Events/Workshops
Kent ISD Professional Development:
All Kent ISD school district employees are encouraged to attend the Institutes for Healing Racism, through other area IHR course providers.
Institute for Healing Racism (IHR) was designed to address the history and reality of racism and its impact; institutional racism, white privilege, healing, movement into commitment and action. IHR are conducted in an atmosphere of caring, sharing and exploring of new information, which allows participants to feel safe, help clarify misinformtion, dispel fears and break down barriers to understnding true community.
A Silent Crisis: Creating Safe Schools for Sexual Minority Youth
Thursday, April 19, 2012 - 8:00 am - 3:30 pm at Kent ISD, ESC building
Click here for enrollment information.
Overview
This workshop is designed to help educators understand, assess, and improve school climate and safety for all youth, especially those who identify as gay lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or questioning. Research consistently finds sexual minority youth to be at higher risk of homelessness, alcohol and substance abuse, harassment, assaults, suicide, school failure/dropout, and truancy. The companion piece for the training, the A Silent Crisis: Creating Safe Schools for Sexual Minority Youth resource guide, included with registration.
Outcomes
Workshop Participants will:
- State major health and educational risks faced by sexual minority youth;
- Analyze current terminology related to sexual orientation and gender identity;
- Analyze implications of personal beliefs regarding LGBTQ issues on professional practice.
- Assess current school/agency safety and climate for sexual minority youth;
- State the implications of key legal and policy issues affecting sexual minority youth and a safe school environment;
- Use skills for responding to and intervening with students, staff and the broader school community to create a safer school environment for sexual minority youth;
- Commit to addressing school safety and climate issues that may arise among students, faculty, staff and parents in schools/agencies;
- Implement an action plan to address safety and climate issues for sexual minority youth at the individual, collegial, and the school/community levels;
- Use culturally competent local, regional, state, and national resources.
Support
These workshops are made possible through Cooperative Agreements supported by CDC-RFA-DP08-801 with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health, Atlanta, GA, 30333. The contents are solely the responsibility of the Michigan Department of Education and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the U.S. CDC.
Past Workshop Documents:
Impact of Poverty on Learning (Nov. 18, 2008)
Impact of Poverty PowerPoint (PPT document)
Facts of Poverty (website link)
Poverty Resource (PDF document)
Articles from ASCD's Educational Leadership Magazine:
As Diversity Grows (April 2008 | Vol. 64 | No. 6)
Whose Problem is Poverty? (March 2007 | Vol. 64 | No. 7)
The Culturally Responsive Teacher (March 2007 | Vol. 64 | No. 7)
Race & Poverty in Education, GVSU Colleagues Special Issue Fall 2007 (website link)
Other related articles:
Improving the Measurement of Poverty - Brookings website
Study: Poverty dramatically affects children's brains - USA Today article (PDF)
Questions, contact Julie Mushing, 616-301-8847
