UnboundEd will not sit idly by during this global pandemic, especially when our core message rings true now more than ever. The first UnboundEd Virtual Summit launched to equip teachers, coaches, school administrators, and system leaders to be ready to learn and lead this Fall. For two days, more than 1,000 educators from 30 states grounded themselves in the UnboundEd intersection of standards, instruction, content, and equity to meet the new demands on planning and instruction to create engaging learning environments that support students who have experienced interrupted schooling through COVID-19.
On day one, Lacey Robinson, President & CEO of UnboundEd, charged educators to imagine how it would be when all students’ awareness is raised, and the appreciation of their individual selves is brought into each lesson and learning experience.
“Racism moves with great viscosity. And somehow, it begins to devour our beliefs, and it ignites the automaticity of our implicit bias through our actions and intentions. Racism and bias give resolution to who is worthy and deserving of power. And who is predestined for survival and who is not. And I say enough, we say enough, and our enough can begin with us.”
Lacey Robinson, president and CEO of UnboundEd
From there, facilitators asked educators to consider the heightened role their work plays in educational equity.
The following morning, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings situated everyone in the center of culturally relevant pedagogy in a post-COVID-19 world.
“We have to find ways to connect with the students, and the things that they are listening to, and the things that are important to them.”
Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings
Throughout the second day, all participants were charged to examine the heightened role that educator beliefs play in educational equity.
At the end of the summit, participants logged off with an understanding of what it means to be prepared to make equitable instructional decisions. Those decisions, including discretionary moments that they might face, are what will provide all students access to grade-level meaningful experiences when they return this Fall.
This was also a special week for educators from Springfield Public Schools and Stockton Unified School District as they completed their System Leaders Academy and Equity Influencer Residency cohort programs. District-level decision-makers capped a year-long immersion program to build their capacity for developing, implementing, and then assessing their strategies for change. Among their learning experiences, cohort members explored the roots of racial inequities through history alongside change management principles to design anti-racist systems, structures and supports that counteract the opportunity gaps caused by systemic bias and racism.
If you and your school or district team want to attend an upcoming UnboundEd Virtual Summit, register today.