AFT TEACH 2019 Pre-Conference Activities

Wednesday, July 10

Participants in pre-TEACH will have an opportunity to attend sessions designed for members interested in strengthening their activism.

Come to TEACH one day early, and spend the day focusing on developing skills and strategies to engage, agitate and advocate on issues of critical importance to your community and profession!

The day will be split into two half-days. You can choose to attend sessions for the entire day; or spend half the day participating in visits to Capitol Hill for Lobby Day, and the other half of the day attending sessions.

Lobby Day

7:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Let’s build on the past two years of incredible educator activism and our successes in the 2018 midterm election by sharing the AFT’s Fund Our Future and Freedom to Teach message with members of Congress.

Lobby Day will begin with a briefing with AFT President Randi Weingarten and key members of Congress on Capitol Hill and will be followed by individual meetings with your U.S. representative and senators to discuss funding and teacher professionalism. Email Beth Antunez with questions.

Activism Mini-Institute: Workshops to help you make change in your school and community

9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Communications Tactics and Tools to Build an Online Campaign
One thing that many of the recent educator strikes, walkouts and other actions have in common is using online tools to organize and mobilize members, parents, students and other community stakeholders to support these efforts, and to help build and maintain momentum.

Learn how to build and execute an online campaign and best practices on how to use social media, text messaging, AFT’s Action Network, and other platforms to quickly and effectively engage, inform and mobilize people to take action, attend events and amplify your messages.
Facilitated by AFT staff: Leslie Getzinger, Communications; Asher Huey, Communications; Susan Youssofi, Educational Issues

Organizing 101: One-on-One Conversations
Moving members to action through the one-on-one organizing conversation is the cornerstone of the labor movement.

In this session, you will be given a thorough explanation and modeling of the AHUY (anger, hope, urgency, you) conversation model pioneered by the United Farm Workers. The easy-to-remember and easy-to-adapt organizing model will give you the know-how and confidence to have an effective organizing conversation about any issue facing your union.
Facilitated by AFT staff: Dawn Krusemark, Educational Issues; Shannon Sullivan, Organization and Field Services

Supporting Your Students to Lead Social Change
From students walking out in solidarity with their teachers in West Virginia, to young people marching for action on climate change in Europe and gun safety in Washington, D.C., we see powerful examples of what happens when young people take action for social change.

Join this session with Peace First, an AFT partner organization, to learn how you can support your students to lead social change in their schools and communities. Peace First will share its open-source tools, including a digital platform where students can access tools, mentors and $250 mini-grants to start their own social change project in a community with youth leaders from over 135 countries.
Presenter: Fish Stark, director, Peace First

9 a.m. – noon

Organizing Parents and Educators at the School Level to Fund Our Future
We have all been inspired by the teacher uprisings that have swept through the country from West Virginia to Arizona to Oklahoma and in Los Angeles, Denver and Oakland, Calif. The AFT and our allies have a better opportunity to advance the cause of public education than at any time in the past decade. The ideas at the center of that strike wave (Our schools are underfunded! Tax the wealthy to fund education!) have tremendous support from parents and the community. How do we sustain this moment and build it into a movement? Part of the answer lies in mobilizing educators, staff and parents at the school level, so our district and statewide actions become even more powerful.

This session will help members who are ready to deepen their activism and become leaders to develop a strategy that will win improvements at their school as part of Fund Our Future, a national campaign/movement to fully fund public education.
Facilitated by AFT staff: Brendien Mitchell, Human Rights and Community Relations; Jonathan Rodrigues, Human Rights and Community Relations; Shital Shah, Educational Issues; Bill Shiebler, Human Rights and Community Relations

10:30 a.m. – noon

Student Debt Clinic
Do you have student loan debt? You are not alone. More than 44 million people in the U.S. are carrying debt from student loans, and nearly 1 out of every 4 loan borrowers is in default or behind on a payment. Come to the clinic and learn about free and underused programs that can help you lower your monthly payments and get on the path toward eliminating your student debt. A clinic will also be offered during TEACH after Thursday’s sessions have ended, from 5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.
Facilitated by AFT staff: TBD, Higher Education; Megan Stockhausen, Educational Issues

11 a.m. – noon

Engaging Members from Day One
The key to battling attrition is by engaging, organizing and mobilizing new employees. Learn about AFT’s brand-new dynamic digital guide for work-site activists and local union leaders looking for the “next step” in member engagement! It includes surveys, social media shareables and member communications laid out in an easy-to-read month-by-month digital guide, making new employee engagement at the work site as streamlined and effective as possible.
Facilitated by AFT staff: Robin Vitucci, Educational Issues; Jesse Drews, Organization and Field Services

Organizing 101: Introduction to Direct Action
Incredible things can happen when AFT members take direct action to address a collective problem—but many local union activists don’t know where to start.

You will be guided through a basic primer on direct action, hear real examples of how it works, have an opportunity to share your experience, and discover how implementing direct action tactics within an escalating organizing campaign can lead to transformative change for your union, students and community.
Facilitated by AFT staff: Brandy Bianchi, Organization and Field Services; Jason Edwards, Educational Issues

2 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Engaging Members from Day One
The key to battling attrition is by engaging, organizing and mobilizing new employees. Learn about AFT’s brand-new dynamic digital guide for work-site activists and local union leaders looking for the “next step” in member engagement! It includes surveys, social media shareables, and member communications laid out in an easy-to-read month-by-month digital guide, making new employee engagement at the work site as streamlined and effective as possible.
Facilitated by AFT staff: Robin Vitucci, Educational Issues; Jesse Drews, Organization and Field Services

2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Organizing 101: One-on-One Conversations
Moving members to action through the one-on-one organizing conversation is the cornerstone of the labor movement.

2 p.m. – 5 p.m.

2 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Organizing for Community Schools (for leaders and leader-designated attendees only)
Learn how to effectively organize for community schools. This four-hour training is designed to equip union leaders, organizers and activists with an understanding of community schools, the capacity to assess their current power and determine one or more achievable goals, then plan a campaign that advances those goals.
Facilitated by AFT staff: Megan Stockhausen, Educational Issues; Justin Tzuanos, Organization and Field Services

3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.

4 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Educators: Run for Office!
Nearly 300 AFT members ran for public office in 2018, and were elected up and down the ticket. As an educator, you already are considered a leader in your community. Interested in taking it a step further? Run for office!

Join us for an introduction to what it takes to win, and learn about the AFT tools and resources available to you.
Facilitated by AFT staff: Emily Kopilow, Educational Issues; Jennifer Rodriguez, Political