Bridging Through High School Ethnic Studies

The UC Berkeley High School Ethnic Studies Initiative (HSESI) is a collaboration between the American Cultures Center, Department of Ethnic Studies, and History-Social Science Project intended to develop curriculum materials to support Bay Area teachers and school districts meeting the 2025-26 school-year rollout of the California Ethnic Studies high school graduation requirement. This breakout session is intended to support HSESI’s efforts, foster Bay Area teacher leadership and resource sharing vis-à-vis the graduation requirement, and place in conversation OBI’s bridging and belonging frameworks and practices in a new and complex domain of high school education in California. 

In this breakout session, HSESI members will lead collective exploration of concepts that are essential to high school ethnic studies courses (e.g., oppression, solidarity, etc.), discuss what those concepts “look like” and “feel like” to students and instructors alike, and refine those concepts and the pedagogies required to effectively bring them into the classroom. In doing so, the workshop breakout session will also speak to the broader constellation of frontline battles taking place on high school and university campuses around the country, including gender backlash, banned books, and increasing polarization and conflict broadly.

Location: OMCA California Room