Hello fellow faculty and TAs! Ready for a new semester? Thinking about the “right” language to use (or not use) in the classroom?

 Please join us for a 1-hour Zoom presentation for UI teaching faculty and TAs as part of a series of educational opportunities that will be sponsored by the University of Iowa School of Social Work to engage in anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice. We hope that this presentation in the opening week of spring classes will offer ways to think about and practice how you intentionally use language in the classroom and make an impact on your students.diver

Participants will think about perpetually examining our bias in language and challenging uses that are offensive, unclear, outdated, or have been used historically to deny rights and/or humanity. Why? It’s a matter of life and death, of material consequences, and of humanity. 

 Presenter Bio:

Dr. Kate Kedley is an assistant professor in the Department of Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Education at Rowan University. Kate received a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa (Language, Literacy, and Culture), and M.A. from Northern Arizona University (English), and a B.A. from the University of Northern Iowa (English Education). Dr. Kedley is a former secondary English Language Arts and Drivers Education teacher in Iowa, Arizona, and the Central American country of Honduras. At Rowan, Kate teaches in the pre-service teacher program. Dr. Kedley's research centers around critical literacy and education, public engagement, LGBTQ+ and young adult literature, language education, and social and educational movements in Honduras.

 This event is supported by a UI CLAS Strategic Initiatives grant with the goal of increasing student inclusion and belonging (with a particular focus on racialized students) in the University of Iowa School of Social Work through anti-racist and trauma-informed strategies.