Presentation – Philadelphia, PA

“Is There Room Inside That Movement? Exploring the Connections Between Multicultural Education and Integration”
National Association for Multicultural Education
Doubletree Hotel –  Philadelphia Center City
Philadelphia, PA
November 28-December 1, 2012
(ONI’s workshop is on December 1, 2012 at 2:00pm)

This workshop seeks to begin a dialogue between multicultural educators and people who pursue and work to sustain racial, linguistic, and socioeconomic integration about the role integration plays (or could/should play) in advancing multicultural education, equity, and social justice (and vice versa). We begin by highlighting educators and communities that are engaged in efforts to actively break down political, social, and educational barriers between students of different racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. We look at communities where opposition and setbacks are common, in order to have a more honest conversation about the challenges of integration. Participants will:

  • Learn about current efforts to reduce racial, ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic isolation that are happening across the country.
  • Receive resources that highlight the importance of school integration.
  • Engage in discussion about the ideal of integration and how it relates to the multicultural education reform movement, and our shared democracy.
  • Explore some of the personal and professional challenges of navigating a truly “diverse” setting.

Some of the questions we will explore include:

  • Is racial, cultural and linguistic diversity an important and/or necessary component/precondition for effective multicultural and social justice curriculum?
  • How might the presence of varied racial/cultural groups hinder or enhance full discussion?
  • How does a racially diverse school and classroom benefit and/or complicate social justice education?
  • What does it mean to be a multicultural educator in the context of an educational structure that remains deeply divided by race and class?
  • As multicultural educators try to inform education policy and rhetoric, how do/might they draw attention to the existence and implications of racial, economic and cultural segregation?
  • What are some of the barriers that prevent us, as individuals or collectively, from striving toward the ideal of integration?
  • In classrooms and schools, how do/might multicultural educators talk about segregation and integration, and what are the implications of this?

Workshop Participants:

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