Building Community Through Student Empowerment

This session will help you foster and gain techniques to empower students’ voices to cultivate mentorship and leadership skills in your physics students and your school community. The Everyday Actions Guide, a pedagogy handbook for teachers, is part of the STEP UP curriculum. Recently updated, the Everyday Actions Guide is the foundation of a new NSF grant supporting teachers’ professional learning through the incorporation of inclusive practices in physics. Creating an inclusive and thriving high school physics program starts in the classroom with smaller, daily actions and can soar to unprecedented heights by building community outside the classroom. Come learn how to utilize multiple avenues of communication that identify underrepresented students for physics courses and how you and your school community can celebrate their successes and capabilities. Discover untapped partnerships that exist in your community and how you can support your students’ elective events. Teachers of all levels and amounts of experience are encouraged to come to this discussion.