CUSD Summer Equity Symposium 2021: Excel Through Equity

About the Symposium...
About the Symposium...
FAQs for CUSD Staff
FAQs for CUSD Staff
Keynotes
Keynotes
Preview of Sessions
Preview of Sessions
Schedule
Schedule
Sponsors
Sponsors

Preview of Sessions

Welcome and Greetings

Sara Wyffels
Welcome and Greetings - Day 1
6/1/2021  8:00 AM - Welcome

Strengthening Equity Work through Emotional Support: The Power of Educators in the Lives of Marginalized Students

Keynote Speaker - Dr. Victor Rios
Research on students who overcome adversity to successfully navigate the higher education pipeline shows that resilience is often enhanced by an emotionally-relevant educator. This presentation will emphasize the importance of emotional support from educators in the lives of disproportionally impacted or marginalized students. Dr. Rios will discuss how educators can play a powerful role in guiding students that have been left behind. The audience will learn about the concept of Educator Projected Self-Actualization and how to utilize it to improve student outcomes. Dr. Rios emphasizes the importance of educators as positive role models and in the ‘continuum of care’ for marginalized or disproportionately impacted students.
6/1/2021  8:30 AM - Keynote

Unpacking the Keynote

Dr. Victor Rios
Where do we go from here?
6/1/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

A Culture of Equity through Inclusion

Dr. Sarah Boyle
Establishing a culture of equity and inclusion provides a benefit to all students in the classroom. It is not always easy to know how to be fully inclusive when students have varying needs and specific IEP requirements, but this presentation will hopefully get you thinking about what a truly inclusive classroom could look and feel like. Topics include defining inclusive practices, ideas on how to create an inclusive and equitable environment, an equity audit, and how to help establish a culture of equity and inclusion. You will also discover how inclusion promotes best teaching practices overall through differentiation. The general content of this presentation is taken from the book titled, Your students, My Students, Our Students: Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms by Jung, Frey, Fisher, and Kroener (2019)
6/1/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

It's All About Culturally Responsive Strategies: Effective Strategies for Engaging Historically Marginalized Students

Erika Brantley
Is it possible to engage EVERY student? Erika Brantley says YES! Join her as she takes you on a guided virtual trip to find the joy in the journey of engaging historically marginalized students.  Sharing her experiences from one of the highest performing suburban school districts in Arizona and the lowest-performing urban school district in New York City, this 27-year veteran teacher will inspire and reenergize her attendees! Participants will leave this workshop with renewed purpose and 'right now' strategies to implement in their classrooms! Erika Brantley’s energetic and friendly delivery engages her audience and makes the sometimes awkward, uncomfortable conversations feel safe.
6/1/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

Want to Create Systemic Change? Change your Leadership Thinking

Dr. Jeff McGee
As our school systems and communities are becoming more and more culturally diverse, we must understand how to lead differently. By seeking to provide a great educational experience for students and families, educators and administrators are challenged to think differently as it relates to transformational leadership. In this session, we will explore the concepts of equity and advocacy leadership through an engaging dialogue and activity. To bring about systemic change, we have to think, act and behave differently. Be prepared to have your thinking challenged as we prepare you to become better positioned to bring about needed changes within schools and communities.
6/1/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

Our World, Our Youth: Engaging Students in Social Justice Through Service Learning

Kim Graham, Executive Director, Arizona Educational Foundation and Kristie Jackson, 2012 Arizona Teacher of the Year
How can students be engaged directly in leading social justice on school campuses? This workshop will provide an overview of the Arizona Educational Foundation's new Our World program, which provides opportunities for educators and students to learn about and apply equity work. Participants will be led through the Our World: Social Justice through Service Learning module, which provides students with experiential classroom practices to learn how they can be both actors and leaders in creating change. Our World: Social Justice through Service Learning can make teaching relevant, enrich classroom communities, and connect to the outside world, while building creative problem-solvers and leaders in your classroom and beyond.
6/1/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

Teaching Tough Topics

Phil Robertson
This session would be open for teachers K-12 and focus on issues that teachers struggle to teach because of fear of current social and political environments. We would be looking at separating those present issues from the past. We will also provide a number of resources for teachers to use from diverse viewpoints.
6/1/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

The Classroom Teacher's Impact on a Student's Life Story

Leslie Hicks and Torre Valentine
Students are living the only story they know. This session will provide instructional strategies useful for building relationships and empowering teachers to positively impact a student's life story.
6/1/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

Leading Trauma-Sensitive Schools

Laura Wiggins and Rebecca Leimkuehler
This workshop is designed for school and district administrators and other school staff to lead teams through a lens of safety and connection, improve school climate, improve teacher retention and foster community.
6/1/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

Addressing Implicit Bias for Student Excellence

Rory Gilbert
Teachers, administrators and other school staff are committed to quality services for their students. However, research is demonstrating that good intentions are not enough. We are all products of our environments which inform us about who is in our circle and who is not, who is trustworthy and who is not, who is valued and who is not. It is not intentional. In fact, it is often not even in our conscious awareness. But the impact on our students is profound. This presentation will help participants define unconscious bias, explore how it may present in their own environments and identify strategies to reduce and interrupt it for greater, more inclusive student success.
6/1/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

Martyrs of the Movement

John Prothro
Martyrs of the Movement will chronologically take attendees through the Civil Rights Movement by sharing the background, the actions and the justice of each of the forty killings of the Civil Rights Movement. The presentation will focus on the fact that over 90 percent of victims were everyday, ordinary people.
6/1/2021  11:40 AM - Breakout Session 3

Trauma-Sensitive Tools and Strategies

Laura Wiggins and Rebecca Leimkuehler
This workshop will focus on the science behind trauma sensitive tools and strategies.  Attendees will leave this presentation with a new trauma-sensitive lens, improved approaches to engage with students, and ready to use tools to regulate yourself and your students.
6/1/2021  11:40 AM - Breakout Session 3

Making Multicultural Texts Meaningful and Manageable

Jennifer Young, Elizabeth Sacco and Shannon Wright
This session will provide teachers with fun, easy ways to weave this through their current plans and activities, rather than feeling 'one more thing' needs to be added to their day. A secondary objective would be to provide resources and lists of age appropriate texts for them you.
6/1/2021  11:40 AM - Breakout Session 3

Closing

Sara Wyffels
Closing - Day 1
6/1/2021  12:30 PM - Closing

Social Hour - Optional

Sara Wyffels
Unpacking the Symposium - Reflections
6/1/2021  12:40 PM - Social Hour

Welcome and Greetings

Sara Wyffels
Welcome and Greetings - Day 2
6/2/2021  8:00 AM - Welcome

Moving From Power and Control to Collaboration and Problem-Solving

Keynote Speaker - Dr. Ross Greene
This is the empirically supported model Dr. Ross Greene described in his influential books The Explosive Child, Lost at School, Lost & Found, and Raising Using Beings. The CPS model has transformed thinking and practices in countless families, schools, inpatient psychiatry units, and residential and juvenile detention facilities throughout the world, and has been associated with dramatic reductions in adult-child conflict, challenging behaviors, disciplinary referrals, detentions, suspensions, seclusions, and physical, chemical, and mechanical restraints. The model represents a significant departure from discipline-as-usual: it focuses on solving problems rather than on modifying behavior, emphasizes collaborative rather than unilateral solutions, encourages proactive rather than reactive intervention, de-emphasizes diagnostic categories, and provides practical, research-based tools for assessment and intervention. Participants in this workshop will leave with an understanding of the underpinnings of the model, its refinements over the past 8-10 years, and practical assessment and intervention tools that can be brought back to and used in these diverse settings.
6/2/2021  8:30 AM - Keynote

Unpacking Keynote

Dr. Ross Greene, Dr. Kym Marshall
Where do we go from here?
6/2/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

Being Adaptive in an Ever Changing World

CUSD -EAP Provider
-- CANCELLED --
6/2/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

It's Okay Not to Be Okay

Sarah Evenhus
This presentation supports becoming aware of both the trauma and grieving process that you and your students have experienced and move towards self-awareness. We will discuss and develop wellness strategies, self-care practices and ideas for the home and classroom. Content will include pieces to support you and your students through trauma-informed social-emotional learning.
6/2/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

An Indigenous Critical Consciousness

Tia Gramzinski
In this session, participants will engage in critical dialogue as well as learn about how consciouness relates to students' journey in school. As leaders of a classroom or in educational spaces, our actions and words have implications for Indigenous and other historically marginalized students.
6/2/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

All Means All - Equity for Students with Behavioral Challenges

Meaghan Davis
Sometimes students do not fit the mold of the typical student. Whether it is a student in special education, on a 504 plan, or a student with behavior issues in need of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), we must meet the challenge of giving these students equitable access to education. We will learn practical strategies for meeting the needs of students with a variety of challenges.
6/2/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

Invisible Disabilities: So Much More Than Meets the Eye

Shannon Wilke and Carrie Gibbons
Educators are faced with a growing number of students in their classrooms with invisible disabilities such as: ADHD, Anxiety, Autism and Learning Disabilities. While inclusion is a wonderful movement, the unique styles these students learn best under are often not taught. This session will spend time discussing learning differences, common accommodations, positive classroom behavior strategies, and the buzz about Executive Functioning. Making the invisible differences visible to you will foster a connection with your students. These unique learners will strengthen your school/classroom community, as all can benefit from the diversity they bring you your school days.
6/2/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

Sex Trafficking and Special Education Students

Dr. Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, Veronica Duffield, Angel Jannasch-Pennell and Kimberly Peaslee
Attendees will learn the science of safety and connection and leave this presentation prepared to use a trauma-sensitive approach when working with staff and students.
6/2/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

Creating Equity for Indigenous Students

Rowdy Duncan
In this session, participants will engage in discussion to dissect and define, as well as learn about equity-related vocabulary as it relates to CUSD Indigenous students' and families PreK-12 experience. As leaders of a classroom and in educational spaces, our actions and words have both intentional and unintentional outcomes for those we serve.
6/2/2021  10:40 AM - Breakout Session 2

If You Build it, They Will Learn

Chalene Baxter
Building a Field of Dreams with students will inspire them to rise to the levels of excellence with their learning. How do we build the Field of Dreams? We learn to rethink equitable and inclusive classrooms with the topics including everyone deserves to belong, establishing a culture of intervention for all students, honoring student aspirations, and learning frameworks for collaboration with the team members on the field.
6/2/2021  11:40 AM - Breakout Session 3

Addressing the Needs of Asian Students

Dr. Mina Bhagdev
Members of the Asian American population, also known as the Model Minority often find themselves cornered them into a single lens of academic exceptionality. In this session, we will explore the following questions: What do we really know about our Asian American students? Why are many reluctant to engage in the classroom activities? What challenges do they face? What can teachers do to help? This presentation will discuss myths surrounding Asian Americans, and explore how K-12 educators can address the needs of this student population. We will delve deeply in our own narrative around the 'model minority myth', and compare that to the realities and the challenges they actually face.
6/2/2021  9:40 AM - Breakout Session 1

Body Language Basics

Crystal Blackwell
Body Language Basics will provide you with a great set of skills to understand that what is not said is just as important than what is said. It will also give you the ability to see and understand how your own Body Language is being seen. You will be able to adjust and improve the way you communicate through non-verbal communications.
6/2/2021  11:40 AM - Breakout Session 3

Addressing the Needs of our LGBTQ Students

James Fountain
This session will increase attendees' knowledge and understanding of our LGBTQ and transgender students through a lens of a teacher’s personal experience. Attendees will walk away with practical suggestions on how to create an affirming space for these students.
6/2/2021  11:40 AM - Breakout Session 3

Children's Mental Health: Four Ways to Prepare for Whatever Comes Next

Dr. Laura Wingers and Dr. Beth Richter
As we look back on this year (decade?!) of pandemic parenting, teaching and learning, we also begin to look forward. What will the next school year hold for our students, teachers and families? What opportunities and challenges might we expect, and how can we prepare? We welcome clinical psychologists Dr. Laura Wingers and Dr. Beth Richter as they tackle these questions and share strategies, with a focus on proactive responses to the unique learning and mental health needs of our students.
6/2/2021  11:40 AM - Breakout Session 3

Closing

Sara Wyffels
Closing - Day 2
6/2/2021  12:30 PM - Closing

Social Hour - Optional

Sara Wyffels
Unpacking the Symposium - Reflections
6/2/2021  12:40 PM - Social Hour

Diversity Climate Matters in Teaching and Learning

Dr. Mina Bhagdev
Diversity climate is related to how people perceive the inclusivity and fairness of their environment. Diversity climate applies to any category of people belonging to different groups. This session will discuss the phenomenon in greater depth and ask teachers to consider how students might perceive the diversity climate in their classrooms. We will examine how diversity climate impacts psychological and learning outcomes for students.
6/1/2021  11:40 AM - Breakout Session 1