In this session we will discuss the ways racism has infiltrated the U.S. school system. The talk will introduce implicit bias and how teachers may unconsciously reproduce racial hierarchies in classrooms. We will also discuss how structures and policies systemically hold racism in place as the status quo in U.S. schools. We will end by exploring ways to dismantle racism and rebuild a racially just school system.

Dr. Kerkhoff is an Assistant Professor of secondary education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Education. She holds a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Kerkhoff utilizes mixed methods to investigate critical, digital, and global literacies. Her research centers on integrating inquiry-based global learning with adolescent literacy instruction. She also serves as Going Global, Inc.'s Regional Director- Africa and previously served as 4 the World's Education Director. In this capacity, the International Literacy Association awarded her the Constance McCullough grant to conduct inquiry-based digital literacy professional development and research with teachers in Kitale, Kenya. Dr. Kerkhoff is passionate about global education at home and abroad. In 2018 she was named a Longview Foundation Global Teacher Educator fellow. She is affiliated faculty with the Missouri Language and Literacies Center.

Dr. Villarreal earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas at Austin. She also participated in the Fulbright-Hayes Group Project Abroad in Tanzania, which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and coordinated by the African Studies Institute at the University of Georgia. She has 13 years of bilingual elementary classroom teaching experience in urban public schools. Her experiences as a bilingual elementary teacher in Texas have led to her interests in the improvement and support of educational programs that serve students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Her research interests include hybrid language practices in linguistically and culturally diverse teaching contexts with a focus on Latinx children as well as literacy teacher education.

NOTE: No passcode or registration needed. Just click on the Zoom link to join

https://umsystem.zoom.us/j/98094423532