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Updated December 1, 2021
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Cohort 4 Semester 1 Training: New Dates Available!
2024-2025 Connecticut’s African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino Course of Studies
Cohort 4 Training Series – Newly Added Dates
All educators are welcome to attend. You do not need to be a curriculum instructor to participate.
Semester 1, Units 1-3
Friday, March 21, 2025, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
SERC / 175 Union Street, Waterbury, CT 06706
Topics:
- Mansa Musa, Mali, and the Impact of World Civilization – Dr. Benjamin Foster, Content Expert, Central Connecticut State University
- Black American History Mapping – Sherma Rismay, Founder, BluePrint Publishing
- Inquiry Into Black and Latino Studies: A Genealogical Perspective – Sandra Taitt-Eaddy, Genealogist
- Strategies for Implementing CT’s New Social Studies Standards – Dr. Beryl Irene Bailey, Founder, From Pages to Pedagogy
Semester 1, Units 4-6
Tuesday, April 22, 2025, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
SERC / 175 Union Street, Waterbury, CT 06706
Topics:
- A Family’s Perspective Regarding Tuskegee Airman Experience – Dr. Patricia Pheanious, Executive Director, Witness Stones Project
- Engagement of Black People in Politics and Relevance for Today’s Youth – Dr. David Canton, Director, African American Studies, University of Florida
- Hip-Hop and Civil Rights: Past to Present – Khaiim Kelly, The RaPoet
- Strategies to Effectively Launch & Support Implementation – Dr. Tawana Graham-Douglas and Kevin Szydlo, Plainville, CT
For questions: Heather Dawes, Project Specialist
dawes@ctserc.org / (860) 632-1485 x263
Register for one or both sessions today: https://25-06-111-2.eventbrite.com/
Student Summit IV
Connecticut’s African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino Course of Studies – Student Summit IV
Navigating the Historical Waters of Our Unique Identities
Friday, March 28, 2025, 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Check-in starts at 8:00 a.m.
CT LEAD, 96 Bank Street, Waterbury, CT 06702
“Navigating the historical waters of our unique identities” is a powerful phrase. It’s the work that bodies of culture have had to experience like true mathematicians, always searching for and speaking different tongues to move through the world. It is our ocean of diverse experiences, perspectives, and identities that is analogous to the historical challenge and beauty of embracing what separates us while recognizing our shared humanity. To sail these waters requires curiosity as our compass and compassion as our anchor, knowing that every wave carries a story, every current a truth. In navigating and celebrating our similarities and differences, we can discover the vastness not only of the world but of ourselves.
Special Guests
Christopher Rivas
Author, “Brown Enough,”
Encino, CA
Eboné Bell
Visionary Storyteller,
SimplyLead,
Washington, D.C.
Noel Quiñones
Writer and Educator,
Chicago, IL
The speakers for Student Summit IV have been specially chosen for their powerful life experiences and impactful storytelling approaches that provide insights into their individual and our collective experiences over time. Students participating in this session will have the opportunity to broaden their worldview by engaging in reflective and analytic activities with other students taking the course. They will learn how acts of resilience have been woven throughout Black and Latino history and how it can be used to create lasting change, both within ourselves and in our communities. Historical themes of “commUNITY,” influence of ecology, standing in the gap, representation, and belief in infinite possibilities will also ripple throughout the day.
For questions regarding content, please contact Nitza M. Diaz, 860-632-1485, ext 394 or diaz@ctserc.org.
For questions regarding registration or to arrange for a language or sign language interpreter, please contact Heather Dawes, 860-632-1485, ext 263 or dawes@ctserc.org.
*Transportation stipends and permission forms will be made available upon registration.
*Lunch will be provided.
An offering by Connecticut’s African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino Course of Studies (CT PA 19-12 and PA 21-2).
THE CONNECTICUT STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION IS AN AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER.
Calendar At-a-Glance: Advanced Topics
The State Education Resource Center (SERC), in collaboration with the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE), is honored to offer sessions related to Advanced Topics of Connecticut’s African American/Black and Puerto Rican/Latino Course of Studies. These sessions are based on key concepts and topics of interest from teachers who have been teaching the course. These sessions will give teachers who have participated in the Training Series additional opportunities to engage with speakers and other teachers regarding application of content from the model curriculum.
| Date(s) | Time | Session Title | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, 1/14/25 | 2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. | Latino History and Cross-Cultural Perspectives | Online Event |
| Wednesday, 1/15/25 Wednesday, 1/22/25 |
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Black American History Mapping | The Lyceum, Hartford |
| Thursday, 1/23/25 | 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Harvest of the Empire: Contributions of Latinos to Our Nation’s U.S. History | Online Event |
| Tuesday, 1/28/25 Note New Date! |
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Film Review: “La Gran Fallacia/The Great Fallacy” | SERC, Waterbury |
| Tuesday, 2/4/25 Thursday, 2/20/25 Wednesday, 3/19/25 |
9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Feeding Two Birds with One Worm: Empowering Humanities Teachers to Teach African and Latino American History While Implementing Connecticut’s New Social Studies Standards | The Lyceum, Hartford |
| Thursday, 2/6/25 | 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. | Inquiry into Black and Latino Studies: A Genealogical Perspective | The Lyceum, Hartford |
| Wednesday, 2/19/25 | 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Hecho en Puerto Rico/Made in Puerto Rico (Play) | Roberto Clemente International Dual Language School, Waterbury |
| Wednesday, 4/23/25 | 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | This is Our Time: Changing Women’s Narratives About Race and Ethnicity in Puerto Rico and Latin America | SERC, Waterbury |
Registration Information:
Contact Information:
For registration questions:
Heather Dawes, SERC Project Specialist
860-632-1485, ext. 263
Email: dawes@ctserc.org
For content questions:
Nitza Diaz, SERC Consultant, 860-632-1485, ext. 394
Michelle LeBrun-Griffin, SERC Consultant, 860-632-1485, ext. 321
Dwight Sharpe, SERC Consultant, 860-632-1485, ext. 324
“Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2019) (a) For the school year commencing July 1, 2021, and each school year thereafter, each local and regional board of education shall include African-American and black studies and Puerto Rican and Latino studies as part of the curriculum for the school district, pursuant to section 10-16b of the general statutes, as amended by this act.”