Welcome to the May installment of the BARWE yearlong inquiry series. In the past 2 months, we’ve heard from folks having these conversations in schools and organizations from Boston, MA; San Francisco, CA; and Montpelier, VT.
If this is your first month, please start with Section 2: Facilitation Information.
If you have already participated in a previous month's discussion, we are glad you are continuing the work! Start with Section 1.
Information regarding norms, discussion protocol, and pass the hat can now be found in Section 3: Inquiry Tips & Information.
Don't forget to give us feedback!
If this is your first month, please start with Section 2: Facilitation Information.
If you have already participated in a previous month's discussion, we are glad you are continuing the work! Start with Section 1.
Information regarding norms, discussion protocol, and pass the hat can now be found in Section 3: Inquiry Tips & Information.
Don't forget to give us feedback!
Section 1: May Inquiry
Overview:
As we approach the end of both this school year and the 2018-2019 inquiry series, we’re finding it valuable to circle back and build on the crucial conversations that we have had in our discussion groups. In December we interrogated the School-to-Prison Pipeline and the effects that violent biases and policies were having on our students and communities. In our April edition, we offered the opportunity to discuss how we build relationships with the families and communities which we work with and how we leverage what we learn to build better curriculum, communication plans, and disciplinary policies. In May, we will take a closer look at those disciplinary policies in particular.
In the words of educator Ryan Dalton, “Institutionalized systems of domination are always violent, dehumanizing, and break down community. Community can't be built on top of them.” Too often our disciplinary policies are put in place to facilitate control of young people. Students that run afoul of these policies face increasing punishments that lead to suspension and expulsion (at exponentially higher rates for students of color) despite research showing that these methods are not effective at “preventing unwanted behavior or improving school safety.” This month we encourage you to reimagine what discipline looks like in your context. What other options are there to repair the harm done to a community that will hold students accountable for their actions? What practices can lead to growth in a community, rather than create spiraling cycles of harm for victims and those responsible for the harm done?
Primary Articles:
Fix School Discipline Toolkit (Pgs. 3-5)*
*This toolkit is an impressive compendium of resources on school discipline. For May’s primary reading, we recommend that your group read the section entitled “Why We Must Reform School Discipline [in California].” If you have additional time, we strongly encourage discussion group members to read a chapter from the toolkit focusing on an alternative to traditional disciplinary policies. For example, deepen the conversation by checking out the section on Restorative Justice and Practices.
Guiding Questions:
Additional Readings:
As we approach the end of both this school year and the 2018-2019 inquiry series, we’re finding it valuable to circle back and build on the crucial conversations that we have had in our discussion groups. In December we interrogated the School-to-Prison Pipeline and the effects that violent biases and policies were having on our students and communities. In our April edition, we offered the opportunity to discuss how we build relationships with the families and communities which we work with and how we leverage what we learn to build better curriculum, communication plans, and disciplinary policies. In May, we will take a closer look at those disciplinary policies in particular.
In the words of educator Ryan Dalton, “Institutionalized systems of domination are always violent, dehumanizing, and break down community. Community can't be built on top of them.” Too often our disciplinary policies are put in place to facilitate control of young people. Students that run afoul of these policies face increasing punishments that lead to suspension and expulsion (at exponentially higher rates for students of color) despite research showing that these methods are not effective at “preventing unwanted behavior or improving school safety.” This month we encourage you to reimagine what discipline looks like in your context. What other options are there to repair the harm done to a community that will hold students accountable for their actions? What practices can lead to growth in a community, rather than create spiraling cycles of harm for victims and those responsible for the harm done?
Primary Articles:
Fix School Discipline Toolkit (Pgs. 3-5)*
*This toolkit is an impressive compendium of resources on school discipline. For May’s primary reading, we recommend that your group read the section entitled “Why We Must Reform School Discipline [in California].” If you have additional time, we strongly encourage discussion group members to read a chapter from the toolkit focusing on an alternative to traditional disciplinary policies. For example, deepen the conversation by checking out the section on Restorative Justice and Practices.
Guiding Questions:
- In what ways do the current disciplinary practices at your school center punishment and deterrence?
- How can the discipline policies at your school be a catalyst to build and repair community, rather than reinforce violent, dehumanizing systems of oppression?
- What steps could you take to implement policies like this at your school?
- How else do you think you could make the discipline policies at your school more anti-racist?
Additional Readings:
Section 2: Facilitation Information
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.
- Pass the Hat at the end of your discussion and collect donations for National Bailout this month.
- Complete the Feedback Form.
- Prepare yourself for JUNE by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on JUNE 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 humility around 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.
Here are a few takeaways from previous meetings:
- “How much are we invested in challenging or dismantling power dynamics as a faculty?”
- “What can we do, moving forward, to bring our learning to the "real world"?”
- “Both of the articles were very inspiring to furthering our conversation and this month we particularly appreciated the guiding questions- they were VERY thought provoking to our dialogue!”
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 National Bailout, “The National Bail Out collective is a Black-led and Black-centered collective of abolitionist organizers, lawyers and activists building a community-based movement to support our folks and end systems of pretrial detention and ultimately mass incarceration. We are people who have been impacted by cages — either by being in them ourselves or witnessing our families and loved ones be encaged. We are queer, trans, young, elder, and immigrant.”
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.