# data[].attributes.body
https://padlet.com/teachingartatschool/2fbe6fmljvfd357a

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/zanele-muholi

# data[].attributes.headline
Creating a Culturally Responsive Math Curriculum for the Elementary Grades

# data[].attributes.subject
Creating a Culturally Responsive Math Curriculum for the Elementary Grades

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.edutopia.org/article/creating-culturally-responsive-math-curriculum-elementary-grades?utm_content=linkpos1&utm_source=edu-legacy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly-2021-05-12&fbclid=IwAR2L0sN_8F8KLO2TlY7GUCQXnc3Xvqm3znzlL-8eSNX-X8iuF056rM_JywM

# data[].attributes.body
https://francesharper.com/lesson-plans/

# data[].attributes.body
https://algebra.org/wp/

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.glsen.org/blog/how-do-we-make-math-class-more-inclusive-trans-and-non-binary-identities

# data[].attributes.headline
Integrating issues of social justice into the maths curriculum

# data[].attributes.subject
Integrating issues of social justice into the maths curriculum

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.radicalmath.org/docs/SJMathGuide.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.mathalicious.com/lessons/you-re-so-fined

# data[].attributes.headline
Equity and social justice in math education: Facebook Group

# data[].attributes.subject
Equity and social justice in math education: Facebook Group

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.facebook.com/groups/178344199241717/

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.glsen.org/programs/changing-game

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/engendering-inclusivity-in-a-language-class

# data[].attributes.body
https://queerlanguage.com/2018/12/20/gender-neutral-pronouns-in-the-foreign-language-classroom/

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.learningforjustice.org/frameworks/social-justice-standards

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.nsta.org/science-teacher/science-teacher-march-2020/social-justice-science-classroom

# data[].attributes.headline
Why science teachers should care about social justice

# data[].attributes.subject
Why science teachers should care about social justice

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.punyamishra.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/ScienceEd-SocialJustice-iWonder3.pdf

# data[].attributes.headline
Weaving social justice into science instruction

# data[].attributes.subject
Weaving social justice into science instruction

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.edutopia.org/article/weaving-social-justice-science-instruction

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.amazon.in/Teaching-Social-Justice-Physical-Education/dp/1641137207

# data[].attributes.body
https://blog.shapeamerica.org/2018/09/social-justice-in-physical-education/

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Education-Social-Justice-Anderson/dp/1890160474

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.learningforjustice.org/classroom-resources/learning-plans?keyword=arts

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.arteducators.org/advocacy-policy/articles/545-naea-position-statement-on-visual-arts-education-and-social-justice

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CQZxBhHg9M&ab_channel=ACTFLMembership

# data[].attributes.headline
Diversifying Language Educators and Language

# data[].attributes.subject
Diversifying Language Educators and Language

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/tle/TLE_OctNov19_Article.pdf

# data[].attributes.body
https://kidworldcitizen.org/the-culturally-inclusive-classroom-an-interview-with-dr-hines-gaither/

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/exploring-social-justice-through-music

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.grammy.com/grammys/news/aretha-franklin-public-enemy-heres-how-artists-have-amplified-social-justice-movements

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

Talking about race and racism with children and young adults can be hard for both teachers and parents. That's why we've compiled this set of poems, informational texts, short stories, speeches, and more to help you get started. After assigning texts from this set, be sure to use the included Discussion Questions to start a dialogue. Explore our other text sets like "Black Authors" and "Black Heritage" for more content to broaden students' perspectives.

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CommonLit | Text Sets - Texts for Talking About Race

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. Talking about race and racism with children and young adults can be hard for both teachers and parents.

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I have a simple job. It has two easy mandates.

1. Love children with good teaching.

2. Love their teachers by supporting them with good stuff to teach with.

I work in classrooms all over the world. When there are pieces of your heart in far flung corners of the globe, a powerful kind of empathy grows. When communities hurt, I hurt.

When Trayvon Martin was murdered in Florida, I thought of the children I serve there. I thought of the books they like and the jokes they tell me when I get to town. I remembered his school and his teachers. I thought of his community and especially of his family that has had to find light in the traumatic void his absence creates. On some mornings, when I am particularly sensitive or tired, I can see his classroom. His empty desk haunts my dreams.

When the same thing happened with Mike Brown and Tamir Rice, a significant part of me broke. These names are not headlines or hashtags to me. These were children who read the books my colleagues and I suggested and wrote the essays we asked them to write. These are children who trusted us with their futures. Our system betrayed that trust.

I've worked in schools my entire career. The death of a student or family member is not a new occurrence to me. It is painful every single time. But I heal.

These recent wounds, however, are kept fresh not just by the regularity of these murders, but that they are carried out by agents of the state or their proxies and that they happen almost exclusively to black and brown children, to their siblings, to their mothers and to their fathers.

When educators talk about racism our conversation is often limited to individual acts of personal bias. As long as we don't know any mean or intolerant people, we are complacent in our thinking that these problems are not ours to contend with. Such a stance ignores the systemic complexities of how race is lived in America, on its streets and in our classrooms - and even when there are no people of color present.

Becoming more systemically aware means understanding the kinds of racism that shape our communities, schools, and classrooms, and where we stand in relation to those social forces.

Most people are aware of individual racism. If we choose to talk about race, it is what we spend most of our time talking about, but few understand how it works. There are two kinds of individual racism. The first kind of individual racism is internalized racism. These are all the conscious and subconscious racial biases, prejudices, and blind spots that we all have within ourselves as individuals.

The second kind of individual racism is interpersonal racism. This is what happens when we act out the biases we internalize on others. Most of us are sensitive enough to avoid acting out our internalized racism, but as humans, our biases, prejudices and blind spots are most likely to emerge when we are tired, stressed, late, scared or feel threatened. As educators we are tired quite regularly and stressed daily, so the work of avoiding interpersonal racism is real and significant, but it is not all.

There are also two kinds of systemic racism. The first kind - institutional racism - is the collection of racist policies and discriminatory practices in schools, government agencies, and workplaces that routinely produces unjust outcomes for people of color. These words may be new to us, but as teachers we are intimately familiar with this kind of racism. This is the "achievement gap." This is the testing industrial complex. This is school discipline.

Let's consider this: if there were an activity at school that resulted in the mass failure of kids with green eyes, we would not criminalize the kids with green eyes. We would ask, "What is it about this activity that excludes kids with green eyes?" and we would change the activity. Are we, as members of the education community, willing to do this for black boys who are suspended at rates that are exponentially more in comparison to their peers? What could this look like? If sitting in a desk all day listening to lectures leads to mass suspensions for a specific subset of kids, I need to get with my team and change the activity. To engage in this imaginative work - even if it is messy - is antiracist. It affirms that black lives do matter.

The second kind of systemic racism - structural racism - is the unjust patterns and practices that play out across societal institutions. It is the reality that those suspended black boys miss out on valuable instructional time and consequently miss out on opportunities that lead to college. It is the reality that this boy's earning potential over a lifetime is now a paltry percentage of his college educated peers. It is the knowledge that this reduced earning diminishes quality of life. To be antiracist is to know that all of these things are connected and to know that many of them start in school even when we express no interpersonal racism.

All of our students matter, but in a society characterized by its dogged refusal to treat all kids and their families equally, it is our moral imperative to affirm that black lives matter. If outcomes continue to be bleak for large groups of people, it diminishes the quality of all our lives. When there is massive disenfranchisement fueled by widespread failure and incarceration, the safety of all our communities is compromised.

In our search for solutions, people utter platitudes disguised as answers - we should love one another, I don't see color or race, let's talk more - and all of those things are lovely and important starts, but they alone will not change the systems that routinely produce unjust outcomes. To continue with business as usual, to do nothing, to be "neutral" is a passive declaration of racism because the system that we are most intimately connected with - school - will continue to produce unjust outcomes for people of color. To be antiracist is to be actively involved with the disruption of these systems.

What is our influence, as educators?

What can we do? We cannot reconstruct the world to reflect our views, but we are in a unique position to take action in our classrooms. We can start to disrupt the status quo by asking ourselves questions about our practice, community and curriculum. When I'm working in teams with other teachers, here are some initial questions we use to imagine what our disruption can look like.

1. Safety. In order for students to learn, they need to feel safe. How can I make sure that my classroom is a place where children feel safe and protected? Can I ensure the sustained management of the room while communicating respect (without cultivating fear, embarrassment or teacher dependence)?

2. Choice. Children read more when they feel capable and motivated. How can I create access to reading material that is high interest and appropriately challenges kids? How can I create consistent opportunities to do work that has both meaning and consequence?

3. Voice. When students have a voice, they feel empowered. When so much of childhood is about staying quiet and listening to adults, how can we give students a platform to talk, to write, to share what is important to them? How can we help them be heard by the constituencies that matter the most to them? Who are those people, can we get them to the classroom, and how can we communicate with them?

4. Growth. Learning is not an identical process for all kids; we cannot treat it as if it is. Where are my students now? Honestly. Where can they be by the end of the week? What kind of teaching and practice will it take for them to get there? How can I best facilitate progress - small groups, out of classroom activities, labs, centers, discussions, home visits? How can I measure progress? What tools might kids need in addition to what I have planned so that they may succeed? Do all kids need that tool?

5. Flexibility. Children and communities are changing all the time. What do we need to read to be more responsive to our kids and communities? Who do we need to learn from? What is the best way to share that learning with other teachers? How can we put that learning into action? Day to day, what can this kind of professional growth look like for us?

There is no right answer; rather, it's the questions that help us think about what actions or changes might lead to better outcomes for all of our students, particularly those who are underserved by traditional schooling. Being an advocate for black lives does not mean that I am an advocate against any other lives. When we make the conscious decision to address persisting injustices, this broadens access to justice for everyone.

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Why #BlackLivesMatter in Your Classroom Too

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I work in classrooms all over the world. When there are pieces of your heart in far flung corners of the globe, a powerful kind of empathy grows. When communities hurt, I hurt. When Trayvon Martin...

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By Matt Larson, NCTM President
December 1, 2016

Recent events in our country have presented educators with challenges that are new to many of us. As mathematics educators we are not immune to the current political climate and emotionally charged environments. In recent weeks I have had some mathematics educators tell me that the political events in our country have no impact on their work as mathematics teachers because "they teach mathematics."

While the subject we teach is mathematics, we need to always remember that we teach mathematics to students. And our students' success in the classroom is dependent on our ability as teachers to create an emotionally safe and welcoming classroom environment for each and every one of our students, regardless of their background.

Several organizations have recently called for a reaffirming of the " inclusive values that are the foundation of healthy learning cultures." Some organizations, including TODOS: Mathematics for All and the American Educational Research Association (AERA) have released specific statements in support of each and every student and against acts that intimidate, harass, or restrict student opportunity. NCTM joins TODOS and AERA in these reaffirmations and calls to action.

As educators we need to simultaneously maintain our commitment to democratic principles and our role in the democratic process, including the constructive and inclusive exchange of differing points of view, while simultaneously always standing against any act by anyone that threatens the well being of students. I encourage you to refer, reflect, and discuss with one another the statements of professional organizations referenced in this post. As Diane Kinch, the president of TODOS recently wrote, as mathematics educators we must "continue to stand by our students and their families, advocate for them, and work in any way possible to ensure and affirm their futures."

We owe this not only to our students, but also to the society we wish to inhabit in the future.

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Matt Larson Recent events in our country have presented educators with challenges that are new to many of us. As mathematics educators we are not immune to the current political climate and emotionally charged environments.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/?cond[0]=levels_str:High+School

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.voicesintoaction.ca/Home?_role=educator

# data[].attributes.body
https://pulitzercenter.org/lesson-plan-grouping/1619-project-curriculum

# data[].attributes.body
http://getfreehiphopcivics.com/

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.naseemrdz.com/asian-american-history-curriculum/

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/classic.html

# data[].attributes.body
https://padlet.com/toriabono/37uuvrftget3vqf8?fbclid=IwAR3bLqpPKwE41ucdml5pwL_nlQfTXy9hzrliD42R3FoCo_kY6JBAESVOMsk

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.racialequityvtnea.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Interrupting-Bias_-Calling-Out-vs.-Calling-In-REVISED-Aug-2018-1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1IwX-WEz16RqY2wr_CNie8AlIf2_vxxa9o_tdJGu5PhLMM-jBut-rZ1AQ

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Here’s my social justice resources to fire you up and inspire you (as an educator) - podcasts, blog-posts and websites.

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https://www.folger.edu/classroom-conversations-about-identity-and-difference

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/55039/how-the-disrupttexts-movement-can-help-english-teachers-be-more-inclusive

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.adl.org/education/educator-resources/lesson-plans/social-justice-poetry

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https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/?cond[0]=themes_str:Language+Arts&cond[1]=levels_str:High+School

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For young white students, explorations of fair and unfair, just and unjust, can go a long way in advancing anti-racist white identity. Purposeful use of literature and basic study of white anti-racists are among the key ways educators can advance such aims.Teaching Tolerance presents four short biographies for early grades classrooms, with activity ideas.

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For young white students, explorations of fair and unfair, just and unjust, can go a long way in advancing anti-racist white identity. Purposeful use of literature and basic study of white anti-racists are among the key ways educators can advance such aims.Teaching Tolerance presents four short biographies for early grades classrooms, with activity ideas.

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https://www.genderinclusivebiology.com/?fbclid=IwAR0ZjQ2-qZ2ToLOoqtwfmOa6OxONFGQ630XRwXRdD1nlC6XNPPE3L6vaFyE

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.sciencehistory.org/learn/women-in-chemistry?fbclid=IwAR36lQPqS69IQJRmn3k3iS0IniVBQbQvP7fJ3Lz3u-ar04xARpsFxIqgjcA

# data[].attributes.body
https://hbr.org/2020/06/were-entering-the-age-of-corporate-social-justice

# data[].attributes.body
https://brandfinance.com/insights/a-business-case-for-social-justice

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SIGN UP TO BE NOTIFIED WHEN PRE-ORDERS BEGIN
This is a plan book for school-based, home-based, and community-based educators who believe that young people can, will, and already do change the world. It is designed to help educators translate their vision of a just education into concrete activities.

This year's calendar features all new historical anniversaries and birthdays. The newest edition has all the things you would expect in a lesson plan book, plus:

Weekly planning pages packed with important social justice birthdays and historical events

References to online activities, resources, and lesson plans related to those dates

Tips from social justice educators across the country

Inspirational quotes to share with young people

Thought-provoking essential questions to spark discussion on critical issues

Reproducible social justice awards

and much more

Click here to view sample pages.
Planning to Change the World is created by the Education for Liberation Network with the support of Rethinking Schools. All proceeds from the sale of the plan book support the work of these two organizations.

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Planning to Change the World 2021-2022 - Coming Soon! - Rethinking Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
SIGN UP TO BE NOTIFIED WHEN PRE-ORDERS BEGIN This is a plan book for school-based, home-based, and community-based educators who believe that young people can, will, and already do change the world. It is designed to help educators translate their vision of a just education into concrete activities.

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Why #BlackLivesMatter in Your Classroom Too

# data[].attributes.subject
Why #BlackLivesMatter in Your Classroom Too

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I have a simple job. It has two easy mandates.

1. Love children with good teaching.

2. Love their teachers by supporting them with good stuff to teach with.

I work in classrooms all over the world. When there are pieces of your heart in far flung corners of the globe, a powerful kind of empathy grows. When communities hurt, I hurt.

When Trayvon Martin was murdered in Florida, I thought of the children I serve there. I thought of the books they like and the jokes they tell me when I get to town. I remembered his school and his teachers. I thought of his community and especially of his family that has had to find light in the traumatic void his absence creates. On some mornings, when I am particularly sensitive or tired, I can see his classroom. His empty desk haunts my dreams.

When the same thing happened with Mike Brown and Tamir Rice, a significant part of me broke. These names are not headlines or hashtags to me. These were children who read the books my colleagues and I suggested and wrote the essays we asked them to write. These are children who trusted us with their futures. Our system betrayed that trust.

I've worked in schools my entire career. The death of a student or family member is not a new occurrence to me. It is painful every single time. But I heal.

These recent wounds, however, are kept fresh not just by the regularity of these murders, but that they are carried out by agents of the state or their proxies and that they happen almost exclusively to black and brown children, to their siblings, to their mothers and to their fathers.

When educators talk about racism our conversation is often limited to individual acts of personal bias. As long as we don't know any mean or intolerant people, we are complacent in our thinking that these problems are not ours to contend with. Such a stance ignores the systemic complexities of how race is lived in America, on its streets and in our classrooms - and even when there are no people of color present.

Becoming more systemically aware means understanding the kinds of racism that shape our communities, schools, and classrooms, and where we stand in relation to those social forces.

Most people are aware of individual racism. If we choose to talk about race, it is what we spend most of our time talking about, but few understand how it works. There are two kinds of individual racism. The first kind of individual racism is internalized racism. These are all the conscious and subconscious racial biases, prejudices, and blind spots that we all have within ourselves as individuals.

The second kind of individual racism is interpersonal racism. This is what happens when we act out the biases we internalize on others. Most of us are sensitive enough to avoid acting out our internalized racism, but as humans, our biases, prejudices and blind spots are most likely to emerge when we are tired, stressed, late, scared or feel threatened. As educators we are tired quite regularly and stressed daily, so the work of avoiding interpersonal racism is real and significant, but it is not all.

There are also two kinds of systemic racism. The first kind - institutional racism - is the collection of racist policies and discriminatory practices in schools, government agencies, and workplaces that routinely produces unjust outcomes for people of color. These words may be new to us, but as teachers we are intimately familiar with this kind of racism. This is the "achievement gap." This is the testing industrial complex. This is school discipline.

Let's consider this: if there were an activity at school that resulted in the mass failure of kids with green eyes, we would not criminalize the kids with green eyes. We would ask, "What is it about this activity that excludes kids with green eyes?" and we would change the activity. Are we, as members of the education community, willing to do this for black boys who are suspended at rates that are exponentially more in comparison to their peers? What could this look like? If sitting in a desk all day listening to lectures leads to mass suspensions for a specific subset of kids, I need to get with my team and change the activity. To engage in this imaginative work - even if it is messy - is antiracist. It affirms that black lives do matter.

The second kind of systemic racism - structural racism - is the unjust patterns and practices that play out across societal institutions. It is the reality that those suspended black boys miss out on valuable instructional time and consequently miss out on opportunities that lead to college. It is the reality that this boy's earning potential over a lifetime is now a paltry percentage of his college educated peers. It is the knowledge that this reduced earning diminishes quality of life. To be antiracist is to know that all of these things are connected and to know that many of them start in school even when we express no interpersonal racism.

All of our students matter, but in a society characterized by its dogged refusal to treat all kids and their families equally, it is our moral imperative to affirm that black lives matter. If outcomes continue to be bleak for large groups of people, it diminishes the quality of all our lives. When there is massive disenfranchisement fueled by widespread failure and incarceration, the safety of all our communities is compromised.

In our search for solutions, people utter platitudes disguised as answers - we should love one another, I don't see color or race, let's talk more - and all of those things are lovely and important starts, but they alone will not change the systems that routinely produce unjust outcomes. To continue with business as usual, to do nothing, to be "neutral" is a passive declaration of racism because the system that we are most intimately connected with - school - will continue to produce unjust outcomes for people of color. To be antiracist is to be actively involved with the disruption of these systems.

What is our influence, as educators?

What can we do? We cannot reconstruct the world to reflect our views, but we are in a unique position to take action in our classrooms. We can start to disrupt the status quo by asking ourselves questions about our practice, community and curriculum. When I'm working in teams with other teachers, here are some initial questions we use to imagine what our disruption can look like.

1. Safety. In order for students to learn, they need to feel safe. How can I make sure that my classroom is a place where children feel safe and protected? Can I ensure the sustained management of the room while communicating respect (without cultivating fear, embarrassment or teacher dependence)?

2. Choice. Children read more when they feel capable and motivated. How can I create access to reading material that is high interest and appropriately challenges kids? How can I create consistent opportunities to do work that has both meaning and consequence?

3. Voice. When students have a voice, they feel empowered. When so much of childhood is about staying quiet and listening to adults, how can we give students a platform to talk, to write, to share what is important to them? How can we help them be heard by the constituencies that matter the most to them? Who are those people, can we get them to the classroom, and how can we communicate with them?

4. Growth. Learning is not an identical process for all kids; we cannot treat it as if it is. Where are my students now? Honestly. Where can they be by the end of the week? What kind of teaching and practice will it take for them to get there? How can I best facilitate progress - small groups, out of classroom activities, labs, centers, discussions, home visits? How can I measure progress? What tools might kids need in addition to what I have planned so that they may succeed? Do all kids need that tool?

5. Flexibility. Children and communities are changing all the time. What do we need to read to be more responsive to our kids and communities? Who do we need to learn from? What is the best way to share that learning with other teachers? How can we put that learning into action? Day to day, what can this kind of professional growth look like for us?

There is no right answer; rather, it's the questions that help us think about what actions or changes might lead to better outcomes for all of our students, particularly those who are underserved by traditional schooling. Being an advocate for black lives does not mean that I am an advocate against any other lives. When we make the conscious decision to address persisting injustices, this broadens access to justice for everyone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Why #BlackLivesMatter in Your Classroom Too

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I work in classrooms all over the world. When there are pieces of your heart in far flung corners of the globe, a powerful kind of empathy grows. When communities hurt, I hurt. When Trayvon Martin...

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Policing in America: Using Powerful Topics and Tasks to Challenge, Engage, and Empower Students

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Policing in America: Using Powerful Topics and Tasks to Challenge, Engage, and Empower Students

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Policing in America: Using Powerful Topics and Tasks to Challenge, Engage, and Empower Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Blair Baron's twelfth-grade humanities students at Codman Academy Charter Public School in Boston read complex texts about policing in America, including The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and the Department of Justice's Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department, in preparation for an academic discussion.

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Critical Conversations - the conscious kid

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Welcome to our critical conversations with authors, academics, and activists around equity, education, and literature. The goal of this series is to engage with issues of oppression, make information from academia accessible, and spotlight people doing extraordinary work.

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Dena Simmons

As a social and emotional learning (SEL) practitioner-scholar, I am fortunate to get invitations to support schools and districts all over the United States. When schools and districts learn that I address SEL within the larger sociopolitical context, integrating culturally responsive and SEL practices to ensure equitable student outcomes, some are excited. Too many, however, insist that there is no need to discuss equity or culturally responsive practices; their school population is mostly white. The pushback at these schools reveals an underlying discomfort with talking about race, identity, and difference in our nation's classrooms. I worry about the marginalized students and educators in these schools who are either expected to do the brunt of the race and equity work or who are likely struggling silently.

We cannot afford to wallow in our discomfort regarding issues of race and equity. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported an overwhelming 3,265 incidents of hate or bias in schools throughout the nation in the fall of 2018 alone. I, too, have experienced racial trauma at many of the education institutions where I've worked or studied. Educators have an obligation to confront the harm of racism. That is why we must commit to becoming antiracist educators and to preparing our young people to be antiracist, too. I recommend five actions for teaching for an antiracist future.

1. Engage in Vigilant Self-Awareness

People who are white or perceived as white have more privilege and fewer barriers to resources than Black people and other people of color. If we do not know our power, we can abuse it unintentionally or fail to leverage it toward antiracism. Constant self-reflection enhances our ability to disrupt white privilege when we see or enact it. Some questions to ask yourself include

How does your identity provide or prevent access to necessary resources?

How does your power and privilege show up in your work with students, take up space, or silence others?

What single narratives are you telling yourself about students, and how does that affect grading, behavior management, and other interactions?

Do you and the academic materials you use uphold whiteness or lift up the voices and experiences of people of color?

Studies show that Eurocentric values and content dominate U.S. schooling, so these reflection questions are also relevant to educators of color who may have internalized negative messages about Black or Brown people.

2. Acknowledge Racism and the Ideology of White Supremacy

When we let our discomfort or ignorance shield us from recognizing our country's racist history and present, we are part of the problem. Failing to acknowledge racism not only erases histories, cultures, and identities, but also ignores ongoing differential treatment based on race. For example, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos ignored three decades of research showing students of color are disciplined more harshly than white students when she decided to rescind Obama-era guidelines aimed at discipline equity. In addition, schools and districts have spoon-fed lessons on grit to mostly students of color, suggesting that we must "fix" them by making them grittier so that they can adapt to-rather than disrupt-racism and inequality in schools.

Acknowledging the social construct of race and racism and the ideology of white supremacy recognizes the problem so that we are not harmful in our ignorance and so that, together, we can strive for solutions. For educators of color, the work means continuing to call out racism and recruiting white coconspirators to join in antiracist work.

3. Study and Teach Representative History

No matter what subject you teach, history (including African American history, which is U.S. history) is important. Knowing our country's whole history helps us make sense of how our current education system perpetuates inequity.

For too long, we have taught U.S. history devoid of a true depiction of Black excellence and have focused on erasing the truth of racial oppression and uplifting whiteness. Our curriculum superficially talks about slavery and civil rights (notably, textbook provider McGraw-Hill called enslaved Africans "immigrants" and "workers"), and teaching practices risk traumatizing Black students by enacting mock slave auctions, slave games, and underground railroad games. Alternately, resources such as Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s PBS documentary series on Reconstruction or The New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project provide a comprehensive opportunity to learn and discuss history and race with colleagues and students. The Zinn Education Project and Rethinking Schools also have teaching materials that explore topics like the Tulsa race riots and colonization.

4. Talk About Race with Students

The educators I work with are mostly white (which matches the lack of teacher diversity on a national level) and often share that they do not feel comfortable talking about race. But when we shy away from open conversations about race with young people, we sow the seeds of prejudice by inadvertently sending the message that something is wrong with people from another race.

To open up conversations with young people, use stories from history and literature as a starting point, and ask students to take on the perspective of a character about whom they are reading. Reading literature and role-playing enhance empathy and other social cognitive skills. Teaching Tolerance's resource, "Let's Talk: Discussing Race, Racism, and Other Difficult Topics," includes suggestions for working through discomfort. The Educational Leadership article " Helping Students Discuss Race Openly" also has a great list of steps to begin the conversation. (And the September 2019 issue of this newsletter includes guidance from educator Liz Kleinrock on how to lead students through challenging topics like race.)

5. When You See Racism, Do Something

We have to fight against racism-and other isms and phobias. All students deserve to live and learn in the comfort of their own skin. To combat racism, consider how the academic resources, policies, admissions, hiring, grading, and behavior management practices at your school might be racist. Whom do the practices and policies benefit and whom do they disadvantage? Are Black people and other people of color disproportionately affected negatively by disciplinary, pedagogical, and administrative practices? For example, what hours are family-teacher conferences held? Which families are excluded from these hours? Which students are most disciplined based on dress code or physical appearance? In 2018, a high school wrestler was forced to cut his locks because the referee argued that his hair was not compliant with regulations. Ask yourself whether a particular "rule" is applied to all people or just to some. Engage in vigilant awareness of your implicit bias to ensure that you are not part of the problem, too.

Most important, when we see racism-whether at the individual or policy level-we must have the courage to act. White Fragility author Robin DiAngelo provides guidance for engaging in gentle but firm conversations with offenders that prevents the defensiveness that race conversations inspire. Share data on specific practices and use stories to humanize the data. Build partnerships with racial-justice organizations in your communities to integrate their work in teaching and learning. Form a taskforce to assess data, policies, and practices with an antiracist lens to disrupt systemic decisions that historically have disenfranchised people of color. Be mindful that these efforts should not be carried solely by the people of color in your school, who are living and struggling with racism on a daily basis.

Shape an Antiracist Future

In his book How to Be an Antiracist, Ibram X. Kendi writes, "The opposite of racist isn't 'not racist.' It is 'anti-racist.' ... One either allows racial inequities to persevere, as a racist, or confronts racial inequities, as an anti-racist. There is no in-between safe space of 'not racist'" (p. 9). Teaching for an antiracist future starts with us, the educators. An antiracist educator actively works to dismantle the structures, policies, institutions, and systems that create barriers and perpetuate race-based inequities for people of color. Educating students to see and respect the humanity and dignity of all people should be a national imperative, especially if we want to heal-and have a future-as a nation.

Dena Simmons (@DenaSimmons) supports schools throughout the nation to build social and emotional learning, culturally responsive practices, and equity ( www.denasimmons.com). She is the author of the forthcoming book White Rules for Black People (St. Martin's Press). Her views are her own.

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Dena Simmons As a social and emotional learning (SEL) practitioner-scholar, I am fortunate to get invitations to support schools and districts all over the United States. When schools and districts learn that I address SEL within the larger sociopolitical context, integrating culturally responsive and SEL practices to ensure equitable student outcomes, some are excited.

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Teach the Black Freedom Struggle Online Classes

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Teach the Black Freedom Struggle Online Classes

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This is such a wonderful series - content-wise and soul-feeding. This is one of the best professional developments I have ever been to, hands-down. I am so grateful. This series is giving me hope in this difficult time. Phenomenal series so far. Even more important during our current situation, as people are engaged and able to see each other. I've been here every Friday and look forward to these talks.
These comments are from three of the hundreds of teachers and students who attended have attended our online classes with people's historians. These classes offer the chance to learn directly from leading historians and to meet peers from across the country.

The classes are held at least once a month on Mondays at 4:00 pm PT / 7:00 pm ET for 75 minutes. In each session, the historian is interviewed by a teacher and breakout rooms allow participants (in small groups) to meet each other, discuss the content, and share teaching ideas. We designed the sessions for teachers and other school staff, however, parents, students, and others are welcome to participate. ASL is provided.

Below are the upcoming sessions and more are in the works. Register for one or more of the upcoming sessions here. Miss a session? Recordings from previous sessions are available through each session's dedicated resource post, which you can access by clicking on its title.

Feb. 15, 2021: Julian Bond and the Southern Civil Rights Movement: Focus on Georgia

To learn about the long history of the voting rights struggle leading to the electoral victory in Georgia, we will be joined by SNCC veteran Judy Richardson and the co-editors of Julian Bond's Time to Teach: A History of the Southern Civil Rights Movement, Jeanne Theoharis and Pamela Horowitz.

Time to Teach is a compilation of lectures by SNCC veteran and university professor Julian Bond (1940 - 2015). Bond had his own voting rights struggle in Georgia when the State House of Representatives refused to seat him as state representative, due to his public statements against the Vietnam War.

March 8, 2021: A Black Women's History of the United States

Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross will share stories from their book, A Black Women's History of the United States. Daina Ramey Berry is a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin and Kali Nicole Gross is a history professor at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

By starting the history about Black women on this land with us as free people and as people agitating for our freedom, by prioritizing all Black women's voices and coming up to the present day, Dr. Gross and Dr. Berry illuminate greater possibilities for our collective freedom dreams and struggles for collective liberation. - Charlene A. Carruthers

March 22, 2021: The Atlanta Washerwomen's Strike

Tera W. Hunter, a history professor at Princeton University and the author of To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors After the Civil War, will provide an historical context for the election victory in Georgia.

Hunter will focus on the 1881 Atlanta Washerwomen's Strike, when 20 laundresses met in Atlanta to form a trade organization, the Washing Society. They sought higher pay, respect, and autonomy over their work and established a uniform rate at $1 per dozen pounds of wash. With the help of Black ministers throughout the city, they held a mass meeting and called a strike to achieve higher pay at the uniform rate.

April 26, 2021: The Carceral State

Historian Garrett Felber and abolitionist organizer Stevie Wilson will talk about the growth of the carceral state and resistance movements.

Felber, author of Those Who Know Don't Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement and the Carceral State, is project director of the Parchman Oral History Project and was the lead organizer of the Making and Unmaking Mass Incarceration conference. He co-founded Study and Struggle, a project that organizes against criminalization and incarceration in Mississippi through mutual aid, political education, and community building. They provide a bilingual Spanish and English curriculum with discussion questions and reading materials, as well as financial support, to over 100 participants in radical study groups inside and outside prisons in Mississippi.

May 10, 2021: How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America

Clint Smith is a poet, staff writer at The Atlantic, and teaches writing and literature in the D.C. Central Detention Facility. Smith, in conversation with Cierra Kaler-Jones, will talk about his new book, How the Word Is Passed, an examination of how monuments and landmarks represent - and misrepresent - the central role of slavery in U.S. history and its legacy today.

The Zinn Education Project is developing lessons to bring this essential book to the classroom.

Past Sessions

We launched the series when school buildings closed in March of 2020, in collaboration with author Jeanne Theoharis. Every Friday afternoon, we hosted an historian in conversation with a teacher or teacher educator. High school teacher and Rethinking Schools editor Jesse Hagopian has served as the primary host, with guest hosting by Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Jessica Rucker, Cierra Kaler-Jones, and Adam Sanchez.

Fridays became a time to look forward to learning through stories about people's history, to meeting other educators, and to finding a road map forward in the midst of this pandemic. As one participant said, "Thank you for getting us together and giving me hope that we are not alone, and that we can think and act ourselves out of this pandemic."'

Beginning in the fall of 2020, we switched to offering the sessions at least once a month, on Monday evenings.

Each link below includes highlights from the session, a list of the resources recommended by the presenters and participants, participant reflections, and a full video recording.

Jan. 11, 2021: The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks | Jeanne Theoharis, in conversation with Jesse Hagopian, spoke about Rosa Parks' activism prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, her trip to the Highlander Folk School, and the decades she dedicated to challenging racism in the North. This session is based on the young readers edition The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert, to be released in February 2021. There is a companion classroom lesson for this session by Bill Bigelow.

Dec. 14, 2020: Reconstruction: Repression and Resistance | Kidada E. Williams, in conversation with Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, discussed the history of repression and resistance during Reconstruction with contemporary connections. Williams is a Detroit-based writer and historian who studies African American survivors of racist violence. Williams is an associate professor at Wayne State University. She is the author of They Left Great Marks on Me and co-editor of Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence. Her podcast, Seizing Freedom, will be released in early 2021.

Nov. 16. 2020: Paul Robeson, Political Outlaw: Lessons for Today from the Black Radical Tradition | Greg Carr, in conversation with Jesse Hagopian, talked about Paul Robeson and the Black radical tradition. Carr is an associate professor of Africana Studies, chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Howard University, and Adjunct Faculty at the Howard School of Law. Carr is co-founder of the Philadelphia Freedom Schools Movement and an advisor for the Zinn Education Project's Teach Reconstruction campaign. See Carr's two-minute history lessons on key figures and events in U.S. history.

Oct. 19, 2020: Organizing for Voting Rights: Lessons from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) | Charles M. Payne, the Henry Rutgers Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Rutgers University Newark and the Director of the Joseph Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Research joined us to discuss voter suppression and white terrorism in the mid-20th century, in a conversation led by Cierra Kaler-Jones. Read highlights and stream the recording.

July 10: Abolitionists and Reconstruction Manisha Sinha joined high school teacher Adam Sanchez to talk about the abolition movement and Reconstruction. Sinha explained that the abolition movement should not be taught as a collection of individuals, but instead as a radical social movement, with connections to the Movement for Black Lives today.

June 26: A History of Rebellions Jeanne Theoharis and Jesse Hagopian discussed various rebellions in U.S. history - including what they have in common and how they differ from current events. Theoharis encouraged educators to consider "the many tendrils" that led to this current movement and others before it.

June 19: Reconstruction and Juneteenth Greg Carr and high school teacher Jessica Rucker talked about how Juneteenth is one of many days where African Americans celebrate being "freed" but still not "free" and how the times we are in today could be considered a third Reconstruction or a second Founding.

June 12: Reconstruction and Issues of Citizenship, Suffrage, and Movement Building in the 19th Century Martha Jones, in conversation with Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, addressed the themes of our campaigns to Teach Reconstruction and to teach about voting rights. She highlighted the vital and too often ignored role of Black women in the fight for voting rights.

June 5: Examining the Historical Roots of the 2020 RebellionKeisha N. Blain and Jesse Hagopian addressed the role of police throughout U.S. history, the connection between lynching and police brutality, and the importance of highlighting stories of resistance, particularly by women of color in the fight for human rights.

May 29: Black Feminist Organizing: 1950s to the 21st Century Barbara Ransby joined in conversation with Jesse Hagopian about the history of Black feminist organizing. That day, the nationwide rebellion in protest of police brutality was in everyone's hearts and minds, and Ransby made connections between past and present struggles.

May 22: Black Left: 1930s to the Early 1950s Robin D. G. Kelley described and challenged stereotypes about communism in U.S. history, in a conversation with Cierra Kaler-Jones, describing the histories of the Scottsboro Nine, the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, and other individuals.

May 15: Black Athletes and the Black Freedom Struggle. Sports writer Dave Zirin joined Jesse Hagopian to discuss the activism of noted athletes, including Jackie Robinson, Curt Flood, Wilma Rudolph, Wyomia Tyus, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos, Tommie Smith and organized campaigns such as the Olympic Project for Human Rights.

May 8: Women in the Black Panther Party. Robyn Spencer and Mary Phillips introduced the role of women in the Black Panther Party through discussion, a video clip, and art. They were introduced by Jesse Hagopian who co-wrote a lesson on the Black Panther Party at the Zinn Education Project website. In the words of a participant, they "deconstructed the Martin-Malcolm dichotomy, centering women and gender in the history of the Panthers."

May 1: Rethinking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On International Workers' Day, Jeanne Theoharis and Jesse Hagopian discussed the radical history of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Theoharis shared stories about the influence of Coretta Scott King and on Dr. King's role in the North, the Memphis sanitation workers' strike, and the Poor People's Campaign.

April 24: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee On this 60th anniversary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), we hosted SNCC veterans Courtland Cox and Judy Richardson, in conversation with high school teacher Jessica Rucker. They described the role of popular education materials and a network of organizers across generations.

April 17: The Civil Rights Movement in the North Jeanne Theoharis' discussion with Jesse Hagopian challenged the traditional narrative of the Civil Rights Movement with descriptions of oppression and resistance in the North. (Did you know the biggest civil rights action of the 1960s was in New York City?) She talked about Los Angeles, Milwaukee, and Boston.

April 10: Teenagers in the Civil Rights Movement This session, led by Jeanne Theoharis and Jesse Hagopian, highlighted the leading role teenagers played in the Civil Rights Movement - from desegregating Montgomery's buses to the student sit-ins to the high school walkouts of the 1960s. Two contemporary youth organizers spoke as well.

March 27 and April 3: The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks Based on Jeanne Theoharis's book of the same name, this session introduced participants to Rosa Parks' activism prior to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, her trip to the Highlander Folk School, and the decades she dedicated to challenging racism in the North. Bill Bigelow wrote a lesson to bring this more complete story of Rosa Parks to classrooms.

Each session or mini-class is for 75 minutes. There are breakout rooms for 12 minutes about half-way through the session to allow participants (in small groups of five or six) to meet each other, discuss the content, and share teaching ideas. We designed the sessions for teachers and other school staff, however, parents, students, and others are welcome to participate. The session format is as follows:

Presentation by a historian in conversation with a high school teacher or another scholar.

Small group conversations by participants (using Zoom breakout rooms) to discuss insights from the talk and approaches to teaching.

Presenters respond to questions with the full group and share teaching resources.

Evaluation by participants.

Questions? Write to [email protected]

These sessions are made possible thanks to support from the Communities for Just Schools Fund, individuals, and the donors to the Teach the Black Freedom Struggle campaign.

Please add your support and make a donation so that we can continue to offer people's history lessons, resources, workshops - and now online mini-classes - for free to K-12 teachers and students. We depend on individuals like you.

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Teach the Black Freedom Struggle Online Classes - Zinn Education Project

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This is such a wonderful series - content-wise and soul-feeding. This is one of the best professional developments I have ever been to, hands-down. I am so grateful. This series is giving me hope in this difficult time. Phenomenal series so far.

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Dear White Teachers: You Can’t Love Your Black Students If You Don’t Know Them

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Dear White Teachers: You Can’t Love Your Black Students If You Don’t Know Them

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Dear White Teachers: You Can’t Love Your Black Students If You Don’t Know Them (Opinion)

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It isn’t enough to “love all students,” writes the University of Georgia’s Bettina L. Love.

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SPRING 2020

The spring issue of Rethinking Schools has a special focus on how art has been fueling the teachers' rebellion and includes articles from Kim Cosier and Nicolas Lampert and a special spread of photos by Joe Brusky. The issue also includes important articles about how to challenge empire in the classroom, how to rethink the civics lessons we teach students, what it's like to be a transgender teacher in a conservative area, and how we need to get our students to dream - and to dream big. And that's just the beginning!

Annual Subscription: $24.95

To purchase individual paper copies of the magazine email us or call customer service at 1-800-669-4192

Examining the Role of Art During the Chicago Teachers Strike

By Nicolas Lampert

The author of A People's Art History of the United States dissects the imagery unions created and used in the streets and on the picket lines during the 2019 Chicago teachers strike.

Teaching Beyond Tolerance

By Ty Marshall

A transgender middle school teacher wrestles with a school and community that tries to hide their identity.

Oakland Students Make Time to Change the World

By Heath Madom

A high school English teacher reorients his classroom to be a space for student organizing for climate justice.

Check out these valuable resources, reviewed by Rethinking Schools editors and Teaching for Change colleagues.

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The spring issue of Rethinking Schools has a special focus on how art has been fueling the teachers' rebellion and includes articles from Kim Cosier and Nicolas Lampert and a special spread of photos by Joe Brusky.

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Talking about race, although hard, is necessary. We are here to provide tools and guidance to empower your journey and inspire conversation.

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Social and Cultural Literacy Resources for Classrooms

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Social and Cultural Literacy Resources for Classrooms

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Social and Cultural Literacy Resources for Classrooms | Common Sense Education

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Teaching and learning happen within cultural, political, and social circumstances. As much as we want to deny it, we all have biases based on our life experiences. Each of us -- teachers and students alike -- enter classrooms from different perspectives and points of view.

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10 Famous Women Mathematicians | AU Online

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Famous women mathematicians have not only advanced mathematical understanding, but applied findings to other scientific fields.

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@mrwilly_prek
@allusio.academy
@theconsciouskid

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Take a look at this collection of podcasts that can help to support your delivery of this social justice work.

https://pushingtheedge.org/social-justice-resources/

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Here’s my social justice resources to fire you up and inspire you (as an educator) - podcasts, blog-posts and websites.

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Take a look at this series of Webinars held by the Teaching for Tolerance organisation.

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Learning for Justice webinars offer helpful guidance and great ideas from our experienced teaching and learning specialists and from innovative educators in the Learning for Justice community. Watch these FREE on-demand webinars at your own pace and share them with colleagues!

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https://youtu.be/J3Fh60GEB5E

https://www.mypronouns.org/what-and-why

https://www.colorado.edu/cisc/resources/trans-queer/pronouns