The study circle will focus on practices and approaches for antiracist teaching in the adult ESOL classroom. It involves a series of meetings and independent activities for a small cohort of motivated and committed practitioners. Before and after each meeting, you will read, watch videos, try out classroom activities, and reflect on your learning and practice, all of which will inform and enrich the study circle meetings. Each meeting will include a discussion and sharing of reflections, with a focus on innovative, evidence-based solutions to disrupt racism in the classroom. You will acquire tools and strategies to apply in your teaching practices by reading and discussing the research on and relevance of Translanguaging by Ofelia García (2017) and Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain by Zaretta Hammond (2015), as well as other antiracist practices.

The study circle will meet five times (on Wednesdays, Oct 5, 12, 19, and 26 and Nov 9, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.) and explore key topics in antiracist praxis of teaching adult English learners, first looking at relevant research on a specific topic, providing with time and tasks provided to assure comprehension. Then, taking this new knowledge into account, you and your colleagues will examine connections from that research to your own classrooms and experience. Finally, specific tasks and subsequent reflection will provide an opportunity to experiment with teaching techniques and approaches to antiracist praxis that will change and improve your teaching practice and subsequently enhance student learning.

This professional development experience is a collective, participatory learning endeavor, bringing together practitioners from various sites and programs who share the common experience of working with adult English learners. The participants’ various contexts will allow for unique sharing and networking during and beyond the study circle.