Thursday, August 19, 2004

MSTA Convention 2004

Convention 2004

Looks like there is a terrific line up of professional development opportunities focusing on diversity at this year's MSTA 2004 Convention. The convention is scheduled for October 14-16 in Ocean City, MD. If you are planning on attending, check out some of workshops being offered:

*Celebrate the Diversity of Humanity
*Introducing Authentic Multicultural Literature to Young Readers
*Believing the HYPE (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence)
*Recognizing and Using Cultural Characteristics of African American Students in Academic Settings
*Teaching from the Missing Pages: Creating Lessons in African American History for the Schools
* Lessons in African American History
*Using Action Research to Achieve Equity in the Classroom

You can get more information about the content of each session, presenter biographies, and complete schedules by visiting MSTA Online.

49th Annual IRA Convention Handouts for Download

49th Annual Convention%3A Convention Handouts for Download

This site has an excellent power point presentation on reading and the urban child. It's hot off the presses from the 2004 IRA Annual Convention and available to download.

Scroll down the page to find:
Campbell, Kristina S
Connecting with the Urban Child: Making Literacy Relevant

Then click on the download link.
ENJOY!

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

The African-American Teachers Lounge

The African-American Teachers Lounge

This wonderful site explores topics related to African American educators and their students. Features include lesson plans, chat, news of interest, and discussion boards.

AFRICA ACCESS

AFRICA ACCESS

This online database contains reviews and annotations of over 900 materials on Africa. These critiques and descriptions were written by university professors, librarians, and teachers most of whom have lived in Africa and have graduate degrees in African Studies. Africa Access Review is a collective response to the critical need for authoritative information about children's materials on Africa. Studies have repeatedly shown that many U.S. libraries that serve children contain biased and stereotypical materials on Africa. We encourage educators to use the information provided here to build accurate and balanced collections on Africa.

Great Opportunity at a Great Cost!

On August 11th the Diversity Team attended one day of a three day Summer Institute sponsored by Frederick County Public Schools. This event is was the 4th annual Institute
which provides educators with an opportunity to network with other professionals throughout the state, hear keynote presenters such as Ruby Payne and participate in workshops i.e. "Log On To Blog". You can't beat this professional learning experience all for the cost of a lunch!
Put a reminder on your calendar to check the Frederick County Public Schools website
FCPS.org, in late May or early June for registration info for the 2005 Summer Institute.

Diversity Team LISTSERV

Be sure to sign up for the Diversity Team LISTSERV to get a monthly mailing with tips on best practices. The list will be sent out on the 15th of each month.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Tolerance.org

Tolerance.org

This entry was created using BlogThis! Notice the automatic hot link to the site.

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

The George Lucas Educational Foundation

The George Lucas Educational Foundation

This is an example of how you can create an entry using BlogThis! This site has an extensive streaming video library of over 70 videos from educational experts. I am not sure that any of the topics are perfect fits with the mission of our team, but the resources are impressive.

Welcome!!

The Diversity Team Blog will have "official" content by August 24th. Until that time, the blog content will vary as team members get comfortable posting content in this environment.