session is January 3, 2024, Jennifer Orr’s session is February 23, 2024, and Vivian Vasquez’s session is April 22, 2024. A cancellation must be submitted in writing. 

Email CRRLC@lesley.edu to cancel or request a substitution. Regardless of conditions, if the event is held but you cannot attend, you will be billed for the full amount.

Registration Deadline

We highly recommend registering at least five business days before the event to allow the minimum amount of time to ship the professional texts.

Independent Learning Policy & Recordings

Each full-day workshop will be recorded. Registered individuals will have through June 30 to access a recording. Instructions to access the recording will be sent about 1-2 weeks following the session. Due to the workshop’s interactive structure, we highly recommend that registrants participate live on the day of the event.

The registrant agrees to access the live sessions and/or recordings for the purpose of independent learning. Access to the live sessions and/or recordings is restricted to the registrant and may not be accessed in a group setting.

Requirements for Participation

In order to receive your certificate of attendance, you will be asked to complete an electronic one-page insight form. We will provide more information about this process after each session. Please allow our team 2-3 weeks to process your certificate.