#BARWE215
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Inquiry Series 4 (2021-22 SY)
    • September: How do we prepare ourselves for a year of striving towards being antiracist educators?
    • October: How can we take action when doing anti-racist work in spite of real or perceived risks?
    • November: How can we build lasting partnerships with co-conspirators?
    • December: What is a risky topic in my curriculum and how do I lean into that topic instead of shying away?
    • February: What barriers exist to forming partnerships with our students?
    • March: How would a commitment to equity principles increase our capacity to build authentic partnerships with BIPOC colleagues?
    • April: How would a commitment to equity principles increase our capacity to build authentic partnerships with BIPOC colleagues?
    • May: How do we develop a better understanding of Black educators’ realities in order to better support them?
  • Inquiry Resources
    • How to Start a BARWE Group
    • Norms
    • Problem of Practice Protocol
    • Discussion Protocols
    • Bringing in Coconspirators
    • Facilitators Troubleshooting Guide
  • Summer Series 2021
    • Why are we accepting payment this year?
  • Inquiry Series 3 (2020-21 SY)
    • September: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in ourselves and our institutions?
    • October: How can we as white educators center Black joy in our classrooms and schools?
    • November: How can we more deeply reflect and/or apply what we learned about white supremacy culture and Black Joy?
    • December: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in our curriculum?
    • January: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in our curriculum?
    • February: How can we create classroom culture that resists white supremacy and that nourishes Black joy?
    • March: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in our classroom culture? How can we co-create joy with students?
    • April: How can we help develop staff culture that resists white supremacy culture and makes space for Black joy?
    • May: How can we help develop staff culture that resists white supremacy culture and makes space for Black joy?
  • Summer 2020 Reading Series
    • Summer Reading 2020: Purpose
    • Zoom Meeting 1: Stamped
    • Zoom Meeting 2: Stamped
    • Zoom Meeting 3: We Want to Do More Than Survive
    • Zoom Meeting 4: We Want to Do More Than Survive
  • Inquiry Series 2 (2019-20 SY)
    • September: What does it mean to develop an anti-racist identity as a white educator?
    • October: How do our implicit biases affect our students?
    • November: How could incorporating ethnic studies in our classrooms and schools help make our curriculum more antiracist?
    • December: How can we ensure that our school discipline policies are equitable and do not push girls of color out of school spaces?
    • January: How can we ensure that our schools value Black lives?
    • February: How can we recruit and retain more Black teachers in our schools?
    • March: How can White educators be accountable to their colleagues of color?
    • April: How can we interrupt anti-AAPI and xenophobic narratives in our classrooms and school communities?
    • May: How do we support our students during this crisis and connect to the larger fight to dismantle race and class oppression in our communities?
  • Summer 2019 "Seeing White" Discussion
  • Inquiry Series 1 (2018-19 SY)
    • August 2018: Why do white teachers need to talk about race?
    • September 2018: How can our curriculum challenge dominant and oppressive ideologies?
    • October 2018: How can we identify and challenge implicit bias in our own practice?
    • November 2018: How does whiteness affect our practices, relationships, and expectations in the classroom and the school community?
    • December 2018: How do we disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline?
    • January 2019: How can we ensure that our schools value Black lives?
    • February 2019: Why are teachers of color so important for our schools and how can we increase their numbers?
    • March 2019: How can we support colleagues of color and build anti-racist work environments?
    • April 2019: How can we implement culturally relevant teaching to challenge the culture of power that exists in schools?
    • May 2019: How do we push our schools, classrooms, and communities to incorporate more equitable disciplinary practices?
    • June 2019: How do we move this conversation forward and include more educators?
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Inquiry Series 4 (2021-22 SY)
    • September: How do we prepare ourselves for a year of striving towards being antiracist educators?
    • October: How can we take action when doing anti-racist work in spite of real or perceived risks?
    • November: How can we build lasting partnerships with co-conspirators?
    • December: What is a risky topic in my curriculum and how do I lean into that topic instead of shying away?
    • February: What barriers exist to forming partnerships with our students?
    • March: How would a commitment to equity principles increase our capacity to build authentic partnerships with BIPOC colleagues?
    • April: How would a commitment to equity principles increase our capacity to build authentic partnerships with BIPOC colleagues?
    • May: How do we develop a better understanding of Black educators’ realities in order to better support them?
  • Inquiry Resources
    • How to Start a BARWE Group
    • Norms
    • Problem of Practice Protocol
    • Discussion Protocols
    • Bringing in Coconspirators
    • Facilitators Troubleshooting Guide
  • Summer Series 2021
    • Why are we accepting payment this year?
  • Inquiry Series 3 (2020-21 SY)
    • September: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in ourselves and our institutions?
    • October: How can we as white educators center Black joy in our classrooms and schools?
    • November: How can we more deeply reflect and/or apply what we learned about white supremacy culture and Black Joy?
    • December: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in our curriculum?
    • January: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in our curriculum?
    • February: How can we create classroom culture that resists white supremacy and that nourishes Black joy?
    • March: How can we identify and challenge white supremacy culture in our classroom culture? How can we co-create joy with students?
    • April: How can we help develop staff culture that resists white supremacy culture and makes space for Black joy?
    • May: How can we help develop staff culture that resists white supremacy culture and makes space for Black joy?
  • Summer 2020 Reading Series
    • Summer Reading 2020: Purpose
    • Zoom Meeting 1: Stamped
    • Zoom Meeting 2: Stamped
    • Zoom Meeting 3: We Want to Do More Than Survive
    • Zoom Meeting 4: We Want to Do More Than Survive
  • Inquiry Series 2 (2019-20 SY)
    • September: What does it mean to develop an anti-racist identity as a white educator?
    • October: How do our implicit biases affect our students?
    • November: How could incorporating ethnic studies in our classrooms and schools help make our curriculum more antiracist?
    • December: How can we ensure that our school discipline policies are equitable and do not push girls of color out of school spaces?
    • January: How can we ensure that our schools value Black lives?
    • February: How can we recruit and retain more Black teachers in our schools?
    • March: How can White educators be accountable to their colleagues of color?
    • April: How can we interrupt anti-AAPI and xenophobic narratives in our classrooms and school communities?
    • May: How do we support our students during this crisis and connect to the larger fight to dismantle race and class oppression in our communities?
  • Summer 2019 "Seeing White" Discussion
  • Inquiry Series 1 (2018-19 SY)
    • August 2018: Why do white teachers need to talk about race?
    • September 2018: How can our curriculum challenge dominant and oppressive ideologies?
    • October 2018: How can we identify and challenge implicit bias in our own practice?
    • November 2018: How does whiteness affect our practices, relationships, and expectations in the classroom and the school community?
    • December 2018: How do we disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline?
    • January 2019: How can we ensure that our schools value Black lives?
    • February 2019: Why are teachers of color so important for our schools and how can we increase their numbers?
    • March 2019: How can we support colleagues of color and build anti-racist work environments?
    • April 2019: How can we implement culturally relevant teaching to challenge the culture of power that exists in schools?
    • May 2019: How do we push our schools, classrooms, and communities to incorporate more equitable disciplinary practices?
    • June 2019: How do we move this conversation forward and include more educators?
#BARWE215

April: ​
How would a commitment to equity principles increase our capacity to build authentic partnerships with BIPOC colleagues?

If this is your first year doing this series, we recommend starting with an orientation meeting using the September 2021 material before moving on to the current month. 

In addition to the primary article and guiding questions, we are offering BARWE users this notebook as a place to gather their thoughts and commitments throughout the year. In the past, we have sent various tools and handouts in separate months. This year, we encourage all work to be done in this one document to encourage ongoing attention to commitments and frequent review of previous months’ reflections.

Overview: 

This month, we aim to cultivate a racial equity mindset and increase our capacity to build strong partnerships with Black and Brown colleagues. When we act without equity principles as white teachers, we tend to alienate equity minded Black and Brown colleagues, as Paul Gorski explains in our reading this month: 
“Often, the educators most adamant about racial equity are cast to the margins of institutional culture…Colleagues call them troublemakers for naming what others refuse to name… Educators of color who raise these concerns tend to face even greater hostility…They often are labeled “militant” or “angry” for telling the racial equity truth. This is a failure of equity leadership.” (56) 

By examining the equity detours that we and our institutions are most susceptible to, we can prepare ourselves to take the necessary risks to disrupt them. By embodying a set of equity principles in our actions and relationships, we can build an environment where troublemakers are at the center of the institutional culture, not the margins.

Primary Resources: Avoiding Racial Equity Detours 

Guiding Questions: 
  1. Which of these four equity detours can you identify in your workspace or your own personal approach to equity? Give examples of how they manifest.
  2. How might these equity detours prevent you from fostering space for authentic partnership with Black and Brown colleagues?
  3. What sort of risks would you need to take to avoid one or more of these equity detours in order to create more space and a safer environment for your Black and Brown colleagues?
  4. Communication and collaboration are essential. What do authentic partnerships with Black and Brown colleagues look like in contrast to forced conversations? How do we have conversations that are more authentic?
  5. How might Gorski’s five equity principles help us cultivate relationships with Black and Brown colleagues around a shared equity vision? What is one practice step you can take to adopt one of these principles moving forward? 

Additional Resources:
If you feel one of these is better suited to your group, feel free to use it as a primary. We have placed an asterisk next to readings with BIPOC authors.
  • Teaching While Black: An Open Letter to School Leaders*
  • What Black scientists want from colleagues and their institutions*

Facilitation Reference Guide: 
  • Set a day and time for your group to meet - Make sure to send reminders. If you’re meeting in person, snacks are always a good idea!
  • Send this month’s Primary Article to your group. 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 Norms and  Discussion Protocol. An optional Problem of Practice Protocol is included at the end of this email.
  • Pass the Hat and collect donations for Black Teacher Project this month.
  • Complete the Feedback Form.
  • Prepare yourself for May by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on May 1st.

Feedback Form:
As we grow in year four, 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.
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Pass The Hat
In addition to being accountable to our colleagues and students of color, we believe it is important to be financially accountable to people of color who are doing this work on a daily basis. Each month, we will recommend an organization led by people of color, in education and beyond, doing the work of pushing for justice.

At the end of each monthly discussion, pass a hat (or a box) and collect donations for the designated organization. You can then have one group member go online and donate in the name of your school. If you want, you can add “Building Anti-Racist White Educators” after your school name.

This month, we encourage you to donate to Black Teacher Project. Based in Oakland, CA, BTP  is a program that “sustains and develops Black teachers to lead and reimagine schools as communities of liberated learning.”
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