"Each child belongs to all of us and they will bring us a tomorrow in direct relation to the responsibility we have shown them."
- Maya Angelou
Family Workshops
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Our Family Workshops are available to all parents and caregivers. They take place online and cover everything from how to talk about race and identity with your student to how to deepen family school connections through meaningful programming. Take a look at our current workshop calendar to see what is open for registration.
Before attending any of our Family Workshops we strongly recommend you watch this 1-hour introductory, and foundational, webinar ‘Talking About Race and Racism With My Child’.
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RootsConnected believes students, staff and families need to work synchronously to form a strong school culture. Our family workshops provide resources for families to work towards anti-bias and inclusive mindsets at home.
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We offer all of our parent/caregiver workshops on a donation basis as we want to make them accessible to as many folks as possible. However, if you are able to give more we appreciate it, as it allows us to continue to be of service in this capacity.
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Hear what the educators have to say about our workshops. Take a look at our testimonials below.
Have a look at our offerings this year and register for the ones that speak to you!
These are also great opportunities to invite friends and others you may discuss these topics with, to continue the conversations and, most importantly, take action. All workshops are donation based.
And don’t forget to watch our introductory video Talking About Race & Racism with My Child before getting started.
Welcome to our 2022-2023 Family Workshops
Our workshops for families occur through out the year. For many of our workshops, we have multiple upcoming dates. Please check back for new dates.
Engaging Families in Schools: Innovative Approaches to Community Building
In this workshop, we will discuss the key elements needed for successful community programming and elements of careful program planning, particularly in diverse school environments. With our resource 'Building Connections with INTENT' as a guide, we will share a new approach to family programming that pushes us towards authentic relationship building.
Raising Anti-Racist White Children: Discussing Privilege and Power with My Kids
An important conversation that must start at a very young age, is one around privilege and power. Systems are set up to inherently give more power to one group of folks over the other. So how do you talk about this with your child in a way that your child can understand? How do you do this in a way that separates humans from systems while not negating the responsibility of the humans in that system?
Understanding my Biases and Helping my Kids Understand Theirs
One of the most harmful things we can do is allow implicit biases to go unnoticed and unaddressed. “Micro-aggressions,” which Ibram Kendi, author of How To Be An Anti-Racist pushes us to reclaim as everyday racist acts, are the everyday slights that require daily vigilance and need to be addressed explicitly. Everyone holds implicit biases, they develop over time. But they can also be interrogated and addressed as we work towards creating more awareness and understanding.
Stories as Justice: Storytelling to Inspire Strength, Empathy, and a Connection to Our Humanity
Stories carry history, culture, and pride. Stories are a way to heal from trauma, understand our past, and re-imagine our future. They have a phenomenal power to change world views and empower a strong sense of identity. Stories humanize and are the foundation of justice. In this session, our presenters will support participants in utilizing the tool of storytelling as a way to give power back to untold stories and the stories we want defining our families. Through personal reflection, and small and whole group conversation, participants will consider the power of their family stories and utilize them as a way to build family and cultural identity and pride. This workshop is for anyone who loves to listen to stories or tell them. It is for anyone who wants to make a meaningful impact with their words, and anyone who says they don't have anything interesting to share. We want you to leave knowing there is power in sharing your personal stories - the power to build connection, the power to inspire, and even the power to get your kids to listen.
How We Read Matters Just As Much As What We Read: Using A Critical Literacy Lens with My Kids
Parents and caregivers today are making a concerted effort to diversify the books their children read. Representation in the stories we read and the images we present is now top of mind for many families. But are we thinking about how we read books to our children? ‘Critical literacy’ is a term often used by educators trained to support children to read and think critically about the world around them. One of the things we at Roots ConnectED think is important is the way in which we push our children to ask questions, and look for bias, omission, and stereotypes in the books being read. We believe books should be engaging and fun, but also read with intent. In this workshop, the presenters will share tools and strategies for how to read books with your child in a way that allows them the space to consider power, positionality, and perspective taking. Using books as a tool for doing this allows us to raise a generation of children with a critical eye and ear, to search for truth and listen to stories of the untold.
Preparing For the Unexpected: Addressing Racist and Biased Remarks with Children
In addition to having planned conversations with your child, moments that provide an opportunity to discuss racism and bias arise when we aren't expecting it, and we must say something. This workshop will focus on speaking up in the moment when racist and biased incidents occur. Through the use of scenarios, participants will have a chance to think through their responses and learn a number of sentence starters as options for support in speaking up in the moment.
Roots ConnectED Family Workshop Participant describes her experience attending the Family Workshop Titled Reading Books w/ My Kids Using a Critical Literacy Lens.
