Join Black Teaching Artist Lab (BTAL) for our upcoming workshop: Afrocentric Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Overview. Even though the Afrocentric SEL framework is targeted towards Black educators, we want to extend this experience to ALL educators.
Black learners have long-since been left out of Eurocentric curriculums and colonized ideologies of success across the globe. Melissa Parke’s Afrocentric SEL framework seeks to engage arts educators from all disciplines to incorporate and prioritize the empowerment of Black youth in their teaching practices, and it gives them the tools to do so.
About this Event:
For our October 8th workshop, we will be giving teaching artists, arts-education administrators, and cultural organizations an overview of BTAL’s Afrocentric Social-Emotional Learning framework.
Participants will be introduced to the following topics:
Building the individual and cultural identities, social skills, and art competencies of Black learners
Building a community of educators, who are interested in applying the Afrocentric SEL framework in their teaching practices
Incorporating a holistic approach to arts education using the Afrocentric SEL framework
About the Facilitator:
Melissa Parke (she/her), GBH Outreach/Special Projects Program Manager, is an Afro-conceptualist artist and is the founder of Black Teaching Artist Lab (BTAL), Pan-African Cultural Exchange (PACE), and Zora’s Legacy’s. Melissa also created and trademarked the Afrocentric Social-Emotional Learning framework. Afrocentric Social Emotional Learning framework helps Black-identifying individuals understand their black identity from a social and emotional perspective using art practices. As a female-identifying creative entrepreneur and leader, Melissa finds the most strength from other successful women who have helped her navigate these male-dominated spaces..She enjoys listening to, dissecting, and analyzing music from the likes of: Dave Matthews, Incubus, J Dilla, Hieroglyphics, Squarepusher, Fugazi, Rebelution, SOJA, The Sea and Cake, Cultura Profetica, and many more.