WORKSHOPS AND MINI-CONFERENCES
Nepantla Teachers Community has annual mini-conferences with workshops that focus on high quality mathematics curriculum and instruction for students who are traditionally marginalized. We discuss ways to create a culture where students feel safe and able to engage with each other. It is also a space to bring together people that can encourage one another. Teaching can be a stressful, frustrating, and often thankless job. We meet to remind ourselves why we went into teaching in the first place. We hope to align philosophy and practice. We also enjoy delicious food, math problems, and puzzles. While our group is small, we welcome all math teachers to join us.
Over the summer, we prepare to reengage with students while fighting systems that hinder their success. Our aim is to provide a space for mathematics teachers to work together through thoughtful workshops that deepen mathematical understanding, critical discussions on past and current oppressive policies that create current problems (achievement gap, gap gazing, remedial tracks filled with students of color, etc). and reflecting on how to practically support our students who are traditionally marginalized.
We assert that working and learning in community is an important part of the process. This is one of the reasons the mini-conference is two days instead of one. It takes time to develop relationships and learn math together. Hope to see you at the Nepantla Teachers Community's Mini-Conference.
Mini-Conference fee is FREE this year! We try to keep costs down so that any interested educator can attend.
Registration opens in February.
2018 WORKSHOP
Mathematics and Identity: The Test of Integrity
Workshop Sessions:
Tension in Identity by Esther Song
Humanizing Mathematics by Jennifer Dao
Power, Privilege, and the Mathematics Classroom by Jerica Jurado
Do you wish it were summer? Do you feel like you’re failing as a teacher? Are you discouraged or feel like you’re alone? One of the challenges of teaching with a social justice perspective is that our reality can seem so far from our vision. We hope for students to leave our classrooms feeling powerful and able to change their communities. We hope they see themselves as powerful and that mathematics can help shape their world. However, teaching mathematics meaningfully with all of the constraints of schooling can be very discouraging. We may feel exhausted, drained, and alone.
At Nepantla Teacher’s Community, we are working towards facilitating discussion that encourages reflections and practices that get to the root of creating a socially just environment for students and teachers. Join us on March 2nd as we host our spring workshop on Math and Identity: The Test of Integrity. We will help create a space that will push each other through the end of the school year with a discipline for hope.
2017 WORKSHOP
Sustaining a Commitment to Social Justice Mathematics
Aug 11, 2017. 9 AM -4 PM.
Levan Hall (ROOM 406)– DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Campus
2320 N. Kenmore Avenue
CHICAGO
One of the challenges of teaching in the current political climate is simply staying in teaching. Many teachers are fighting for fair funding and pushing back against unjust practices. In all this, it is easy to lose sight of how this work can be sustainable in the long term. We focus this workshop on remaining committed to the reasons we are in education through supporting each other as a community. We will be spending time reflecting, considering what social justice mathematics can (and does) look like, enjoying time to just play with math, and learning about strategies that will help us continue to advocate for students for years to come.
2016 MINI-CONFERENCE
Taking a Critical Perspective on Mathematics Education
Workshop Resources Links & Schedule: Conference Slides here
August 5, 2016
9:00-9:30 Registration, Breakfast &Math
9:30-9:45 Welcome, Reflection & Goals
9:45-10:15 Math Group Challenge
10:15-11:45 Workshop 1: The First Six Weeks & Beyond: Setting Up a Classroom to Support Student Agency
Karie Brown-Tess: Doctoral Candidate at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
12:00-1:00 Lunch Off-Campus
1:00-2:00 Workshop 2: Inclusive Math- Low Floor/High Ceiling
Esther Song, 9-12 Mathematics Teacher
2:10-3:10 Workshop 3: Creative Insubordination
Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction
3:10-3:30 Participant 5-minute Spotlight
MATH TALKS by Sendhil Revuluri, Professional Development Leader
PEACE CIRCLES by Jennifer Dao, 6-8 Mathematics Teacher
INTEGRATED TECH by Elizabeth Denz, 9-12 Mathematics Teacher
3:30-3:45 Day 1 Reflection
August 6, 2016 Saturday
9:00-9:30 Breakfast & Math
9:20-9:40 Announcements & Welcome Day 2
9:45-11:00 Workshop 4: History of U.S. Education
David Stovall (via Skype), Professor of Education
11:00-12:00 Workshop 5: Social Justice Math Exploration
Frances Harper, Doctoral Candidate at Michigan State University
12:00-1:00 Lunch off Campus
1:00-1:45 Workshop 6: Facilitating
Productive Political Conversations
Brenda Shay, History Teacher
1:45-2:45 Workshop 6 Cont: Math Task + Role Play
3:00-3:30 Reflection Day 2 & Closing
Brenda Shay & Chanel Keyvan, Mathematics Teacher
2015 MINI-CONFERENCE
Identity & The Mirror Test
Schedule and Resources
Mini-conference presentation here
Friday 8/7
9:00-9:30 AM Simple Breakfast & Registration (BYOCoffee)
9:30-9:45 AM Welcome, Goals, and Reflection
9:45-10:15 AM Team Building Challenge
10:15-11:00 AM Social Justice in the Classroom: An Open Dialogue (Maggie Sharp)* (more resources below)
11:00-11:45 AM Math Challenge #1: One Cut Problem
12:00-1:00 PM Lunch
1:00-1:45 PM Learning about Restorative Justice (Jerica Jurado & Daniela Garcia)
1:50-2:50 PM Risk Taking in Mathematics Teaching and Learning (Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez)
3:00-3:30 PM Resource Share
3:30-4:00 PM Day 1 Reflection & Response
4:00 PM Optional happy hour at Park Tavern Grill
Saturday 8/8
9:00-9:30 AM Simple Breakfast & Puzzles
9:20-9:40 AM Announcements, Welcome, and Reflection
9:45-10:45 AM Rethinking and Structuring Algebra 1 (Matthew Moran)
10:50-11:35 AM Origami Fun (Erin Berg)
11:35-12:00 PM Math Challenge #2: The Giant Icicle
12:00-1:00 PM Lunch
1:00-1:45 PM Empowering Students in the Classroom(Chanel Keyvan & Jennifer Dao)
1:50-2:50 PM Making Group-Work Work (Esther Song)
2:50-3:20 PM Closing, Reflection, & Surveys
*Additional resources for Maggie Sharp's workshop:
Student Data Collection
College Attendance Rates
School Report Card
Culminating Project
2014 MINI-CONFERENCE
REMODELING THE NORMS
MINI-CONFERENCE PRESENTATION CHECK HERE
2014 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Friday 8/8
9:30 AM Breakfast & Registration
10:00 AM Welcome and Goals
10:15 AM Team Building Challenge
11:00 AM Color of Fear Movie Screening
12:00 PM Color of Fear Movie Discussion (Rochelle Gutierrez)
1:00 PM Lunch
2:00 PM Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable:
Finding Creative Solutions in Tension (Esther Song)
3:30 PM Wrap up and Announcements
4:00 PM Optional Happy Hour (Park Tavern)
Saturday 8/9
8:30 AM Breakfast
9:30 AM Standards Based Grading (Matthew Moran)
11:00 AM Break
11:15 AM Pie Slice Math Challenge
12:30 PM Lunch
1:30 PM Fun with Dodecahedron Origami (Jennifer Dao)
3:30 PM Break
3:45 PM Closing and Reflection