Overview: As Lisa Delpit has termed it, a “culture of power” exists in schools and classrooms. This culture of power has a set of rules (or codes) that mimic the rules of those in power and is mostly taken for granted by people who have grown up with it. Delpit maintains that students who are not participants in this culture of power “must be allowed the resource of the teacher’s expert knowledge, while being helped to acknowledge their own ‘expertness’ as well; and that even while students are assisted in learning the culture of power, they must also be helped to learn about the arbitrariness of those codes and about the power relationships they represent.” As white educators, we need to ask ourselves how our classroom practices reflect this culture of power and what we can do to make our classrooms culturally relevant for students who are not participants in the dominant culture.
If this is your first month participating in the inquiry series, welcome! There are a lot of materials in this email, but here are some quick tips that can help guide you through them:
If your group is just starting this month - we recommend that you start with the August materials, and then pick up with the current month. Find all past month resources on our website.
Set a day and time for your group to meet - during lunch, before school, after school. If you start with a group of 2, that’s great! If 20 folks at your school are interested now, even better! The goal is to grow our work.
Send this month’s primary article to your group. You could even send this to a broader group of your colleagues - maybe it will pique someone’s interest! Also look through the additional readings to see if there is another reading that might be better suited to your group and its interests.
Prepare yourself to facilitate by reading through our Overview, Norms, and Discussion Protocol. If you have a large group, maybe ask a colleague to help facilitate.
Prepare yourself for May by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on May 1st.
Section 3: Inquiry Tips & Information
Norms: As you facilitate this work with your peers, it is important to keep some norms in mind. You can open your sessions by reviewing these (and more, if you’d like to add) with your group.
This BAR-WE Inquiry series was designed with the understanding that it is not the sole responsibility of people of color to educate white people about race. White people must take responsibility for our own growth to be anti-racist educators and community members. It also matters how we approach this work, so please keep the following norms in mind while engaging in these discussions:
Please approach this inquiry series as a learner. We all have room to grow with our understanding of race in our schools and communities. No one is an expert who has come to explain race to others; we are striving to be in dialogue with one another to learn and grow collectively.
The inquiry series does not take the place of anti-racism or diversity trainings that school districts can and should offer. When done well, such trainings are valuable. Nevertheless, we believe that any one-off training is inadequate, and this inquiry series is designed to encourage the ongoing reflection on race in our teaching and in our schools.
As white people engaged in this work, it is important to maintain humilityaround the topic of race when in dialogue with our colleagues of color. The goal will never be to explain to a colleague how they should feel about race; rather, we want to learn how to be productive allies in the work towards racial justice in education and society.
Keep the focus on RACE. It is easier to shift the conversation to colorblind versions of the topics; nevertheless, we must persevere through any discomfort to identify how race is central to our work and advocacy for justice in our schools.
Finally, as you keep in mind the ongoing nature of this work, please expect and accept non-closure. It is OK to “hang in uncertainty” and not rush to quick solutions. We believe sustainable, meaningful growth will result from the commitment to reflection.
Suggested Discussion Protocol: In our experience, we have found conversations about racism and white supremacy to be most fruitful when primarily done in small groups (4 or fewer people). This makes folks more willing to share, and also gives each person more time to talk and process. We have also found it productive to use a protocol for these conversations - and have someone serve as a timekeeper during each segment.
10 mins - If you have the time, give everyone a chance to write and reflect on the article and questions at the start of the session. You can also ask people to do this in advance and bring their reflections with them. We don’t recommend starting without giving everyone time to reflect individually first.
For the rest of the protocol, it is recommended that you split into groups of 2-4 people, so that everyone can have a chance to share and discuss. If you have limited time, use smaller groups.
3 mins - Person 1 shares their reactions and reflections on the article and questions
5 mins - others ask questions of Person 1 and Person 1 answers
Key point: Other group members should limit their reactions to each Person’s reflection with ONLY questions, not statements. This can be hard at first, but we’ve found it to be a fruitful structure for conversation.
Rotate through the group members following the Share-and-Question structure
End with open discussion - however much time you have.
If you have a larger group, this would be the time to bring the small group discussions back together.
Feedback Form We want to know who is using these resources, what they find useful, and any recommendations for improvements in the future. We hope that one person in your group can take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went.
Thank you all for you feedback so far, please keep it coming!