Critical Conversations Conference
The purpose of the Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations Critical Conversations (ELCCC) is to create dialogues to address the current socio-political climate in the United States. A central goal of the conversations is for participants to walk away with a set of pedagogical tools to use in their practice and daily lives. We seek to extend these critical conversations with faculty, students, teachers, educational leaders, and other community members who are interested in having a positive impact on the world.
Dr. Bettina L. Love is the William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University and author of the New York Times bestseller Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal . In 2022, the Kennedy Center named Dr. Love one of the Next 50 Leaders making the world more inspired, inclusive, and compassionate. A co-founder of the Abolitionist Teaching Network (ATN), whose mission is to develop and support teachers and parents fighting injustice within their schools and communities, she has overseen over $250,000 in grants to abolitionists around the country. She is also a founding member of the Task Force that launched the program In Her Hands, one of the largest guaranteed income pilot programs in the U.S., which has distributed more than $15 million to Black women living in Georgia. Dr. Love is a sought-after public speaker on a range of topics, including abolitionist teaching, anti-racism, Hip Hop education, Black girlhood, queer youth, educational reparations, and art-based education to foster youth civic engagement. She is also the author of the bestseller We Want To Do More Than Survive. Dr. Love has also provided commentary for various news outlets including NPR, PBS, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Time , Ed Week , The Guardian , and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
| 8:00 am – 8:45 am | School of Education Building (SOEB) Lobby Area Conference Registration and Breakfast |
| 8:50 am – 8:55 am | SOEB 120 Auditorium Welcome School of Education’s Dean Penfield, Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations Department (ELC) Department Chair, Dr. Craig Peck, and ELC Assistant Professor, Dr. Tiffanie Lewis-Durham |
| 9:00 am – 10:00 am | Breakout Session A (please see sessions below) “Black Men Love: Amplifying Black Men’s Voices to Shift the Narrative about Black Men Teachers” | SOEB 102 Dr. Dawn Hicks Tafari, Associate Professor of Education, Winston-Salem State University Description: Black men love. Black men nurture. Black men care. This is the narrative we will uplift and celebrate in this presentation (and beyond). During this engaging presentation, the facilitator will discuss and share composite counter stories she created with the support of nine Black men elementary school teachers from the HipHop generation. These inspiring counter stories shift the narrative of Black men teachers and HipHop to create a literary experience that empowers Black men, amplifies their voices, and advocates for change in school-based settings. “Reflecting on Data-Driven Instruction Through an Equity-Driven Leadership Lens” | SOEB 104 Michelle Thigpen, Principal on Special Assignment, Guilford County Schools Description: In this session, we will explore the importance of reflecting on data through an equity-driven leadership lens as instructional decisions are made for students. Participants will engage with real-life classroom scenarios that challenge them to identify individual student’s strengths and needs to make equitable data-driven instructional decisions. By the end of this session, participants will be equipped with additional knowledge, strategies, and resources to implement an equitable approach to data-driven instruction. “Critical Community Building Strategies” | SOEB 106 Dr. Silvia Bettez, ELC Professor and Dr. Megan Karbley, Director of Compliance and Title IX Coordinator, Elon University Description: In this session, attendees will learn ideas and strategies to enhance their classroom, school, or organization’s ability to center equity as they engage with each other and their communities. “We’re Still Here: Creating a Culture of Belonging for Native Students” | SOEB 108 Stephen Bell, American Indian Coordinator/Diversity Equity and Inclusion, Guilford County Schools Description: During this session, participants will deepen their ways to support Native students through reflecting on personal experiences, discussing historical and contemporary barriers, and identifying student-centered solutions. |
| 10:10 am – 11:10 am | Breakout Session B (please see the sessions below) “Navigating the Future: Equity-Driven Leadership in the Technology Frontier” | SOEB 104 Dr. Rashad Slade, Chief Technology Officer, Guilford County Schools Description: Prepare to explore equity-driven leadership in technology while uncovering strategies for fostering inclusivity, dismantling bias, and cultivating a diverse workforce. Learn how district leaders are creating a future where equity is not just a core value, but a driving force for innovation and progress. “It Starts with Forgiveness: Antecedents to Equity and Action” | SOEB 106 Dr. Donovan A. Livingston, Teaching Assistant Professor, Director of College Thriving, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Description: In this session, we will explore the role of forgiveness – that is, the witnessing, giving, and receiving of forgiveness – in shaping our individual capacity for equity-driven leadership. Through the use of hip-hop and spoken word poetry, we will reflect on a series of critical questions intended to unsettle our reluctance to forgive ourselves and others, in hopes of charting new pathways to redemption, community building, and repairing harm. At the conclusion of the session, participants are welcome to share their lyrical reflections in the format of an open mic. “Survive to Subvert – Leading in Learning Organizations” | SOEB 108 Dr. Julius Monk, Deputy Superintendent, Business, & Operations, Guilford County Schools Description: This session’s conversation will focus on overcoming challenges and pathologies built into operating K-12 public education institutions that keep them from becoming true learning organizations. |
| 11:15 am – 11:25 am | SOEB 120 Auditorium Reflecting on the Beginning of ELC Critical Conversations Dr. Oliver Thomas, Dr. Robert Randolph Jr., Dr. Erica Brittany-Horhn, and Dr. Lalenja Harrington (ALL ELC alumni) |
| 11:25 am – 1:00 pm | SOEB 120 Auditorium Keynote Address, Q&A, and Book Signing Dr. Bettina Love, William F. Russell Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University “Punished for Dreaming: The Case for Abolitionist Teaching & Educational Reparations” |
| 1:00 pm – 1:45 pm | SOEB Lobby Area Lunch |
| 1:45 pm – 2:30 pm | SOEB 120 Auditorium “Leading for Equity: Asset Maps to Support Students and Staff” Dr. Tiffanie Lewis-Durham, ELC Assistant Professor, and Kelly Bradford, ELC Graduate Assistant |
Open to all.
Free parking available from the Oakland Parking Deck. Learn more about Parking & Transportation at UNC Greensboro.
Free admission.
Breakfast & Lunch provided.
Registration has ended.
Dr. Rochelle Brock, past chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations (ELC), was a founding member of the Critical Pedagogy Congress and of the Paulo and Nita Freire Project for Critical Pedagogy.
Inspired by the promise of critical pedagogy and the community built at the yearly Congress, Dr. Brock invited students (LaToya Brown, Erica-Brittany Horhn, Frannie Varker, Shareese Castillo, and Alia Henderson) to join her in 2017. They co-wrote a Kohler Grant to the International Programs Center (IPC) and were funded to travel to Turin, Italy that year.
The Critical Pedagogy Congress is held all over the world intentionally in unlikely places to displace the expected formality of such a scholarly gathering. Open dialogues blur the lines between theory, place, site-specificity, and relationality towards a different type of praxis, one shared among new friends and carried with you wherever you travel.
Upon their return, Dr. Brock, colleagues, and students planned what was hoped to be our own Critical Pedagogy Congress situated in Greensboro collaborating with Team Quest/Piney Lake/UNCG, A&T University’s Visual Art Department, The Experiential School of Greensboro, Elsewhere Living Museum, The Beloved Community, and other community organizations. Their hope was to bring together educators, students, artists, and community members for open dialogue about the arts, activism, and social justice issues impacting each of their circles and the many points of intersection.
Their vision of this type of unconference evolved into the many iterations of ELC’s Critical Conversations. Yet, one thing remains steadfast and that is Rochelle continues to bring people together where the engagement is deep, the warmth is felt, and the laughter is heard!
In memoriam:
Dr. Rochelle Brock
October 7, 2020