This summer, the ESI Team spoke to Deirdre Hollman, Director of Education, and Joel Diaz, Education Associate at the Schomburg Center about the ongoing partnership with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and their Black History 360: The Schomburg’s Summer Education Institute.
Tell us about the Summer Institute.
Deirdre: The focus of the Institute is historical literacy, supporting participants in exploring the history of African Americans and African peoples in the Diaspora. The week-long program is for educators to advance their ability to teach history using primary resource materials. Through scholar lectures, historian lectures, curriculum labs, the driving focus is how this can work within the curriculum that teachers must teach, providing a lot of information but with an eye toward making it practical; throughout the week, presenters offer suggestions, tools, and demonstrate how to use the documents, create model lessons and give suggestions on how this could look.
This was the Institute’s fifth year. How has it changed since it began?
Deirdre: We developed the program for K-12 DOE teachers because it was difficult to get teachers to come for Chancellor’s Day and evening offerings at the Schomburg. Even during the summer it’s challenging. Since then, it has grown each year and each year we’ve expanded our options. Paul Forbes and having ESI as a partner has made a difference. This is the third year we’ve had support from ESI and this summer we had 20 teachers from ESI schools attend the Institute. It really raised the dialogue and hopefully that will have even more of a positive impact on instruction this year.
ESI is entering its final year of implementation and has had a great partnership with the Schomburg since its launch. What can you say about how ESI has changed during the years?
Deirdre: ESI walks the walk and not just talks the talk. The program is committed to the success of the young people in their charge. From the leadership on down you get sincerity—from principals who care about improving outcomes but also about the cultural responsiveness of their teachers. In a very strategic and sustainable way, ESI is supporting schools, principals, and students. It may sound repetitive, but ESI is really expanding the success of their students.
Joel: ESI brings thoughtful programs to young men. Having been to ESI events at the Schomburg, I walked away learning from those programs. I’m sure everyone does. At one of them, Christian, a student at Thurgood Marshall, approached me about being a mentor for him. That’s the kind of impact. It’s really expanding horizons and opening doors for a lot of young men. ESI teachers, too, are thoughtful and sharp. ESI is full of educators who are really dedicated to this work. Franklin Encarnacion, principal at PATHS, for example, has attended Black History [Summer] Institute for two years. They have a commitment to it—to the work being done.
For more information about events at the Schomburg, you can visit schomburgcenter.org and schomburgcenter.eventbrite.com to register or contact schomburged@nypl.org
By ESI Team