They were different women of different ages, sitting in different rooms, hearing different words on different subjects at different times. Yet their response – their natural, human reaction – was the same. The proverbial lumps in the throat, the moisture of not-quite-yet
Read moreSocial Justice Summer Camp 3.0 to foster growth via discomfort, ‘intellectual threat’
Jennie Hueber felt uncomfortable at NIU’s first Social Justice Summer Camp in 2017 – and that was a good thing. Hueber, the director of curriculum and instruction for DeKalb School District 428, already had begun her personal and professional journey to recognize,
Read moreCommunity Learning Series explores concepts, challenges of social justice
Jocelyn Santana remembers going to protests and picket lines with her mother, a public school teacher, even though she was too young to understand what was happening. She remembers sitting among “brown and black bodies” in a remedial math classroom at her
Read moreCommunity Learning Series will explore social justice during April 11 discussion
Joe Flynn grew up with a clear sense of his primary role and duty in society. “I was always raised to think about where other people are coming from, and what struggles folks have, and that oftentimes the things that people have
Read moreSocial Justice Summer Camp 2.0 pushes educators to confront issues of diversity
Participants in last summer’s debut of NIU’s Social Justice Summer Camp gave James Cohen, Joseph Flynn and Michael Manderino a clear directive as they departed for home. Please, please do this again. And so they did, even if they had planned to
Read moreDACA-ready: NIU College of Ed prepares teachers empowered to advocate for all students
When President Trump acted this fall to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, Cynthia Taines immediately looked beyond the inflamed political discourse. Taines, an associate professor in the NIU Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations, thought instead of
Read moreSocial Justice Summer Camp offers educators ideas to reach students in ‘a different way’
Long lines in the lunchroom. Climbing the gymnasium rope. Nagging parents. The quadratic formula. Anxieties like these are the stuff of high school. For LGBTQ teens, though, they take a backseat to the issues of sexual orientation. Changing clothes not in a
Read moreK-12 teachers to explore equity at Social Justice Summer Camp
Question: Can K-12 teachers without a deep understanding of social justice concerns effectively engage and enlighten their students on those topics? Joseph Flynn, James Cohen and Mike Manderino would say “no.” But the three professors from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Read moreBridging oceans
NIU joins Macedonian university in promoting peace Deep and influential thinkers from around the world will convene this December in Macedonia at the State University of Tetovo’s Center for Peace and Transcultural Communication. As they share their ideas on the impact of
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