8th Annual NYCoRE Conference
__________ Is All We Got!
March 24, 2018
Location: James Baldwin School
351 West 18th St
Manhattan, NY 10011
Date: Saturday, March 19, 2016
Location: James Baldwin School
351 West 18th Street
Manhattan, NY 10011
KEYNOTE: Bettina Love featuring Justis Lopez
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Read Workshop Descriptions
Schools reflect the long history of systematic oppression which impacts our society as a whole. The powers-that-be benefit from a system which mis-educates rather than educates, which encourages silence and complacency, which sends harsh messages about just whose lives seem to matter and whose are deemed as disposable. Practices and policies which recreate and perpetuate oppressive systems attempt to dehumanize those that they claim to serve, robbing young people of opportunities to create and dream, to invent and discover, to find their own voices, to write the stories of themselves. At the same time, teachers’ skills, care, and knowledge are marginalized as pressure mounts to turn classrooms into formulaic, scripted warehouses.
While a few billionaires and the politicians they have bought seek to reduce education to a profit-driven data game, those who learn and work in schools are fighting the power everyday in their classrooms and communities, striving towards equity and justice. Such spaces that nurture the dreamer, the inventor, the thinker, the artist, in all learners, are essential in reclaiming the humanity of teaching and learning. But if we seek to see those dreams realized, to see those creations come to life, then our educational communities must do more. They must seek to nurture the freedom fighter that each individual can be, to uproot the inequitable systems that destroy those dreams, to build the courage and community that leads to speaking truth to power, that leads to taking a stand for change. In the face of increasingly aggressive policies that seek to dehumanize students, their communities, and their teachers, those of us that stand for justice need to unite to “in order to fight the powers-that-be. Fight the Power!” (Public Enemy, 1989).
For NYCoRE’s 2016 conference, we are seeking proposals for workshops that speak to the theme of “Fight the Power!” We invite proposals of relevance to educators in varied settings that focus on a diverse range of topics. Relevant political critiques are welcomed, as are curricular ideas, classroom strategies, presentations on community work, and other ideas for inspiring practice. We are also specifically seeking workshops that contribute to bridging the gap that often exists between educators and young people by bringing the voices of youth into workshop sessions.
Goals of the Conference
- To share information and critical thinking around the conference theme, namely imagining possibilities for justice and liberation for education.
- To provide rights-holders in the education system with information and new ideas that can strengthen our effectiveness as activists, both inside and outside of our classrooms (and other sites)
- To forge connections between and among educators, researchers, parents, activists, and students, fostering new and innovative partnerships and collaborations
- To develop structures for ongoing discussion and working groups about education and social justice
- To organize a national voice in the ongoing debate over education reform
- To plan actions, advocacy, future meetings
- To bridge the gap between youth and educators by creating a space to make young voices heard
- To develop and share ideas for inspiring practice, both inside classrooms and in communities
Conference Timeline
- October 15: Call for Proposals for workshops and Call for Proposals for tables made available
- January 4: Call for Proposals for workshops due
- January 25th: Notification of Accepted of workshops
- January 25th: Registration Open
- January 29th: Accepted presenters must confirm participation
- February 1: Call for Table application due
- February 1: Program Ads due (email Margaret for ad info)
- February 26th: Discounted presenter and tabling registration ends
For questions: info@nycore.org
Transportation
A, C, E to 14th st.
L to 8th Ave
1 to 7th Ave and 18th
Path to 14th or 23rd
Parking
1.) Manhattan Parking Garage 450 West 17th Street 212-842-8398
2.) Imperial Parking Systems 250 West 19th Street 212-627-1704
3.) Central Parking 180 West 20th Street 646-638-0695
2015 Conference: Justice Not Just Tests
The 2015 keynote was a powerful merging of performance and personal storytelling. We’re extremely grateful to these individuals for sharing their art and personal stories of the how the high-stakes testing craze is affecting them as students, parents, teachers, and administrators. We heard how people from different locations are facing these systems through organizing, resisting, and visioning alternatives. We hope that you will take with you reminders of inspiration and creativity for our continued work in this beautiful movement.
Directed by Una Aya Osato, a performer, writer and educator, and a proud product of the NYC public school system. www.unaosato.com. Performers: José Vilson is a teacher, activist, author of This Is A Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education, and writer at thejosevilson.com. Dao X. Tran is an editor based in the South Bronx, where she lives with her young daughter dao@haymarketbooks.org. Jamila Lyiscott, Poet, Educator, PhD Candidate, activist, Graduate Research Fellow, Teachers College, Columbia University. @BlackRelevance. Erica Doyle is a native New Yorker who has been an educator for over 20 years. Rosie Frascella is an 11th grade English teacher at the International HS at Prospects Heights, a core member of NYCoRE, and a test resister. Lady and Crystal are performing from Urban Word NYC, which provides FREE, safe and uncensored writing workshops to teens year round, and hosts the Annual NYC Teen Poetry Slam, NY Knicks Poetry Slam, local and national youth festivals, reading series, open mics, and more. http://www.urbanwordnyc.org/uwnyc/ Loco-Motion Dance Theatre: Loco-Motion promotes works of emerging social consciousness and provides a forum for young voices to be heard. www. Lmdt.org. They will be performing: “Measurements”: Choreographed and performed by: Zoe Dalzell-Sexton, Veronica Habacker, Vera Hogg, Lola Kenet, Murphy Penn, Jackie Marino Thomas and Sophia Turso.
José Vilson
Dao X. Tran
Jamila Lyiscott
Erica Doyle
Lady and Crystal from Urban Word
Rosie Frascella
Loco-Motion Dance Theatre
2014 Conference: Radical Possibilities
4th Grader Asean Johnson and his mother Shoneice Reynolds moderated by Ama Codjoe.
Keynote Panel
Asean Johnson, 4th Grader and Education Activist Shoenice Reynolds, Education Activist and Asean’s mom
Even in the midst of these inequities, schools remain full of passion and potential. The joyful possibility of justice and liberation is at the heart of the work of teaching and learning, and is what sustains many educators in a policy climate that devalues and undermines their work. That possibility is called into being when a student takes a risk to express a dearly-held idea, when a parent-teacher conversation transforms both participants, when a teacher realizes that maybe they didn’t have to hold on to control so tightly. We are reminded that a flash of understanding can appear; that inspiration can strike; that tomorrow can be different from today.
When those moments of possibility and justice occur inside schools, they are beautiful and powerful. But they are not enough. Not enough to counter the school-to-prison pipeline. Not enough to counter profit-driven education “reforms.” Not enough to dismantle the barriers to opportunity that exist for undocumented students, students living in poverty, students who experience racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia, and other forms of structural oppression. The challenges and injustices that we face call us to draw upon all of our creativity, unity, and strength to imagine radically different schools in a radically different world.
The problems that our schools face will not be fixed by band-aids or by the lemon-juice-in-the-wound of teacher evaluation systems. They won’t be fixed by collecting more data, or by more testing, or by squeezing more phonics drills into a shorter time. As these pressures increase, we must become ever more creative in imagining radical possibilities and creating change, both within schools, and in the larger society of which they are a part. We must imagine ways for students to speak their experiences loudly and clearly, not just to classmates, but to their school, neighborhood, and global communities. We must imagine ways for parents and teachers to work together, not only during two nights of the year, but in lasting, sturdy coalitions that could revive the heart and soul of education. We must imagine ways in which each of us can move beyond our fears and our habits and reach out to others, building the passionate and powerful community connections that catalyze social change.
Anyon wrote of the power of such Radical Possibilities: “If those of us who are angry about injustice can recapture this revolutionary spirit of democracy, and if we can act on it together, then we may be able to create a force powerful enough to produce economic justice and real, long-term school reform in America’s cities (2005, P. 200).” Only by working as a people united can we imagine a different world; a world based in justice, equity, democracy, love and joy.
Reference: Anyon, J. (2005). Radical Possibilities: Public Policy, Urban Education, and a New Social Movement, pp. 49, 177. Routledge: New York, NY.
Part 2 of the Conference Opening: Intro’s, Urban Word Poet and Peace Poets
NYCoRE Conference 2013 – El Pueblo Unido/The People United!
Here is a recording of Karen Lewis’ keynote address at 2013 NYCoRE Conference
Many thanks to Norm Scott for putting this together
#nycore
NYCORE Conference 2013 – Karen Lewis from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.
2012 Conference: Education is a Right! Not Just for the Rich or White!
NYCoRE’s 3rd Annual Conference
On Saturday, March 24, 2012 nearly 450 educators, aspiring educators, community workers, youth, and families came together at the Julia Richman Educational Complex in Manhattan to attend NYCoRE’s third annual conference. This year’s conference included over 50 spirited and empowering workshops that explored various dimensions of the conference theme: Education is a Right! Not Just for the Rich or White!
You can check out the conference program here: NYCoRE.Conference.Program.2012.pdf
The day was kicked off by a young spoken word artist Amani Breanna Alexander of Urban Word NYC.
Our keynote address was powerfully presented by Professor Kevin Kumashiro with a performance by DreamYard Action Project.
You can find recordings of these presentations below.
Amani Breanna Alexander – NYCORE Conf 2012 from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.
Kevin Kumashiro – NYCORE Conf 2012 Keynote from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.
Conference 2011: Whose Schools? Our Schools!
The challenges currently facing our educational system can be daunting and discouraging. Critical thought and effective pedagogy seem to be buried under the flood of calls for “accountability” and “increased test scores.” But in the face of all these challenges, educators are working together with youth, parents, and community activists to keep the fires of critical thinking and curiosity alive. Committed educators know that there is no silver bullet, no magic wand, and no place for rescue from above. We know that the true superheroes are those who work every day with dedication, creativity, and compassion. We know that we change lives not with promises of rescue, but by working in solidarity with youth and their families to be our own heroes and heroines.
This conference is an opportunity to get together and share how we are doing this, in our classrooms, our schools, and our communities. Join us in celebrating the daily courage of educators in our city and beyond. Join us in networking, connecting, and building a movement of educators and community members who care about social justice.
Conference 2010: “the struggle for justice does not end when the school bell rings”
2010 NYCoRE Conference Program