Webinar: Strengthen Collaboration – February 29th, 2024

Strengthen Collaboration: Transcending the ‘Culture of Nice’ to Subvert Equity Traps in Service of All Students

Learn with and alongside Lead by Learning and our partners and build on your strengths in our 2023-24 Webinar Series.

For schools invested in better serving their most marginalized student populations, the pull towards equity work is urgent. Yet, we know that equity is a journey rather than a destination, and that there are no shortcuts or boxes to check off that will magically serve all students in the ways they need.

We know that strengthening collaboration can improve collective efficacy, which research shows is the largest contributor to increased student outcomes. Collaboration can also make teachers feel more agentic in their students’ learning. Yet, collaborative spaces can often feel like just another meeting that could have been an email– bogged down in the minutiae of the day, full of discussions of nuts and bolts logistics, complaints about kids, or venting about colleagues.

How can we shift collaborative conversations so that they feel generative and geared towards equitable student outcomes?

Hear how educators center collaboration as a lever for change to increase equitable outcomes for students.

Panelists will discuss:

• equity traps and how they show up during collaboration
• building self-awareness of implicit bias in themselves and others
• the practice of Supportive Challenge to redirect colleagues toward equity and challenge assumptions

Hear from Lead by Learning partners as they reorient us towards collaborative conversations grounded in antiracism, at the personal and collective level, that Supportively Challenge practices and people alike in service of equitable student outcomes for all.

Meet our Panelists:

Dr. Bernadette Pilar Zermeño is an early childhood educator with over 20 years of demonstrated success creating, developing, and teaching transitional kindergarten programs. She is passionate about facilitating lifelong learners beginning at the earliest age as a multilingual educator, teaching in Pre-K to university levels. She is innovative in curriculum creation with expertise in training Pre-K, transitional and traditional kindergarten teachers, and TK/K teacher aides, teacher candidates focusing on biliteracy and language development. Dr. Zermeño builds open, trust-based relationships with students, caregivers, teammates, and community partners to support all learners, especially dedicated to helping newly arrived students and refugees with foundational social and emotional skills. She currently works within Oakland Unified as a multilingual specialist in the ELLMA and Early Childhood department while also supporting teacher candidates at Alder, Chabot, Merritt, and Las Positas College. Dr. Zermeño holds a doctorate in educational leadership with an emphasis in early childhood from Mills College, a master’s in education and bilingual credential from University of Berkeley, and a bachelor’s in psychology from University of Berkeley.

Priscilla Parchia is a Program Manager at Oakland Unified School District. She stands for equity, empowerment, and peace for herself and all others. She has worked in the education field since her first job at a summer camp @ age 14 all across the country. She is also an artist and musician. Currently, she supports expanded learning and summer programs across Oakland with the intention of closing the inequitable gaps for all students. She enjoys solitude and fellowship in nature, all the arts & crafts, roller skating, and traveling across the globe as much as financially possible!

LoRayne Ortega is the ELD Coordinator and an English educator at Archie Williams High. She is passionate about advocating for students and their families who continue to be held at the margins and loves to collaborate with her colleagues when given the opportunity. The desert calls her back home every summer, which fills her soul for the next year.

This webinar occurred live on February 29th, 2024 from 3:45-4:45 pm PT.

The webinar slide deck 
Our playbook: a guide to build a vibrant adult learning culture in service of equity
Step into Practice: Supportive Challenge