Radical Professional Development

This pre-conference intensive afternoon will bring together educators from around the country in dialogue and skill-building.  Workshops and speakers will focus on teacher activism, implementing education for liberation in the classroom, actively resisting the neo-liberalism agenda for our public schools, and organizing with students and communities.

Rhode Island teachers can receive up Professional Development Credit from the Rhode Island Department of Education for participating in Radical Professional Development. If you are interested in receiving credit please check the relevant box on the conference registration form.

Time: 1:00pm to 5:30pm
Location: Providence Career Technical Academy.
91 Fricker Street
Providence, RI 02903
http://www.providenceschools.org/schools/high-schools/career-and-technical.aspx
Please visit www.fmfp.org/travel for more information about how to get there.

Radical PD will include:

1) Breaking it Down: Presenters will share a political analysis of the attack on public education and facilitate a discussion on how this impacts teachers across the country.  
Presenters: David Stovall, University of Illinois-Chicago and Bree Picower, Montclair State University & NYCoRE

2) Fighting Back: Hear about the experiences of teachers engaged in struggles for social justice across the country.
Panelists: Curtis Acosta, ethnic studies teacher, Tucson Unified School District; Sam Coleman, New York City Public Schools and NYCoRE; Kathy Xiong and Stephanie Schneider, Educators Network for Social Justice and Milwaukee Public Schools

3) Strategy Groups: Learn practical ways to fight back in your local context.

• Fighting Back through your Curriculum: Bree Picower, NYCoRE and Patrick Camangian, University of San Francisco
• Fighting Back through your Union: Sam Coleman, NYCoRE
• Fighting Back through the Media: Jody Sokolower, Rethinking Schools
• Fighting Back with Youth: (Facilitators TBA)

Participation in Radical PD costs $25 per person.

Each participant will receive a free copy of Planning to Change the World: A Lesson Plan Book for Social Justice Teachers 2011-2012. Published by NYCoRE and the Education for Liberation Network.
(www.justiceplanbook.com)

Visit www.freemindsfreepeople.org/registration to register.

If you register for Rad PD, consider also signing up for a special, 3-hour workshop teacher organizing on Friday at 2 pm. Called, Teacher Activist Groups: Organizing Teachers to be Part of the Educational Justice Movement, it will build on some of the ideas from Rad PD and focus on how to cultivate teacher organizing for both experienced teacher-activists and newcomers to this work.