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Williams, an assistant professor in the COE’s department of lifelong education, administration, and policy, will be the instructor for the workshop.

The University of Georgia College of Education will host a day-long professional development workshop for educators on how to develop strategies to overcome inherent biases and stereotypes they might have to better engage and educate all students on Friday, December 7 at the Georgia Hotel and Conference Center at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education.

Research studies suggest that opportunity and achievement gaps exist between students of color and white students. Studies also 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.

The Making Connections—Closing Opportunity Gaps in Diverse School Settings workshop is designed 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 will include 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.

Sheneka Williams, an assistant professor in the College of Education’s department of lifelong education, administration, and policy, will be the instructor for the class. She is an affiliate faculty member with UGA’s Institute for African American Studies and expert in teaching school personnel how to interact and engage with the broader school community, regardless of racial and social class barriers.

Williams, a former high school teacher in Tuscaloosa (Ala.) County Schools, earned her doctorate in educational leadership and policy at Vanderbilt University.

Registration cost is $150 which includes a copy of the book, Start Where You Are But Don’t Stay There by Richard Milner, workshop materials and refreshment breaks. The deadline to register is Nov. 21, 2012. For more information or to registers online visit: www.coe.uga.edu/events/