ULA Two Workshop Series - 2016/2017

ULA 2016/2017 Theme:

Make it Real: Instructional Leadership = Racial Equity

Minnesota school leaders must create an equitable and culturally responsive space for all students to learn. In order to drive change, racial equity must be at the center of instructional leadership. Join us for ULA’s 2016 to 2017 workshop series, to focus and reflect on what it means to be a racially equitable leader, providing expertise and vision for your district, your school, your team, your classroom.

For the past 21 years, the Urban Leadership Academy has provided programming and sustained dialogue focused on the continuous professional development of school leaders. Each workshop provides school leaders the opportunity to explore the complexity of leading learning organizations in order to better serve students. The ULA advisory board, comprised of district leaders from our seven member districts, continues to build on the educational strengths and challenges explored through each thematic series.

Workshops are held 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM. Continental breakfast and registration begins at 8:00 am, and lunch is provided as well.

CEUs earned: 5 (both teacher clock hour certificates and administrative CEU certificates are available)

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Creating Community in a Diverse School Environment

Lee Mun Wah

This workshop will provide basic, practical techniques on how to develop alliances and a sense of community between multicultural groups. We will focus on how to create an environment of trust and a sense of community where similarities and differences are valued, acknowledged, and considered useful. Participants will be taken through a series of exercises that will help them learn more about each other and what each has to offer that is uniquely theirs. In addition, opportunities will be provided for participants to share the stories and life experiences that have shaped and impacted who they have become, as well as their aspirations for the future. This very intimate and moving experience often leaves participants feeling they have grown closer in friendship and in understanding. We highly recommend this seminar for those participants who have either grown up or worked in mostly monocultural environments.

Participants will learn the following:

• Insight, ideas, and suggested resources needed to build and maintain alliances interpersonally and cross-culturally
• Strategies to motivate and retain multicultural groups
• Techniques on how to listen and respond to intercultural communications
• Ways to integrate mainstream cultures with new entries into the workplace
• The Art of Listening & Responding
• Nine Healthy Ways To Communicate

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

The Sweet and Sour Taste of Racism in "Post-Racial" America

Dr. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva

Most whites believe racism is limited to bigots: the KLAN, Cliven Bundy (Nevada Rancher) and Donald Sterling (former owner of the Clippers), and Donald Trump and many of his supporters. In this presentation I will argue that racism morphed in the 1970s into a more “civilized” racial system and produced a new type of prejudice. To make my case, I will do four things. First, define racism and suggest that, above anything else, it is systemic race-based privilege defended through racial domination. Second, provide the general characteristics of the “new racism” or the system of racial domination that replaced Jim Crow in the 1970s. Third, describe the dominant prejudice of contemporary America which I have labeled in my work as “color-blind racism.” Fourth, illustrate how the new racism system and the new prejudice work in organizations the parade as “beyond race”: colleges. I will conclude my talk by suggesting several things we might consider doing to fight dominant as well as secondary forms of racism in contemporary America.

We are committed to providing a comfortable, inclusive, and respectful environment for all members of our communities. If there is information you feel would be helpful for us to know, including disability, nursing mother, or other accommodation needs, please contact Jessica McLain, cehdidea@umn.edu..