This Year POCC 2023 was in St. Louis MO. The theme was Gateways to Freedom: A Confluence of Truth, Joy, Knowledge and Power...As a POC, the Upper School Art Teacher, and 7th Grade Advisor, I was lucky enough to attend. The keynote speakers were so inspiring and motivating, it was hard not to walk out of there feeling so empowered and ready to start the necessary work around topics related to identity, anti-racism, community building, leadership, and more.

At the conference, I wanted to check out so many workshops it was hard to narrow them down. As an art teacher, I wanted to try to attend the workshops tailored to my discipline.

One workshop that stood out to me was Exploring Perceptions About Identity Through Art- presented by Ashley Jones of St. Edmunds Academy in PA. This workshop was informative, and invigorating and had the creative wheels in my head spinning.

In this Workshop she talked about how Identities in our kids can be like glaciers: There are Visible and Invisible Identities. In one of her projects, She had kids in her class come in one by one and choose pieces of paper that had adjectives to describe someone. In this activity, each student was to pick one word or a few words they would use to describe themselves. This activity was interesting to me because at a k-8 school, I often find that by 8th grade students are so ready to start a new chapter in their lives. Students often feel like their role/identity is pigeonholed for the whole time they attend Burkes. The students in the activity video also felt pigeonholed. They felt like when they were asked to pick words they chose words like "SHY, SMART" when they might come across as "Stuck up or Know It All".

In any case, I thought that this would be a great Art/SEL activity to do with our advisories. I think there is some real collaboration that could happen with this kind of activity. Perhaps with Advisory, ART, and English.

For my Goals this year, I think I would like to pursue more Art /SEL-related classes and workshops. Perhaps even add a Masters in Art Therapy program to my plate. I feel like this would take the Art I teach to a new level. I would be able to integrate Art - SEL activities into various grade-level advisory programs here at Burkes.

Although I wish there were more art-related workshops, I always find that what is offered at POCC is so much more than the workshops. There is a bonding that happens amongst your POC colleagues, there are new people with similar experiences all working towards the same goal to Educate and promote Equity and Inclusion for ALL and that is incredible. I would encourage fellow POC's to experience POCC at least once.