School of Education announces next installment in Landscape of Urban Education series, March 31

The Syracuse University School of Education will continue its Landscape of Urban Education lecture series with a talk by Mariana Souto-Manning, associate professor of early childhood education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her lecture, “Culture Circles as a Framework for Fully Inclusive Education,” will be at 4 p.m., Thursday, March 31, in 132 Lyman Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public and parking will be available in the University Avenue Garage.

As the nation’s schools, especially those in urban centers, become more diverse, teachers must become increasingly able to adapt to different students and learning styles. Souto-Manning is an expert in preparing teachers to work in diverse communities.

Marcelle Haddix, assistant professor of reading and language arts at in the School of Education, calls Souto-Manning’s work “truly transformative.”

“She has extensive experience and insights about preparing teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students and communities,” Haddix says. “With both theoretical and practical examples, she will engage the SU community in continued conversations about inclusive education that embrace the intersections of race, class, language and disability.”

Souto-Manning’s research focuses on early schooling, language development and literacy practices. She is the author of “Teachers Act Up! Creating Multicultural Learning Communities Through Theatre” (Teachers College Press, 2010), and “Freire, Teaching and Learning: Culture Circles Across Contexts” (Peter Lang, 2010).

The Landscape of Urban Education Lecture Series, an annual lecture series for five years, is dedicated to the presentation of current ideas and strategies for navigating urban educational terrain in the United States. The speakers engaged for this series are well-renowned scholars committed to revitalizing inclusive urban education. For more information, contact the Center for Continuous Education and Global Outreach in the School of Education at (315) 443-4696.