Professional Development
1. Web Sites: Professional Organizations,
Teacher Support, Grants, Trainings and Fellowships
2. Electronic Discussion Groups
3. Books: The Ebonics controversy and more.
Web Sites
American Memory Collection Learning
Page
Lesson plans and resources that help you teach (or learn) using
the primary sources and digitized documents.
Association of Black Women Historians
The ABWH was founded in 1979 to promote the study of black women's history,
and also the professional development of women in the field. This web site
is an on-going project and currently contains much useful information:
bibliographies, publications by members, links to archives.
The Benjamin Bannaker Association
"The Benjamin Banneker Association, Inc. is a non-profit organization
of individuals and groups concerned about the mathematics education
of African-American children. It was founded in 1986 to provide
a forum for mathematics educators, mathematicians, and other interested
people to discuss the learning and teaching of mathematics to African-American
children." Newsletters, workshops and lectures, and Teacher Awards.
Black Caucus of the American Library
Association
The BCALA was organized in 1970 to serve "as an advocate for the
development, promotion, and improvement of library services and resources
to the nation's African American community." At their website you'll
find professional development resources, links to local chapters, Top
Twenty Children's Books of the Year, awards & scholarship opportunities,
their newsletter and more.
Black Caucus of
the National Council of Teachers of English
Recommended book lists, events and support.
The Black
Collegian Online
Resources for scholarships, career planning, and professional
development, plus a content-rich section called African
American Issues with articles on history and current events.
National History Day -Classroom Connection
Curriculum support, discussion groups, grants and
workshop information.
Multicultural Pavillion
Teacher's Corner, reviews, a listserv, fact sheets, a vetted list of
web sites, and much more.
National Alliance of Black School Educators
Promotes and facilitate the education of all students, especially those
of African descent. They seek to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas,
opportunities and strategies, and to identify and develop African American
professionals who will assume leadership positions. Membership is open
to anyone who shares their mission.
National Archives
and Records Administration: Digital Classroom
"To encourage teachers of students at all levels to use archival
documents in the classroom, the Digital Classroom provides materials from
the National Archives and methods for teaching with primary sources."
This link will take you to their workshops (some available through
ISDN-based videoconferencing systems) summer institutes,
and collaborations.
National Association of African American
Studies
Founded in 1992. Annual conference information, job postings
and announcements.
NEA Foundation for the Improvement
of Education Grants & Programs
Innovation grants, fine arts grants for teachers of at-risk
students, awards and more. "Think Big!"
Teaching Tolerance
"Teaching Tolerance supports the efforts of K-12 teachers and other
educators to promote respect for differences and appreciation of diversity.
" Provides a clearinghouse of information about anti-bias programs
and activities, distributes free, high-quality materials and anti-bias
curricula. Includes a forum to connect with other teachers.
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Electronic Discussion Groups
Electronic Discussion Groups or Mailing Lists provide
a way to share information with other teachers. You "subscribe"
to a list, though there is no fee or commitment for doing so. You can then
send a message, which is distributed to everyone else on the list. People
can respond to you privately, or to the list publicly.
Some lists are moderated (the owner weeds out flames, irrelevancies
and redundancies) but some aren't. Some come in digest form where messages
are collected and sent in a batch once or so daily - always choose this
option when available since some lists generate huge volumes of mail.
Save the confirmation letter you receive when you subscribe,
since it contains valuable information, like how to UN-subscribe, or search
the message archive.
AFAS-L: African American Studies & Librarians Section
This electronic discussion group studies "librarianship and collection
development as it... relates to the African American Studies collection."
You can subscribe or use the archive
of messages.
H-Afro-Am
The purpose of this electronic discussion group is to "provide
an exchange of information for professionals, faculty and advanced students,
in the field of African American Studies."
H-Teach
"H-Teach is interested in methods of teaching history at all levels--high
school, university, and graduate--in diverse settings. Special attention
is paid to use of new technologies in and outside of the classroom."
Multicultural Pavillion
"...over 425 participants from all over the world have congregated
over the Internet to discuss issues of equity, social justice, and the
transformation of schools and schooling."
Books
Can We Talk About Race? And Other conversations in an era of school resegregation. Beverly Daniel Tatum. Beacon Press, 2007. Order at Amazon.com
I was halfway through this book when a family health crisis distracted me. A lot has happened since then, including the election of the first African American president. According to many white pundits, January 20 2009 marked the official end of racism in America...making this book all the more critical because now we’re even LESS likely to talk openly and honestly about race than we were before.
Each chapter in the book is based on a lecture in the “Race, Education and Democracy” series at Simmons College. In each, the author seamlessly weaves together personal experience, current events, factual data and policy analysis to help us not only understand where we are, but where we need to be and how we might get there.
The first chapter explains that school segregation (or as she puts it, “resegregation”) is still very much with us, and what needs to happen if we are to move beyond it. The second chapter examines why this even matters: because race in American classrooms is effecting achievement. The third chapter explores the thorny issue of cross-racial friendships, and questions whether we can have social change if we don’t have interpersonal social connection. The final chapter takes us in search of wisdom, providing examples of ways to cultivate leadership.
This book is more timely than ever. In a way, I'm glad I waited to finish it.
Perry, Theresa and Lisa Delpit, editors. The Real Ebonics Debate:
Power, Language, and the Education of African-American Children. Boston:
Beacon, 1998. (High-School - Adult) Read more at Amazon.com
This collection is a common-sense look at the the issue of Ebonics,
and a must-read for any teacher of African-American children or for anyone
who loves language.
Contrary to media frenzy and popular belief, the Oakland school board
did not pass a resolution in 1996 requiring that Ebonics, or Black English,
be taught in place of Standard English. It did, however, pass a resolution
recognizing what linguists had known for years: that Ebonics, like Spanish
or German, is not defective English but a valid linguistic system following
precise rules of grammar. It also recognized that while students speaking
Ebonics need to learn Standard English to attain success in mainstream
American society, to do so they must be treated with the same respect as
any student who enters the classroom speaking a different language or dialect.
Instead, they are often dismissed as lazy or stupid.
Rickford, John Russell. Spoken Soul: The Story of Black English.
NY: Wiley, 2000. (High School - Adult) Read more at Amazon.com
The subject of Ebonics generally sparks a knee-jerk reaction. This books
attempts to lift the subject out of the political realm and into the more
appropriate realms of literature, language and culture. It provides a well-researched
and detailed account of how "Black English" evolved from African
languages, and dispels the myth that it is simply "substandard English."
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