These workshops have been developed for the use of NJAIS members only and are not to be downloaded, copied, used, or distributed without permission.

 

 

SUBSCRIPTION SERIES:

 

Humility, Healing, and Hope:
Rebuilding Bridges in Our School Communities

 

Hosted via:

 

This series includes the following topics:

Building Capacity for Tough Conversations in Anti-Racist Classrooms

Common Mistakes in DEIJ Work (and How to Learn from Them)

Foster DEIJ Through a Mental Health Lens

Growing Pains: Inspiring Everyone to Join the Difficult Conversations

Listening to Understand

Responding to Incidents and Concerns

Three Healthy Habits for Teaching in Polarized Times

 

This series has ended.  Please contact Rachel Folan, rfolan@njais.org, if you would like to access the series recordings for your school.

 

These offerings are available by subscription only.  
Registration includes unlimited participants in each of the sessions, as well as access to the recordings and resources to be shared within your school community only.

What this means:
You can send your entire faculty to each of the listed sessions for the flat fee.
If permission is granted by the presenter, you can use the recording to view as an entire faculty at a time convenient for your schedule.  
Recordings will be available for three weeks following the session.
Your school has unlimited access to this robust series of workshops and presentations.

When you register:
You will indicate one point person who will communicate which members of your school community will attend each individual session.
This point person will be the liaison between NJAIS and the school for all topics relating to this subscription series.
Each session will have a Zoom registration link.  Those who would like to attend those sessions should register at least 48 hours in advance of the session in order to receive their unique Zoom link.

Fees are per SCHOOL - A flat fee for your entire school community.

 

Session dates, descriptions, and presenters below:
*Dates, topics, and presenters subject to change*

 

 

Tuesday, April 5, 2022; 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. 
Three Healthy Habits for Teaching in Polarized Times

School communities are intentional spaces for learning, growth, mistakes, and triumphs.  When fear of conflict, judgment, or cancel culture prevents open conversation, community members can feel isolated and silenced.  This session will outline and explore the healthy habits teachers can utilize - and model for students - in order to promote connection, healing, and change. 

Presented by:
Amelia “Amy” Uelmen is a Lecturer in Religion and Professional Life and a Special Advisor to the Dean at Georgetown Law School, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Berkley Center on Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Her seminars aim to help students from diverse religious and political backgrounds develop the communication skills they need to foster understanding across deep differences.  In 2016 she completed an S.J.D. with a dissertation on the moral and legal obligations of bystanders to a victim in need of emergency assistance, with a particular focus on how the law should respond when people take exploitative cell phone pictures of the victim. From 2001-2011 she served as the founding Director of Fordham University’s Institute on Religion, Law, and Lawyer’s Work, and from 1996 to 2000 worked as an associate with the law firm Arnold & Porter, primarily in the areas of products liability and commercial litigation. Recent publications include  Five Steps to Healing Polarization in the Classroom (2018, with Michael Kessler) and Five Steps to Positive Political Dialogue (2014).

Tom Masters is the Editorial Director for New City Press. Before working in publishing, he taught for 40 years at the Leyden High Schools (suburban Chicago), as well as at Lewis University, University of Illinois (Chicago and Urbana), and DePaul University. He has published many articles related to teaching and learning, as well as several books, including Practicing Writing: The Postwar Discourse of Freshman English (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004), and Education’s Highest Aim (New City Press, 2011, with Michael James and Amy Uelmen). Through research and experience he has come to appreciate and address the everyday challenges faced by teachers and students. They are best understood not as problems to be solved, but opportunities to live within the inherent tensions and so transform the reality around them.

 

 

Wednesday, April 6, 2022; 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. 
Oops and Ouch:  Common Mistakes in DEIJ Work (And How to Learn from Them) 

Successful work in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) requires a healthy dose of humility. Will Matsuzaki and Luci Hoad have cultivated this over years of working to foster DEIJ conversations and programs in various school settings. This session will outline what helped their programs thrive, and, more importantly, their candid sharing about their own missteps as a mechanism for learning. The latter half of the workshop will focus on communicating around tricky topics, giving participants a chance to practice the conversations that keep tripping them up in their school experience and voice the big and small obstacles that continue to confound their work. Using problem-solving techniques similar to the UBD (understanding by design) framework, attendees will reflect on the essential questions and key objectives of their personal programs. The session will culminate with a sharing of resources where educators will link with categorized lists of the resources and a flow chart to help address DEIJ issues that come up, creating a community that can continue to be in contact as they develop this work. 

Presented by: 
Luci Hoad is the Middle School Division Head at St. Paul's Episcopal Day School in Kansas City, Missouri. In her previous roles she has worked to develop holistic implementation approaches for DEIJ programs and previously presented "A Holistic Approach to DEI" at the 2019 Southwestern Association of Episcopal School DEI Conference. She earned her B.A. in English from Texas Christian University and her Master of Theological Studies from Brite Divinity School.

Will Matsuzaki is the Dean of Curriculum and Director of the Tad Bird Honors College at All Saints’ Episcopal School in Fort Worth, Texas. He currently serves as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the American Association of Teachers of Japanese. Previously, he was middle school head at Harford Day School and middle school Japanese teacher at St. Paul’s School in Maryland. He earned his B.A. in Japanese from Carleton College and MS.Ed. and Ed.D. from The Johns Hopkins University.

 

Tuesday, April 12, 2022; 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Foster DEIJ Through a Mental Health Lens 

Many of our institutions are doing significant work around fostering a stronger sense of belonging for our students. However, there is hesitation around some DEIJ efforts by adults in our community. In order to continue this work and create sustainable change we have to get more buy-in from adults in our communities. Hear from a licensed therapist about how using therapeutic tools and mental health can mitigate resistance. 

Presented by: Ayinde Tate, LPC, has been the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Episcopal Academy (PA) since 2018. He has over fourteen years of experience working with youth. Upon graduating with his BA in Psychology from La Salle University in 2007, he returned to the San Francisco Bay Area to work for San Mateo County as a shelter counselor for adolescents. Ayinde returned to Philadelphia to work with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. He went on to obtain his MS Ed. in School and Mental Health Counseling from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014. He worked as a college counselor at Freire Charter School and therapist at the Attic Youth Center located in Philadelphia. Lending an ear and providing a voice for youth is his passion. 

 

Tuesday, April 12, 2022; 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Responding to Incidents and Concerns 

An aspect of equity and justice work includes responding to incidents that happen during the school day. These incidents can divide the community in numerous ways and leave practitioners searching for answers. This workshop uses the reporting structure at Campbell Hall as a case study to examine ways to respond and empower your faculty and staff to maintain the standards of equity and justice that we seek to uphold. 

Presented by: Christopher Dennis is Associate Head of School for Community Engagement, Campbell Hall, Studio City, CA. A founding consultant of the Campus Culture Group, Christopher recently served as the Director of the Hamoui Family Sage Center at Sage Center School in Newport Coast, CA. Prior to joining Sage Hill School, he served as the Director of Equity and Diversity at the Collegiate School in New York City. This role followed his appointment as Associate Dean of Students and Director of Case Management at Scripps College in Claremont, CA, and Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. In each role, Christopher has remained engaged with students in and beyond the classroom. His experience includes faculty and staff recruitment, NCAA Division I and II coaching and recruitment, enrollment management, international relations, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and outcomes-driven program design and policy adherence. Christopher earned his B.A. in Kinesiology and his M.S. in Organizational Management from Concordia University before obtaining his M.Ed in Higher Education Administration and Policy from the University of California, Riverside (UCR). Christopher is currently in a doctoral program at the University of San Diego for Education for Social Justice. ​

 

Thursday, April 14, 2022; 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 
When It Goes Sideways: Building Capacity for Tough Conversations in Anti-Racist Classrooms 

School communities have committed to engaging in difficult and challenging conversations in our classrooms. It is inevitable that at some point, one of these conversations will go in an unintended direction. This workshop will share strategies and skills to help keep these moments safe and productive. We will talk through how to protect the most vulnerable people in the room while encouraging the growth of everyone. At its core, this workshop will highlight what needs to be in place to ensure the best possible outcomes for difficult conversations and what to do in those stressful moments when a conversation or discussion goes sideways. 

Presented by:
Leah Deane, Teacher;
Regan Schwartz, Upper School Librarian, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Austin, TX

 

Friday, April 29, 2022; 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 
Growing Pains: Inspiring Everyone to Join the Difficult Conversations 

Who stays silent during discomfort?  For those who have had the privilege to side step uncomfortable conversations of race, identity, equity, and inclusion, how do you know if they have experienced the necessary growing pains that enable progress, awareness, and change?  In this session, Jen Cort and Rodney Glasgow will discuss accountability, intent, and impact that can inhibit and divide communities in pursuit of more inclusive and equitable environments of belonging, while framing in what ways we can all embrace more humility in order to heal, connect, and move forward.

Presented by: 
Dr. Rodney Glasgow  is currently the Head of School at Sandy Spring Friends School (MD). He is a graduate of Harvard University with a joint degree in Afro-American Studies and Psychology, holds a Master of Arts in Organization and Leadership from Columbia University, and a Doctorate of Education in Human and Organizational Learning from George Washington University. 

Jen Cort's career blends her experience as a clinical social worker and educator.  Her educational administrative experiences are as an Assistant Head of Lower School, Head of a Middle School, and senior administrator.  Jen's therapy background includes serving as a counselor in Lower, Middle and Upper Schools as well as private practice.

 

Monday, May 2, 2022; 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

Listening to Understand 

As we strive to find a sense of balance and peace, what tools and strategies will promote healthy connections within and throughout our school communities?  This interactive session will engage participants in a workshop experience that redevelops how we live and connect with those who may have different backgrounds, perspectives, and opinions.   

Presented by: Amy Uelmen and Tom Masters (bios above)