Round Table Discussion Forum with CIP

So tonight was the Round Table discussion for New Student Seminar featuring the members of the Critical Inquiry Project; the graduates that Bree works with to integrate social justice education into their curriculum.
It was all students in Steinhardt who are currently in the education program; early childhood, childhood, and secondary. It started with Bree introducing the Round Table and each of the teachers saying what year they graduated, what grade they taught, and whether it was Special Ed or Gen Ed. Then the teachers posed questions about issues they would teach in their classrooms and asked the students to stand in separate part of the rooms for if they would, weren't sure, or would not teach those issues. The issues were ones such as race in the election, the Holocaust, Gay Marriage, and 9/11. Some students felt strongly that they would teach these issues while others felt they weren't sure, especially about teaching to young children in first or second grade.
Then we watched a film about a student named Dalton Sherman who gave a speech in Dallas to about 20,000 professionals who worked in schools in Dallas. It was very inspirational; he spoke about how he and his classmates needed everyone there to believe in them. Then the students talked about how they felt about the movie; how it affected them as preservice teachers and how it inspired them. Facilitators then posed a question addressing if the fact that Dalton Sherman is black played any part in the impact that his message had. One student said yes, the fact that he is a minority affected the impact of his message. Another said that they did not even think about the fact that Dalton was black.
Then the students spoke again in small groups about why they wanted to be a teacher.
After that, the panel talked about the CIP and how they are integrating social justice education into their classroom. Dan came up and talked about the project he did with Fair Trade Chocolate that Bree showed in class. Then Mike spoke about his second grade class's work on Columbus. They talked about the real issues surrounding Columbus's journey. They talked about whether he was a hero or not. Then they brought it to the rest of the school community by putting a bulletin board in the hallway and letting whomever pass decide if they think Columbus was a hero or not and put it in a box.
Then at the end there was a question and answer portion where the students asked the panel questions about how they got jobs and how they worked with the school to integrate social justice education into their curriculum.