Denver, CO Urban Sites Conference

The sign of a good conference, you're in a fabulous city and realize that you've not been out of the hotel for two days. This was exactly where I was a week ago in Denver, CO while attending the Urban Sites Network National Conference.

I must admit, I was a little nervous about telling people that I was from the Ozarks. The Ozarks hardly seems like an urban setting when compared to Chicago, NYC, Denver, or even when compared to St. Louis and Kansas City. However, if a community feels that it is urban, the Urban Sites Network recognizes it as urban. I quickly realized that, with our increasing hispanic population and the increasing diversity in area schools, we faced many of the same issues as other sites.

I knew that I was in the right place when a speaker in one of the early sessions mentioned Paolo Friere's PEDEGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED, one of my favorite books, one that I've read several times. I started writing down other titles:

• A SHORT COURSE IN WRITING, CITY SCAPES (which I had also read...here is a link to a summary http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/1996 ),
• OTHER PEOPLE'S CHILDREN: CULTURAL CONFLICT IN THE CLASSROOM (here's a link to a review of the book http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/839/Other_People.pdf?x-r=pcfile_d ),
• THE SKIN WE SPEAK: THOUGHTS ON LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM,
• THE LIGHT IN THEIR EYES: CREATING A MULTICULTURAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES, there were many more.

I'll write another clip about the conference soon!!

Laura Burdette
Library Media Specialist