Breakout Sessions: 2026 Summit on Educators of Color

Reclaim Your S.E.A.T.: Black Student Achievement brings together a dynamic panel of educators and practitioners centered on the lived experiences and cultural wealth of Black students in grades 6-12. Through honest, solutions-driven dialogue rooted in Solidarity, Empowerment, Action, and Transformation, panelists will examine systemic barriers, implicit bias, and deficit thinking while elevating the strengths and resilience Black students bring to every learning space. Leave with fresh perspectives and concrete practices to implement immediately.

Healing the Divide: Building New Tables is an interactive workshop that challenges educators to recognize and address racial trauma while creating new spaces, partnerships, and opportunities that amplify diverse voices. Through reflection, dialogue, real-world examples, and practical strategies, participants will explore bias, build trust, celebrate cultural identity, and develop inclusive leadership practices. Attendees will leave equipped to foster equitable learning environments and lead meaningful change by building “new tables” where every student, educator, and community voice is valued and empowered.

“My Mind Matters” will address characteristics of burnout, Secondary Traumatic Stress, and Cognitive Overload; provide a safe space for participants to engage in open dialogue while participating in light activities; and provide mental health resources that will be shared with all participants. Each session will consist of three parts: Opening/Sharing of Foundational Information (15 mins), Applicable Practice of ‘healthy mind’ activities (30 mins), and Next Steps/Closure (25 mins)

This session will answer the following questions:
-What makes a school culturally affirming?
-Who gets centered in school policies, curriculum, and culture?
-How do students and educators experience affirmation differently?
Participants will be able to:
-Understand the components of culturally affirming schools;
-Reflect on how identity and lived experiences shape educational experiences;
-Identify practices that affirm students and educators of color;
-Develop actionable strategies to strengthen equitable and inclusive school cultures.

When the table doesn’t exist — build it. This 70-minute workshop equips K–12 educators with the tools and community to create new spaces, initiatives, and coalitions when existing structures fall short. Through storytelling, the S.E.A.T. framework, and two structured breakouts — a Gap Map exercise and a Coalition Blueprint Workshop — participants identify what’s missing in their schools and leave with a personalized, ready-to-implement action plan and a network of co-conspirators committed to building alongside them.

This session will provide Pre-K through college/university staff, faculty, and administrators with self-care and wellness information. This session will include a self-care inventory, research, a conceptual framework, small and large group discussion, resources, constructivism, and music. Dr. Henry-Whitehead will also share some of her personal story, “From Struggling to Mending to Appreciative”.

Through hands-on activities and classroom examples, educators will examine how picture books that feature marginalized identities and histories can build content knowledge, support paired-text instruction, and strengthen student writing across content areas.
The interactive session provides standards-aligned strategies for integrating picture books into secondary English, history, civics, science, music, and art classrooms. The session highlights ways picture books support analytical, argumentative, creative, and research-based writing through culturally affirming teaching practices.

This interactive session equips educators to transform difficult family conversations into culturally affirming partnerships. Using a practical framework—Listen, Validate, Clarify, Partner—participants will explore strategies that reduce defensiveness, build trust, and strengthen advocacy for students of color and students with disabilities. Attendees will leave with concrete language, reflection tools, and next steps they can use immediately in schools, unions, and community-facing conversations.

This interactive session explores how teachers of color cultivate the next generation of educators by creating inclusive environments, deepening parent engagement, and creating innovative initiatives to address academic shortfalls.
— FULL Failing, Unorganized, Lazy, Limited —
We will discuss current research and lived experiences of today’s classrooms, participants will share narratives of growth and success . Participate in a interactive action-planning activity, equipping every attendee with a definitive “Call to Action” blueprint for the 2027 school year.

When Richmond Virtual Academy (RVA) faced an abrupt shutdown, educators, families, and the Richmond Education Association (REA) mobilized to protect a vital community space. This panel shares our raw, first-hand journey of building a culturally affirming virtual school and the collective organizing that followed its closure notice. Participants will discover how we leaned into family relationships, elevated parent voices, and partnered with our union to fight for equitable options for marginalized students.

Inspired by the legacy of civil rights leaders like John Lewis, this session equips educators especially educators of color with practical tools to teach students how to engage in advocacy, activism, and “good trouble” in meaningful, age-appropriate ways.

What happens when a Black woman and a white woman come together with one purpose to disrupt the systems that were never built for either of them to thrive? Dr. Kendra Washington-Bass and Kelly Peaks Horner, often called a “unicorn” for their intersectional co-facilitation, move beyond comfortable allyship into the costly, courageous work of co-conspiracy. Rooted in their book Unwrapped: The Pursuit of Justice for Women Educators, this workshop calls participants into real solidarity.

I have personally experienced the feeling of applying with the expectation that I would not receive an opportunity, as well as the imposter syndrome that comes with receipt! I would like to present my experiences in both applying for and receiving a variety of these opportunities, including the Einstein Fellowship, Fulbright Teacher Exchange, and Grosvenor Teaching Fellowship with National Geographic. Many of these programs are actively seeking applications from teachers of underrepresented communities.

The session will be an interactive presentation of my dissertation findings and discussion about retaining teachers of color in K-12 schools using Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL). Participants will engage in polling, discussions with colleagues/presenters, and reflect on current practices in schools and districts. Session outcomes will be a greater understanding of how Teachers of Color need their own CRSL and tools/tips for how to help one’s school/district or leadership program use CRSL to help retain Teachers of Color.

Representation matters, but meaningful inclusion requires more than adding diverse faces to existing narratives. This interactive session explores how educators can use local history, primary sources, community archives, and student-centered inquiry to help students see themselves in the historical record. Participants will examine whose stories are preserved, whose stories are missing, and leave with practical strategies for creating culturally affirming learning experiences that foster belonging, engagement, and historical understanding.