NEIU’s Department of Educational Inquiry and Curriculum Studies is proud to collaborate with the Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce (CGCT). CGCT is a Chicago-based organization that seeks to empower K-16 students by creating local, culturally relevant, justice-based curriculum that originates from students' and families' lives, their cultures, histories and communities. These perspectives are often underrepresented in traditional textbooks and they are critical in making education meaningful to all students but especially students of color. It is precisely through this relevant education that students can explore their worlds and become agents of change. A primary goal of this collaboration is to help NEIU students see the relevance and practical applications of social justice education by introducing them to the work of the CGCT and connecting them with a network of educators across the city of Chicago doing justice-centered work in their day-to-day lives as teachers. Through this collaborative effort, future educators are also able to see themselves as change agents and advocates of transformative education. We accomplish this goal in three ways. First, we engage students in semester-long collaborations within some of our EDFN 305 classes in which they develop end-of-the-semester projects based on justice-centered educational philosophies. Second, we use the CGCT toolkit in our classes. This toolkit is a set of downloadable files or “tools,” that support and facilitate education students’ development of culturally relevant curriculum based on pertinent local issues. Lastly, our annual event, Creating Grassroots Education: A Collaborative Forum for Students, provides NEIU’s Goodwin College of Education students an opportunity to connect aspiring future teachers and school counselors with practicing teachers, counselors, community activists/organizations, administrators, scholars and students across the city of Chicago who are currently engaged in anti-oppressive, liberatory, humanizing and culturally relevant education. This event is organized by NEIU/CGCT in collaboration with several other local universities. The forum supports and facilitates NEIU’s Goodwin College of Education mission and vision while aligning with the expressed needs of our local community.
To learn more about this collaboration, please contact Ann Aviles de Bradley at A-AvilesdeBradley1@neiu.edu or Isaura Pulido at I-Pulido1@neiu.edu. To learn more about CGCT or to purchase the CGCT Toolkit, please visit their website.
Upcoming Event:
Northeastern Illinois University’s, Educational Foundations Program, in collaboration with the Chicago Grassroots Curriculum TaskForce (CGCT) is hosting their fifth gathering,
Creating Grassroots Education: A Collaborative Forum, Saturday, March 28, 2015
This forum is an excellent opportunity to connect aspiring future teachers, counselors and principals with practicing teachers/counselors/schools leaders, community activists/organizations, administrators, scholars and students across the Chicago area who are engaged in anti-oppressive, liberatory, humanizing and culturally relevant education.
Previous forums highlighted many educators from Little Village High School, the Education for Liberation Network, Village Leadership Academy, Rudy Lozano Leadership Academy, the Children’s School, among others. These educators presented on culturally relevant, justice-centered philosophies, curriculum, school-wide culture and climate, counseling, and administrative perspectives centered on humanizing pedagogies. Due to the overwhelmingly positive response from students, teachers, parents, organizers, and others, we move forward towards our fifth forum!
Please mark your calendar for Saturday March 28!
Also click the video below to see a trailer that includes footage from previous gatherings:
