2019 Annual Conference

Workforce Development, Continuing Education, and Professional Development

Poster (60-90 minutes)

This presentation explores a continuing professional education program that incorporates social justice education practices for K-12 teacher adult learners. Each training session integrates introductory knowledge of social justice education as it aligns to effective classroom practices, purposing to further human rights and equity practices in the K-12 setting.

This presentation supports individuals in diverse settings who are striving towards facilitating social justice education practices for adult learners. The session is specifically designed to support educational leaders and trainers working with K-12 faculty members as adult learners in order to support classroom practices and school climate. The training series will provide stakeholders with the tools to train educators through professional development on basic concepts associated with social justice education in a simplified, efficient structure with intended delivery to occur over the course of a school year. These trainings may contribute to furthering human rights within educational systems.

This session will allow participants to observe simplified, efficient modes for delivering impactful training on social justice education and its value in a K-12 school setting. As a result, teachers, as adult learners, will obtain transformational learning with active professional reflection, anti-bias practices, and general knowledge for applied social justice concepts within school communities. The professional development series provides simplified formats for training and straightforward opportunities for application. The training delivery is based in a structured format that optimizes time and impact to support efficient and concise training sessions, with the inclusion of reflective activities and resources for lesson use.

Today’s educational leaders and administrators must train and equip classroom teachers with supports that meet the wide-ranging needs and complexities of their diverse learners and school communities. Too often are teachers as adult learners faced with insufficient training and demanding schedules that prevent thoughtful pursuit of new learning and transformative practices.
Designed to support the demanding schedule of today’s K-12 schools, this presentation is based on a collection of 10 mini-professional development sessions over social justice education, designed to increase social consciousness and equity-based instruction. Each session is designed to effectively train and equip today’s educators, through mindful strategies geared towards adult learners, with knowledge and resources to support transformative practices within the framework of diverse classrooms and schools.
With a ‘teacher-first’ focus, this presentation reflects on meaningful application of social justice education in action, as it serves to further human rights for the next generation. It takes a purposeful look at social justice as it applies to meaningful opportunity for student growth, academic achievement, and social transformation within schools and classrooms, recognizing that educators must have the opportunity to see effective, real-life application for integration of social justice practices into their everyday practice.

The presentation will include a breakdown of the lessons included in the social justice training series for K-12 educators, as well as an overview for supplementary resources and handouts used within each lesson. It will review the value of social justice education practices in today’s classrooms, as it applies to greater social consciousness and transformative practice. It will also include a brief review of considerations taken in lesson design and structure, based on the specific needs of public school educators as adult learners, which includes time restraints, lesson outcomes, as well as sensitivity to new learning in social justice concepts.