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.
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Overview:
This month, we will continue to explore what it means to be accountable to our students in the classroom. We focused on the role of transformative relationships with our students in December, so please keep that in mind as we turn our attention to how accountability shows up in our planning and teaching practice.
To do that, we selected a piece by Dr. Dyan Watson called “Black Boys in White Spaces: One Mom’s Reflection.” Dr. Watson shared two anecdotes about her son, the only Black kid in his class. In one of them, she alerts the teacher to racist bullying in the lunchroom and acts accordingly. In the other, her son leaves school feeling like he “shouldn’t have been there that day” because all the kids stared at him during a lesson about Ruby Bridges. The teacher did not act in this case and may not have recognized the harm.
Often, we are like this teacher - thoughtful, caring, and yet lacking the necessary skills to navigate race and prevent racist harm in some situations. As we have learned earlier in the school year, accountability is more than a simple apology. It requires internal work to recognize when our actions do not align with our values and make the necessary changes to prevent future harm. As Dr. Watson puts it, Black students “deserve a school system that will educate them with intentional love [and] they deserve teachers who will…think through who their students are as they plan lessons [and] how race plays with learning - everyone’s learning” (309).
Our questions this month aim to guide us towards accountable planning and teaching practices. While we focus on Black students in this reading and in our questions, you can think about the relevant racialized experiences in your context.
Primary Resources:
"Black Boys in White Space: One Mom’s Reflection" by Dr. Dyan Watson from Teaching for Black Lives (We encourage you to purchase a copy of this excellent resource here)
There are so many wonderful resources about accountability out there. In an effort to compile these into one place, we’ve created this Accountability Resources document. We will continue adding resources and linking this document for the remainder of the year. If you know of any resources that you think should be on this list, please email us at [email protected].
Guiding Questions:
Facilitation Reference Guide:
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.
Here is a few takeaway from previous meetings:
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Overview:
This month, we will continue to explore what it means to be accountable to our students in the classroom. We focused on the role of transformative relationships with our students in December, so please keep that in mind as we turn our attention to how accountability shows up in our planning and teaching practice.
To do that, we selected a piece by Dr. Dyan Watson called “Black Boys in White Spaces: One Mom’s Reflection.” Dr. Watson shared two anecdotes about her son, the only Black kid in his class. In one of them, she alerts the teacher to racist bullying in the lunchroom and acts accordingly. In the other, her son leaves school feeling like he “shouldn’t have been there that day” because all the kids stared at him during a lesson about Ruby Bridges. The teacher did not act in this case and may not have recognized the harm.
Often, we are like this teacher - thoughtful, caring, and yet lacking the necessary skills to navigate race and prevent racist harm in some situations. As we have learned earlier in the school year, accountability is more than a simple apology. It requires internal work to recognize when our actions do not align with our values and make the necessary changes to prevent future harm. As Dr. Watson puts it, Black students “deserve a school system that will educate them with intentional love [and] they deserve teachers who will…think through who their students are as they plan lessons [and] how race plays with learning - everyone’s learning” (309).
Our questions this month aim to guide us towards accountable planning and teaching practices. While we focus on Black students in this reading and in our questions, you can think about the relevant racialized experiences in your context.
Primary Resources:
"Black Boys in White Space: One Mom’s Reflection" by Dr. Dyan Watson from Teaching for Black Lives (We encourage you to purchase a copy of this excellent resource here)
There are so many wonderful resources about accountability out there. In an effort to compile these into one place, we’ve created this Accountability Resources document. We will continue adding resources and linking this document for the remainder of the year. If you know of any resources that you think should be on this list, please email us at [email protected].
Guiding Questions:
- What emotions did you experience reading this piece? What stories or concerns came up for you?
- Dyan Watson writes that Black boys “deserve a school system that will educate them with intentional love” (309). How do we plan lessons with “intentional love” for our Black students?
- Dyan Watson writes that “the teacher…definitely cares about my son..but she was not skillful in this circumstance” (308).
- How can you hone your skill at noticing and responding in the moment to the harm schools cause Black students?
- How could the teacher have “empowered [her] white students as white allies” (309) as Dr. Watson argues?
- How do we hold ourselves accountable when we make mistakes that harm our Black students?
Facilitation Reference Guide:
- Set a day and time for your group to meet - Make sure to send reminders.
- Send this month’s Primary Resource 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 Rethinking Schools this month.
- Complete the Feedback Form.
- Prepare yourself for February by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on February 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.
Here is a few takeaway from previous meetings:
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 Rethinking Schools. “Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism. Our magazine, books, and other resources promote equity and racial justice in the classroom. We encourage grassroots efforts in our schools and communities to enhance the learning and well-being of our children and to build a broad democratic movement for social and environmental justice.
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 Rethinking Schools. “Rethinking Schools is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization dedicated to sustaining and strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism. Our magazine, books, and other resources promote equity and racial justice in the classroom. We encourage grassroots efforts in our schools and communities to enhance the learning and well-being of our children and to build a broad democratic movement for social and environmental justice.