Professional Development

Funded by the University of Illinois’s Initiative for Multiracial Democracy, I have organized a professional development workshop for K-12 teachers in Champaign and Urbana. Titled “Our ideas of speaking: Language variation and identity,” the workshop is divided into three sections: 1) a talk and interactive activities delivered by me and two invited colleagues (Drs. Aris Clemons and Victor Fernández-Mallat), 2) a showing and discussion of the Emmy Award Winning documentary “Talking Black in America,” and 3) a collaborative exercise in which teachers personal action plans for incorporating information learned into their teaching practices.

The goal of the workshop is to discuss the “how” and “why” of language variation, how speakers make specific choices about which language variety or language to use with certain people, and what is deemed “appropriate” when it comes to language use.