Two-day "Teaching for Justice" conference hosted by CFEP, UCI Teacher Academy
Attendees learned how to integrate Asian American studies into the K-12 classroom.
The UCI Center for Educational Partnerships and the UCI Teacher Academy, in partnership with the UCI Humanities Center and UCI Libraries Southeast Asian Archive, hosted the two-day "Teaching for Justice: A Spotlight On Teaching Asian American Studies Across the Curriculum" conference, geared towards K-12 educators and community members interested in integrating the principles of Asian American studies into their professional work, as well as establishing, strengthening and expanding Asian American classroom instruction. More than 300 educators attended the conference.
Teaching for Justice was developed after nearly a year of conversations and collaborations between K-12 educators in Orange County, faculty and staff at UCI, and education experts across California.​
Teaching for Justice participants
"In the wake of the increase in anti-Asian violence, community members, including Thuy Vo Dang, and our colleagues, Stacy Yung and Virginia Nguyen convened at an Irvine City Town Hall to discuss how to take action to stop Asian hate," said Nicole Gilbertson, director of the UCI Teacher Academy, site director of the UCI History Project, and member of the conference planning committee.
"Thuy, at around the same time, partnered with Jeff Kim on a conference exploring how to educators and archivists can work together to connect communities for learning," Gilbertson said. "These two moments transformed into our committee that has continued to grow and come together with a shared vision of creating a conference for educators to share and learn what teaching Asian American studies looks like in the classroom.
"It is our hope that all students can learn about the moments and people that make up our shared history and use this understanding of Asian American studies to foster agency and solidarity that is essential for our thriving as a community and a democracy."
Guiding conference questions included:
What does teaching Asian American studies look like in practice?
Who and what community will support my work in this area?
What resources (curricular, pedagogical) are available to me as I leave this conference?
"It is absolutely imperative and necessary to celebrate the joys and triumphs of the AAPI community in the texts we teach and read with our students," a teacher attendee said.
"I will definitely use the information I learned in the sessions with students and colleagues," said another conference attendee.
State Senator Dave Min (37th District) and Michael Matsuda, superintendent of the Anaheim Union High School District, were among the speakers at the conference. A complete list of speakers and other details are available here.
Assistant Director of the California History-Social Science Project Tuyen Tran compiled a list of teaching resources and discussed the significance of AAPI history here.
Conference partners from UCI included:
The Asian American Studies Department
The History Project
The UCI Libraries Orange County
The Southeast Asian Archive Center
Partners from other UCs included:
UCLA Asian American Studies Center
The California History Social Science Project
Community partners that center AAPI activism included:
Make us Visible
Ocapica
K-12 educator partners included:
Anaheim Union High School District
Mathing for Equity
Educate to Empower
The "Teaching for Justice" conference received recognition in an article by Josie Huang of LAist: "So You Want to Teach Asian American History? These Educators are Here to Help".