If this is your first year doing this series, we recommend starting with an orientation meeting using the August 2018 material before starting our current series with September.
Don't forget to give us feedback.
Overview:
This year we have committed to naming the ways in which white supremacy culture shows up in our practice and in our schools, in order to take steps towards disrupting and dismantling the systems that uphold this culture. For the next two months we will narrow our focus to specifically looking at how curriculum that is rooted in white supremacy culture traits such as paternalism and objectivity can cause trauma in the classroom.
In our primary article this month, “Ending Curriculum Violence”, Stephanie P. Jones explains, “Curriculum violence is indeed detrimental, but it does not have to be deliberate or purposeful. The notion that a curriculum writer’s or teacher’s intention matters misses the point: Intentionality is not a prerequisite for harmful teaching. Intentionality is also not a prerequisite for racism. As I define it in my work, curriculum violence occurs when educators and curriculum writers have constructed a set of lessons that damage or otherwise adversely affect students intellectually and emotionally.”
Next month we will do a curriculum audit in order to build towards a curriculum “that is antiracist at its core and includes narratives of Black joy and resistance.”
Primary Article:
“Ending Curriculum Violence” by Stephanie P. Jones published in Teaching Tolerance, Spring 2020
Guiding Questions
Additional Readings:
If you feel one of these is better suited to your group, feel free to use as a primary. We have placed an asterisk next to readings with BIPOC authors.
Facilitation Reference Guide:
Feedback Form:
As we grow in year three, 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.
Below is a takeaway from a previous meeting:
Don't forget to give us feedback.
Overview:
This year we have committed to naming the ways in which white supremacy culture shows up in our practice and in our schools, in order to take steps towards disrupting and dismantling the systems that uphold this culture. For the next two months we will narrow our focus to specifically looking at how curriculum that is rooted in white supremacy culture traits such as paternalism and objectivity can cause trauma in the classroom.
In our primary article this month, “Ending Curriculum Violence”, Stephanie P. Jones explains, “Curriculum violence is indeed detrimental, but it does not have to be deliberate or purposeful. The notion that a curriculum writer’s or teacher’s intention matters misses the point: Intentionality is not a prerequisite for harmful teaching. Intentionality is also not a prerequisite for racism. As I define it in my work, curriculum violence occurs when educators and curriculum writers have constructed a set of lessons that damage or otherwise adversely affect students intellectually and emotionally.”
Next month we will do a curriculum audit in order to build towards a curriculum “that is antiracist at its core and includes narratives of Black joy and resistance.”
Primary Article:
“Ending Curriculum Violence” by Stephanie P. Jones published in Teaching Tolerance, Spring 2020
Guiding Questions
- How has the curriculum in my classroom and school “adversely affected students intellectually and emotionally” through the type of curriculum violence described in this article?
- How do these incidents of curriculum violence affect both Black students and non-Black students’ perceptions of Black students?
- Are my lessons focused primarily on Black and Brown histories when faced with trauma, pain or death? Why?
- How can the curriculum in my classroom and school center Black joy and resistance?
- How can I challenge myself to actively disrupt the patterns of white supremacy culture within my curriculum as we move deeper into the school year?
Additional Readings:
If you feel one of these is better suited to your group, feel free to use as a primary. We have placed an asterisk next to readings with BIPOC authors.
- For STEM educators, check out this video (starting at 17:28) of a talk by Danny Martin at the National Council for Teachers of Math Conference called “Taking a Knee in Mathematics Education”.*
- How the #DisruptTexts Movement Can Help English Teachers Be More Inclusive
- Diverse City, White Curriculum: The Exclusion of People of Color from English Language Arts in NYC Schools *
- Washington Post Article: Virginia chemistry teacher asked students to insert ‘neon . . . neck’ to describe how George Floyd died
- Addressing Race and Trauma in the Classroom: A Resource for Educators, from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCSTN)
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.
- Pass the Hat and collect donations for Gumbo Lab 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 1st.
Feedback Form:
As we grow in year three, 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.
Below is a takeaway from a previous meeting:
Thank you all for your 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 celebrate Black joy by donating to the Gumbo Lab. Gumbo Lab is working with Black women, trans, queer and femme artists to establish virtual art making spaces to keep artists and creatives employed during the devastation of COVID.
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 celebrate Black joy by donating to the Gumbo Lab. Gumbo Lab is working with Black women, trans, queer and femme artists to establish virtual art making spaces to keep artists and creatives employed during the devastation of COVID.
