Editors: While the Teachers of Color and Allies Summit is not open to the public, reporters are welcome to attend.
Colorado's growing minority population is changing the demographics of the state's classrooms, creating a great need for more minority teachers, according to experts at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
However, many minority teachers can be isolated or frustrated by culturally unresponsive school environments. With this in mind, the CU-Boulder School of Education initiated the "Teachers of Color and Allies Summit," which will be held Thursday, Nov. 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Aspen rooms of the University Memorial Center on the CU-Boulder campus. The summit, which will be held for the third time this year, is not open to the public.
Each year the summit brings together School of Education students and faculty and Front Range teachers, counselors and administrators to discuss issues including teaching about race, class and privilege, working with students in poverty and teaching in a culturally competent manner.
"An issue that is increasingly visible is that we are teaching children of color with a largely white teaching force," said Lorrie Shepard, dean of CU-Boulder's School of Education. "While it's not always the case, this scenario could lead to a cultural disconnect between the teacher and the students. Minority teachers also could feel a sense of isolation in their schools."
One way to address such issues is to bring more underrepresented students into the field of education, according to Anissa Butler, director of recruitment and retention for the School of Education. In 2003, the School of Education created the Education Diversity Scholars Program with that goal in mind.
"We know that we don't have enough diversity of teachers in our grade school and high school classrooms," said Butler, who also is director of the Education Diversity Scholars Program. "We have diversity in classrooms, but not diversity of teachers."
A diverse teaching body is important for numerous reasons including having teachers who have similar backgrounds with their students and making sure that students see more examples of diversity in their teachers, according to Butler.
"It's extremely difficult to get young people into teaching, and it's proven more difficult to reach underrepresented students," Butler said.
Professor Emerita Sonia Nieto of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst will give the summit's keynote speech on "Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education" at 9 a.m. in room 235 of the University Memorial Center. Nieto is nationally known for her work in multicultural and bilingual education.
Assistant Professor Daryl J. Maeda of CU-Boulder's ethnic studies department, will give a talk on "Beyond the Model Minority: What Asian American Students Can Teach Us 暗网禁区 Diversity" at 1:10 p.m. in room 235 of the University Memorial Center.
The summit also led to the creation of a Web site intended to provide a central location where local teachers can go for information on issues such as race and culture in the classroom. For more information visit the Web site at .