About Empowering Multicultural Initiatives

Empowering Multicultural Initiatives (E.M.I.), a project of EDCO Collaborative, specializes in anti-racist education by establishing the values of racial harmony in schools in order to benefit students, teachers, administration, and the larger community.

E.M.I. originated in 1993 as a collaborative of seven school districts in the Metro West region of Boston, Massachusetts, concerned with academic achievement and equitable education. Current E.M.I. districts include: Bedford, Concord, Concord-Carlisle High School, Needham, Newton, Wayland, Wellesley and Weston.

E.M.I. facilitators work with schools and educators to help develop and implement effective anti-racist practices and programs. Empowering Multicultural Initiatives (E.M.I.) seeks to establish anti-racist school climates that offer excellence and equity for all students.

This Blog is designed to provide resources and updates on EMI activities.For Lesson Plan and Tenacity ideas check out EMI’s website http://www.edcollab.org/EMI/EmpoweringMulticultural.html


For information about EMI or the EMI 2013 - 2014 course schedules and activities contact ellistern123@gmail.com



EMI Activities


E.M.I. Spring 2014 Course Schedule

25-hour (2 credits) course


Anti-Racist School Practices to Support the Success of All Students (EMI 1)
This graduate level course is designed to introduce educators to the complex issues raised by race and racism and their impact on student learning and achievement. This course will also help increase the skills of cultural proficiency.
Course # sp14ARSPA
Course dates:
Fridays: January 31st and March 28th from 8:30-3:30
Thursdays: February 13th, February 27th, March 13th, April 10th from 3:30-6:30
Snow date: Wednesday April 16th

Course # sp14ARSP
Course dates:
Saturdays: January 25th, February 8th, March 8th and March 29th
Snow date: April 5th

E.M.I. 12.5-hour (1 credit) courses

Building Bridges of Understanding: Supporting the Development of Culturally Proficient Students
This course is for educators who want to encourage students to be culturally proficient and to successfully navigate their way in a world that is becoming more diverse. Discussion topics will include: cultural differences, stereotypes, prejudice, and forms of systemic oppression. Activities and resources from this course can be used in Advisory programs, Open Circle discussions, etc. and/or integrated into a variety of subject areas.
Course # Sp14BB
Tuesdays: March 11th, March 25th, April 1st and April 15th from 3:30 to 6:40

Strategies for Examining and Addressing the Academic Achievement Gap
This course will examine the current research on the influence of race, ethnicity and racism on academic achievement. Strategies that have been identified as successful will be studied and adapted to fit the needs of students in our schools in an effort to ensure that all students are provided with excellence and equity in their educational experience.
Course # Sp14SEAA
Tuesdays: January 28th, February 4th, February 25th and March 4th from 3:30 to 6:40

Understanding Self-Efficacy: Helping Students Do Their Best Work
This course provides participants with an opportunity to explore concepts of self efficacy and attribution theory. Participants will examine how students’ perceptions of themselves as learners influence their academic engagement and performance. Participants will learn how to use a strengths approach, create a growth mindset environment, and give praise and constructive feedback that promote student success in the school setting.
Course # Sp14USE
Saturdays: March 1st and March 15th from 8:30 -3:30

Optional graduate credits are available from Framingham State University for $75 per credit.

E.M.I. 5-hour Seminar
ENHANCING SUCCESS FOR STUDENTS OF COLOR IN MATH AND SCIENCE CLASSES

This 5-hour seminar is designed for grade 3-12 teachers responsible for teaching math and/or science who want to understand what “cultural proficiency” looks like in their classes. (This is included in the new MA teacher evaluation standards.)
Seminar: Math/Science
Seminar date: January 11th 9:00 -2:30

To register or if you need more information on courses, seminars or registration contact: ellistern123@gmail.com

Registration deadline is December 11th
A course may be canceled due to low enrollment.

We will continue to accept registrations past the deadline as long as there is space available.


Saturday, July 2, 2011

Gender Is Dead! Long Live Gender!

Gender Is Dead! Long Live Gender! http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2011/06/28/137398402/gender-is-dead-long-live-gender:  Categories like heterosexual, professor and cheerleader exhibit what the Canadian philosopher of science Ian Hacking has called looping effects. It is only if you have the relevant concepts, that you can come to think of yourself as classified as this way or that. And once you can think of yourself as being a person of a certain kind, you can also, through choices both conscious and unconscious, either make it the case that you are a person of the kind of question, or that you are not. You can, in this sense, construct your identity. But you couldn't do this without the availability of the category in the first place. As Hacking writes:
"Looping effects are everywhere: Think what the category of genius did to those Romantics who saw themselves as geniuses, and what their behavior in turn did to the category of genius itself. Think about the transformations effected by the notions of fat, overweight, anorexic."
I don't mean that we decide to be straight, in the way we decide to be a professor or a cheerleader. What I mean, rather, is that being straight isn't only a matter of acting or being disposed to act this way or that. It's a way of thinking about yourself. And with this way of thinking about yourself comes a whole complex of associated qualities, limitations and also expectations that loop back on to the way we act and are disposed to act.

And so with the concepts male and female.  Consider another study Fine reports on in her book. Students at a private college were asked to perform a spatial reasoning task. Before the test one group of students filled out a form on which they were asked to report their gender. The other group was not asked this question but was instead asked to name their university. In this way, one group was "primed" to consider themselves in the light of gender identity, whereas the other was primed to think of themselves under the category "private college student."

Men primed to think of their gender showed a marked improvement in performance over men who were primed to think of themselves as students at a private college. Exactly the opposite was observed in women. Women primed to consider their status as students at a private college significantly outperformed women who'd been primed to think of themselves as women.

It is as if the mere questions — male? female? student? — by reminding the students what kind of person they are, determined how well they could perform on the test.

Consider another study Fine reports on in her book. Students at a private college were asked to perform a spatial reasoning task. Before the test one group of students filled out a form on which they were asked to report their gender. The other group was not asked this question but was instead asked to name their university. In this way, one group was "primed" to consider themselves in the light of gender identity, whereas the other was primed to think of themselves under the category "private college student."

Men primed to think of their gender showed a marked improvement in performance over men who were primed to think of themselves as students at a private college. Exactly the opposite was observed in women. Women primed to consider their status as students at a private college significantly outperformed women who'd been primed to think of themselves as women.

It is as if the mere questions — male? female? student? — by reminding the students what kind of person they are, determined how well they could perform on the test.