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Getting it right; why pronouncing names correctly matters | Gerardo Ochoa | TEDxMcMinnville

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Arts & Equity Toolkit - Chapman Cultural Center

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Arts & Equity Toolkit - Chapman Cultural Center

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by Elicia Cardenas

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This is a guest post authored by Elicia Cárdenas, Director of Training for The Comprehensible Classroom.

In response to the many atrocities that our nation has witnessed at the expense of Black people-and other people-, more and more discussions are happening online and in-person about racism and anti-racism. It is wonderful to see educators coming to consciousness about these atrocities and the systems that perpetuate them, and to see these discussions happening. I am often reminded that the state that I live in, Utah, was forcibly taken away from the people that the state is named after, and I am grateful when I attend an event that acknowledges the people whose land has been stolen. We cannot learn from what we do not see, and so talking about these things in public is an important first step.

Talking about racism is important

I have watched a lot of conversations about this work start to happen. Some of these conversations are happening privately, with departments, friends, Professional Learning Communities, and of course, on social media. My brand new colleagues at the Comprehensible Classroom have been engaging in these conversations too, and in response, many people have written to express a variety of positive emotions and also a variety of hard emotions: confusion about why an organization focused on Comprehension-based teaching is talking about anti-racist work, guilt for not engaging in or even being aware of this kind of work before now, and anger at feeling helpless.

I welcome you all, because talking about this stuff is better than not talking about it. I also want to welcome those who are engaging in these conversations as observers. I know from personal experience that working for a more equitable world can be challenging and even traumatic. I have learned that teachers, working in their classrooms and school contexts, can be incredibly effective leaders and change makers, and no one needs to participate in social media for the seeds of social justice and change to take root.

More than anything, teachers have been writing to ask: "Where do I begin?". In this post, I am going to share some of my own learning and thinking, as a Person Of Color (POC) and as someone for whom anti-racism and inclusivity have been my north star for as long as I have been an educator. My goal is to build bridges and provide you with direction as you embark on this hard, messy, and important journey.

Anti-racism work is messy work

More than anything, this work-this journey-is MESSY! Talking about racism requires talking about systemic oppression, unconscious biases, and our own identities-and that is hard. And awkward. And often painful. And teaching is already hard!

On social media, I see a lot of (virtual) screaming and shaming of people who are just entering into this mindset and/or trying to figure out where they fit in and how to approach it; I am sorry if you are one of those people who is being shamed or attacked. I am holding you in my thoughts. Remember, this is messy and incredibly personal.

If you are a person who is so angry and you want to DO something and you want to do it NOW and perhaps are doing some of that screaming, I hear you. I acknowledge that silence has been deadly. This is messy, and it takes a lot of practice to do it without causing more harm. And I am glad you are all on this journey.

We are all products of who we are and all we can do is try to be better. We can only start from where we are, and we have some work to do. This work is for all of us, and it is most fruitful when we begin by looking at ourselves.

Anti-racism work is for all educators

As educators, we are responsible for educating all our students. If some students are being dehumanized at any level, I believe we have a responsibility to change that.

Have you ever heard of the term spirit murdering? Spirit murdering is a harsh term, a painful term, an ugly term-but what it describes is worse. Legal scholar Patricia Williams describes spirit murdering in this quote:

"The personal, psychological, and spiritual injuries to people of color through fixed, yet fluid and moldable, structures of racism, privilege and power; spirit-murdering denies inclusion, protection, safety, nurturance, and acceptance-all things a person needs to be human and to be educated." Patricia Williams

Let me be clear: systemic racism dehumanizes people. Systems of racism, privilege, and power take away the ability of some of our students to be human and to be educated. Even if we think we don't have any of "those kids" that are oppressed by these systems (Black kids, Poor kids, Kids of Color, Immigrant kids, or any Kids that are members of an oppressed group), we probably do. Beyond that, we likely have educators that we work with who are members of those communities too who have been affected by the same system of oppression that we live in. And even if we really don't have those folks in our community, don't we have a responsibility to make the world a better place? Isn't that what teaching is about? Educating children so that they become contributing members of society? Don't we want them to contribute to the good?

I have been working in a school that holds its values close; all our work is grounded in these values. One value, that of Tikkun Olam ("Repairing the World"), is a driving force. I recognize that the world is not a safe and equitable place, and I want to be part of making it a better, safer, more equitable world.
(To begin learning about systemic racism, please see the list of useful resources below).
How to begin learning about equity

Luckily, there are so many resources for how to build more equity and how to work for a more just world. It's ok to start from where you are at, and it's also ok to read, learn, listen, and reflect-because the work starts with you and who you are.

Every single anti-bias, anti-racist training that I have attended or led tends to start in the same place: with agreements about what our behavior will be (the Norms of the training) and with a self-examination of our personal identity and culture.

Norms for engaging in anti-racist work

I offer you some norms when starting on this journey, and I would like to invite everyone to keep these close when doing this work, in person and on social media. These norms are adapted the seven agreements shared in "Guidelines for Productive Work Sessions" by Visions Inc.

1. Practice Active Listening: Be willing to be surprised and learn something new. In this case, silence is not complicity. Listening actively can be a way to learn.

2. Try It On: Be willing to "try on" new ideas or ways of doing things that might not be familiar or what you prefer.

3. Practice Self-Focus: Attend to and speak about your own experiences and responses. Do not speak for a whole group or express assumptions about the experience of others.

4. Understand the Difference Between Intent and Impact: Try to understand and acknowledge impact. Denying the impact of something said by focusing on intent is often more destructive than the initial interaction.

5. Practice "Both / And": When speaking (or writing), substitute "and" for "but". This practice acknowledges and honors multiple realities.

6. Refrain from Blaming or Shaming Self and Others: we are all on this journey.

7. Move Up / Move Back: If you tend to use your voice often, consider "moving back" and vice versa.

Anti-racist work begins with self-examination

The other starting place that I invite you to explore is your own identity. Who are you? What is your culture? Many people, especially those who grow up with a White lens, they don't really think about their own culture, at least until they come up against the culture of someone else who they think is like them. In my family, it started with "how do you say thank you for gifts?" Because the way my family believes is "right" is pretty different from that of my husband's family, and hurt feelings happened all around. Now extrapolate that to grieving, celebrations, and what you think is normal for breakfast. We all have culture. As world language teachers, we are very used to looking at and finding joy in other cultures; we are multilingual and are often experienced at living in another culture. Friends, this is an asset! We already have a sense that the way we think things are and should be done is not the same the world over! This is a great mindset to start with!

In a recent interview with National Public Radio, Robin DiAngelo, the White author of White Fragility, asked readers to reflect on their own experiences, and I would like to offer you a concrete way to begin that reflection. In an oft-cited article by Peggy McIntosh called White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, the author talks about all the experiences she gets to have as a White woman that are not universal. From being able to find band-aids and crayons in her approximate skin color to being able to protect her children most of the time from people who don't like them, Ms. McIntosh crafts a powerful list of her own privileges. If you haven't read it-I mean really read it and reflected on it-I highly recommend that you do so. It is a place to start.

Resources to begin learning about race and racism

I have been doing this kind of work for a long time, and what follows are my recommendations of resources that I think can specifically support teachers in anti-racist work. In addition, look for more posts from me in the coming months about assessment and grading practices that support equity in the classroom, and why these practices are so important.
Please note: This list is not exhaustive; it isn't even a very long list. These are just the resources that I use and reflect on. Please accept my apologies if you have a resource that you particularly love that is not on this list, and please do add it in the comments!
Courses

I recommend the Teaching with with a culturally responsive lens course from Elevate Education Consulting (and anything from Elevate!) because I have learned a great deal from these incredible educators, and because they approach all of their training with a Comprehension-based framework for language education. Rachelle and Anna also did a workshop earlier this spring that is a mini-version of their culturally responsive CI training if you want something less time intensive than a full class.

I have found Edx, specifically courses from MITx Teaching labs, to be a good source of free, quality coursework that helps frame equity and learning issues in a practical way. At the moment, I am finishing up a class called Becoming a More Equitable Educator. It might be one of, if not the absolute, best teaching resources of this topic, framed with action and practice for teachers. I find it to be very accessible and truly groundbreaking. Fortunately, the creators have made all the coursework available for anyone. If you have time but no money, this is my number one recommendation.

Teaching Tolerance

Teaching Tolerance is probably my #1 access point for professional development around these topics that I can access on my own; they do periodic webinars (some on-demand) and have TONS of free resources. They are also a great resource for teaching materials that include positive representation of all people. Plus, their magazine is priceless.

Conferences

The People of Color Conference and the White Privilege Conference are also significant opportunities for professional development. They are a big investment, but worth every penny.

Books

In terms of books, I do think White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo, is a good starting point, but not the only one.

Grading for equity, by Joe Feldmen is a really good look at systemic racism in schools and provides a map for teacher actions that can combat it, through the lens of our everyday grading practice. That might not be for everyone, but I love it so much I can't read it without having to sit down and write a response to each page! Stay tuned for an exploration of this topic as it relates to the day-to-day life of a comprehension based teacher. Please note: both these books were written by white authors.

These books were recommended by John H. Bracey, a prominent scholar of Afro-American history, to his son @magisterbracey.

Resources by Black authors

If you prefer to focus on learning from Black voices, I recommend the following (and there are SO many, this is just a tiny starting point):

District and school-based resources

Finally, most schools and districts do have initiatives and groups that are equity focused (often referred to as Diversity groups, Diversity and Inclusion, etc.), and I always suggest that folks get in touch with their local group if possible. Usually, someone at the district level will be able to point to a group or resources. Sometimes, that is a really good starting point because the resources and educational opportunities are community specific, and can be an easy entry point.

If you do know folks who have been doing this work on these committees and boards, would you do me a favor? Take a moment and thank them. It tends to be thankless, sometimes traumatic work, and these educators deserve recognition.

The most important thing is to start

I would like to leave you with a quote from "Finding Freedom in the Classroom: A Practical Introduction to Critical Theory" by Patricia H. Hinchley, a tome of a book but one that laid the groundwork for my own journey as a change maker and anti-racist educator. "No change is too small to make if it moves your practice closer to a vision you believe in. No goal is too unrealistic to pursue. Therefore, start anywhere."

Let's get started!
About the author:
Hi! I am Elicia. My pronouns are she/her/hers and I identify as a Latina. I also acknowledge that I am White passing, which means that I have many privileges based on the color of my skin. I have been teaching middle school Spanish with a comprehension based focus for the last six years, along with serving on our school's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee for the same six years. As I have grown as a comprehension based teacher and as an anti-racist educator, I have continued to focus on being more equitable, more race and bias aware, and more context centered .

Learn more about Elicia on her blog.

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Becoming an anti-racist educator: where to begin? (GUEST POST) - The Comprehensible Classroom

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This is a guest post authored by Elicia Cárdenas, Director of Training for The Comprehensible Classroom. In response to the many atrocities that our nation has witnessed at the expense of Black people-and other people-, more and more discussions are happening online and in-person about racism and anti-racism.

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Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege

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Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege

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Introduction What Is Social Justice? Communal Agreements Icebreaker: Respect Activity Activities: Introducing Identity: "My Fullest Name" Understanding Privilege and Systems of Power: "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" Gender and Sexuality Workshop: Creating Gender-Free Nouns Race and Ethnicity: Diversity Profile Intersection Identity and Privilege: Crossing the Line Recap and Closing Activity Closing and Recommended Resources
Introduction

This toolkit is meant for anyone who feels there is a lack of productive discourse around issues of diversity and the role of identity in social relationships, both on a micro (individual) and macro (communal) level. Perhaps you are a teacher, youth group facilitator, student affairs personnel or manage a team that works with an underserved population. Training of this kind can provide historical context about the politics of identity and the dynamics of power and privilege or help build greater self-awareness.

The following activities are intended for groups of 10 to 60 people. For larger groups, you can break into multiple sessions with additional facilitators to ensure the conversations and activities remain focused. The diversity toolkit outlined here may be used as a guideline and can be modified to better fit your group's unique needs.

A note on facilitators: Facilitators should be well versed in the topics and themes we will be discussing, but they do not need to be experts. This workshop is organized as a popular education activity where the majority of the outcomes are learned from the experiences and knowledge of the individuals participating rather than a teacher/student relationship.

Facilitator Sensitivity

Facilitators will be experiencing and addressing the feelings that come with confronting participants' notions of identity, privilege, race and sexuality. Some participants may be required to attend this workshop (through work or school, etc.), so facilitators should be clear that participants are there because these are issues that affect everyone and that there will not be personal judgment of anyone's feelings about a particular issue. Facilitators should remind participants that:

Facilitators should emphasize that what is shared during the workshop is private and confidential. Participants can talk about how the workshop affected them personally and what they learned generally, but they should respect the privacy of the personal information of the other participants.

What Is Social Justice? Setting a Stage for Discussion

Before beginning, it's important that everyone have a basic understanding of two core concepts related to privilege and identity. This will allow everyone to start the conversations on the same page and ensure that the participants have a foundation upon which to build future knowledge.

The first core concept is culture, which is:

The second core concept is identity, which is:

Everyone Has Many Identities

Age, gender, religious or spiritual affiliation, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status are all identities. Some identities are things people can see easily (like race or assumed gender), while other identities are internalized and are not always easy to see (like a disability, socioeconomic status or education level). There are two types of identities that need to be defined in order to spark a discussion on social justice. The first type deals with identities that are part of a majority status - or "agent" - while the second includes identities that are part of the minority status - or "target."

Agent: Members of dominant social groups privileged by birth or acquisition who knowingly or unknowingly exploit and reap unfair advantage over members of the target groups.

Target: Members of social identity groups who are discriminated against, marginalized, disenfranchised, oppressed, exploited by an oppressor and oppressor's system of institutions without identity apart from the target group, and compartmentalized in defined roles.

After participants understand the difference between agent and target groups, the facilitator can begin a discussion on oppression. The key features of oppression are:

But remember:

When the facilitator talks about these concepts with the group, it is helpful to start with an understanding that everyone experienced being a target or agent at some point in their lives. This helps create a dialogue of understanding. This is not to say that some target statuses are more salient (for example, people can see I am a woman, or a Black woman, before they even speak with me) and others may be easier to conceal (for example, if I am lesbian). But each creates a burden on the individual and each has its own set of challenges to overcome.

Communal Agreements

Before initiating any activity, it is critical that the group builds communal agreements. Rather than naming these "rules" that are then placed upon the group, we will call these "agreements" because these are the guidelines built by the group that all members agree to follow during the course of the workshop. Once an agreement has been put forward, the facilitator should then ask for a definition of what that agreement means to ensure that there is a communal language. Below are several suggested agreements.

Icebreaker: Respect Activity

Source: Critical Multicultural Pavilion

Ask participants to find someone in the room they don't know and make an introduction. Talk for five to 10 minutes about respect. What does it mean to you to "show respect?" How do you show respect to others? After the allotted time, ask all participants to sit and open the discussion. How did people define respect? What were some of the core concepts discussed?

Common responses will likely include:

All responses are worthy of reflection in terms of their cultural and hegemonic influences. Ask participants where their ideas of respect come from and whom they are meant to protect. If the group raises any of the common responses above, challenge them to answer the following questions:

The point of the discussion is to reflect critically on assumptions and socializations regarding respect. The point is not to agree and to learn from each other's differences.

This activity helps to establish a basis of respect within the group, helping the participants take the first steps toward creating and maintaining a constructive discussion of social justice and equity. At the very least, participants meet someone new and exchange ideas with that person. The group also gets its first look at the similarities and differences between participants, potentially in ways that reflect privilege and power.

Activity One: Introduction Identity

Definition
Everyone has a personal and social identity. Personal identities include an individual's name, unique characteristics, history, personality and other traits that make one different from others. Social identity includes affinities one has with other people, values and norms that one accepts, and the ways one has learned to behave in social settings.

Objective
The following activity is particularly useful when working with participants who don't know one another very well. The goal of this activity is to warm up participants to sharing about themselves and start revealing a bit about each participant's background.

Materials
Markers and 8-by-10-inch sheets of paper folded horizontally.

Instructions
Write out your fullest name and tell your story. On the back of the piece of paper write the top three identities you feel closest to. The facilitator encourages participants to go around the circle to share any meanings, significance, culture, significant ancestors and the top three identities they hold dearest. Everyone will have a chance to share and be heard by the group.

Suggested questions if participants need help getting started:

Facilitators should encourage students to be creative. Make it clear that it is acceptable to write poetry, list adjectives that describe them, include humor, etc.

If your group is large, break into diverse small groups of five or six to make sure everyone has an opportunity to share their story. Ask for volunteers to get the group started and tell participants they can share their stories from memory, or read them.
Facilitator Notes

Discussion
When everyone has shared, ask participants how it felt to share their stories. Why is this activity important? What did you learn?

Activity Two: Understanding Privilege and Systems of Power

Activity
"Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"

Objective
The objective of this activity is to confront entrenched systems of power and privilege, and identify common situations when privilege is not acknowledged, to the detriment of the disadvantaged and oppressed.

Discussion
What is privilege? We all have privileges. What are yours? Were you surprised by any of the privileges you found in your invisible knapsack?

Activity Three: Gender and Sexuality

Group Definition
Have the group describe what they believe to be the definition of the terms "gender" and "sexuality."

Objective
The objective of this activity is to reconsider male-gendered nouns that we consider "generic." Generating gender-free nouns and pronouns will help participants incorporate more inclusive language in their daily speech and writing.

Instructions
Break participants into small groups and give them a printout of the chart below. Instruct participants to convert the suffixes of the nouns into gender-free, inclusive terms by changing the noun root word or substituting a non-gender-specific root word from another language. Tell participants that since male endings are so pervasive, it is OK to invent new words by replacing the endings of existing words with something non-gendered.

Discussion Questions
The facilitator should ask the following questions of the group while also encouraging them to share personal experiences that speak to their point. What are characteristics of what society believes a [woman/man/girl/boy] should be? What are the norms for appearance/behavior? What happens when someone falls outside of this norm? How do the words we use influence the way we think about certain professions?

Activity Four: Race and Ethnicity

Definition
Race is a social construction that has real consequences and effects. Race is colloquially used to refer to a person's skin color, religion or area of origin (e.g., Black, Jewish or African). Technically, however, race is based on national origin, sociocultural groups and self-identification. The U.S. government, including the Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, does not attempt to identify race according to biology, anthropology or genetics. Religious belief is not considered a race, but can be a factor in identifying one's sociocultural group. (For a full explanation of how each racial category is defined, refer to the U.S. Census About Race page). In a historical context, race has played a large part in how our society has evolved, and it shapes the way we see others and how we experience our lives. (For more on race from a historical perspective, read " A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America," by Ronald Takaki.)

Objective
The objective of this activity is to help participants take stock of the multicultural diversity in their lives. It should help participants get a clear image of how diverse or homogenous their surroundings are and identify ways to improve their exposure to multiculturalism on a daily basis.

Instructions
Fill in the appropriate boxes:

Activity Five: Intersectional Identity and Privilege

Activity
Crossing The Line

Objective
The purpose of this activity is to explore the diversity among the members of our community. How a person identifies can affect many facets of his or her life. We will use this activity to get to know one another on a deeper level. What are our values, backgrounds, and visible and invisible labels? This activity requires everyone to step outside of his or her comfort zone. Participants being vulnerable can help the group learn more about the identities they do not share.

Instructions
Have all participants line up in a straight line facing the facilitator. If the room is too small to have each participant standing shoulder to shoulder, an alternative is to have the group stand in a circle and step into the circle. The facilitator should explain that they will read a statement. If the statement describes you, then silently step across the line. Everyone should quietly notice who stepped across the line and who did not. After a moment, the facilitator will thank those who stepped forward and will then have everyone step back in line.

Discussion
Activity Six: Recap and Closing Activity

This toolkit was designed to address human issues that everyone faces and help participants recognize how they can better understand and work toward solving, or at least improving, these issues. Participants were often forced to confront socialized and entrenched notions of privilege, identity and social justice. Anything that was difficult to confront during the training will be even more difficult to confront in practice, but if these were easily solvable issues, they wouldn't be issues for long. Participants should feel better equipped with newfound knowledge and empathy, and prepared to apply the lessons they learned in their own lives and communities.

Objective
To practice giving positive feedback and to have participants leave the workshop feeling energized.

Instructions
Have participants mingle randomly in a large group and then instruct them to stop and share with the person in front of them one way in which that person "shined" during the workshop. Repeat several times so that each person gets feedback and support from different people in the group. If there are an odd number of participants, the facilitator should address the odd person out each time.

Completing this training is not the end, but merely the beginning. Hopefully, this toolkit has helped to create new understanding among your participants. Individuals should have learned about their own identity and of those around them, as well as the implications of socially constructed labels and stereotypes of an individual's experience. Those interested in this type of work may be interested in a career in social work, facilitation, advocacy or sociology. At the end of the training, facilitators should be prepared to provide additional resources for participants who want to learn more about issues of identity, power and privilege. Below we cite several resources to help you get started.

Recommended Resources

Resources for Additional Activities

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Citation for this content: The MSW@USC, the online Master of Social Work program at the University of Southern California.

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Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege

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This training is meant for anyone who feels there is a lack of productive discourse around issues of diversity and the role of identity in social relationships, both on a micro (individual) and macro (communal) level.

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Grown up, YA and children's books written by Muslim Authors that are being released in 2020

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Grown up, YA and children's books written by Muslim Authors that are being released in 2020

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Lists of Children's Books with Diverse Representation from @sarahs_chapter

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Lists of Children's Books with Diverse Representation from @sarahs_chapter

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Over 200 books with BAME characters and LGBTQ+ representation

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Diverse Stories: a list of children's books featuring BAME characters in lead roles

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Diverse Stories: a list of children's books featuring BAME characters in lead roles

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List curated by Mike Watson (@WatsEd on Twitter)

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A booklist from Liverpool Learning Partnership featuring books for primary with LGBT+ characters

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Abolitionist Teaching Network's mission is to develop and support those in the struggle for educational freedom utilizing the intellectual work and direct action of Abolitionists in many forms.

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What We Do

Grants

APS Teacher Campaign

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ATN awards grants to educators and community members who strive to disrupt inequalities and injustice within their schools, communities, or both. We will be launching our 3rd annual grant cycle in late October 2023.

APS Teacher Campaign

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Explore resources to learn about the Atlanta Public Schools "Cheating Scandal" and support the educators facing prison

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Year round, we host political education, healing justice, and affinity group events for educators, organizers, students, and parents/caregivers. Follow us on socials to stay up to date.

Resources

Programming

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From our founding guide for racial justice and abolitionist social and emotional learning to a database for queer, trans, and non-binary educators + students, we pride ourselves on being a resource hub for education communities.

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Abolitionist Teaching Network's mission is simple: develop and support educators to fight injustice within their schools and communities. Utilizing the intellectual work and direct action of community organizers, Abolitionist Teachers will organize and take action for educational freedom.

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Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege

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Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Introduction What Is Social Justice? Communal Agreements Icebreaker: Respect Activity Activities: Introducing Identity: "My Fullest Name" Understanding Privilege and Systems of Power: "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" Gender and Sexuality Workshop: Creating Gender-Free Nouns Race and Ethnicity: Diversity Profile Intersection Identity and Privilege: Crossing the Line Recap and Closing Activity Closing and Recommended Resources
Introduction

This toolkit is meant for anyone who feels there is a lack of productive discourse around issues of diversity and the role of identity in social relationships, both on a micro (individual) and macro (communal) level. Perhaps you are a teacher, youth group facilitator, student affairs personnel or manage a team that works with an underserved population. Training of this kind can provide historical context about the politics of identity and the dynamics of power and privilege or help build greater self-awareness.

The following activities are intended for groups of 10 to 60 people. For larger groups, you can break into multiple sessions with additional facilitators to ensure the conversations and activities remain focused. The diversity toolkit outlined here may be used as a guideline and can be modified to better fit your group's unique needs.

A note on facilitators: Facilitators should be well versed in the topics and themes we will be discussing, but they do not need to be experts. This workshop is organized as a popular education activity where the majority of the outcomes are learned from the experiences and knowledge of the individuals participating rather than a teacher/student relationship.

Facilitator Sensitivity

Facilitators will be experiencing and addressing the feelings that come with confronting participants' notions of identity, privilege, race and sexuality. Some participants may be required to attend this workshop (through work or school, etc.), so facilitators should be clear that participants are there because these are issues that affect everyone and that there will not be personal judgment of anyone's feelings about a particular issue. Facilitators should remind participants that:

Facilitators should emphasize that what is shared during the workshop is private and confidential. Participants can talk about how the workshop affected them personally and what they learned generally, but they should respect the privacy of the personal information of the other participants.

What Is Social Justice? Setting a Stage for Discussion

Before beginning, it's important that everyone have a basic understanding of two core concepts related to privilege and identity. This will allow everyone to start the conversations on the same page and ensure that the participants have a foundation upon which to build future knowledge.

The first core concept is culture, which is:

The second core concept is identity, which is:

Everyone Has Many Identities

Age, gender, religious or spiritual affiliation, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status are all identities. Some identities are things people can see easily (like race or assumed gender), while other identities are internalized and are not always easy to see (like a disability, socioeconomic status or education level). There are two types of identities that need to be defined in order to spark a discussion on social justice. The first type deals with identities that are part of a majority status - or "agent" - while the second includes identities that are part of the minority status - or "target."

Agent: Members of dominant social groups privileged by birth or acquisition who knowingly or unknowingly exploit and reap unfair advantage over members of the target groups.

Target: Members of social identity groups who are discriminated against, marginalized, disenfranchised, oppressed, exploited by an oppressor and oppressor's system of institutions without identity apart from the target group, and compartmentalized in defined roles.

After participants understand the difference between agent and target groups, the facilitator can begin a discussion on oppression. The key features of oppression are:

But remember:

When the facilitator talks about these concepts with the group, it is helpful to start with an understanding that everyone experienced being a target or agent at some point in their lives. This helps create a dialogue of understanding. This is not to say that some target statuses are more salient (for example, people can see I am a woman, or a Black woman, before they even speak with me) and others may be easier to conceal (for example, if I am lesbian). But each creates a burden on the individual and each has its own set of challenges to overcome.

Communal Agreements

Before initiating any activity, it is critical that the group builds communal agreements. Rather than naming these "rules" that are then placed upon the group, we will call these "agreements" because these are the guidelines built by the group that all members agree to follow during the course of the workshop. Once an agreement has been put forward, the facilitator should then ask for a definition of what that agreement means to ensure that there is a communal language. Below are several suggested agreements.

Icebreaker: Respect Activity

Source: Critical Multicultural Pavilion

Ask participants to find someone in the room they don't know and make an introduction. Talk for five to 10 minutes about respect. What does it mean to you to "show respect?" How do you show respect to others? After the allotted time, ask all participants to sit and open the discussion. How did people define respect? What were some of the core concepts discussed?

Common responses will likely include:

All responses are worthy of reflection in terms of their cultural and hegemonic influences. Ask participants where their ideas of respect come from and whom they are meant to protect. If the group raises any of the common responses above, challenge them to answer the following questions:

The point of the discussion is to reflect critically on assumptions and socializations regarding respect. The point is not to agree and to learn from each other's differences.

This activity helps to establish a basis of respect within the group, helping the participants take the first steps toward creating and maintaining a constructive discussion of social justice and equity. At the very least, participants meet someone new and exchange ideas with that person. The group also gets its first look at the similarities and differences between participants, potentially in ways that reflect privilege and power.

Activity One: Introduction Identity

Definition
Everyone has a personal and social identity. Personal identities include an individual's name, unique characteristics, history, personality and other traits that make one different from others. Social identity includes affinities one has with other people, values and norms that one accepts, and the ways one has learned to behave in social settings.

Objective
The following activity is particularly useful when working with participants who don't know one another very well. The goal of this activity is to warm up participants to sharing about themselves and start revealing a bit about each participant's background.

Materials
Markers and 8-by-10-inch sheets of paper folded horizontally.

Instructions
Write out your fullest name and tell your story. On the back of the piece of paper write the top three identities you feel closest to. The facilitator encourages participants to go around the circle to share any meanings, significance, culture, significant ancestors and the top three identities they hold dearest. Everyone will have a chance to share and be heard by the group.

Suggested questions if participants need help getting started:

Facilitators should encourage students to be creative. Make it clear that it is acceptable to write poetry, list adjectives that describe them, include humor, etc.

If your group is large, break into diverse small groups of five or six to make sure everyone has an opportunity to share their story. Ask for volunteers to get the group started and tell participants they can share their stories from memory, or read them.
Facilitator Notes

Discussion
When everyone has shared, ask participants how it felt to share their stories. Why is this activity important? What did you learn?

Activity Two: Understanding Privilege and Systems of Power

Activity
"Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"

Objective
The objective of this activity is to confront entrenched systems of power and privilege, and identify common situations when privilege is not acknowledged, to the detriment of the disadvantaged and oppressed.

Discussion
What is privilege? We all have privileges. What are yours? Were you surprised by any of the privileges you found in your invisible knapsack?

Activity Three: Gender and Sexuality

Group Definition
Have the group describe what they believe to be the definition of the terms "gender" and "sexuality."

Objective
The objective of this activity is to reconsider male-gendered nouns that we consider "generic." Generating gender-free nouns and pronouns will help participants incorporate more inclusive language in their daily speech and writing.

Instructions
Break participants into small groups and give them a printout of the chart below. Instruct participants to convert the suffixes of the nouns into gender-free, inclusive terms by changing the noun root word or substituting a non-gender-specific root word from another language. Tell participants that since male endings are so pervasive, it is OK to invent new words by replacing the endings of existing words with something non-gendered.

Discussion Questions
The facilitator should ask the following questions of the group while also encouraging them to share personal experiences that speak to their point. What are characteristics of what society believes a [woman/man/girl/boy] should be? What are the norms for appearance/behavior? What happens when someone falls outside of this norm? How do the words we use influence the way we think about certain professions?

Activity Four: Race and Ethnicity

Definition
Race is a social construction that has real consequences and effects. Race is colloquially used to refer to a person's skin color, religion or area of origin (e.g., Black, Jewish or African). Technically, however, race is based on national origin, sociocultural groups and self-identification. The U.S. government, including the Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, does not attempt to identify race according to biology, anthropology or genetics. Religious belief is not considered a race, but can be a factor in identifying one's sociocultural group. (For a full explanation of how each racial category is defined, refer to the U.S. Census About Race page). In a historical context, race has played a large part in how our society has evolved, and it shapes the way we see others and how we experience our lives. (For more on race from a historical perspective, read " A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America," by Ronald Takaki.)

Objective
The objective of this activity is to help participants take stock of the multicultural diversity in their lives. It should help participants get a clear image of how diverse or homogenous their surroundings are and identify ways to improve their exposure to multiculturalism on a daily basis.

Instructions
Fill in the appropriate boxes:

Activity Five: Intersectional Identity and Privilege

Activity
Crossing The Line

Objective
The purpose of this activity is to explore the diversity among the members of our community. How a person identifies can affect many facets of his or her life. We will use this activity to get to know one another on a deeper level. What are our values, backgrounds, and visible and invisible labels? This activity requires everyone to step outside of his or her comfort zone. Participants being vulnerable can help the group learn more about the identities they do not share.

Instructions
Have all participants line up in a straight line facing the facilitator. If the room is too small to have each participant standing shoulder to shoulder, an alternative is to have the group stand in a circle and step into the circle. The facilitator should explain that they will read a statement. If the statement describes you, then silently step across the line. Everyone should quietly notice who stepped across the line and who did not. After a moment, the facilitator will thank those who stepped forward and will then have everyone step back in line.

Discussion
Activity Six: Recap and Closing Activity

This toolkit was designed to address human issues that everyone faces and help participants recognize how they can better understand and work toward solving, or at least improving, these issues. Participants were often forced to confront socialized and entrenched notions of privilege, identity and social justice. Anything that was difficult to confront during the training will be even more difficult to confront in practice, but if these were easily solvable issues, they wouldn't be issues for long. Participants should feel better equipped with newfound knowledge and empathy, and prepared to apply the lessons they learned in their own lives and communities.

Objective
To practice giving positive feedback and to have participants leave the workshop feeling energized.

Instructions
Have participants mingle randomly in a large group and then instruct them to stop and share with the person in front of them one way in which that person "shined" during the workshop. Repeat several times so that each person gets feedback and support from different people in the group. If there are an odd number of participants, the facilitator should address the odd person out each time.

Completing this training is not the end, but merely the beginning. Hopefully, this toolkit has helped to create new understanding among your participants. Individuals should have learned about their own identity and of those around them, as well as the implications of socially constructed labels and stereotypes of an individual's experience. Those interested in this type of work may be interested in a career in social work, facilitation, advocacy or sociology. At the end of the training, facilitators should be prepared to provide additional resources for participants who want to learn more about issues of identity, power and privilege. Below we cite several resources to help you get started.

Recommended Resources

Resources for Additional Activities

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Citation for this content: The MSW@USC, the online Master of Social Work program at the University of Southern California.

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Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege

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This training is meant for anyone who feels there is a lack of productive discourse around issues of diversity and the role of identity in social relationships, both on a micro (individual) and macro (communal) level.

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44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in This Country

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44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in This Country

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Black lives matter. Black bodies matter. Black mental health matters. This latest string of rampant and wanton brutality against Black people flies in the face of these indisputable truths. As a Black woman myself, I've spent years trying to process the violence and racism that are part and parcel of living in this country in this skin. But I've never had to do it during a pandemic that, of course, is decimating Black lives, health, and communities the most.

In my years as a mental health reporter and editor, I've been heartened to slowly see the collection of mental health resources for Black people start to grow. It's still not where it needs to be, but there is solidarity and support out there if you need help processing what's happening (and there's nothing weak about needing it, either). Here's a list of resources that may help if you're looking for mental health support that validates and celebrates your Blackness.

It starts with people to follow on Instagram who regularly drop mental health gems, then goes into groups and organizations that do the same, followed by directories and networks for finding a Black mental health practitioner. Lastly, I've added a few tips to keep in mind when seeking out this kind of mental health support, especially right now.

People to follow

1. Alexandra Elle: Author and founder of the Hey, Girl podcast, Elle has an Instagram feed that offers affirmations and reminders like "We are never alone in our struggles" and "You don't have to be okay. Healing isn't linear," sometimes set against a soothing taupe background, other times simply written on a sticky note.

2. Alishia McCullough, L.C.M.H.C.A., N.C.C.: McCullough's Instagram places an emphasis on Black mental wellness and self-love, along with social justice issues like fat liberation. She also posts about participating in live virtual panels on issues like living with an abuser while social distancing and having to live with toxic family during the coronavirus crisis, so if you're craving that kind of content, consider following along.

3. Bassey Ikpi: Ikpi is a mental health advocate whom I first became familiar with when she appeared on podcast, where she talked about her now best-selling debut essay collection, I'm Telling the Truth but I'm Lying, in which she writes about her experiences having bipolar II and anxiety. Ikpi is also the founder of the Siwe Project, a global nonprofit that increases awareness around mental health in people of African descent.

4. Cleo Wade: Wade is the best-selling author of and Where to Begin: A Small Book About Your Power to Create Big Change in Our Crazy World, and his poetic Instagram dispatches offer quiet meditations on life, love, spirituality, current events, relationships, and finding inner peace.

5. Donna Oriowo, Ph.D.: I first heard about Oriowo, a sex and relationship therapist, when a friend told me I had to listen to a recent Therapy for Black Girls podcast episode in which Oriowo discussed whether Issa and Molly can repair their friendship on Insecure. Oriowo shared so much insight into Issa and Molly's psyches that I was having lightbulb moment after lightbulb moment. And as a sex and relationship therapist, her Instagram feed destigmatizes Black sexuality and relationships specifically, which is essential.

6. Jennifer Mullan, Psy.D.: Mullan's mission is, as her Instagram handle so succinctly sums up, to decolonizing therapy. Check out her feed for ample conversation about how mental health (and access to related services) are impacted by trauma and systemic inequities, along with hope that healing is indeed possible.

7. Jessica Clemons, M.D.: Dr. Clemons is a board-certified psychiatrist who spotlights Black mental health. Her Instagram encompasses everything from mindfulness to motherhood, and her live Q + As and #askdrjess video posts really make it feel like you're not only following her, but connecting with her, too.

8. Joy Harden Bradford, Ph.D.: Bradford is a psychologist who aims to make discussions about mental health more accessible for Black women, particularly by bringing pop culture into the mix. She's also the founder of Therapy for Black Girls, a much-loved resource that includes a great Instagram feed and podcast.

9. Mariel Buquè, Ph.D.: Click the follow button if you could use periodic "soul check" posts asking how your soul is holding up, gentle ways to practice self-care, help sorting through your feelings, advice on building resilience, and so much more.

10. Morgan Harper Nichols: If you don't already follow Nichols but like stirring art mixed with uplifting messages, you're in for a treat. Her Instagram feed is a swirly, colorful dream of what she describes as "daily reminders through art"-reminders of how valid it is to still seek joy, and of your worth, and of the fact that "small progress is still progress."

11. Nedra Glover Tawwab: In Tawwab's Instagram bio, the licensed clinical social worker describes herself as a "boundaries expert." That expertise is critical right now, given that safeguarding our mental health as much as possible pretty much always requires firm boundaries. Tawwab also holds weekly Q&A sessions on Instagram, so stay tuned to her feed if you have a question you'd like to submit.

12. Thema Bryant-Davis, Ph.D.: Bryant-Davis is a licensed psychologist and ordained minister whose clinical background includes a focus on healing trauma and working at the intersection of gender and race. If you happen to be avoiding Twitter as much as possible for the sake of your mental health, like I am, you might like that her feed is mainly a collection of her great mental health tweets you would otherwise miss.

Brands, collectives, and organizations to follow

1. Balanced Black Girl: This gorgeous feed features photos and art of Black people, along with summaries of Balanced Black Girl podcast episodes, worthwhile tweets you can see without having to scroll through Twitter, and advice about trying to create a balanced life even in spite of everything we're dealing with. Balanced Black Girl also has a great Google Doc full of more mental health and self-care resources.

2. Black Female Therapists: On this feed you'll find inspirational messages, self-care-Sunday reminders, and posts highlighting various Black mental health practitioners across the country. Black Female Therapists also recently launched an initiative to match Black people in need with therapists who will do two to three free virtual sessions.

3. Black Girls Heal: This feed focuses on Black mental health surrounding self-love, relationships, and unresolved trauma, along with creating a sense of community. (Like by holding "Saturday Night Lives" on Instagram to discuss self-love.) Following along is also an easy way to keep track of the topics on the associated podcast, which shares the same name.

4. Black Girl in Om: This brand describes its vision as "a world where womxn of color are liberated, empowered & seen." On its feed you can find helpful resources like meditations, along with a lot of joyful photos of Black people, which I personally find incredibly restorative at this time.

5. Black Mental Wellness: Founded by a team of Black psychologists, this organization offers a ton of mental health insight through posts about everything from destigmatizing therapy to talking about Black men's mental health to practicing gratitude to coping with anxiety.

6. Brown Girl Self-Care: With the mission to "Help Black women healing from trauma go from 'every once in a while' self-care to EVERY DAY self-care," this feed features tons of affirmations and self-care reminders that might help you feel a little bit better. Plus, in June, the account is running a free virtual Self-Care x Sisterhood circle every Sunday.

7. Ethel's Club: This social and wellness club for people of color, originally based in Brooklyn, has pivoted hard during the pandemic and now offers a digital membership club featuring virtual workouts, book clubs, wellness salons, creative workshops, artist Q&As, and more. Membership is $17 a month, or you can follow the feed for free tidbits if that's a better option for you.

8. Heal Haus: This café and wellness space in Brooklyn has of course closed temporarily due to the pandemic. In the meantime, it has expanded its online offerings. Follow its Instagram to stay up to date with what it's rolling out, like the free upcoming Circle of Care for Black Womxn on June 5.

9. The Hey Girl Podcast: This podcast features Alexandra Elle, whom I mentioned above, in conversation with various people who inspire her. Its Instagram counterpart is a pretty and calming feed of great takeaways from various episodes, sometimes layered over candy-colored backgrounds, other times over photos of the people Elle has spoken to.

10. Inclusive Therapists: This community's feed specializes in regular doses of mental health insight, a lot of which seems especially geared toward therapists. With that said, you don't have to be a therapist to see the value in posts like this one, which notes, "You are whole. The system is broken."

11. The Loveland Foundation: Founded by writer, lecturer, and activist Rachel Elizabeth Cargle, the Loveland Foundation works to make mental health care more accessible for Black women and girls. It does this through multiple avenues, such as the Therapy Fund, which partners with various mental health resources to offer financial assistance to Black women and girls across the nation who are trying to access therapy. Its Instagram feed is a great mix of self-care tips and posts highlighting various Black mental health experts, along with information about panels and meditations.

12. The Nap Ministry: If you ever feel tempted to underestimate the pure power of just giving yourself a break, the Nap Ministry is a great reminder that "rest is a form of resistance." Rest also allows for grieving, which is an unfortunately necessary practice as a Black person in America, especially now. In addition to peaceful and much-needed photos of Black people at rest, there are great takedowns of how harmful grind/hustle culture can be to our health.

13. OmNoire: Self-described as "a social wellness club for women of color dedicated to living WELL," this mental health resource actually just pulled off a whole virtual retreat. Follow along for affirmations, self-care tips, and images that are inspirational, grounding, or both. (Full disclosure: I went on a great OmNoire retreat a year ago.)

14. Saddie Baddies: Gorgeous feed, gorgeous mission. Along with posts exploring topics like respectability politics, obsessive-compulsive disorder, self-harm, and loneliness, this Instagram features beautiful photos of people of color with the goal of making "a virtual safe space for young WoC to destigmatize mental health and initiate collective healing."

15. Sad Girls Club: This account is all about creating a mental health community for Gen Z and millennial women who have mental illness, along with reducing stigma and sharing information about mental health services. Scroll through the feed and you'll see many people of color, including Black women, openly discussing mental health-a welcome sight.

16. Sista Afya: This Chicago-based organization focuses on supporting Black women's mental health in a number of ways, like connecting Black women to affordable and accessible mental health practitioners and running mental health workshops. It also offers a Thrive in Therapy program for Illinois-based Black women making less than $1,500 a month. For $75 a month, members receive two therapy sessions, free admission to the monthly support groups, and more.

17. Transparent Black Girl: Transparent Black Girl aims to redefine the conversation around what wellness means for Black women. Its feed is a mix of relatable memes, hilarious pop culture commentary, beautiful images and art of Black people, and mental health resources for Black people. Transparent Black Guy, the brother resource to Transparent Black Girl, is also very much worth a follow, particularly given the stigma and misconceptions that often surround Black men being vulnerable about their mental health.

Directories and networks for finding a Black (or allied) therapist

Here are various directories and networks that have the goal of helping Black people find therapists who are Black, from other marginalized racial groups, or who describe themselves as inclusive. This list is not exhaustive, and some of these resources will be more expansive than others. They also do different levels of vetting for the experts they include. If you find a therapist via one of these sites who seems promising, be sure to do some follow-up searches to learn more about them.

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44 Mental Health Resources for Black People Trying to Survive in This Country

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Black mental health matters, and it's suffering under the weight of life in this country. Here are Black mental health support resources if you need them.

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Chart was adapted by Andrew M. Ibrahim MD, MSc from “Who Do I Want to Be During COVID-19” chart (original author unknown) with some ideas pulled from Ibram X. Kendi’s work.

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Four Ways Teachers Can Support Students of Color

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Four Ways Teachers Can Support Students of Color

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Listen to my interview with Dena Simmons (or read the transcript):
The difference between teachers and their students has never been so stark. A recent report from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that since 2014, white students no longer make up the majority in American schools. Future projections show the white population shrinking to a smaller and smaller proportion of the whole, and the combined populations of of students from other ethnic groups increasing so that together, they make up a steadily growing majority.

By contrast, teachers in the U.S. are overwhelmingly white.

What this tells me is that the life experiences of most of the people in charge of our classrooms have been pretty different from the experiences of most of their students.

And that matters.

It matters because our work is not strictly academic. Not by a long shot. In order for our students to perform well academically, they need to feel safe, both physically and psychologically. They need to feel a sense of belonging. They need to feel seen and valued for who they are. For our students of color, finding this safe, accepting place is rare, especially if most of their teachers have a dramatically different background from their own. This problem can be even more pronounced for students of color who attend schools where their peers are also mostly white.

This does not mean that all white teachers are racists or that they are deliberately doing things to hurt their students of color. But what IS happening, far too often, is that teachers are doing things that harm these students' self-perception without even realizing it.

Dena Simmons, the director of education at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, understands this problem far too well.

In her 2015 TED talk, "How Students of Color Confront Impostor Syndrome," she tells the story of how, as a young black girl, she left the Bronx neighborhood where she lived with her single mother and two sisters to attend a prestigious boarding school in Connecticut. Although she got an excellent education there and followed that up with a series of impressive academic and professional accomplishments, she always felt out of place, torn between the world she'd grown up in and her identity as an accomplished scholar. "Eternal impostor syndrome," she calls it.

This struggle was made much harder by many of her teachers, in the things they said to her and the messages they sent, messages that basically told Dena that who she was was not okay.

Later in life Dena returned to the Bronx to teach middle school, and she was determined to create the kind of atmosphere she wished she'd had, one that values each student's unique identity and history. In her TED talk, she gives us a glimpse of how that worked.

Now, we pick up where that TED talk left off, with some specific advice about what teachers can do to help their students of color not just survive, but thrive in the classroom, with a fully developed, strong sense of pride in who they are, where they came from, and what they're capable of.

1. Teach Students of Color to Love Themselves

"There's nothing more revolutionary than teaching our young people in general to love themselves," Simmons says, "and particularly young people of color, because they don't have to look too far to see negative images of themselves displayed throughout the media. We can teach our young people to love themselves by centering our instruction on their lives, their realities and their experiences, and using their lives as cultural reference to our instruction."

Here are some things teachers can do to nurture this self-love and pride in their students:

Really get to know your students. This is the first step toward helping students love themselves. This should be done in both formal and informal ways: A simple survey can help you gather information quickly, and spending time with students outside of class can help you see them in a different light. In her school, Simmons occasionally attended gym class with her students and invited them to have lunch with her off-campus.

Create ways for students to bring pieces of their lives into the classroom. By allowing students to share in school the things they value outside of school, we demonstrate that every aspect of who they are is important. One way Simmons did this was to have students create personalized playlists of their favorite (school-appropriate) music that could be played during certain class activities.

Honor their language. When teachers attempt to "fix" students' language to make it more standardized, they often communicate to students that their way of speaking is wrong. Instead, we could explain that students need to become bilingual, that using academically standard language will open doors for them in some contexts. This approach honors where students come from and acknowledges the value of their home vernacular. Simmons advises teachers to have an honest conversation with students: "How we speak when we are outside is how we speak. It's totally fine. Then there's a way we speak in the classroom, and that just makes us bilingual as opposed to right and wrong. When you say to someone, 'Cut it out,' you're saying, 'Cut out who you are,' and we don't want to do that."

Tell them you love them. "When I was in the classroom," Simmons says, "I actually had posters that would say, 'Ms. Simmons loves you,' and it wasn't uncommon to walk into my classroom and for me and a student to share I love you's with each other. When we do that, we create a space for our students of color to know that their schooling values their experiences, and it values who they are."

2. Invite Families and Community Members to Become Partners in Educating Students

"When you partner with communities, when you partner with families," Simmons explains, "students really internalize that they matter. They internalize that their communities matter, and they also begin to understand that they have a role in developing and engaging in their communities. What I learned when I had to leave the Bronx to go to boarding school was that the Bronx had nothing to offer me. How painful it was to think of the place that raised me, the place that I called home was actually not good. And so I had to spend some time reshifting and reframing how I thought about the Bronx, that the Bronx was something to return to as opposed to something to leave. And I think educators, in the process of seeing their communities and their families as assets, begin to shift from deficit-based mindset to an asset-based mindset."

Take inventory. Using a community development approach called asset mapping, build a list of all the various resources you could take advantage of, partnerships you could form with parents and community members to enrich the education of your students.

Use community resources as curriculum. Find ways to tie local resources to the things you're teaching in class. You can invite community members in as guest speakers or take students on field trips to local establishments. Doing this gives students a sense of pride in their neighborhood and helps them see home as an abundant place.

Keep parents involved through multiple channels. Invite parents to attend classroom events, use digital and non-digital means to let parents know what's going on in class and what they can do to help. If what you're doing now isn't working, try something else. Ask families what would work for them until you find an effective approach.

3. Expose Students to Role Models of Color

Growing up, Simmons says most of the role models she saw in the media were white. "So in many ways, I would say implicitly I learned to favor whiteness. I learned to think that everything white was better ... I think that is true for many people of color." By making sure all of our students-not just students of color-are exposed to a variety of diverse role models, we help them broaden their own goals and see what's possible for everyone.

Invite guest speakers and mentors of color into the classroom. Find ways to arrange visits or guest presentations people of color who work in all sorts of industries. These guests can come from your local area or, with the help of video conferencing, anywhere else in the world.

Make sure your classroom or school library has a variety of texts that include positive, diverse characters. The site We Need Diverse Books maintains a growing list of books that meet this need. Canerow is also building a similar list, and their blog expands the definition of "text" to other forms of media like music and film.

Support efforts to improve teacher diversity. Currently, there is a shortage of teachers of color in the U.S., which further limits our students' interactions with professional role models of color. This report by the Center for Amercian Progress outlines steps that can be taken by states, districts, school leaders, and universities to attract, train, and retain teachers of color. If you are a classroom teacher and have no direct impact in this area, what you can do is learn more about the problem and support efforts in your own school to improve it.

4. Disrupt the Single Narrative of Students of Color

"I think a lot of times when teachers go back home, and they talk to their friends, the stories they tell about their students only perpetuate the status quo, what it means to be a kid of color," says Simmons. "These single narratives are perpetuated, and in many ways, I think are problematic because they're incomplete, they flatten the wholeness of our students." The concept of the single narrative is illustrated beautifully by Chimamanda Adichie in her TED talk, The Danger of a Single Story, which I strongly recommend you watch to fully understand this idea.

We are all part of this conversation, with many of us only perpetuating the existing narrative about our students of color in the anecdotes we share about them. So how do we disrupt that? How do we work to change that narrative so society at large begins to see our students of color with more complexity, and so the students see themselves differently?

Empower students to tell their own stories. Look for ways to let students share their own diverse experiences, whether it's through spoken word, in conversations, or in more finished products like written pieces, podcasts, videos, or other multimedia.

Pay attention to your own storytelling, your own language. When you are retelling a story of something one of your students did, ask yourself if the story is contributing to a negative narrative, if it perpetuates a stereotype about a particular group of students. And check your language: When you talk about certain groups of students, do you say "these kids," or "our kids"? A subtle shift in language represents a major change in thinking.

Challenge others. When your colleagues tell these kinds of single-narrative stories, dig for context. Ask about the strengths of the students being described. Push for the full picture.

Small Changes Make a Difference

None of the actions outlined here are simple, and none of them offer a quick fix. But implementing them consistently, with the belief that this work is important, will make your classroom a place where students of color will flourish.

You can find Dena Simmons on Twitter at @denasimmons. If you enjoyed her TED talk above, check out her other two, It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are? and What to do if your student comes at you with scissors?

Learn something new every week.
Join my mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration-in quick, bite-sized packages-all geared toward making your teaching more effective and fun. You'll also get access to my members-only library of free downloadable resources, including my e-booklet, 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, which has helped thousands of teachers spend less time grading!

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Four Ways Teachers Can Support Students of Color

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By taking a few specific actions, teachers could be doing an incredible job of helping students of color reach their full potential.

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Talking About Race in Mostly White Schools

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Talking About Race in Mostly White Schools

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Talking About Race in Mostly White Schools

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And from an academic standpoint, Short explains, talking about race is an important lesson in critical thinking. When students learn about the history of housing, job, and education policies in the United States, they can begin to understand why their home community looks the way it does - is everyone mostly the same, or is the community more diverse?

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Black Lives Matter: Anti-Racism Resources for Social Workers and Therapists

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Black Lives Matter: Anti-Racism Resources for Social Workers and Therapists

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Black Lives Matter: Anti-Racism Resources for Social Workers and Therapists - SocialWork.Career

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Roundup of free anti-racism webinars, suggested readings, movies/TV shows, podcasts, and healing racial wounds resources specifically for POC.

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'Advice for the Newly Woke White Teachers on Teaching Black Children'

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Education Week - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo

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(This is Part Three in a multipart series on this topic. You can see Part One here and Part Two here.)
The question is:
What should teachers learn from the killing of George Floyd?
In Part One, Antoine Germany and Lorie Barber shared their thoughts.

In Part Two, Dr. Tracey A. Benson and Holly Spinelli contributed their commentaries.

Today, Joe Truss and Janice Wyatt-Ross make their recommendations.

Several more posts in this series will appear throughout the week.

You might also be interested in numerous past posts appearing here on race and racism in schools and how to combat it: Race & Gender Challenges
Advice for the newly 'woke' white teachers on teaching black children
Joe Truss is committed to dismantling white-supremacy culture in schools. He grew up in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and taught high school Spanish in Oakland, Calif. He has been the principal of Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco for five years. There, he has worked to grow project-based learning, restorative practices, and reading intervention. In 2018, he started his blog CulturallyResponsiveLeadership.com, where he writes about school leadership and anti-racism. He also offers leadership coaching and workshops on racial equity. He is offering an upcoming workshop on Dismantling White Supremacy Culture in Schools, on June 27-28:
I am reflecting on the recent racist events of thousands of brown bodies dying due to COVID-19, the wave of police murders, and all the entitled people violating shelter-in-place orders, trying to create another Emmit Till. As a result, I wanted to share my reflections and advice for teachers. There is one version for teachers of color and one for White teachers.
Teacher of Color Version: I love you. We are in this together. Keep fighting for our babies. You already possess everything you need. You are priceless and part of the global majority. There is nothing minor about you. I am here with you. I love you. We will get through this. We always do. Survival, resistance, and empowerment is in our DNA, in our spirit. I love you.
White Teacher Version: You've got work to do. Today, you're posting about social justice, buying anti-racist books, following brown folks, and temporarily changing your profile pictures. Cool. Here's what I need you to do tomorrow and to keep doing in the future:

Don't look away from the images. Ahmaud Arbery was shot in cold blood. George Floyd was slain in broad daylight. Breonna Taylor was killed in her home. When you find yourself getting overwhelmed, feeling guilty, and wanting to burden a brown person, stop. Find a few White folks to talk to about Whiteness and anti-Blackness. Read about White fragility and push through it. Push others through it and engage in White affinity anti-racist conversations. Continue reading about Black history and exploring narratives of Black people but please make sure they are written by Black people.

On Systemic Racism and Learning

When you are ready to zoom out from thinking about individual events, the racist nature of the system will start to come into clearer view. We are already getting a better picture of institutional racism in health care, employment policy, worker compensation, and the education system as a result of COVID-19. All of these institutions have a profound impact on students' lives. Make an inventory of your previous voting records, including propositions, measures, and elected officials. Look at the results of your voting and determine to what extent your votes supported an agenda of White privilege and anti-Blackness. Apply a critical-race-theory lens to politics and the impact of political decisions on the Black community, and by extension, on Black students. The same can be done with the policies in your school. Vote differently and stop compromising your morals.

At this point, you might have become tired of talking about, thinking about-and if you have been trying harder, working on-racism. If you feel tired, multiply that by a lifetime and you will start to get a picture of what it is to be a Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color. You shouldn't feel so tired. You should get back to work. Refrain from asking People of Color how to continue fighting racism. That's offensive. We have to fight. Instead, get some help from White folks. Not just any White folks. You should look to people who are further along in their conscious development, more humble about their wokeness, and more willing to break White solidarity. Look to them, read their work, and listen to them speak. Go back and discuss these issues with White folks working toward anti-racism.

If you feel like you need to go to a Person of Color to tell them you support them, don't; just support them. If you feel like you need to go to a Person of Color to ask them where to start, don't; go and find a White person who is further along in their consciousness development. Not every book is equal, especially for you. Here's an anti-racist book list to get you started. When you've finished reading books written by White people for White people, read books written by Black people for White people, and finally, read books written by Black people for Black people. There's a difference. Notice the subtleties. You should be able to hear the message in all forms, but if you can't, explore why you can't. When you aren't emotionally triggered or playing devil's advocate, and your White fragility isn't acting up as much as before, you will know you are making progress.

On Interrupting Racism in Schools

There are conversations happening right now in your home, your classroom, and your school that need to be disrupted. Listen in White spaces and in mixed-race spaces for racist remarks, microaggressions, racial-equity myths, White rage, and white-supremacy culture. Pay attention to what other White folks say in staff meetings, small breakouts, and, even more importantly, informal conversations in the staff lounge, the parking lot, or the copy room. But it's not enough to just listen. If you see something, say something and do something. Be ready to go to war with racists and even harder with the "I'm not racist" folks, at a moment's notice. You are going to feel tired. But you aren't. We're tired. Consider what it would take for folks not to feel comfortable around you anymore with their racist and nonracist comments.

On Relationships and Classroom Management

Stop trying to manage us, control us, or trick us into being like you with school bucks and trinkets. The rate of punishment of Black bodies is disproportionately high, so learn more about restorative justice and restorative practices. Stop kicking so many damn kids out of class.

This will give you a different relationship with your Black students. When someone asks, "Why are we doing this again?" remind them of the racial bias Whites have toward people with dark skin. If they need an example, remind them of the killing of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and Oscar Grant. Turn on the news and realize that ain't nothing changed simply because you woke up a little bit more and acknowledged more of what's in your invisible knapsack of privilege. When you are ready, you will find that there's more. Returning to restorative practices, accept that there is a lot more you need to do before taking on any restorative actions-things that have nothing to do with classroom management. Even before the content and pedagogy, it has to begin with you.

On Teaching and Learning

When you return to the classroom, think about how you can elevate and center the Black experience in your curricula, year-round, not just in February. Be careful not to tell only stories of oppression and struggle. In addition, shine light on stories and examples of resistance, affirmation, and empowerment. Take half-if not all-of the adopted textbook and throw it out. Create what will engage and interest your most marginalized and oppressed students. Think about what will empower them. Stop talking so much in class and monopolizing the time. Trust me, the students don't want to hear it. If your kids want to talk, let them learn through talking like we all do. Give them something to talk about that is interesting, challenging, and meaningful to them. Not you. Them. Get your kids moving, active, out of those individual desks, and out of the four walls of confinement. There's a whole world out there to explore-and, spoiler alert-learning can happen there, too. If you do it right, you can even be a part of it.

Continual Learning and Reflection

Pick up another book to read, join another discussion group, sign up for another seminar about your content and pedagogy but, primarily, continue to unpack your privilege. Digging through the cobwebs of colonialism is more powerful in White affinity groups. Now that you have done some reflection and taken some action, I am sure that another atrocity of racism, another incident of anti-Blackness will have happened. You will be more prepared and better versed in the process of awakening and reckoning with anti-racism. You might even be able to bring this into your classroom. You should. You will need help. But because you are more aware, don't excuse yourself from the work. We are all recovering white supremacists, perpetrators of white-supremacy culture (even me, as a Black man). Since you are further along, help other White folks on their path but don't stop moving. Stagnation facilitates the status quo, and your students need you to be working toward transformation and liberation. You might even have some Brown folks to be in solidarity with. Don't ask them. When it's time, they will let you know. It might take your whole life to have an authentic partnership. That's OK. Keep working.

"Stop placing yourselves as their savior" Janice Wyatt-Ross is the program director for a dropout-prevention/re-engagement center in Lexington, Ky. She and her husband of 23 years are the parents of two daughters:
I read a post this past week wherein someone has been praying about what they can do help the Black community in the wake of the death of George Floyd. This person finally settled on the idea that mentoring "at risk" youths or children in foster care is the answer. "There are so many kids who need someone to put them on the right path and lead by example." That person's epiphany did not rest well with me, and I pondered on it for a few days. I was not disturbed by the desire to help. I was unsettled that the person chose to help those in which she felt were underprivileged. She did not choose to advocate for her peers or colleagues but rather she felt the tug to go "down in the trenches" and give of her time to "at risk" youths. Please don't get me wrong, there is a need to support children in the foster-care system but how, better yet who, is considered at risk?

As an educator, I am always thinking like a teacher. As a Black educator, I am intentional to always view the world through the lens of the oppressed. As a parent, I am always trying to gain insight that I will share with my children. First, as an educator, it is very presumptuous of this person to automatically assume that children who they deem "at risk" need to be led. Youths need guidance. They need to be shown various lifestyle choices. As a parent, my own children have been viewed or could be viewed as "at risk" by those who view them out of the context of their home environment. Who is doing the leading, and where are you leading them? How am I to know that you are leading them in the right direction for them?

Second, it is very presumptuous of this person to think that children surrounded by barriers are inevitably destined for failure if they are not led. It is not you who needs to save "these kids." As an educator, my role is to prepare them for the future. My role is to make sure that they have access to opportunities and access to resources. I do not force my ways of being on to them. I create the environment for them to be free to be whomever they want to be. I cannot force them to do things my way. I can only provide them with the tools they will need for the future. It is up to the student to accept what I have to offer.

What can teachers do to stop the cycle of racism? Stop assuming that you are the only one who has the students' best interests at heart. Stop penalizing them because they express themselves in ways that are not pleasing to you. Stop being afraid of them because of their skin color. Stop placing yourselves as their savior. Stop making assumptions that their parents do not care. Stop making assumptions that they misbehave in school because they have not been taught. Consider why they/we act out. What is your role in this behavior? Consider that they may be acting out because you emit vibrations of dislike that they can detect. Instead of pointing a finger at them, examine the three that are pointing back at you.

What we need you to do is advocate for us. We need you to use your power of influence to make sure you and your friends don't fire us when we call you/them on your biases. Stop dismissing the consequences of your actions and replacing them with your intentions. Stop making it about you and your opinion and LISTEN when we tell you the impact of your words, rules, and actions. We need you to LISTEN and understand why we responded the way we responded. Stop thinking you have all the answers. ASK us how you can help. You can make sure that you are not being a barrier to closing the racial divide. Indigenous, Black, Persons of Color (IBPOC) children need opportunities. They need the same resources as other children; such as internet, computers, transportation, business attire, after-school tutors in higher-level classes, after-school jobs. Give them the resources and many of them will take care of the rest. Give them your time. Get to know them. Don't come with predetermined lists of what you think they need. Give them the opportunity to demonstrate their intelligence and creativity. Don't tell them how to be smart. Let them be smart in their own right. These are the things that you can do. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a start.

Thanks to Joe and Janice for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it's selected or if you'd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It's titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar. All Classroom Q&A Posts on the Coronavirus Crisis This Year's Most Popular Q&A Posts Race & Gender Challenges Classroom-Management Advice Best Ways to Begin the School Year Best Ways to End the School Year Implementing the Common Core Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning Teaching Social Studies Cooperative & Collaborative Learning Using Tech in the Classroom Parent Engagement in Schools Teaching English-Language Learners Reading Instruction Writing Instruction Education Policy Issues Assessment Differentiating Instruction Math Instruction Science Instruction Advice for New Teachers Author Interviews Entering the Teaching Profession The Inclusive Classroom Learning & the Brain Administrator Leadership Teacher Leadership Relationships in Schools Professional Development Instructional Strategies Best of Classroom Q&A Professional Collaboration Classroom Organization Mistakes in Education Project-Based Learning
I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

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'Advice for the Newly Woke White Teachers on Teaching Black Children'

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(This is Part Three in a multipart series on this topic. You can see Part One here and Part Two here.) The question is: What should teachers learn from the killing of George Floyd? In Part One, Antoine Germany and Lorie Barber shared their thoughts. In Part Two, Dr. Tracey A.

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As educators we (sometimes unknowingly) step into roles of advocate, caretaker, guide, and even mother or father to students. Students pay attention to everything we say and do. They particularly pay attention to our silence.

We may be uncomfortable talking about race, but we can no longer afford to be silent. We have chosen a profession, which-like parenting-requires that our comforts come second to those of children.

Many black and brown students are educated in school systems and classrooms where they, despite making up the racial majority, are taught how to understand a world by a staff comprised of a powerful minority. When their teachers choose to remain silent about moments of racial tension or violence-violence that may well touch students' own communities or families-these children are overtly reminded of their inferior place in society.

Even as a black teacher, I have to set a tone for my students that signals that it's safe to talk about race. Even with me, students of color are afraid to say the word white or to name the blatant racism of slavery and Jim Crow. If that's the case, imagine how much more difficult it is for them to engage in dialogue about mass incarceration rates; the militarism of police; the killing of innocent black men and women; cycles of poverty; the destruction of our bodies, minds and souls; the lack of access to healthy food and quality schools; and gentrification. These are all symptoms of a type of racism that remains deadly to this day because, despite bodies lying in the street, we refuse to talk about it.

White teachers must also broach these topics with white children attending white schools. These students need to learn about the destructive power of racism and brutality that have plagued our country for centuries. They should also understand that Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and Trayvon Martin were preceded in death by Emmett Till, Jimmie Lee Jackson and countless others whose stories and deaths we must also teach. Our lack of instruction becomes deadly when we allow fear and discomfort to indirectly allow white students to labor under false, privileged assumptions.

Moreover, the silence on the part of white teachers who teach black and brown children is insulting. Imagine seeing white people, the perceived dominant race, loving and appreciating black culture when it is pretty-enjoying the music, food, culture and beauty of our people-but remaining silent about our oppression and refusing to see how the beauty of our culture was largely born out of necessity. It hurts students when their teachers only acknowledge what black people have done for this country and not what this country has done to them.

But how encouraging is it to know that we stand in a powerful and political position where we can directly influence and break this silence?

Begin by confronting your own biases-about yourself, your students, your fellow educators, the world. This process is essential; if educators don't do this, think about how much damage we could do to the open, vulnerable minds of our students. In particular, examine your feelings about the police. And, regardless of your personal feelings about law enforcement, it is critical to understand that many black and brown students have incredibly negative perceptions about the police. This difficult understanding on the part of teachers can hopefully lead to dialogue and healing in schools.

Once you've done the inner work of evaluating your own comfort levels and examining your biases, start the conversation. You might begin by admitting to students that-like them-you are scared, frustrated, angry, confused, hurt or uncomfortable. Students at any age understand these feelings and will appreciate your humility, compassion and vulnerability, especially black and brown students. This is how you lay the foundation.

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As educators we (sometimes unknowingly) step into roles of advocate, caretaker, guide, and even mother or father to students. Students pay attention to everything we say and do. They particularly pay attention to our silence. We may be uncomfortable talking about race, but we can no longer afford to be silent.

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by Dr. Bettina Love.

Make sure to read all of the other articles linked to this one.

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The overwhelming majority of teachers in this country want to help young people reach their full potential. Making that kind of difference is rewarding. And yet most teachers struggle to find joy.

A 2017 survey focused on educators' quality of work life revealed that 61 percent of teachers found that their jobs were always or often stressful, and 58 percent cited poor mental health as a result of job-related stress. Teacher burnout is a significant problem, and research concerned with teacher wellness tells us that educators are also experiencing secondary traumatic stress, as they take on the wounds their students bring to the classroom every day as a result of poverty, abuse, toxic masculinity, immigration struggles, racism, family mental illness, transphobia, and homophobia.

To add more to teachers' already full plates, progressive school districts striving to be more equitable are asking teachers to understand how racism functions in their classrooms and to fight for social justice inside and outside school walls. It may sound counterproductive to ask educators to do this work when they have so many issues to tackle every day, but many of their students' traumas are a direct result of oppressive systems and ideologies. Simply stated, teachers' work lives will not improve until educators enter the fight for equity. Smaller class sizes or professional learning communities will help. For the long term, however, the most important step is active anti-racism.

Teachers need more professional development for understanding inequality in order to confront it. But teachers of all backgrounds also need healing because they are trying to fight the biggest problems in this country one student at a time, with little to no emotional support. Yes, educators who are people of color feel the ever-present pain, weight, and torment of racism and need therapy, too, but White teachers have a different task: Many must first win the fight regarding racism within themselves.

When I travel around the country talking to White teachers about educational justice and anti-racism, I am met with tears by many White educators who understand how racism preys on the bodies, minds, and communities of all their students, but especially their students of color. They know they need to do more, but the question is what does more look like? The "more" is anti-racist therapy and healing moving toward anti-racist actions.

White teachers need a particular type of therapy. They must learn how to deal with what Cheryl E. Matias calls "White emotionalities" and what Robin DiAngelo has termed "White fragility." Emotions of guilt, shame, anger, denial, sadness, dissonance, and discomfort boil up when issues of race and racism challenge their sense of self. Too often, we think the work of fighting oppression is just intellectual. The real work is personal, emotional, spiritual, and communal.

The shift to anti-racism does not happen overnight or after one professional development session: It happens through a process of self-discovery, healing, and learning to reject and call out racist ideas, people, and structures. Anti-racist teaching is not a teaching approach or method, it is a way of life.

In her new book, The Racial Healing Handbook, Anneliese A. Singh writes: "Healing means you begin to unlearn the stereotyped racial messages you internalized about your own race and the race of others. It means you as an individual learn to recognize the wounds that racism creates in you, whether you are White or a person of color."

Thus, we need therapists who specialize in the healing of teachers and the undoing of Whiteness in education. We need school therapists and counselors who are trained to help White educators and students process their emotions and their fragility. With healing, teachers will better manage their stress, improve their interactions with students, and be able to continue fighting for justice. Teachers should be offered this type of therapy free of charge.

As I am writing this, I understand education and mental-health systems often lack the resources to offer teachers anti-racism therapy at schools. Still, there are things we can do. Individuals can seek their own therapy provided by professionals who specialize in anti-racism. Teachers can listen to anti-racism podcasts. Another approach is to form racial affinity or book-study groups focused on healing from racism. (See below for resources.) Teachers can become part of anti-racist social movements such as Black Lives Matter at School, United We Dream fighting for justice for immigrants, or Land Rights Now promoting the land rights of indigenous people.

I have also found the work of Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, a professor at Teachers College, helpful. In a process she calls "Healing Through the Archaeology of Self," Sealey-Ruiz asks teachers to dig, reflect, and discover their identities in relationship to their students, systems of oppression, and how teachers can be interrupters of the status quo.

The work of anti-racism cannot wait. For ourselves as educators, our families, and our students, we must heal.

Related Video
In 2016, Bettina L. Love, the author of this essay, spoke to Education Week about African-American girls and discipline. Here's what she had to say:

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White Teachers Need Anti-Racist Therapy (Opinion)

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The overwhelming majority of teachers in this country want to help young people reach their full potential. Making that kind of difference is rewarding. And yet most teachers struggle to find joy.

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a workbook for teachers by Lorena Germán cofounder of The Multicultural Classroom. "Implementing an anti racist approach can be a struggle. We might know what that term means, but I have found that not many of us know what that looks like in practice. So, I got to work and created a workbook for all of us. Yep, a whole book."

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founded by Dr. Bettina Love
"Abolitionist Teaching Network's mission is simple: develop and support educators to fight injustice within their schools and communities. Utilizing the intellectual work and direct action of Abolitionists in many forms, including community organizers, educators, parents, social workers, counselors, lawyers, therapists, artists, health care providers, and incarcerated folx, we will organize and take action for educational freedom.

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What We Do

Grants

APS Teacher Campaign

APS Teacher Campaign

ATN awards grants to educators and community members who strive to disrupt inequalities and injustice within their schools, communities, or both. We will be launching our 3rd annual grant cycle in late October 2023.

APS Teacher Campaign

APS Teacher Campaign

APS Teacher Campaign

Explore resources to learn about the Atlanta Public Schools "Cheating Scandal" and support the educators facing prison

Programming

Programming

Programming

Year round, we host political education, healing justice, and affinity group events for educators, organizers, students, and parents/caregivers. Follow us on socials to stay up to date.

Resources

Programming

Programming

From our founding guide for racial justice and abolitionist social and emotional learning to a database for queer, trans, and non-binary educators + students, we pride ourselves on being a resource hub for education communities.

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Abolitionist Teaching Network's mission is simple: develop and support educators to fight injustice within their schools and communities. Utilizing the intellectual work and direct action of community organizers, Abolitionist Teachers will organize and take action for educational freedom.

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We lead with the heart and courageously work to address racial injustice in education, embodying Black joy, confronting anti-Blackness, and building authentic partnerships with all who support creating equitable school communities across the nation.

​In September 2016, DeShawn Jackson, along with Black Men Uniting to Change The Narrative, planned a day of encouragement. The previous school year, another local elementary school had more than 200 Black men show up to greet students as they arrived at school. The men wore their uniforms, regalia, and Sunday best in hopes of disrupting the inaccurate imagery students have of Black men. Black men make up only 3% of teachers in k-12 education.​

DeShawn had taught at the school for six years and even attended the elementary school as a child. He wanted students to see Black men in a positive light, not like they often are portrayed in media. A bomb threat was called into the school on the day of the event, so school leadership officially canceled it. Yet, after the threat was investigated, nothing was found, and the school remained open. So, DeShawn personally greeted students and about fifty others joined him.

When students arrived at John Muir Elementary School, they were greeted with cheers and high-fives while drums played in the background. Black men showed up because they wanted to counter the perception students have about education and race. Inside the school, staff wore shirts that said "Black Lives Matter We Stand Together."Julie Trout, the art teacher, designed the shirts. Teachers' lessons for the day were focused on racial justice.

​Social Equality Educators (SEE), a group within the Seattle teachers union, decided October 19th would be "Black Lives Matter At School Day." They'd wear Black Lives Matter shirts to school, created a second design with "#Say Her Name," and educators picked from several options. Parent Teacher Associations made buttons and stickers for teachers and students to wear. This attracted national news, which spread to Philadelphia, where the Racial Justice & Organizing Committee of the Caucus of Working Educators was inspired to plan a similar action.

We envision a nation in which we live in authentic and conscious relationship with ourselves, each other, and the lands we occupy with the least amount of harm and violence, in which we are unapologetically Black and collectively love and care for one another as extended intergenerational families. To achieve safety, equity, and liberation for all Black lives, we attend to systems and networks of care to make the domination, erasure, and dehumanization of Black life obsolete. ​

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National coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

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#BreatheEDU chat is centered around topics that impact our students, their families and fellow educators when they come into our schools. We want to discuss topics in order to "Every Tuesday night, Dr. Christopher Emdin leads a Twitter chat called #HipHopEd. The discussion tends to generally highlight systemic racism and anti-oppression work but also "This PD had great sessions and kick-started some of the changes we faced at the beginning of the school year. Some takeaways for me were that we have to know the stories of our community and kids. We need to create safe spaces so we can understand what trauma they come to school with. Then, we need to take that knowledge to make changes in the school setting." "Often, we have white teachers, teaching whitewashed content from a white perspective ... to Black and Brown students. And we wonder why it doesn't work? By working with the Frontlines of Justice to develop content for a digital platform, the Center for Black Educator Development wanted to do it another way. We developed a PD experience focused on fighting racism, on how we manage classrooms, on how we manage our own mindsets. Schools are the foundation to transform this country. Highly effective teachers will lead the way, and this is about supporting anyone ready to reflect and put in the work. It's organized as a series of video modules and interactive experiences so the materials get through you. Come and join us." - Sharif El-Mekki, Founder of Center for Black Educator Development "Helping students (and staff) understand how to speak up against racism is a lesson in itself." looks specifically at the history of Black music, hip hop and the educational power that "'When we assert that we see all students as the same, we dehumanize and discount their experiences, perspectives and identities. It's important to acknowledge race and the conditions that perpetuate racial inequities. To say that you're colorblind is to willfully avoid discussions about race and anti-racist work." "'Educators who are committed to Black students use evidence in their own classrooms to find ways to improve...They create a curriculum with Black students in mind...' This article reminds us that we must purposefully design curriculum and courses that provide counter-narratives, filling the gaps, changing perceptions and applying a critical literacy lens to our teaching practices." they can have in the classroom. I've learned a lot from Dr. Emdin over the years and I'm grateful for his voice and his work!" help others create racially inclusive learning environments for students, their families and fellow educators. The chat uses the handle @breathe_edu . It takes place every other Thursday from 7:30 p.m.-8 p.m. ET and is co-hosted by Hamilton Parks ( @HamiltonParks17 ), Shalonda Blakeney ( @sblakeney3
#CultureEd Chat

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A Library of Resources for Anti-Racist School Leadership

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BreatheEDU chat is centered around topics that impact our students, their families and fellow educators when they come into our schools. We want to discuss topics in order to "Every Tuesday night, Dr. Christopher Emdin leads a Twitter chat called #HipHopEd.

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Lesson Plans on the death of George Floyd and Protests from PBS. 

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Lesson Plans on the death of George Floyd and Protests from PBS. 

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Daily Video
DOWNLOAD VIDEO Directions: Read the news summary, watch the video and answer the discussion questions. The video has been edited for length and to remove footage of the police officer and George Floyd. To watch the video in its entirety or read the transcript, click here .
Summary: On May 25, George Floyd died while in police custody following arrest. The incident, captured on video, raises questions about the conduct of the specific police officers involved, as well as the department's broader relationship with citizens of color.

Floyd's death has set off widespread protest across the city of Minneapolis, including conflict between protesters and police and destruction of property.

Significant protests have also begun in cities as far away as Los Angeles.

Minneapolis councilwoman Andrea Jenkins describes the killing of George Floyd as symbolic of inequality of legal, environmental and health outcomes. Jenkins calls the incident a sign of the "knee on the neck of black America."

Discussion questions:

1. Essential question : What sparked the protests after the killing of George Floyd and why have they spread to other cities?

2. Floyd's death was captured on video. The widely shared video shows images of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd's neck. How do you think the reaction to Floyd's death would be different if the incident hadn't been captured on video?

3. Councilwoman Andrea Jenkins describes the killing of Floyd as symbolic of deeper societal problems. She makes a connection between his death and disproportionate health outcomes due to loosening of environmental regulations as well as the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on communities of color. What is your response?

4. Stories of violence and police brutality can be upsetting. If you are upset by this story, who is a trusted adult you can speak with? If you are not sure, ask your teacher.

5. Media literacy : The footage of Floyd with a knee on his neck may be difficult for viewers to watch and has been excluded from this video clip. Why do you think that decision was made? Do you think it's important to show viewers violent footage like this? Why or why not?

Extension activity
Watch or read the transcript of this interview from March 2019 featuring Tetrina Blalock discussing the police shooting of her cousin, her own experience with police in her community and her other experiences with racism. In the interview, Blalock says, "You're either going to give me my respect, or I'm going to get my respect." Have students reflect on the experiences Blalock describes and her expectations for respect in her community. What does she mean by respect? For a short NewsHour EXTRA lesson using this video, this video click here.

For monthly updates containing teacher resources on Election 2020, click . Sign up for short education highlights from the PBS NewsHour .

If you are making plans for distance learning, take a look at our list of PBS resources that covers a variety of subjects for middle and high school students.

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Death of George Floyd sets off massive protests | PBS NewsHour Extra

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DOWNLOAD VIDEO Directions: Read the news summary, watch the video and answer the discussion questions. The video has been edited for length and to remove footage of the police officer and George Floyd. To watch the video in its entirety or read the transcript, click here .

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The Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project introduces students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. People’s history materials and pedagogy emphasize the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history. Students learn that history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but instead by people’s choices and actions, thereby also learning that their own choices and actions matter.

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The Zinn Education Project is my compass in a sea of corporate textbooks, packaged common core curriculum and standardized testing. My entire curriculum is based on lessons that can be found on the Zinn Education Project.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Portland, Ore.

Your support is needed to help more students learn people's history. 100% of Zinn Education Project funding comes from individuals like you. Donate today.

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

From voter ID laws to voter-roll purges, gerrymandering to poll closures to the deadly in-person voting conditions during a pandemic, the right to vote is under attack and the stakes are high. It is critical that students learn about the fight for voting rights, past and present.

Nov. 30, 1924: Shirley Chisholm Born...

Teaching About the Violence in Palestine and Israel...

I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence, just enough to give HOPE, because for hope we don't need certainty, only POSSIBILITY.

-Howard Zinn

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Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

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The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people's history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn's best-selling book A People's History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.

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Four Ways Teachers Can Support Students of Color

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Four Ways Teachers Can Support Students of Color

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Listen to my interview with Dena Simmons (or read the transcript):
The difference between teachers and their students has never been so stark. A recent report from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that since 2014, white students no longer make up the majority in American schools. Future projections show the white population shrinking to a smaller and smaller proportion of the whole, and the combined populations of of students from other ethnic groups increasing so that together, they make up a steadily growing majority.

By contrast, teachers in the U.S. are overwhelmingly white.

What this tells me is that the life experiences of most of the people in charge of our classrooms have been pretty different from the experiences of most of their students.

And that matters.

It matters because our work is not strictly academic. Not by a long shot. In order for our students to perform well academically, they need to feel safe, both physically and psychologically. They need to feel a sense of belonging. They need to feel seen and valued for who they are. For our students of color, finding this safe, accepting place is rare, especially if most of their teachers have a dramatically different background from their own. This problem can be even more pronounced for students of color who attend schools where their peers are also mostly white.

This does not mean that all white teachers are racists or that they are deliberately doing things to hurt their students of color. But what IS happening, far too often, is that teachers are doing things that harm these students' self-perception without even realizing it.

Dena Simmons, the director of education at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, understands this problem far too well.

In her 2015 TED talk, "How Students of Color Confront Impostor Syndrome," she tells the story of how, as a young black girl, she left the Bronx neighborhood where she lived with her single mother and two sisters to attend a prestigious boarding school in Connecticut. Although she got an excellent education there and followed that up with a series of impressive academic and professional accomplishments, she always felt out of place, torn between the world she'd grown up in and her identity as an accomplished scholar. "Eternal impostor syndrome," she calls it.

This struggle was made much harder by many of her teachers, in the things they said to her and the messages they sent, messages that basically told Dena that who she was was not okay.

Later in life Dena returned to the Bronx to teach middle school, and she was determined to create the kind of atmosphere she wished she'd had, one that values each student's unique identity and history. In her TED talk, she gives us a glimpse of how that worked.

Now, we pick up where that TED talk left off, with some specific advice about what teachers can do to help their students of color not just survive, but thrive in the classroom, with a fully developed, strong sense of pride in who they are, where they came from, and what they're capable of.

1. Teach Students of Color to Love Themselves

"There's nothing more revolutionary than teaching our young people in general to love themselves," Simmons says, "and particularly young people of color, because they don't have to look too far to see negative images of themselves displayed throughout the media. We can teach our young people to love themselves by centering our instruction on their lives, their realities and their experiences, and using their lives as cultural reference to our instruction."

Here are some things teachers can do to nurture this self-love and pride in their students:

Really get to know your students. This is the first step toward helping students love themselves. This should be done in both formal and informal ways: A simple survey can help you gather information quickly, and spending time with students outside of class can help you see them in a different light. In her school, Simmons occasionally attended gym class with her students and invited them to have lunch with her off-campus.

Create ways for students to bring pieces of their lives into the classroom. By allowing students to share in school the things they value outside of school, we demonstrate that every aspect of who they are is important. One way Simmons did this was to have students create personalized playlists of their favorite (school-appropriate) music that could be played during certain class activities.

Honor their language. When teachers attempt to "fix" students' language to make it more standardized, they often communicate to students that their way of speaking is wrong. Instead, we could explain that students need to become bilingual, that using academically standard language will open doors for them in some contexts. This approach honors where students come from and acknowledges the value of their home vernacular. Simmons advises teachers to have an honest conversation with students: "How we speak when we are outside is how we speak. It's totally fine. Then there's a way we speak in the classroom, and that just makes us bilingual as opposed to right and wrong. When you say to someone, 'Cut it out,' you're saying, 'Cut out who you are,' and we don't want to do that."

Tell them you love them. "When I was in the classroom," Simmons says, "I actually had posters that would say, 'Ms. Simmons loves you,' and it wasn't uncommon to walk into my classroom and for me and a student to share I love you's with each other. When we do that, we create a space for our students of color to know that their schooling values their experiences, and it values who they are."

2. Invite Families and Community Members to Become Partners in Educating Students

"When you partner with communities, when you partner with families," Simmons explains, "students really internalize that they matter. They internalize that their communities matter, and they also begin to understand that they have a role in developing and engaging in their communities. What I learned when I had to leave the Bronx to go to boarding school was that the Bronx had nothing to offer me. How painful it was to think of the place that raised me, the place that I called home was actually not good. And so I had to spend some time reshifting and reframing how I thought about the Bronx, that the Bronx was something to return to as opposed to something to leave. And I think educators, in the process of seeing their communities and their families as assets, begin to shift from deficit-based mindset to an asset-based mindset."

Take inventory. Using a community development approach called asset mapping, build a list of all the various resources you could take advantage of, partnerships you could form with parents and community members to enrich the education of your students.

Use community resources as curriculum. Find ways to tie local resources to the things you're teaching in class. You can invite community members in as guest speakers or take students on field trips to local establishments. Doing this gives students a sense of pride in their neighborhood and helps them see home as an abundant place.

Keep parents involved through multiple channels. Invite parents to attend classroom events, use digital and non-digital means to let parents know what's going on in class and what they can do to help. If what you're doing now isn't working, try something else. Ask families what would work for them until you find an effective approach.

3. Expose Students to Role Models of Color

Growing up, Simmons says most of the role models she saw in the media were white. "So in many ways, I would say implicitly I learned to favor whiteness. I learned to think that everything white was better ... I think that is true for many people of color." By making sure all of our students-not just students of color-are exposed to a variety of diverse role models, we help them broaden their own goals and see what's possible for everyone.

Invite guest speakers and mentors of color into the classroom. Find ways to arrange visits or guest presentations people of color who work in all sorts of industries. These guests can come from your local area or, with the help of video conferencing, anywhere else in the world.

Make sure your classroom or school library has a variety of texts that include positive, diverse characters. The site We Need Diverse Books maintains a growing list of books that meet this need. Canerow is also building a similar list, and their blog expands the definition of "text" to other forms of media like music and film.

Support efforts to improve teacher diversity. Currently, there is a shortage of teachers of color in the U.S., which further limits our students' interactions with professional role models of color. This report by the Center for Amercian Progress outlines steps that can be taken by states, districts, school leaders, and universities to attract, train, and retain teachers of color. If you are a classroom teacher and have no direct impact in this area, what you can do is learn more about the problem and support efforts in your own school to improve it.

4. Disrupt the Single Narrative of Students of Color

"I think a lot of times when teachers go back home, and they talk to their friends, the stories they tell about their students only perpetuate the status quo, what it means to be a kid of color," says Simmons. "These single narratives are perpetuated, and in many ways, I think are problematic because they're incomplete, they flatten the wholeness of our students." The concept of the single narrative is illustrated beautifully by Chimamanda Adichie in her TED talk, The Danger of a Single Story, which I strongly recommend you watch to fully understand this idea.

We are all part of this conversation, with many of us only perpetuating the existing narrative about our students of color in the anecdotes we share about them. So how do we disrupt that? How do we work to change that narrative so society at large begins to see our students of color with more complexity, and so the students see themselves differently?

Empower students to tell their own stories. Look for ways to let students share their own diverse experiences, whether it's through spoken word, in conversations, or in more finished products like written pieces, podcasts, videos, or other multimedia.

Pay attention to your own storytelling, your own language. When you are retelling a story of something one of your students did, ask yourself if the story is contributing to a negative narrative, if it perpetuates a stereotype about a particular group of students. And check your language: When you talk about certain groups of students, do you say "these kids," or "our kids"? A subtle shift in language represents a major change in thinking.

Challenge others. When your colleagues tell these kinds of single-narrative stories, dig for context. Ask about the strengths of the students being described. Push for the full picture.

Small Changes Make a Difference

None of the actions outlined here are simple, and none of them offer a quick fix. But implementing them consistently, with the belief that this work is important, will make your classroom a place where students of color will flourish.

You can find Dena Simmons on Twitter at @denasimmons. If you enjoyed her TED talk above, check out her other two, It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are? and What to do if your student comes at you with scissors?

Learn something new every week.
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Four Ways Teachers Can Support Students of Color

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By taking a few specific actions, teachers could be doing an incredible job of helping students of color reach their full potential.

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In a radical analysis of contemporary classrooms, MacArthur Award–winning author Lisa Delpit develops ideas about ways teachers can be better “cultural transmitters” in the classroom, where prejudice, stereotypes, and cultural assumptions breed ineffective education.

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Winner of an American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Award and Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic book award, and voted one of Teacher Magazine's "great books," Other People's Children has sold over 150,000 copies since its original publication. This anniversary edition features a new introduction by Delpit as well as new framing essays by Herbert Kohl and Charles Payne.

In a radical analysis of contemporary classrooms, MacArthur Award-winning author Lisa Delpit develops ideas about ways teachers can be better "cultural transmitters" in the classroom, where prejudice, stereotypes, and cultural assumptions breed ineffective education. Delpit suggests that many academic problems attributed to children of color are actually the result of miscommunication, as primarily white teachers and "other people's children" struggle with the imbalance of power and the dynamics plaguing our system.

A new classic among educators, Other People's Children is a must-read for teachers, administrators, and parents striving to improve the quality of America's education system.

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Winner of an American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Award and Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic book award, and voted one of Teacher Magazine's "great books," Other People's Children has sold over 150,000 copies since its original publication. This anniversary edition features a new introduction by Delpit as well as new framing essays by Herbert Kohl and Charles Payne.

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We are educators, students, parents, families, community members fighting for racial justice in school!

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We lead with the heart and courageously work to address racial injustice in education, embodying Black joy, confronting anti-Blackness, and building authentic partnerships with all who support creating equitable school communities across the nation.

​In September 2016, DeShawn Jackson, along with Black Men Uniting to Change The Narrative, planned a day of encouragement. The previous school year, another local elementary school had more than 200 Black men show up to greet students as they arrived at school. The men wore their uniforms, regalia, and Sunday best in hopes of disrupting the inaccurate imagery students have of Black men. Black men make up only 3% of teachers in k-12 education.​

DeShawn had taught at the school for six years and even attended the elementary school as a child. He wanted students to see Black men in a positive light, not like they often are portrayed in media. A bomb threat was called into the school on the day of the event, so school leadership officially canceled it. Yet, after the threat was investigated, nothing was found, and the school remained open. So, DeShawn personally greeted students and about fifty others joined him.

When students arrived at John Muir Elementary School, they were greeted with cheers and high-fives while drums played in the background. Black men showed up because they wanted to counter the perception students have about education and race. Inside the school, staff wore shirts that said "Black Lives Matter We Stand Together."Julie Trout, the art teacher, designed the shirts. Teachers' lessons for the day were focused on racial justice.

​Social Equality Educators (SEE), a group within the Seattle teachers union, decided October 19th would be "Black Lives Matter At School Day." They'd wear Black Lives Matter shirts to school, created a second design with "#Say Her Name," and educators picked from several options. Parent Teacher Associations made buttons and stickers for teachers and students to wear. This attracted national news, which spread to Philadelphia, where the Racial Justice & Organizing Committee of the Caucus of Working Educators was inspired to plan a similar action.

We envision a nation in which we live in authentic and conscious relationship with ourselves, each other, and the lands we occupy with the least amount of harm and violence, in which we are unapologetically Black and collectively love and care for one another as extended intergenerational families. To achieve safety, equity, and liberation for all Black lives, we attend to systems and networks of care to make the domination, erasure, and dehumanization of Black life obsolete. ​

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National coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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They view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching.

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They view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching.

Editor's Note: In 1988, a teacher most commonly had 15 years of experience. In recent years, that number is closer to just three years leading a classroom. The "On Teaching" series focuses on the wisdom of veteran teachers.
Ask black students who their favorite teacher is, and they will joyfully tell you. Ask them what it is about their favorite teacher, and most will say some version of this: They know how to work with me. So much is in that statement. It means that these students want to work, that they see their teachers as partners in the learning process, and that they know the teacher-student relationship is one in which they both have power. In other words, black students know that they bring intellect to the classroom, and they know when they are seen-and not seen.

As the principal of San Francisco's Mission High School and an anti-racist educator for more than 30 years, I have witnessed countless black students thrive in classrooms where teachers see them accurately and show that they are happy to have them there. In these classes, students choose to sit in the front of the class, take careful notes, shoot their hands up in discussions, and ask unexpected questions that cause the teacher and other classmates to stop and think. Given the chance, they email, text, and call the teachers who believe in them. In short, these students are everything their families and community members have raised and supported them to be.

I have seen some of these very same students walk into another teacher's classroom, go to the last row of desks, and put their head down. I have seen them sit frozen in their seat, staring at an assignment-when earlier I had heard them make jokes, talk excitedly about the content of their history class, celebrate solving a vexing algebra equation, or shake a test tube with authority, waiting for a result. Their report cards often reveal this disparity in classroom experiences: A's and B's in classes where they feel valued and C's, D's, or even F's in classes where they don't.

When black students' academic strengths are overlooked, black students are marginalized. They are kept out of advanced courses, given bad grades, and sent to the dean's office. Over the years, the power that they initially bring to school is siphoned off by educators at every level of the educational system who do not respect, and in some cases do not wish to respect, the intellectual contributions of black students.

Anti-racist teachers take black students seriously. They create a curriculum with black students in mind, and they carefully read students' work to understand what they are expressing. This might sound fairly standard, but making black students feel valued goes beyond general "good teaching." It requires educators to view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching. This is a paradigm shift: Instead of only asking black students who are not doing well in class to start identifying with school, we also ask teachers whose black students are not doing well in their classes to start identifying with those students.

I spent the majority of my career in the classroom, and I loved it because-to do it well-it required that I call on all aspects of my humanity. Standing in front of my black students, I knew that it was my responsibility to invite them into the classroom and then to see, push, and protect them once they were there. Over the years, collaborating with other anti-racist educators, I co-developed an approach that was successful-and it showed in the students' attendance, grades, and quality of work.

We read articles and books, and we attend workshops centered around black pedagogy. That helps us examine cultural differences in discourse styles, so we can better understand black students' analytical approaches in essays. We learn how to integrate oral language into our curriculum, such as adding a debate unit or a poetry-recitation assignment, and to provide ample opportunities for students to work together. And we learn that nothing goes without saying and that praise and direction should be plentiful. In essence, we do what works for black students, which also works for all students.

Educators who are committed to black students use evidence in their own classrooms to find ways to improve. They analyze the assignments handed in, identifying ways in which their teaching reached-and didn't reach-all of their students. They recognize the brilliance of a black student's contribution to a class discussion and seize on it. They disaggregate data such as grades and attendance by ethnicity, look for patterns, and problematize their own practice-rather than assume that their students weren't motivated or sufficiently prepared to engage with challenging material. They ask themselves: Why did Taylor get a C on the final when he earned an A or a B on all of his other assignments, many of them equally demanding? Why is Vince silent in his group? What inspired Hile to write multiple drafts of her essay, each time asking for more detailed feedback? They seek support from colleagues who are effective teachers for all of their students, including black students, because they know that the changes they make to their teaching practice will have an impact on their students' achievement. All of this makes them better educators.

Teachers who do not value black students will shift the discussion away from their own practice when they see that black students are not succeeding in their classes. They will create bonds that eventually turn into factions with fellow educators who are also unwilling to change their approach.

To fight against systemic racism means to buck norms. Educators at every level must be willing to be uncomfortable in their struggle for black students, recognizing students' power and feeding it by honoring their many contributions to our schools. Teachers need to insist on using their own power to consistently reveal and examine their practice, and seek input from black stakeholders; they must invite black parents to the table, listen to their concerns and ideas, and act on them. Principals must clearly and consistently communicate the anti-racist vision for their school, create professional-development opportunities for staff, recognize teachers who successfully teach all of their students, and intervene when they see problems. District-level administrators must more firmly root their anti-racist messaging in black students' school experiences, making expectations for educators clear. And school-board members need to listen to educators who have shown efficacy in educating black students. They must enact policies that hold us all accountable to our black families. We must make demands of ourselves and work together in our communities.

The only measure of our anti-racist teaching will be the academic success of all of our students, including our black students.
This article is part of our project "On Teaching," which is supported by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Panta Rhea Foundation.

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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They view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching. Editor's Note: In 1988, a teacher most commonly had 15 years of experience. In recent years, that number is closer to just three years leading a classroom. The "On Teaching" series focuses on the wisdom of veteran teachers.

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Affirming Black Lives Without Inducing Trauma

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Affirming Black Lives Without Inducing Trauma

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ducators have a responsibility to engage with students about this violence against Black men—and the white supremacist systems that allow it to continue. But they must do so without re-traumatizing Black students and with extra care for their mental health. These resources can help.

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Affirming Black Lives Without Inducing Trauma

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This week, we were disappointed to see wide circulation of the videos showing Ahmaud Arbery's and Sean Reed's shooting deaths. Educators have a responsibility to engage with students about this violence against Black men-and the white supremacist systems that allow it to continue.

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A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators

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A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators

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Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources.

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Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources.

John Minchillo / Associated Press

Protesting the killing of George Floyd, a crowd gathers for a rally at Cadman Plaza Park in New York City on June 4, 2020.

"I'm a White educator, where do I start?"

"How can I help?"

"What if I get it wrong?"

Recent events have shaken me to my core, and the nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd suggest that people across the country are similarly shaken. These are dark times, but if there's anything that seems like a glimmer of light to me at the moment, it's the fact that so many teachers are reflecting on how to fight racism:

For me, a Black educator and mother to a Black 16-year-old who has reached the appearance if not the legal age of manhood, these questions stir hope. Folks who don't look like me are embracing the idea that the fight for equity has to be everyone's fight. But fighting racism is a big job, and when the fires of outrage cool, we teachers will be confronted with the reality of planning deadlines, testing schedules, and another hundred things that are all in a day's work. The difficult work of equity may become just another item on a desk crowded with to-do lists.

What Can Teachers Do?

The answer, an old joke: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, of course-and achieving equity is no different. Take small bites that can have big impact and don't worry about getting it wrong sometimes, as you inevitably will. If you keep going, you can do something that brings about change.

Reading: Even if you only have 10 minutes, you can learn something to help you create a more equitable classroom. Websites like Teaching Tolerance, the NEA's EdJustice, and KQED's Mindshift feature resources for lesson planning as well as lessons for you as a teacher. Teaching Tolerance is the perfect place to start, whether you want to use bias-free language to teach tolerance through reading with young learners or plan a social action campaign with high school students.

In addition to a rich collection of K-12 classroom resources, the website features self-guided PD, on-demand webinars, and podcasts that may enable you to earn a certificate-check with your administration first. Those can easily be broken up into small chunks of time. And note that many of the site's feature articles list recommended actions at the bottom.

If your goal is to understand the Black community better, sites designed for Black audiences like The Root, The Undefeated, and Huffington Post's Black Voices are good places to start. These non-mainstream media outlets feature content by minority and minority-supporting journalists. You'll find content on topics not covered in mainstream media, like coverage of historically Black colleges and universities, news about Black brands and influencers, and stories like this one on MIT's first Black female student body president in its 159-year history. If you're teaching Black children who are generally inundated by media that does not reflect them, these are priceless ways you can enrich your current events and show-and-tell circles.

Watching: You can improve your cultural competence and learn about Black Lives Matter by watching " 4 Black Lives Matter Myths Debunked" on YouTube, which will answer quite a few questions on social justice issues, probably including some you didn't even know you had. And if you want help in having real discussions on complex issues with young children, the YouTube show LivingRoomProtest will lead you through conversations on being Black, politics, pride, and even death and the afterlife-try the episode " Education Is a Human Right " for starters.

If you want entertainment with a cultural component, Netflix has a host of shows that cater to a Black audience, as well as original content that regularly features diverse character lineups. Hulu has not only a small curated selection of Black Stories but also six seasons of the binge-worthy, socially conscious Black-ish and its spin-off prequel Mixed-ish. While Black-ish might be a little campy, it tackles real issues surrounding racism, bias, and social justice issues that arise within the Black community.

Taking action: For the civic-minded, the Kellogg Foundation has put together a website that lets you create your own personal plan to support, donate, or volunteer in the way you find most relevant. This site can help you focus your attention on one or two civic tasks with broader impact.

Social action is also a great way to involve students, which multiplies your impact. You can teach students how to write emails or letters by asking them to write to your local government in favor of policy changes banning the eight most deadly policing strategies listed at 8 Can't Wait, which has ideas on how to call or email your government yourself-there's a script you can use or adapt.

Looking within: Finally, and perhaps most importantly, take inventory of your feelings. It's normal to be most comfortable around people who are like you. It's just not good when that makes you and those like you an "us" and those who aren't like you a "them." Use a journal to sort through your personal feelings on racism or read books that provide perspective on systemic inequities and bias. These long-haul strategies will produce change in you while you take more immediate action in other ways.

The devastating events of the last days have left me shaken. I have felt anger, fear, grief-so many emotions. But I have also felt buoyed by the great outpouring of support from my less melanated colleagues who want to listen, learn, and find out how to do better. So many of them are already doing amazing things with diverse students. This piece is dedicated to them. They give me hope that this time, we will fight racism together and bring about lasting change.

Don't stop now. How do you eat an elephant? One small bite at a time.

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A Guide to Equity and Antiracism for Educators

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Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources. John Minchillo / Associated Press Protesting the killing of George Floyd, a crowd gathers for a rally at Cadman Plaza Park in New York City on June 4, 2020.

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What Happened When My School Started to Dismantle White Supremacy Culture

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What Happened When My School Started to Dismantle White Supremacy Culture

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Together, educators are doing the reimagining and reinvention work necessary to make true educational equity possible. Student-centered learning advances equity when it values social and emotional growth alongside academic achievement, takes a cultural lens on strengths and competencies, and equips students with the power and skills to address injustice in their schools and communities.

When the staff at Visitacion Valley Middle School explored White Supremacy Culture, it gave them a new framework to define their North Star: being an anti-racist school.

White Supremacy Culture. White Supremacy Culture. White Supremacy Culture.

Now that the shock of reading these words has worn off, let's explore what it is and why we need to dedicate more time to exploring its dehumanizing effect in our schools.

At Visitacion Valley Middle School (VVMS), in the San Francisco Unified school district, our brave staff spent a majority of the 2018-19 school year unpacking White Supremacy Culture (WSC). This took the form of discussions, watching short video clips, annotating readings, and doing some deep personal introspection. We needed to go deeper than our previous conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Like most groups of educators, we had spent a few years dancing around topics of racism and struggled to make lasting change. Some conversations fell flat, and others were superficial. At times, it appeared that we weren't clearly aligned philosophically and did not have a focused call to action. Therefore, it was necessary to create shared understandings and subsequent commitments, which was facilitated by exploring a framework of White Supremacy Culture.

What is White Supremacy Culture?

It is the water we are swimming in. The trouble is we don't even see it. The Standing Up for Racial Justice coalition defines White Supremacy Culture as "the idea (ideology) that white people and the ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and actions of white people are superior to those of People of Color." Don't be confused. One does not have to be a white supremacist to hold these beliefs, because we have all been conditioned through exposure to media, parenting, schooling, and our interactions with power structures.

Even I, a black educator who has studied ethnic studies and critical race theory, still perpetuate tenets of White Supremacy Culture. I like to think of myself as a recovering perpetrator of WSC. This has included making decisions about curriculum, school partnership, and hiring, without authentically involving teachers or students in the process. As a leader, it is easy to hoard power, claim objectivity in decision making, or believe that there is only one way to fix education. For a more complete list, see the 15 WSC characteristics from Tema Okun and Kenneth Jones in the 2001 Dismantling Racism Workbook. If I can be vulnerable and honest, white educators can and must do the same.

3 Reasons We Need to Dismantle White Supremacy Culture in Schools

The work to address racism in schools has been called cultural competency, diversity training, and equity. This work has gotten co-opted and watered down, leading to many people talking the talk, without much walk. We can have equity missions plastered on walls and front that we are about closing the opportunity gap, but we don't go deeper than diversity trainings. With respect to race, the foundational issue is White Supremacy Culture, and we must attack the problem head on.

1. WSC dehumanizes people of color. White Supremacy Culture is the silent killer flowing throughout classrooms and school hallways, like carbon monoxide gas. It is invisible and it is toxic. It is time that we detox and make the invisible visible. Dr. Bettina Love writes in her book, We Want to Do More Than Survive, "To even begin to attack our destructive and punitive educational system, pedagogies that promote social justice must ... help educators understand and recognize America and its schools as spaces of Whiteness, White rage, and White Supremacy, all of which function to terrorize students of color." ( Love, 2019) It is imperative that we examine these deeply held beliefs-both conscious and unconscious-to build on top of a new set of habits, behaviors, and systems.

These beliefs lead to actions that are dehumanizing to all races of people; however, they have a more drastic effect on indigenous, black, and people of color (IBPOC). They simultaneously tell us that we are not good enough and keep us to the bottom rungs of racial hierarchy if we do not assimilate. White Supremacy Culture also tricks us into thinking that if we change to fit a white model, we can be more valued but still never be white. This change comes at the cost of detaching ourselves from ourselves, which also is dehumanizing. This is true for our staff as well, contributing to racial fatigue and staff sustainability for IBPOC.

2. WSC shuts down learning. For students of color, characteristics of White Supremacy Culture similar to microaggressions hijack the amygdala. Consequently, "all other cognitive functions such as learning, problem solving, or creative thinking stop," ( Hammond, 2015) activating our fight, flight, or freeze response. This can create power struggles, a learning opportunity gap, and as the scholar Monique Morris writes, students being pushed out of schools. Therefore, unexamined behaviors of White Supremacy Culture are preventing students from being comfortable or supported enough to learn and flourish. For example, pushing students to work independently or write before processing verbally can lead to stress and isolation. Anther example might be superficially speeding through content or discouraging interruptions for questions. Due to stereotype threat, this is especially problematic when students of color are a numerical minority in a classroom or school. It is imperative that we examine our actions to see if they are further harming students of color, disempowering them, and creating a psychologically hostile learning environment.

3. Dismantling WSC unites staff to work toward being anti-racist. We have seen attempts at creating buy-in fail for initiatives like ethnic studies, mastery-based grading, or project-based learning. This is because we are starting with the branches of the tree instead of the roots. This leads to resistance or failure to follow through, maintaining a status quo of disproportionate outcomes for students based on race. However, when we name oppression, racism, and more explicitly White Supremacy Culture, folks have to determine where they stand, what they value, and why they work in education. This prompts staff to reflect and ultimately declare, "I want to be an anti-racist teacher, but I don't exactly know how." This has the power to unite folks at the foundational level, setting the stage for deeper commitments to learning new strategies, practices, and routines. Thus, we are building a collective purpose and a commitment to learning.

Ready to Go Deeper Than Diversity

At VVMS, we were able to get past defensiveness and excuses and get to the heart of the matter. Our courageous educators got personal, thinking about how White Supremacy Culture shows up in their personal lives and between colleagues. This might include wanting to win an argument, not making space for others to talk, and rushing through meetings. Discussing WSC gave us more impetus to make changes, because we now knew what was happening if we refused: microaggressions, dehumanization, widening the opportunity gap, and producing disproportionate outcomes.

As a result, staff were curious to take action to be anti-racist and promote a learning community that did the same. Specifically, this pushed on us to think about and change how we work together: We worked to create norms that encourage people of color and women to contribute, we shifted the relationship between teachers and administration so that teachers had more input in budget and hiring decisions, and finally, we adjusted the pace of our professional-development plans to emphasize quality over quantity. One teacher, Mary Chirichella added, "Some teachers had the courage to approach others to have tough conversations about microaggressions. We are continually navigating the phases of a ' call out to call in culture' with each other."

Further, staff moved to thinking about how our school practices perpetuate WSC and send negative messages to our students. For example, we looked at how our implicit bias when responding to student behavior leads to racially disproportionate discipline incidents and we organically identified restorative practices as a focus for the following year. Lastly, this work connected well with our concurrent work of racial affinity groups, social-justice teaching, and revising our school mission statement.

The work of exploring White Supremacy Culture gave our staff a new framework to define our North Star, being an anti-racist school. Consequently, this allows for us to align our purpose with our pedagogy, curricula, policies, decision making processes, and adult structures. Now our previous work on Culturally Responsive Teaching, use of rubrics, and adding student voice had a theoretical underpinning. This coming year, we are looking at how to build more community in the classroom, how to unify our students across cultural differences, and how to reduce bias in our discipline systems. Now we can get to the work of promoting anti-racism, liberation, and achievement at our school, by looking through the lens of White Supremacy Culture.

Pitfalls and Prerequisites

Racial-equity work is like trying to defuse a bomb and cutting the wrong wire. It can result in white rage, broken relationships, grievances, and further harm to oppressed students. I saw this personally at VVMS, as situations got awkward, uncomfortable, and uncertain. This pushed some folks to identify who they could be safe with, be it for comfort or growth. But this messy middle is precisely when we need to stay curious, be vulnerable, and innovative. Racial-equity leaders must be both intentional and responsive when doing this anti-racist work. Here are two pitfalls to avoid.

The first pitfall is failing to scaffold for white privilege and white fragility. We must name, define, and plan for white fragility, the defensive response by whites when discussing racism. This includes emotions of fear, anger, and guilt, as well as actions of argumentation, silence, and withdrawal. It's important to note that these responses work to maintain current consciousness and white supremacy. ( DiAngelo, 2018).

We should be planning for the righteous rage of IBPOC (Indigenous Black People of Color), but 82 percent of our teaching force is white, so we will also plan for white fragility. Once white fragility is defined and debriefed amongst a team, we can begin to talk about racism, anti-racism, and White Supremacy Culture. Otherwise, white fragility will shut the anti-racist party down; it's an equity consciousness buzz kill, for real.

The second pitfall I will offer is avoiding the tendency to externalize the work of dismantling White Supremacy Culture. Yes, this is built into our systems of power, structures, policies, and rules. Yes, it is exhibited by leaders at all levels, including me. But to start, we must go inward. Specifically, we must look at how it shows up in our own lives, in our personal relationships, in between school staff, and in our histories. Further, we must look at how it has affected us and how we have perpetuated White Supremacy Culture. We are the operators of some piece of the education machine, and therefore, if we change our actions, we can change the larger system.

Dreams of Anti-Racist Schools

In my dream, I imagine that educators can become comfortable talking about race and how it informs the work of educating children. For instance, we might see folks making eye contact, leaning into conversations about racial identity, and asking probing questions. Also, we might hear phrases like, "That comment triggered me, it was a microaggression," "I think we can do better for our Latinx students," or "This is not consistent with our commitment to anti-racism." I imagine we might even see white folks redirecting their white colleagues and carrying their weight of racial conversations.

Ultimately, we are here to help students empower themselves through education. In my dream, I imagine that Culturally Responsive Teaching, restorative practices, and deeper learning are all alive in classrooms across the United States. In addition, we might see curricula that affirms and engages students of color and assessment practices that dismantle racial bias in standardized testing. We might also see students connecting their identities to their learning and applying it back to their communities to manifest social justice.

In order to build this ideal structure, we must start at the base and engineer for equity. This requires dismantling White Supremacy Culture and building a new foundation for an anti-racist and empowering education. Imagine that.

Photo at top courtesy of Joe Truss: VVMS staff match examples of White Supremacy Culture to the definition of each characteristic.

Joe Truss

Principal, Visitacion Valley Middle School

Joe Truss is a native of San Francisco, previous High School Spanish Teacher, and now a 5th year Principal at Visitacion Valley Middle School (@vvmsfalcons). There he is leading with a vision of Love, Literacy, and Liberation. He blogs at culturallyresponsiveleadership.com and is a racial equity leadership coach.

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When My School Started to Dismantle White Supremacy Culture | NGLC

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Together, educators are doing the reimagining and reinvention work necessary to make true educational equity possible. Student-centered learning advances equity when it values social and emotional growth alongside academic achievement, takes a cultural lens on strengths and competencies, and equips students with the power and skills to address injustice in their schools and communities.

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Social-Emotional Learning for Black Students is Ineffective When it is Culture-Blind

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Social-Emotional Learning for Black Students is Ineffective When it is Culture-Blind

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Like all families, Black caregivers send their children to school not only to learn, but to be cared for by educators. In far too many cases, neither is taking place as revealed by increasing Black-White achievement gaps, over-referrals to high incidence areas of special education, excessive suspensions, under-referrals to gifted education and advanced courses, and excessive policing of Black bodies from head to toe as early as preschool. All of these school-based injustices have a common denominator: mainly White educators who harbor blatant or implicit negative expectations of Black students. The litany of journal articles, data-based reports, and personal stories in social media slam me in the face and pain my heart almost daily. The adultification and dehumanization of our Black children from preschool through high school and on to college is undeniable and sickening.

The field of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) has a long history and is discussed in a myriad of ways, such as therapy, and counseling and advising, to help students cope with and resist bullying, feelings of alienation and isolation, and manage desires to be popular, and not underachieve. Underlying much of the conjecture and studies is the belief that those who have a positive self-esteem and healthy self-concept fair better in schools and life (e.g., socially, behaviorally, and academically) and society (e.g., career, salary) than those who do not.

I hold degrees in counseling and educational psychology. Both were chosen based on my intrigue with how social-emotional interests and needs can undercut or undermine the best education and family support-contributing to underachievement, regardless of high expectations from educators and families, high intelligence test scores, and labels for advanced students (e.g., gifted, high potential, high performing).

The 'educating the whole child' mantra floats around many districts and is common in reports such as this one by The Learning Policy Institute. I 100% agree with the philosophy of holistic development but have found that culture is seldom central and fundamental to this body of work. Given that most educators and mental health professionals are White and too few have extensive formal preparation in equity, diversity, and inclusion, I am not surprised by the void, but I am disappointed and alarmed. I am concerned for Black students who need SEL guidance.

Educational professionals ill-prepared to work in culturally relevant ways with students of color in their capacity as mental health professionals (e.g., counselors, social workers, psychologists), and teachers, administrators, and policy makers can contribute to and even exacerbate SEL issues for students of color. Let me begin with racial trauma as a case in point. Racism in social and school settings has increased in the last few years. According to the FBI Hate Crimes report for 2018, schools and colleges rank third at 9.2%. Race and ethnicity are consistently the number one source of hate crimes, hovering around 60% annually.

When SEL professionals and others intentionally or unintentionally adopt a culture-blind philosophy and framework, people of color are being woefully failed and marginalized. Black students cannot be or become their authentic cultural selves. For example, our bodies are critiqued and policed from head to toe in many areas and professions.

Let me recap with this short list. Racism in schools is undeniable and traumatizes Black students who are:

expected to learn and persist in traumatizing, hostile, culturally assaultive learning environments on the one hand or culture-blind school settings on the other hand;

bullied by their teachers and other educators for being Black;

suspended more than all other students, and the kick out rate starts in preschool based primarily on teachers' racism-based subjective views; be mindful that 'suspend' means to stop; learning is denied;

over-referred for and misidentified for special education in the areas of emotional and behavior disorders, intellectual disadvantages, ADHD, developmental delay, and learning disabilities;

under-referred for and gravely absent in gifted education, Advanced Placement, and other courses for 'advanced' learners;

accused of cheating when they do well on assignments and/or outperform white classmates;

under-referred for college guidance.

Years ago, I saw a 'cartoon' of a Black boy with a target on his chest. #tears and apropos. Then I saw this real-life example where a teacher painted a bullet on this 7-year- young (not old) Black boy's forehead and saw nothing wrong about it. #RacialTrauma. Our Black students are afraid; our students are angry, and rightfully so. As Black families, we are afraid.

Racial trauma is prevalent but students of color cannot be helped with SEL prevention and intervention methods that in any way ignore and discount how both culture-blindness and cultural assaults dehumanize people of color; these illustrate how both are antithetical to everything that SEL stands for in principal and practice. When the cultural traditions of people of color are policed in this and other ways, there is no such thing as focusing on the whole child of color. #period.

I implore SEL theorists and professionals in all capacities and settings to:

1. understand that there is no way to work effectively with the 'whole child' of color when culture is demonized, ignored, discounted, and/or trivialized;

2. cease and desist proposing and adopting simplistic solutions to complex issues and problems;

3. hire more SEL professionals of color in SEL and related careers;

4. ensure that high-quality multicultural content exists in the curriculum, both P-12 and higher education, and SEL strategies and sessions. Sample resources include:

5. study and use William Cross' Nigresence Theory - the psychology of becoming Black; it is an essential theory to include in SEL work. Acquire a solid grasp on Pre-Encounter Identity and three sub-identities (i.e., assimilation or miseducation or self-hatred); Encounter Identity and its two sub-identities (i.e., intense Black involvement or anti-whiteness); and Internalized Identity that has three sub-identities (i.e., nationalist, biculturalist, and internationalist); learn about and integrate other racial and ethnic identity models;

6. be professionals who proactively create and/or participate in ongoing professional development to become culturally competent; and

7. proactively request that higher education professionals offer courses and programs saturated with equity, diversity, and inclusion.

No school bell can turn on and off culture during school hours. We are cultural beings 24-7-12-365. The same with racism. If one is racist in belief and behavior outside of school, one is racist inside of school. It would indeed be wonderful if educators themselves received SEL help for themselves in order to stop wreaking racialized havoc on Black students. #StopRacismInSchools Or leave the profession.
Dr. Donna Y. Ford is a Distinguished Professor of Education and Human Ecology and Kirwan Institute Faculty Affiliate at The Ohio State University's College of Education and Human Ecology.

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Social-Emotional Learning for Black Students is Ineffective When it is Culture-Blind

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Educational professionals ill-prepared to work in culturally relevant ways with students of color in their capacity as mental health professionals (e.g., counselors, social workers, psychologists), and teachers, administrators, and policy makers can contribute to and even exacerbate SEL issues for students of color.

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Educate to Liberate: Build an Anti-Racist Classroom

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Educate to Liberate: Build an Anti-Racist Classroom

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Teachers must recognize and empower students with backgrounds different from their own, including their voices in the conversation and validating their experiences and perspectives.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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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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Why loving “all” students isn’t good enough

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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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TIPS FOR PANDEMIC & POST-PANDEMIC ADVOCACY FOR GIFTED CHILDREN

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TIPS FOR PANDEMIC & POST-PANDEMIC ADVOCACY FOR GIFTED CHILDREN

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Tips for Pandemic & Post-Pandemic Advocacy for Gifted Children

Tuesday, April 6, 6:30 p.m. Central
Free, Registration Required
Barbara Jackson Gilman, M.S.

Transitioning from a worldwide pandemic back to lives we recognize will bring gifted children both novel and perennial challenges amplified. Please join us to explore our gifted children's most pressing issues, including:

Is virtual learning presenting an insufficient challenge, vision issues with screen time, a lack of exercise, an irresistible desire to exit learning platforms and play online games, or an intensifying need for face-to-face contact with both teachers and friends?

Are sensitive gifted children showing symptoms of anxiety and depression? What help is available?

As children return to classrooms, how do we address the needs of gifted children when other students have fallen behind? How can we alert teachers to unmet needs? Can we teach our children to self-advocate graciously?

How does the gifted introvert, who was "just fine" with virtual learning, make the transition?

Are there "virtual" approaches that should continue once all students are back in schools? Even reluctant educators learned new skill sets that allow the use of online or other virtual teaching options. How can educators embrace these and how can parents share with educators the virtual teaching strategies that helped their children most.

Parents will take away a few good strategies that can help maintain balance and allow our gifted children to thrive!
About the Presenter
Barbara ("Bobbie") Jackson Gilman, M.S., from Gifted Development Center (GDC) in CO, has devoted her career to identifying gifted and 2e children, and ensuring a rewarding education for them. SENG's 2015 Healthcare Professional of the Year, Bobbie realized her own children should have come with a manual! She offers her Gifted Minds Empowered: Advocacy to Develop Gifted Children's Strength to help. It serves as the textbook for GDC advocacy classes and received the 2020 TAGT Legacy Book Award in the Parenting category.

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A Conversation About Difficult Conversations
No More Silence: Tools for White People Who Want to Actively Fight Racism
Beyond "Full Potential": Reconsidering What Success Means for Gifted Children

Finding Their Element: Nurturing Gifted Kids' Passions
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Like us on Facebook and Twitter and follow #whyGT, #gtday, and #TAGT

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Texas Association for the Gifted & Talented

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Tuesday, April 6, 6:30 p.m. Central Free, Registration Required Barbara Jackson Gilman, M.S. Transitioning from a worldwide pandemic back to lives we recognize will bring gifted children both novel and perennial challenges amplified.

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Anti-Racist Educator Questionnaire and Rubric

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Anti-Racist Educator Questionnaire and Rubric

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Tool to be used to help educators work through their own biases.

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Anti-Racist Educator Questionnaire and Rubric

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Anti-Racist & Cultural-Responsive Teaching For Peace

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Anti-Racist & Cultural-Responsive Teaching For Peace

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This document combines resources shared by many art teachers and preservice students.

Please make a contribution, include your initials with your additions if you wish.

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ACTE 4Peace:  Anti-Racist and Culturally-Responsive Teaching For Peace 

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Working towards removing biases, stereotypes, and false narratives in art education.

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Anti-Racist: a person who opposes racism and promotes racial tolerance.

Bias: favoring or showing prejudice towards certain people or ideas.

BIPOC: Black, Indigenous and People of Color.

Cultural Appropriation: inappropriately and/or incorrectly using or taking advantage of, or claiming ownership and rights to use another culture's capital and patrimony; such as fashion, trends, iconography, traditional art, ceremonies, etc.

False Narrative: a story that you perceive as being true but has little basis in reality, this perception can be due to insufficient or inaccurate information or to insufficient or inaccurate assessment.

NBIPOC: Non-Black Indigenous People of Color

Person of color: a person who is not white or of European parentage.

Stereotype: a category or group that we put people into (thinking a certain type of person or thing acts/thinks/looks a certain way).

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Anti-Racist: a person who opposes racism and promotes racial tolerance. Bias: favoring or showing prejudice towards certain people or ideas. BIPOC: Black, Indigenous and People of Color. Cultural Appropriation: inappropriately and/or incorrectly using or taking advantage of, or claiming ownership and rights to use another culture's capital and patrimony; such as fashion, trends, iconography, traditional art, ceremonies, etc.