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Professional Learning Community Workshops for New Teachers

For first year teachers of Title I Schools, Baltimore City Public School’s Office of Leadership Development will be hosting supplemental workshops on Saturdays with a focus on building community and cohort, understanding the District’s racial equity policy and recognizing the impact of teacher identity and perception on classroom practice.

Courageous Conversations about Race workshop series will be offered to our new teachers in Title I schools this year.

The workshops are four-hour interactive sessions steeped in content that address race and achievement. The sessions will engage in work that encourages you to reflect on your own racial identity development and provides learning experiences to help you understand the impact of race on educational equity and equity-based teaching.

The following workshops are being offered:

Date Time Presentation Instructor Description
Saturday, December 14, 2019 9:30am-1:30pm Cognitive Impacts of Baltimore Apartheid: How Toxic Lead and Trauma Impact Our Youth Dr. Lawrence Brown Associate Professor, Morgan State University Revisiting Mapping Baltimore Apartheid: This presentation illuminates a long legacy of trauma in Baltimore City that undermines the health and well-being of Black neighborhoods and students. Cognitive Impacts of Baltimore Apartheid: This portion of the session builds off of Mapping Baltimore Apartheid. It will highlight the impact of toxic lead and toxic trauma on the brains of our children.
​Intro – Defining Courageous Conversations, Strategies and Protocol​ ​Dr. Adell Cothorne, Educational Associate, Baltimore City Public Schools​ Courageous Conversations: The Attitude Underlying the Instruction – Part One: This portion of the presentation will engage participants in several activities to debrief the content from Dr. Brown’s presentation using the Courageous Conversations Compass, the Four Agreements and Conditions 1&2. Participants will deepen their knowledge of courageous conversations as they engage in protocols and strategies to talk about race in a safe and honest way.​


Saturday, February 8, 2020: Workshop Session Two

Date Time Presentation Instructor Description
Saturday, February 8, 2020 9:30am-1:30pm The Six Conditions of Courageous Conversations Dr. Adell Cothorne, Educational Associate, Baltimore City Public Schools The Attitude Underlying the Instruction – Part Two: This presentation will engage participants in courageous conversations that address their own identities, beliefs and expectations while using the previously introduced protocol and strategies to examine the points at which race intersects schooling.

Saturday, April 25, 2020: Workshop Session Three

Date Time Presentation Instructor Description
Saturday, April 25, 2020 9:30am-1:30pm  The Connector- Summarizing the Learning​  Dr. Adell Cothorne, Educational Associate, Baltimore City Public Schools​ This presentation will use the Courageous Conversations protocol to engage participants in reflection activities, make connections and debrief their key takeaways from the previous learning.​
​Factuality-Structural Inequality​ ​Natalie Gillard, Owner and Creator Factuality –The Game ​This portion of the presentation will engage participants in a facilitated dialogue board game where players assume the identity of the character they are assigned, encountering advantage & limitations based on the intersection of race, class, gender, sexual orientation and faith.​

Teachers will receive a stipend of $30/hr. for participating. Please use the link provided here: https://survey.k12insight.com/r/h9c3Ee to enroll in the December 14th session. Registration for the December 14th class closes at 12pm on Friday, December 13th. 

Important Information to Note:

Note: Teachers must be present for the entire 4 hr. workshop to receive their stipend.

We strongly encourage your participation in all three workshops as the content is built and presented in a consecutive sequence.

Please email Deonne Medley, Director of Teacher Leadership Development at dkmedley@bcps.k12.md.us with any questions.