![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Cozbi_Cabrera_portrait-INSIDE.jpg\")
<\/a>Cabrera<\/p><\/div>\n
Dr. Raymond Witte, dean of the Judith Herb College of Education, suggested to Dr. Jenny Denyer, chair of the Department of Teacher Education, to think about an event that would highlight the college and University\u2019s ongoing commitment to social justice and inclusivity.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we know, conversations about social justice, diversity and inclusion are difficult conversations to have,\u201d Denyer said. \u201cBut as a teacher, we know that literature \u2014 and particularly, in this case, children\u2019s literature \u2014 is a great jumping-off point for those kinds of conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n
She reached out to her colleague Dr. Susanna Hapgood, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education. Hapgood thought an event that could get inspiring books into children\u2019s hands and that would include components accessible to local school children could dovetail perfectly with her STEAM Power Generation project and pledged half the budget. With the other half provided by the College, the Spring Symposium took shape.<\/p>\n
The all-day event features separate virtual presentations and Q&As with a pair of successful children\u2019s book authors and illustrators: Cozbi A. Cabrera, whose latest work, \u201cMe & Mama,\u201d was awarded a Coretta Scott King Honor and a Caldecott Honor for Illustration; and Innosanto Nagara, whose most recent publication, \u201cOh, The Things We\u2019re For!\u201d\u00a0is a rhyming text that builds upon the successes of his first book,\u00a0\u201cA is for Activist,\u201d which initially was written for his children and then became a best-seller.<\/p>\n
Cabrera and Nagara will interact with grade-school children at Marshall STEMM Academy and Old Orchard Elementary School, respectively, in a total of four live-streamed sessions that will be available to all area schools, as well as UToledo students, faculty and staff.<\/p>\n
Then, from 2 to 3 p.m., Benjamin Sapp, director of the Mazza Museum at the University of Findlay, will discuss how the illustrations in children\u2019s literature have become more inclusive.<\/p>\n
And from 4 to 5:30 p.m., the Spring Symposium will close out with a live stream of a panel discussion between Nagara, Cabrera and Sapp, as well as Michael Deetsch, director of education and engagement at the Toledo Museum of Art, and Dr. Heidi Appel, dean of the Jesup Scott Honors College and director of The University of Toledo\u2019s Visual Literacy Initiative.<\/p>\n
Denyer said all area schools will be able to access the event in real time and to ask the authors questions online. To access the event or for more information, visit the Spring Symposium\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Witte said offering this kind of event, \u201cwhich centers on children\u2019s literature and its important role in increasing awareness and implementation of diversity, inclusion and antiracism practices,\u201d is important to the Judith Herb College of Education, the University and beyond.<\/p>\n Nagara<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cThe college is proud to host this event as it reflects the commitment of our faculty, staff and students toward this important work.<\/p>\n \u201cDrs. Denyer and Hapgood have done an outstanding job of bringing nationally recognized authors and illustrators Innosanto Nagara and Cozbi Cabrera into our virtual classroom to work directly with local teachers, student teachers and elementary students about the importance of everyone being able to tell their own story.\u201d<\/p>\n Hapgood said, \u201cThe opportunity to interact with a published author can help children understand that books are made by real people who were once children themselves. With that realization, children can imagine that it is possible\u00a0they<\/em>\u00a0might write books someday. And, after meeting people like Innosanto Nagara and Cozbi Cabrera, they can imagine how they might write\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0illustrate their books. How wonderful and inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, nearly 400 of Nagara’s and Cabrera’s\u00a0books will be given to local schools by Judith Herb College of Education and STEAM Power Generation project in appreciation of the schools’ students, teachers, administrators and staff.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are very happy to be able to give back, at least a little bit, to some of the community’s schools and teachers with whom the faculty and students of the Judith Herb College of Education work every day,\u201d Hapgood said. \u201cOur teacher candidates spend hundreds of hours in classrooms throughout\u00a0the Toledo area and the experiences they have are invaluable to their professional growth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cozbi A. Cabrera and Innosanto Nagara will have virtual discussions with area school children as part of the Judith Herb College of Education\u2019s first Spring Symposium,\u00a0scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. April 15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":65739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,36,53,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65735"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65735"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65757,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65735\/revisions\/65757"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>