Widening the Circle Teacher Education Symposium: 5th Annual Act 31
Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12
Cleary Center, UW-L

Recognizing the incredible parallels between Native and Hmong experiences, culture, spirituality, community and issues with education we have designed this Symposium to focus on addressing educational issues of both communities. The symposium seeks to help educators learn how to authenticate materials, infuse curriculum to teach about Wisconsin Native American & Hmong history, culture and critical/multicultural pedagogy to address the problems in education and current issues. In 1989 Wisconsin passed Act 31 mandating K-12 educators to teach about Native American history, sovereignty and treaty rights. It originated in response to the conflicts over treaty rights that emerged from widespread lack of understanding of Native people, loss of culture and educational failure. Today the Hmong community is facing many of the same issues. In response to the continuing racism and recent violence, the state is trying to pass another bill; AB 314, which would mandate teaching about Hmong history, culture and the Hmong role in the Vietnam War. In response, we hope to create an environment where educators can learn techniques of Indigenous education to better understand people and issues in the classroom and to teach toward reducing racism, to inspire understanding, acceptance, critical pedagogy and respect for all.

Event Schedule:
The Symposium begins Friday and runs through Saturday
evening. Participants are welcome at any time.
Friday: 8:30-9:00
-Interactive exhibits and displays on Hmong and
Native culture and contemporary issues
-Keynote workshop: Bill Bigelow; editor of Rethinking
Schools
-Keynote, Lunch
-Teacher Training Workshops and Presentations
6:00- 9:00pm Traditional foods dinner
Keynote presentation and performance
Saturday: 8:30-6:00
11:00-1pm Keynote, Lunch
1:00- 6:00 Workshops and presentations

For more information:
http://culturelinks.pbwiki.com/f/widening%20the%20circle%202008%20%282%29.pdf
If you have any questions, please contact:
Matt Stewart
Native American Student Association
608-785-8838
stewart.matt@students.uwlax.edu
Or visit
http://www.uwlax.edu/native/

Embedding Hmong Culture and Literature in Schools
A discussion of resources for PK-Middle School
Wednesday, April 23
4:00-6:00 pm
Murphy Library

Presentations by:

• Karen Nelson Hoyle: Curator, Children's Literature Research Collections, Univeristy of Minnesota
• Pangjua Xiong: Hmong Programs Manager, English Language Learner Department, St. Paul Public Schools
• Bounthavy Katoukaysy Thao: Hmong Community Specialist, English Language Learner Department, St. Paul Public Schools

RSVP to Michele Strange at 608-785-8943 or strange.mich@uwlax.edu by April 11th
Sponsored by Murphy Library and School of Education at UW-La Crosse

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