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HUM 190 - Integrating Ethnic Studies Workshop: Guided Reflection Boards - Google Jamboard

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HUM 190 - Integrating Ethnic Studies Workshop: Guided Reflection Boards

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The Guiding Principles and Values of Ethnic Studies

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The Guiding Principles and Values of Ethnic Studies

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Never Too Young: Ethnic Studies in Elementary School

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Cultivate positive identity formation, encourage young people to confront racial and ethnic injustice, and prepare them to live and work together in a diverse world. Our resources can help facilitate discussions about race and guide students through lessons on systems of oppression, economic inequality, mass incarceration, the complexities of identity and more.

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

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Cultivate positive identity formation, encourage young people to confront racial and ethnic injustice, and prepare them to live and work together in a diverse world. Our resources can help facilitate discussions about race and guide students through lessons on systems of oppression, economic inequality, mass incarceration, the complexities of identity and more.

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IES Workshop Video Links and Descriptions

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IES Workshop Video Links and Descriptions

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HUM 190 -IES Workshop Video Links and Descriptions

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How to Reach Every Student by Jorge Pacheco Jr.

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How to Reach Every Student by Jorge Pacheco Jr.

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I barely made it out of high school. It took a D-minus in geometry the summer after my senior year to graduate by the skin of my teeth. School was always so hard. I didn't have the best experiences with some of my teachers, with peers or even with my ideas of myself. I ended up failing almost everything after first grade. I was put in Special Ed. People assumed I did not speak English and made fun of the way I looked and the way I spoke. Many of those people would probably be surprised to learn that I grew up to become a teacher myself.

I was always conscious of the fact that I was different. I am the proud son of two immigrants - from Mexico and El Salvador - and I also happen to be multiracial and multiethnic. Even though I didn't have words to describe how I felt, I knew I didn't feel welcomed completely, in my city or my country. I just couldn't escape it, and both my grades, as well as my self-perception, took the hits.

Still, I knew I needed to keep studying. And by the time I went to community college, I was becoming aware of some of the forces at play in my experience growing up. I knew something was up, even if I lacked the vocabulary to describe it. I began to learn about the systems of oppression that led and lead thousands, if not millions, of kids to experience what I did. The discrimination. The tracking. The way some of my teachers consistently failed to support me. I found success in college, thanks to my family and mentors, and I realized my role is to enable other youth to find their own path and avoid what happened to me in school. So that's what ultimately led me to become a teacher.

I started teaching second grade, and right away, I began trying to give my students the language to understand their experiences through the teaching of ethnic studies. Any subject area can be taught using an ethnic studies lens. Essentially, this raises students' awareness of social structures that affect their lives - such as racism, classism and sexism - and, most importantly, how to navigate these structures, survive them and ultimately dismantle them so they can thrive.

A Stanford University study shows that ethnic studies programs increase high school graduation rates and raise overall GPAs. Moreover, ethnic studies programs help all kids - not just students of color - learn to make sense of and reflect on their environments.

Right now, ethnic studies isn't as common at the K-8 level, and that's where I'm trying to focus. I'm currently piloting ethnic studies in middle school. I'm a firm believer that it's never too early to start teaching kids about empathy, love, race, class and gender, because if we are to build a more just and democratic society, it starts with education. We should start having these conversations when kids are in kindergarten - and even earlier! Then, by the time they get to middle school and high school, more kids of color will be likely to stay engaged in their own education. Giving students the tools to understand and strive for equity can help us take steps toward closing both the achievement and opportunity gaps.

Some school leaders are hesitant about rolling out these programs because of the risk involved. If you're going to have a teacher, educator or specialist teach kids about race, class and gender, they really need to have a nuanced understanding of social processes. If we teach ethnic studies incorrectly or irresponsibly, we may replicate the same systems we mean to combat. And it makes sense that teachers with good intentions are hesitant about teaching ethnic studies.

Fortunately, there are a lot of resources available - with single lesson plans and even full units - that you can draw on. A great place to start is TeachingTolerance.org. From frameworks to unit-building tools, Teaching Tolerance has resources you can download and utilize in your lessons, covering topics that include race and ethnicity, religion, ability, class and immigration. It's a great place to start to build and expand your understanding of these issues.

I'd also encourage you to communicate with your colleagues who are interested in this work. We can learn a lot from one another, all of it starting with asking and listening. When we recognize the importance of teaching ethnic studies and helping our students understand systems within our society and how they influence their own experiences, we also recognize the responsibility we have to learn and share with one another. No one does this alone.

And to that end, I just want to encourage you. We can't let our fears get in the way. We need to teach many different histories to all our kids, so we understand what this country is about - the good and the bad. Educating students about systems of oppression is a way toward a more just and empathetic society. Toward a society that is much more inclusive of everybody.

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I barely made it out of high school. It took a D-minus in geometry the summer after my senior year to graduate by the skin of my teeth. School was always so hard. I didn't have the best experiences with some of my teachers, with peers or even with my ideas of myself.

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LESMCC Language of Ethnic Studies Glossary

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LESMCC Language of Ethnic Studies Glossary

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Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Coalition Glossary

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The Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum

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The Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum

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LIBERATED ETHNIC STUDIES MODEL CURRICULUM CONSORTIUM - LESMCC

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This curriculum is divided into six chapters:
Each chapter contains five lessons. The five S's are:

: The story of my racialized intersectional identity.

: The collective narratives of my people.

: The experiences of my people with systems of power and oppression.

Social Movements: The resistance and resilience of my people in organizing against injustice.

Solidarity: The transformative solidarity between my people and other communities of color in reimagining a better world.

Roots, indigeneity, and the recovery of self-identity are important elements of Ethnic Studies pedagogy. As Camangian (2010) reminds us, students are "recovering themselves and their identities". This journey of self-discovering should include the development of a critical consciousness, radical hope and self-love that can lead to personal and collective agency where student engagement in a changing oppressive structures in school and in the community.

To quote James Baldwin, "the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations." It is important to remember that because of colonial/imperial hegemony, students often have little knowledge of their own historical legacy. The little knowledge they may have of their culture, language, and past is often passed down from ancestors, parents, or older siblings. It is important to remember that the historical lessons of racialized communities of color are either invisible or misrepresented in traditional texts. In this section, we honor the historical and contemporary voices of our people by centering historical incidents, key historical figures, or contemporary ancestral knowledge."

Anti racist and decolonial pedagogy requires that students study the positionality of their people in the social hierarchy of the United States. Students study the historical and contemporary effects of imperialism, racism, linguicism, sexism, heteropatriarchy, heterosexism and more. In addition, students study forms of oppression, such as those contained in the seminal work of John Bell who said, "oppression is a system, not a prejudice." In this section, we not only engage students in understanding the various forms of oppression, but in developing critical consciousness, reclaiming hope and healing.

Social Movements: System changes occur when people unite, mobilize and organize in coordinated resistance to disrupt and dismantle inequitable systems. Situating the curriculum in social movements (local, national and global) reflects the Freirerian concepts of education as liberation. More recently Bettina Love has proposed the idea of abolitionist teaching, both recognizing the importance of agency, as well as taking political stances on behalf against oppression.
Fred Hampton, once said "We say you don't fight racism with racism. We're gonna fight racism with solidarity." Ethnic Studies facilitates cross-ethnic approaches to appreciating the culture, history and contemporary experiences of racialized communities, while simultaneously asking white students to learn about their own histories of resisting white supremacy or racism. Ethnic Studies also encourages students to make links across racial and ethnic lines. Engaging in transformative projects to reimagine a better world requires unity and organizing between BIPOC and white allies and amongst members of BIPOC communities.

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This curriculum is divided into six chapters: Introduction to Ethnic Studies (History, Definition and Pedagogy) Black Studies Chicanx/Latinx Studies Asian American Studies and Pacific Islander...