Plano ISD’s Post

Teaching Tough Topics: Human Rights, Genocide, and Atrocity Crimes in the 21st Century Classroom has officially launched! Teaching Tough Topics: Human Rights, Genocide, and Atrocity Crimes in the 21st Century Classroom is not a history book, it is a pedagogy book.  This resource walks you through deciding what you should teach, how long you can teach the topic, and how to communicate with administrators, parents, and colleagues about what you will teach.  This is just the beginning!  Once you do that, there will be questions.  You will plan how to handle tough questions to accompany your tough topics.   To purchase, please use the following Cognella Catalog link:   https://lnkd.in/e46Ty4jn (https://lnkd.in/e46Ty4jn)

Being able to learn about and engage with thoughts and ideas, *especially* those we may disagree with, is foundational to a healthy democracy. Being able to learn about and engage with thoughts and ideas, *especially* those we may disagree with, is foundational to a healthy democracy. This holds true in our schools, our libraries, and in all our public spaces. In recent years, there have been increased attempts to censor books included in the catalogue of public and school libraries and books listed on the curriculum of public schools in New Jersey. As efforts to ban books become more frequent, we must collectively defend everyone’s right to access information. This includes supporting our teachers and librarians in their work to educate and inform each and every one of us. If you know of censorship attempts in your local public library or school district, we want to know! Tell us: https://lnkd.in/eqvVFE-U

LIGHT SENSITIVITY: Discrimination Beth "I also had sensory issues too which affected me during my time at school, such as not being able to read whiteboards/white paper and worksheets, since the white would reflect the light of the room and makes things so bright it was like trying to read while someone was shining a torch in your eye." https://lnkd.in/gSTiZ6gP. Excerpt from my PhD thesis:- "Negation of light sensitivity is like racism, a consequence of systemic cultural practices. Salter, Adams, and Perez in their discussion of systemic racism, suggest changing the water not the fish.[i] Similarly, light is the environment in which students swim or sink, and it is preferable to change toxic light rather than trying to change the student.[ii] However, school students, even if they are aware that light in the classroom bothers them, lack the resources to protest. Furthermore, low literacy levels have been associated with ‘learning difficulty’, thus both school students and adults in tertiary institutions are reluctant to complain about difficulty with reading in particular lighting conditions. This legacy of a cultural belief reinforces strategies of agenda denial. The concept of ‘learning difficulty’ is locked-in and the concept of light sensitivity is locked out. “Something is stuck at the cognitive level”[iii] and this cognitive barrier impedes setting people with Light Sensitivity on a government agenda. Dr Jacqui Shepherd, Michelle Lansdowne MBA, Guy Kornetzki, Dr Shelley James - The Light Lady, Light Aware [i] Phia S. Salter, Glenn Adams, and Michael J. Perez, “Racism in the Structure of Everyday Worlds: A Cultural-Psychological Perspective,” Association for Psychological Science 27, no. 3 (2018). [ii] Mogas-Recalde and Palau, “Classroom Lighting.” [iii] Kim van Nieuwaal, “Institutional Path Dependence: A Resistance to Controversies,” in The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, eds. Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010).

Join Suzanne Sukkar in her final installment of her five-part Minutes on the Matter series, “Are You a School District Struggling to Find Teachers? Foreign Teachers May be the Answer.” In this episode, she gives insight on how to help school districts hire qualified foreign teachers amid the current teacher shortage. Watch here: https://bit.ly/4azvMfO #immigrationlaw #emplaw #hrlaw

Episode 5 of Minutes on the Matter series! #immigrationlaw #schools #education #teachers

https://lnkd.in/gUZZrQ_M - Celebrating the vital contributions of school librarians! Discover how their role enriches education in this insightful article. #Education #SchoolLibrarians #LoveForLearning #LIRAlearning

NEW ESSAY POST!! Click the link below to check out the latest Essays section of the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice. One of this week's blog posts is written by Staff Editor, Jeremy Coppola! https://lnkd.in/esKDpZ43

👩🏫✨ Tired of the politics? Get Involved. Consider: •Supporting organizations that advocate for education and libraries. •Volunteering your time at your local school or library. •Running for school or library boards to have a direct say in decision-making. We must focus on solutions. Propose constructive alternatives respectfully.

A Toolkit to Defend Teachers and Librarian against False Accusations of Antisemitism The purpose of this toolkit is to explain how false accusations of antisemitism are used to silence Palestinians and their allies in struggles against racism and colonialism. It lays out how K-12 teachers and librarians might realistically come under attack for fulfilling their professional and ethical obligations to include Palestinians in the world we teach to our children. It suggests how you can build support to try to reduce the impacts of attacks before they arise, and constructive ways to respond if they do. https://lnkd.in/e_6CXuqe

I have been invited to speak at the Center for Social Justice. Urban League on Wednesday. Oct 3.. Here is a reading sample for my book: Critical Race Theory and the Search for Truth https://lnkd.in/gqUETTau