*If this is your first time doing a BARWE discussion group, we recommend starting with the August 2018 materials. If this is your first year doing this series, we recommend that you follow the 2018-19 Inquiry Series 1 Discussion Guides. Here is this month's guide from Inquiry Series 1.
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Overview
Our schools should be welcoming and nurturing spaces where all of our students can learn and grow. Unfortunately, as Monique W. Morris writes in Pushout, data shows that Black girls are “over-represented across the entire continuum of school discipline.” Latinx and American Indian/Alaskan Native girls are similarly suspended at much higher rates when compared to white girls and boys. By being subjected to the inequitable applications of school discipline policies, girls are being pushed out of schools and into the School-to-Prison pipeline. This month’s discussion guide seeks to build on the data analysis that you completed in Series 1, as well as the work we’ve taken on in relation to bias in the classroom. We encourage you to use the Primary Article below to organize and plan action to ensure that your school’s discipline policies and practices treat girls of color fairly.
There is also a documentary film called PUSHOUT, which was inspired by Morris’ work. Watch the trailer as a part of your discussion, and attend or organize a screening in your community.
There is also a documentary film called PUSHOUT, which was inspired by Morris’ work. Watch the trailer as a part of your discussion, and attend or organize a screening in your community.
Primary Articles
Guiding Questions
- Complete the checklist on pages 4-7 of the Let Her Learn Toolkit. What do you notice about your answers? Do any of your findings surprise you?
- Identify a moment in your own practice in which you had a negative experience during an interaction with a girl of color. What happened? What was at the root of the interaction? What was the outcome?
- How do our past discussions on bias in school connect to discipline policies that push students out of school and into the school-to-prison pipeline?
- Search for your school district on this map of Suspensions of Girls of Color by School District. What, if any, inequities do you see in suspension data for your area?
Additional Resources
Facilitation Information
- Set a day and time for your group to meet - during lunch, before school, after school, whatever works best for participants. Make sure to send reminders. Also, snacks are always a good idea!
- 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 Norms and Discussion Protocol. Choose the protocol that works best for your group in this month. If you have a large group, maybe ask a colleague to help facilitate.
- Pass the Hat at the end of your discussion and collect donations for the National Black Women’s Justice Institute this month.
- Complete the Feedback Form.
- Prepare yourself for JANUARY by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on January 2nd.
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!
- Here are a few takeaways from previous meetings:“People were opening up and becoming vulnerable with one another. One person's act of saying, "My kids call me racist," allowed others to share as well. This level of openness and vulnerability led to very energized discussions, and people left excited to keep working.”
- “We're really feeling our 7th Agreement--making commitments to take outside of the space that lead to anti-racist changes in our lives and at school!”
Thank you all for you feedback so far, please keep it coming!
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 the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, a non-profit organization that “works to reduce racial and gender disparities across the justice continuum affecting Black women, girls, and their families, by conducting research, providing technical assistance, engaging in public education, promoting civic engagement, and advocating for informed and effective policies.”
If you are looking to buy refreshments for your session, we recommend supporting businesses owned by people of color, especially Black-owned businesses, if at all possible. In Philly, we recommend Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse, Franny Lou’s Porch, and Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books.
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 the National Black Women’s Justice Institute, a non-profit organization that “works to reduce racial and gender disparities across the justice continuum affecting Black women, girls, and their families, by conducting research, providing technical assistance, engaging in public education, promoting civic engagement, and advocating for informed and effective policies.”
If you are looking to buy refreshments for your session, we recommend supporting businesses owned by people of color, especially Black-owned businesses, if at all possible. In Philly, we recommend Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse, Franny Lou’s Porch, and Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books.
