Location: Stanley British Primary School, 350 Quebec Court, Denver, CO 80230

Date: September 29, 2012 (8:30 am - 5 pm)

Whether or not teachers feel prepared, schools in every community are changing. Student populations are diversifying, and teachers must respond with professional and personal development to ensure that they are able to meet the needs of diverse student populations. Thus, the 2012 CIRCLE conference talked about the classroom implications of discussions across difference, challenging everyone in an educational community to think of new and creative ways to engage courageous conversations about identity, power, oppression, and privilege.

CIRCLE 2012 was also the first year for the conference to host CIRCLE STAMP, a full-day diversity and inclusion conference for middle school youth designed and facilitated by high school youth. Visit the CIRCLE STAMP 2012 Page to learn more about the first-ever CIRCLE STAMP Conference!

Keynote: How to Create a Culturally Responsive Classroom and School Community

So often, teachers, staff and administrators want to have ‘culturally responsive’ classrooms, but are ‘stuck’ in trying to answer some very familiar questions, “How do we create classrooms where every student is seen and valued? Where do we begin? What kinds of training do we need? How do we learn about what we don’t know? What if I’m part of the problem? If don’t even know about my own culture, how can I help someone else discover and celebrate theirs?”

These and many other questions will be the focus of Lee Mun Wah’s keynote address. He will explore not only in what ways we have become mired, but also what is still needed to truly make use of the cultural richness inherent in the gifts and contributions of our students, staff, administrators, teachers, and parents.

Biography

Lee Mun Wah is an internationally renowned Chinese American documentary filmmaker, author, poet, Asian folkteller, educator, community therapist and master diversity trainer. For more than 25 years he was a resource specialist and counselor in the San Francisco Unified School District. He later became a consultant to private schools, working with students that had severe learning and behavioral issues. Lee Mun Wah is now the Executive Director of Stirfry Seminars & Consulting, a diversity training company that provides educational tools and workshops on issues pertaining to cross-cultural communication and awareness, mindful facilitation, and conflict mediation techniques. Thousands of people from government and social service agencies, corporations and educational institutions have taken Lee Mun Wah’s workshops and partnered with Stirfry Seminars & Consulting on their diversity initiatives.

His award-winning documentary The Color of Fear has earned him international accolades and was the subject of a 1995 special by Oprah Winfrey.