Teaching Hard History: American Slavery
Dates/Times: November 3 & 4, 2022; 9am to 3pm both days
Location: The Hanahau‘oli School Professional Development Center, located in the Administration building of Hanahau‘oli School, at 1922 Makiki Street, Honolulu, HI 96822
Cost: $60 per participant
Scholarships are available to cover registration fees, and $200 travel stipends are also offered to neighbor island educators! Please inquire here.)
In this interactive workshop, teachers will explore the Learning for Justice Resources Teaching Hard History: American Slavery and Advocating for Teaching Honest History: What Educators Can Do. Participants will increase their capacity to teach effectively about American slavery by reflecting on and discussing with other educators how assumptions and biases may affect their approach to the subject. Through collaborative discussions, teachers will address some common concerns that derail teaching about slavery and share ideas about how to create a classroom culture conducive to addressing challenging-yet-essential historical information and connecting it to the present. Finally, educators will leave the workshop with content, ideas and tools to help them facilitate deeper student understanding and with strategies for advocating to other stakeholders within their schools and communities about the importance of teaching honest history.
Participants will need a laptop, tablet or smartphone to access certain materials during the workshop.
Lunch will be provided on both days of the workshop.
About the Facilitators:
Sarah-SoonLing Blackburn, Ed.D. (she/her) is an educator, speaker and Associate Director for Learning in Schools at Learning for Justice, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Sarah has experience teaching at both the secondary and elementary levels. As a professional trainer, Sarah’s areas of focus have included workplace cultures, leadership skills, and diversity, equity and inclusion. Sarah is a LinkedIn Learning instructor and the author of a forthcoming book about Chinese American History for middle grade students. Sarah has an M.A. in Social Justice and Education from University College London’s Institute of Education and an Ed.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She is based out of Oxford, Mississippi.
Kimberly Burkhalter, Ed.D. (she/her) is a native Kansan, now residing in Florida. She completed her doctorate studies in Education Leadership focusing on Social Justice Education from Wichita State University. Kim retired from Wichita Public Schools after 25 years of service where she worked daily to be a voice for equity and change as the Director of Equity and Diversity. Kim organized and developed the district’s Cultural Proficiency plan to address the education of cultural and racial differences of staff, students, families, and community. In her current work with Learning for Justice as a Professional Learning Facilitator her goal is to support and assist educators in providing equitable educational access for the children they serve daily.
Courtney Wai (she/her) is a Professional Learning Facilitator with Learning for Justice, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Before joining SPLC, Courtney was a 6th - 8th grade English as a Second Language teacher with the San Antonio Independent School District. Previously, she worked at Relay Graduate School of Education, City Year San Antonio, the City of San Antonio Office of Equity, and Teach For America. Courtney began her career as a 7th Grade English Language Arts teacher in the Rio Grande Valley. She earned her Bachelor’s from Scripps College and her Masters of Arts degree in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Texas – San Antonio. Courtney also serves as a board member for City Year San Antonio and works as a Consulting Instructor for the Asian American Education Project. Courtney was born and raised in Hawai’i.
Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance) is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants. Visit learningforjustice.org to learn more.