Description: Research studies suggest that opportunity and achievement gaps exist between students of color and White students. Additionally, research studies contend that opportunity and achievement gaps persist between students born into impoverished families and those who are born of privilege. While these gaps exist before students enter school, teachers play a pivotal role in students’ academic trajectories. Thus, the purpose of this full-day professional development session is to provide teachers with an opportunity to think about how their unobserved classroom practices influence the ways in which they interact with students. The first part of the day includes a session in which teachers begin to recognize and think about the inherent biases and stereotypes they might hold. The second half of the day includes developing strategies to overcome inherent biases and stereotypes, thus developing strategies to better engage and educate students. It is believed that once teachers are able to reach students, then they are able to teach students effectively. This, in turn, leads to improved academic achievement, regardless of students’ ethnicity, race, or socio-economic status.

Instructor: Sheneka Williams, Assistant Professor, Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy, University of Georgia

Cost: $150 (includes a copy of the book Start Where you are but Don’t Stay There by Richard Milner, workshop materials and refreshment breaks)

Click here to see the complete workshop flyer!________________________________________________________________________________________