Discussion Questions: Being a Culturally Responsive and Antiracist Educator by

How to keep informed about dynamic changes in cultures

2021-02-08 16:19:06 UTC

"CSP shifts toward contemporary understandings of culture as dynamic and fluid...our pedagogies must address the well-understood fact that what it means to be Black or Latinx or Pacific Islander (as examples) bot remains rooted and continues to shift in the way culture always has" (8-9). How can administrators and/or teachers ensure they are staying in touch with the dynamic changes of their students' different cultures?
(It says I'm posting as anonymous, but this is Landon by the way!)

How can teachers and schools work together to promote CSP?

2021-02-09 06:40:36 UTC

Alim and Paris mention that "CSP explicitly calls for schooling to be a site for sustaining the cultural ways of being of communities of color" (5), and I wonder in what ways schools themselves can support CSP alongside teachers.
--James

Effects of classroom size and context

2021-02-09 06:44:13 UTC

In what ways would CSP differ in larger classrooms (say, maybe, 50-100?) vs. smaller classrooms (e.g. maybe < 15)? How might the context of the classroom (e.g. urban vs. rural school; classrooms in different countries) change the ways in which we conduct (I'm not quite sure what verb to use here) CSP?
--James

Can someone help me define CSP?

2021-02-09 06:50:06 UTC

Tbh, I don't think I fully understand what CSP means or looks like. From the podcast, I have "Culturally Responsive Teaching “is about building the learning capacity of the individual student,” Hammond says. “There is a focus on leveraging the affective and the cognitive scaffolding that students bring with them”" (https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/culturally-responsive-misconceptions/) and the Alim and Paris article mentions that "CSP seeks to perpetuate and foster--to sustain--linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of schooling for positive social transformation" (1). That all sounds really cool, and I think I'm struggling to figure out what exactly that all means.

--James

Talking about race and getting it wrong

joshdiaz — 2021-02-09 15:31:31 UTC

I really loved this set of recommendations and actions for educators to take with regards to addressing racism in our schools, and the importance of antiracist efforts taking place throughout the world. I think there is a new movement of well-intentioned people who don't want to talk about race for fear of "being racist". How can we ensure antiracist practices allow for people to get things wrong? It is difficult because getting things wrong can be harmful. However, some may never learn if people get things wrong.

Incorporating discussions about race in different subjects

2021-02-09 19:53:26 UTC

Landsmann mentions in the "Preparing the Ground" section a few examples of ways to build trusting communities in classrooms with different subjects (math, english, etc.). However, I wonder to what extent one can actually incorporate discussions in subjects such as math or science. Maybe it is because those were never my strong suit, but I always felt like I would not be able to bring as much social justice work into the classroom if I wasn't teaching english or social studies. I'm starting to think that is not necessarily the case, but would love some more examples on how it has been or can be done.

I have too many questions. What does it look like to meaningfully enact CSP? What are the limitations of CSP in the modern education system? To what extent is CSP and the modern education system inherently at odds with each other?

alliesalazar — 2021-02-09 20:08:45 UTC

Alim and Paris provide us with some general guidelines for what CSP ought to be, namely that it should affirm and sustain cultural practices that the white-normed education system rejects, promote a view of culture as dynamic, and look critically at our own cultures and cultural practices to acknowledge ways in which we might be engaging in problematic and marginalizing ideologies and/or habits. However, I feel this reading didn't quite give me enough in terms of practicable examples. I am specifically interested in how to engage in the critical aspect of CSP. Depending on the identity of the teacher, engaging in critique of particular cultures can be a sensitive topic, akin to discussing race (as mentioned in the other readings this week). How can these conversations occur within the limitation of the modern education system?

Additionally, CSP has to involve more than multicultural education or ethnic studies, in my opinion. From my own experience attending a predominantly Latinx/Hispanic school, while a lot of the curriculum implemented aspects of Mexican and Mexican-American culture, I never found it to be "sustaining" because those aspects were treated as additive and marginal rather than constitutive. Because white-normed curricula was what we would be tested on, it remained at the center of the educational experience. I'm left wondering, then, to what extent is CSP in the fullest sense achievable within the framework of the current education system? To be sure, CSP can exist, but I'm curious if others have thoughts about its potential limitations given certain practices prominent in modern education
(e.g. standardized testing).

Schools rooted in racism

2021-02-09 20:31:16 UTC

Simmons gives five important suggestions on how to be an antiracist educator. The last suggestion talks about taking action when you see racism. Many charter schools serving POC achieve measurable results through methods that are covertly racist, like over-policing students through strict behavioral management systems. In situations like this, administrators may justify their actions and be resistant to change because their methods result in high test scores, making them appealing to donors (which is their main priority). Additionally, teachers in these schools may not have full autonomy over what they do in their classroom and can be forced to engage in these racist practices, many believing that it is okay!
How do you suggest teachers approach situations like these, where the school is rooted in racism? How can you implement change when administrators only performatively care about the well-being and achievement of their students of color?

- Courtney Howard

Integrating multicultural education with culturally responsive teaching?

2021-02-09 21:40:31 UTC

In the podcast, Zaretta Hammond repeatedly stressed the difference between multicultural education—e.g. putting African fabrics on the walls of classrooms—and culturally responsive teaching, which has much more to do with understanding how students learn and what practices will best support them. I'd love people's thoughts on the following: once a teacher commits to understanding what CRT is and how to employ it in the classroom, should she shy away from seemingly "simpler" multicultural techniques, or is there a way to meaningfully combine these practices to create a classroom that is as inclusive and comfortable with tough discussions as possible? -Edie

1619 Project

2021-02-10 01:22:34 UTC

When I saw that Simmons referenced the 1619 project as a resource for teaching history and race, I remembered a headline I saw on twitter from @19thnews that said, "Republican lawmakers want to punish schools that teach 1619 Project". This reminded me that on the journey of becoming effective teachers, there may a struggle in many environments between how/what a teacher wants to teach and the restrictions placed on them by higher forces (school policies, state tests, lawmakers). How do teachers create the best environment for their students without losing their jobs (because then the students lose a valuable, impactful teacher)?
- Denae C.

What is CRT in predominantly white schools/classrooms?

2021-02-10 02:31:34 UTC

In the first paragraph of the Simmons piece, she acknowledges that some schools refuse to speak about equity or CRT because their student populations are mostly white. She then recognizes the students and faculty of color at those schools having to bear the brunt of the equity work. However, I wonder what exactly is culturally responsive teaching in predominantly to all-white schools?

Hammond recognizes that, “All instruction is culturally responsive. The question is, to whose culture is it responding?” Therefore, I am left wondering if a curriculum that is affirming to minoritized identities is only catalyzed/necessitated by the presence of minority students?

Of course lessons related to implicit bias and “unpacking the invisible knapsack” of white privilege are important to discuss, but this alone does not reach the goals of CRT described by Gloria Ladson-Billings.
(Tahj L.)

How can teachers gain institutional and parental support for anti-racist teaching?

annakane2 — 2021-02-10 03:49:07 UTC

I was struck by Landsman's fifth "how-to," "prepare for parental reactions." Here, she says that teachers need to be confident in the value of anti-racist teaching and may find it useful to tie their anti-racist lessons to state standards. She also says that it is helpful for teachers to have administrative support in choosing to be anti-racist in the classroom and that "often" parents of students of color are relieved that these discussions are happening. However, she doesn't go into what to do about the inevitable poor reactions from some parents, or what to do when an administration is unsupportive or hostile. What do you believe educators should do in this position? Are there ways to be subversively anti-racist while in a racist/white supremacist school environment?

Re: Preventing Tokenization in History Classrooms

2021-02-10 05:10:56 UTC

I was struck by Landsman's warning against white teachers tokenizing students of color when historical trauma comes up in class. I was wondering how teachers can also prevent white students from tokenizing classmates, especially in predominantly white classrooms.(Thinking about the way white kids in my mostly-white AP US history class would tend to turn towards Black students when we were learning about anti-Black violence, and the re-traumatization this tendency caused.) How can teachers call out (often-subtle) tokenization when it occurs without making students of color feel even more isolated/ inflicting more trauma? Also, I think emphasizing courageous resistance to systemic violence rather than the violence itself might help with this?
-Alex Opsahl

Private vs. Public Intervention During these Discussions

courtneynunley — 2021-02-10 07:28:29 UTC

The Landsman article lists a few guidelines for having "powerful discussions" about race in the classroom once an atmosphere of trust and honestly has been established. I appreciated point 3 about intervening when abusive language is said during these conversations. It actually reminded my of FroCo training in that it talked about clearly showing to the group that what was said was wrong but then following up privately. I think some of Landsman's suggestions for private follow ups, especially with the teacher and student both reflecting and sharing with one another, were powerful and useful.

However, how do you move on from those private moments in the next group conversation? If I was a student in the classroom, it would be hard for me to see a harmful interaction occur during the conversation, the teacher call out that it was wrong, but not see the outcomes learning and healing processes that are being carried out privately. I was surprised that bringing these issues back to the classroom after the private conversations occurred wasn't discussed and I wish it was.

How to step in when abusive language occurs in a different language?

2021-02-10 07:48:02 UTC

I also had some further questions regarding point #3's "Step in When Abusive Language Occurs" like Courtney did above-- Landsmann brings up a great point about how offensive language is often associated with race or other minority identities ("Black students have told me that when teachers let homophobic slurs go by without interference, they become afraid that they can't trust their teacher to respond firmly if someone were to call them the N-word.") This point made me reflect back on how my own teachers had responded when racial slurs were said in the classroom, and I realized that since I went to a school with students that all spoke multiple languages (Spanish, Korean, Armenian, German, French were common), many racial slurs were uttered in different languages to avoid teacher detection and thus, teachers never stepped in to have those private conversations because they simply didn't understand. I'm struggling with how teachers/schools can avoid English-only classrooms (from the Alim & Paris excerpt) but also ensure that students feel safe from non-english racial attacks. How is a teacher supposed to step in if they don't recognize that the abusive language is occurring in the first place?

Role-playing?!

2021-02-10 14:24:41 UTC

This question may seem small and specific, but the passing allusions to role-playing a way to build empathy and support anti-racist education have really stuck with me and bothered me. Perhaps because I haven't seen it done well in practice I am only visualizing the worst, but I am imagining a bunch of white kids at a suburban school pretending to be in the minds and lives of Native people walking the Trail of Tears. A practice like that -- unhinged from real experiences, commodifying/dramatizing real pain -- seems far more destructive than in line with anti-racist practices. I went to the referenced Zinn Education Project website, but the actual lesson plans were buried and required a login, so I still don't quite understand what a positive inclusion of role-playing would look like.

(sorry, this was Emma.)

Is bring in parent's really helpful?

2021-02-10 14:25:31 UTC

Landsmann states that "Restorative justice techniques can be helpful, and if I have a relationship with the student's parents I get in touch with them—not for punitive reasons, but to let them know I have had to talk with their son or daughter about language and what can hurt others."

Considering that in many cultures, the word of teachers is second only to God, I have always struggled with what a healthy parent-teacher-student relationship might look like. I would never want to assume that a teacher knows more about what’s best for someone’s child than them, but I also know that for many kids, involving parents—even when it’s not for punitive purposes—will have a punitive result. What would a healthy way to involve parents while we check and challenge students when they’ve caused harm to others without look like without also harming the student-teacher relationship and opportunities for growth?

-Seyade

How to appropriately tackle race in an overwhelmingly white classroom:

2021-02-10 15:29:03 UTC

After reading a lot of the comments in this thread plus Tahj's in the Simmons article and Anna's response, I still am interested in further talking about what discussing race (not solely teaching race in the context of CSP or CRT) openly and clearly will look like in a space that is overwhelmingly white.

This doubt comes from my own high school English class junior year in which our teacher decided that she wanted to hold a "discussion circle" in which all students place their desks in a circle, choose an arbitrary topic and discuss it. Of course, a white student chose BLM and in 2016, this was an infinitely more touchier subject than it is now. In our class there were three black students and luckily at the end, we were spared from the discussion but all three of us shared about how happy we were not to talk about it.

This brings into question the idea of "experiencing discomfort" where I feel the brunt of the discomfort will be placed on the non-white students in these environments. In the example in the beginning of the Landsmann article, I cannot imagine being in high school in my rural town in Georgia being placed in a discussion so traumatizing as Black death and feel respected as the white students "heatedly disagreed" with me. But my doubt fails to recognize the uneven distribution of rural white students in a classroom which may just be my specific problem. Regardless, in a situation like this, I wonder if these discussions have to be more structured and thoughtfully planned out before executing in certain cases. -Sasha

CSP as anti-racist technique in white dominant schools OR material for white consumption?

2021-02-10 16:41:30 UTC

Written by Nicole:
Authors Alim and Paris talk about the use of culturally sustaining pedagogy in light of changing demographics of public schools—majority of students identifying as students of color yet learning with a white-dominant standard.

However, what role, if any, could CSP play in schools where students of color are NOT the majority? More specifically, how do teachers use culturally-minded pedagogical tools in white dominant schools as a way to universally challenge white supremacy in curricula without the various cultures being used as disposable teaching tools for white consumption?