I’m excited to announce my speaking schedule for the remainder of the winter, spring, and early summer of 2015 (jump to the end for a full list). Last year’s line-up was particularly invigorating, with talks and panels everywhere from schools in India to universities in the UK. I was especially honored to be the keynote at various conferences last year, including Bowling Green State University’s Generation Justice Conference in Ohio and the National Sex Education Conference in New Jersey.

This year started out just as promising and just as national and global in reach. January included a Skype session with teachers in Iceland that was organized byAuður Magndís Auðardóttir, who works on initiatives on education and youth in Reykjavik. Auðardóttir said that my session on teaching feminism and intersectionality in K-12 classrooms “was inventful in finding ways to [make] the subject both personal and professional – which is so very important. Even [though] we were working over Skype, she managed to get everyone involved in sharing their thoughts and reflecting on their own situation in regards to feminism and equality. Her take on intersectionality was also very helpful for educators.”

Last month, I was also invited by Tracy Ainsworth, Director of the Brace Center for Gender Studies at Philips Academy Andover, to deliver a three-hour workshop for faculty on using an intersectional lens in curriculum design. Following this workshop, I also led a two-hour session for students on how to generate youth-led feminist activism and multi-issue organizing across student groups.

One teacher said about the curriculum workshop:

“Great resources about the teaching of feminism and intersectionality — one of them (the Audre Lorde piece) I used that same day in a class! Inspiration from Ileana! Sometimes it’s just good to know that there are people like her out there. It’s a worthwhile ideal to orient myself toward. Practical advice about assessments as well. I created a new assignment based in large measure upon the sample assessment she gave us.”

I was also part of several panels at the Scholar & Feminist conference hosted by the Barnard Center for Research on Women in February. BCRW invited me to curate a series of panels on teaching feminism at the high school level and I was thrilled to bring visibility to teachers, scholars, and activists who are doing important work in the field of K-12 feminist teaching.

This year’s conference theme was Action on Education and I was part of the opening plenary with fellow feminist teacher Tadashi Dozono, who is based at Lyons Community School in Brooklyn; my former student, feminist artist Cheyenne Tobias, who was invited to create an original piece of artwork for the event; and two of my current students, Galiba Gofur and Mirwat Majumder, who performed an original dance piece on domestic violence in Bengali culture.

 

Later during the Barnard conference, I had the honor of sitting on a panel with Freirean scholar Antonia Darder; ethnic studies teacher and star of the documentary film Precious Knowledge, José Gonzalez; and fellow feminist teacher Sarah Rodriguez, who is based at a high school in San Diego. Darder provided a brilliant feminist critique of the privatization movement and Rodriguez provided an equally extraordinary analyses of the funding behind privatization. As a panel, we talked about merging the feminism in schools and ethnic studies in schools movements as a way to combat anti-privatization.

I also gathered a group of teachers and scholars to present on teaching women’s, gender, queer, and ethnic studies in schools including Nuala Cabral, José Gonzalez, Bettina Love, and Wazina Zondon. I was so excited that each of these sessions were standing room only, proving that #HSfeminism is truly a movement.

Given the success of these early 2015 workshops and talks, I’m excited about my speaking line-up for the rest of the school year: 

• Thursday, March 19: Swarthmore College, PA. I’ll be speaking on teaching high school feminism and creating young feminist global partnerships on feminist and queer issues. More information here. 
• Thursday, April 2: Smith College, MA. I’ll be the keynote speaker at my alma mater’s annual dinner for first generation students. Invitation only.
• Friday, April 3: Smith College, MA: I will be a speaker on a panel titled Study of Women and Gender Studies in the Real World from 3-5pm in the Campus Center.
• Monday, April 6: NYSAIS Educating Girls Conference: Be Well, Lead Well, New York. I’ll be speaking on teaching high school feminism and creating young feminist global partnerships on feminist and queer issues. More information here. 
• Friday, April 17: CUNY Feminist Pedagogy Conference, New York. I’ll be speaking on teaching high school feminism and on creating young feminist global partnerships on feminist and queer issues. More information here.
• May 6-9: 10th Annual Conference on Learning Differences and Innovation Summit, Athens Community School, Greece. I will be speaking about teaching feminism at the high school level using design thinking and innovation. More information here.
• June 24-26: Gender and Education Association Conference, London. I will be sitting on a panel on international perspectives and approaches on feminism in schools. More information here.

Please join me at one of these events and/or contact me to speak at your school or university or to lead a workshop for your faculty and/or students.