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We are pleased to introduce our new logo at the top of our site. It was designed by Brian Reddy, an artist and educator in Massachusetts. You can visit his website or to see more of his work.

Teaching Tolerance Grant We are also pleased to announce that we received a grant from
Teaching Tolerance (a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center) to deepen and expand our work. As a major component of this grant, we have established a formal accountability partnership with the Melanated Educators Collective to compensate Black educators to review our resources, provide guidance for our work, and co-facilitate our summer reading series. We are also looking forward to hosting our first national convening in Spring 2021, hopefully in-person in Philadelphia.

Everyone wants the best for their students.As educators, we want to do our jobs well. We want to be fair, we want to promote safe communities, and we want to support all our students in every aspect of their lives.We've created some tools to help you realize these goals that you already have.White teachers, even those with experience and compassion, can unconsciously cause pain to students of color in their classrooms. We believe that through consistent study and reflection, we can slowly address our own unconscious biases and make changes so we can better support the academic, social and emotional well-being of our students of color.We want YOU to be part of a decentralized inquiry series to support teachers to better explore their own biases and improve their own teaching practices.

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This Reading and Inquiry Series provides a monthly set of tools for learning, introspection and having conversations about issues of racism in our schools, classrooms and communities. We hope that through regular reflection and conversation, you can get better at recognizing and resisting your biases and the impact they have on your students and colleagues of color.

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We are pleased to introduce our new logo at the top of our site. It was designed by Brian Reddy, an artist and educator in Massachusetts. You can visit his website or to see more of his work.

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Want to Teach Civility? Start With Intellectual Safety.

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As the current election cycle reaches its climax, establishing "intellectually safe" communities of inquiry can help mitigate the negative effects the campaign has had on children and classrooms.

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A Framework for Anti-Bias Education

The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K-12 instruction. Comprised of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes, the standards provide a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

Divided into four domains-identity, diversity, justice and action (IDJA)-the standards recognize that, in today's diverse classrooms, students need knowledge and skills related to both prejudice-reduction and collective action. Together, these domains represent a continuum of engagement in anti-bias, multicultural and social justice education. The IDJA domains are based on Louise Derman-Sparks' four goals for anti-bias education in early childhood.

Each of the IDJA domains has learning outcomes and school-based scenarios organized by grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12.

Download the Standards

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The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K-12 instruction, providing a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

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Black History Month Teaching: Miseducation or Empowerment?

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be

While challenging the teacher as hero trope, We Got This shows how authentically listening to kids is the closest thing to a superpower that we have. Cornelius Minor identifies tools, attributes, and strategies that can augment our listening, allowing us to make powerful moves toward equity by broadening access to learning for all children.

"That's the problem with you, Minor" a student huffed. "You want to make everything about reading or math. It's not always about that. At school, you guys do everything except listen to me. Y'all want to use your essays and vocabulary words to save my future, but none of y'all know anything about saving my now. "

In We Got This Cornelius Minor describes how this conversation moved him toward realizing that listening to children is one of the most powerful things a teacher can do. By listening carefully, Cornelius discovered something that kids find themselves having to communicate far too often. That "my lessons were not, at all, linked to that student's reality."

While challenging the teacher as hero trope, We Got This shows how authentically listening to kids is the closest thing to a superpower that we have. What we hear can spark action that allows us to make powerful moves toward equity by broadening access to learning for all children. A lone teacher can't eliminate inequity, but Cornelius demonstrates that a lone teacher can confront the scholastic manifestations of racism, sexism, ableism and classism by showing:

exactly how he plans and revises lessons to ensure access and equity

ways to look anew at explicit and tacit rules that consistently affect groups of students unequally

suggestions for leaning into classroom community when it feels like the kids are against you

ideas for using universal design that make curriculum relevant and accessible

advocacy strategies for making classroom and schoolwide changes that expand access to opportunity to your students

"We cannot guarantee outcomes, but we can guarantee access" Cornelius writes. "We can ensure that everyone gets a shot. In this book we get to do that. Together. Consider this book a manual for how to begin that brilliantly messy work. We got this."

(click any section below to continue reading)

Contents

Foreword, Kwame Alexander

Acknowledgments
Introduction: PART 1 This Ain't Everybody's Hero Story-It's Yours 1. Begin by Listening We All Want Better
How Listening Can Help

How to Listen to What Students Are Really Communicating
2. You Can Disrupt the Status Quo in Your Class
How to Ensure That Your Lessons Speak to What Students Say They Need

Question the Things That Define Your Classroom Culture

Identify Any Groups That Consistently Benefit Less from the Way Things Are
3. Do Your Homework and Then Go for It
Change the Way You Do School So That Kids Have More Opportunities to Succeed

Identify Why Change Needs to Happen

Do a Little Bit of Research

Decide What to Do and Make a Plan

Execute the Plan
PART 2 Taking Your Dreams off Deferment
Find a Productive Way to Say No

4. Show Kids That You Hear Them

Plan for and Hold Regular Class Meetings to Maintain Community

Designate Specific Kids Who Can Give You Feedback
5. Make Curriculum Work for Your Kids
Shift from a Punitive to an Instructive Mind-Set

Use a Universal-Design-for-Learning Framework to Make Learning Accessible

Understand Exactly What You're Being Asked to Do

Understand What Test Prep Is Really Asking You to Do

6. Being a Good Teacher Versus Being a Good Employee

Engage in Imaginative Mind-Set Work

Gather a PR Team as You Make a Plan to Be Better for Kids
Epilogue: The Gravity of Our Work
Bring It Back to the Classroom

Companion Resources

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While challenging the teacher as hero trope, We Got This shows how authentically listening to kids is the closest thing to a superpower that we have. Cornelius

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Welcome to the first month of our Reading & Inquiry Series! There are a lot of materials in this email, but here are some quick tips that can help guide you through them:

Set a day and time for your group to meet - during lunch, before school, after school. If you start with a group of 2, that's great! If 20 folks at your school are interested now, even better! The goal is to grow our work.

Send this month's Primary Article to your group. You could even send this to a broader group of your colleagues - maybe it will pique someone's interest!

Prepare yourself to facilitate by reading through our Summary, Norms, and Discussion Protocol. If you have a large group, maybe ask a colleague to help facilitate.

Pass the Hat at the end of your discussion and collect donations for this month.

​Prepare yourself for September by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on September 1.

For our first month's topic, we are addressing the bigger "why" of this whole project. There are many reasons why white teachers need to talk about race. Most importantly, racism has a harmful effect on students in individual and systemic ways. If we believe in equity in education, then we have an obligation to fight racism. Specifically, white teachers have a responsibility to fight racism because we are the beneficiaries of white supremacy. This month we want to look at our own beliefs, our growth, and our intentions when it comes to our anti-racist work. This conversation is built to welcome everyone, regardless if you are coming to this work with years of anti-racist training or you are just starting to think about how race affects the classroom. We have included a primary article (with accompanying podcast) as well as discussion questions.
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Even though school may not be fully in session for some teachers, try to find a few teachers with whom you can have this discussion: maybe it's over a lunch break or in between PD sessions. Find a teacher with whom you've already started this conversation and each of you invite someone new! Hopefully you can have this conversation before the end of August - but if it happens in September, no worries!

As you facilitate this work with your peers, it is important to keep some norms in mind. You can open your sessions by reviewing these (and more, if you'd like to add) with your group.

This BAR-WE Inquiry series was designed with the understanding that it is not the sole responsibility of people of color to educate white people about race. White people must take responsibility for our own growth to be anti-racist educators and community members. It also matters how we approach this work, so please keep the following norms in mind while engaging in these discussions:

Please approach this inquiry series as a learner . We all have room to grow with our understanding of race in our schools and communities. No one is an expert who has come to explain race to others; we are striving to be in dialogue with one another to learn and grow collectively.

The inquiry series does not take the place of anti-racism or diversity trainings that school districts can and should offer. When done well, such trainings are valuable. Nevertheless, we believe that any one-off training is inadequate, and this inquiry series is designed to encourage the ongoing reflection on race in our teaching and in our schools.

As white people engaged in this work, it is important to maintain humility around the topic of race when in dialogue with our colleagues of color. The goal will never be to explain to a colleague how they should feel about race; rather, we want to learn how to be productive allies in the work towards racial justice in education and society.

Keep the focus on RACE . It is easier to shift the conversation to colorblind versions of the topics; nevertheless, we must persevere through any discomfort to identify how race is central to our work and advocacy for justice in our schools.

Finally, as you keep in mind the ongoing nature of this work, please expect and accept non-closure . It is OK to "hang in uncertainty" and not rush to quick solutions. We believe sustainable, meaningful growth will result from the commitment to reflection.

In our experience, we have found conversations about racism and white supremacy to be most fruitful when primarily done in small groups (4 or fewer people). This makes folks more willing to share, and also gives each person more time to talk and process. We have also found it productive to use a protocol for these conversations - and have someone serve as a timekeeper during each segment.

10 mins - If you have the time, give everyone a chance to write and reflect on the article and questions at the start of the session. You can also ask people to do this in advance and bring their reflections with them. We don't recommend starting without giving everyone time to reflect individually first.

For the rest of the protocol, it is recommended that you split into groups of 2-4 people, so that everyone can have a chance to share and discuss. If you have limited time, use smaller groups.

3 mins - Person 1 shares their reactions and reflections on the article and questions

5 mins - others ask questions of Person 1 and Person 1 answers
Key point: Other group members should limit their reactions to each Person's reflection with ONLY questions, not statements. This can be hard at first, but we've found it to be a fruitful structure for conversation.

Rotate through the group members following the Share-and-Question structure

End with open discussion - however much time you have.
If you have a larger group, this would be the time to bring the small group discussions back together.

Why should educators have conversations about race and white supremacy in the first place?

In what ways have you already been working towards an anti-racist classroom and school?

What ideas from this article and podcast feel new and/or challenging?

What are some next steps you can take towards building an anti-racist classroom and school?

We want to know who is using these resources, what they find useful, and any recommendations for improvements in the future. We hope that one person in your group can take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went.

In addition to being accountable to our colleagues and students of color, we believe it is important to be financially accountable to people of color who are doing this work on a daily basis. Each month, we will recommend an organization led by people of color, in education and beyond, doing the work of pushing for justice.At the end of each monthly discussion, pass a hat (or a box) and collect donations for the designated organization. You can then have one group member go online and donate in the name of your school. If you want, you can add "Building Anti-Racist White Educators" after your school name.If you are looking to buy refreshments for your session, we recommend supporting businesses owned by people of color, especially Black-owned businesses, if at all possible. In Philly, we recommend
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This month, we encourage you to donate to , an organization that pushes for freedom and justice for all Black people through "building a network focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and political education using a Black queer feminist lens."

Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse , Franny Lou's Porch , and Uncle Bobbie's Coffee & Books .

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August 2018: Why do white teachers need to talk about race?

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Welcome to the first month of our Reading & Inquiry Series! There are a lot of materials in this email, but here are some quick tips that can help guide you through them: Set a day and time for your...