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Inquiry Series
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Current Year 24 - 25 School Year
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- September: From where are we drawing hope to sustain the antiracist work ahead of us
- Fall: How does your community practice hope and grief in collectivity?
- November: How does your community practice hope and grief in collectivity?
- December: How do we imagine the world we’re working towards seven generations in the future?
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Current Year 24 - 25 School Year
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Don't forget to give us feedback!
Overview and our 2024-2025 Focus:
BARWE began sending out a monthly inquiry series in September of 2018 (!) to encourage white educators to reflect on our own identity and biases, and interrogate the ways in which we show up in our classrooms, schools, and communities. Last year, we focused on investigating, reflecting, and responding to the myriad ways in which antiracist education and teachers are facing attack.
At times these attacks and events in the world around us can feel demoralizing. They can encourage us to shut our doors, keep our heads down, and teach in silos. Without a supportive community to encourage and hold us through these challenges, our efforts to do this work can be overwhelmed. This year we will be focusing on connecting with the folks in our groups, and building a community to progress through an arc of Grief to Hope to Action. Drawing heavily on texts from Mariame Kaba, Kelly E. Hayes, and Jeff Duncan-Andrade, we hope you’ll be able to use this year to build strength and critical hope in order to keep going as we move towards a just world for our students, colleagues, and communities.
Our 2024-2025 Inquiry Series will feature a small change from years prior. Rather than e-mail a new discussion guide every month, you can expect to receive our discussion resources on a quarterly basis. We will still be in touch monthly to provide updates on our work and highlight relevant resources to help your meetings and conversations. Our first themed discussion guide will arrive on October 1.
Just as with our previous September e-mails, before diving into the inquiry topic we want to propose that you take this month, September, to reconnect and recommit to the anti-racist work you’ve been engaged in. We cannot expect to make any meaningful progress alone, separated from the people who we should be struggling alongside. By reaffirming our relationships and shared commitment to this work, we can build the coalitions that will realize change in our schools and communities.
As you schedule and plan your first meeting, reflect on how you and other regular participants might intentionally make space for additional colleagues. We encourage you to set a goal of growing your group throughout the year! Here are some things to consider:
Primary Resource: In lieu of a resource, this month, we encourage utilizing our journal prompt to guide your discussion. We hope that this journal prompt will encourage you to dream alongside your partners and create a vision for the work you may take on this year.
In the past we have recommended How to be an Antiracist Educator as a September reading. If you are new to BARWE or would like to return to a familiar text for reflection, please feel free to share with your group. Our previous September discussion guides are available on our website, and feature additional resources as well, if desired.
Meeting Flow:
Facilitation Reference Guide:
Feedback Form:
We have made edits to our feedback form, with the hopes that you find it faster and more straightforward to fill out. Please have one person in your group take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went. It is very helpful to hear from you, and helps build a connection to you!
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 donate to BYP100. “BYP100 is a national, member-based organization of Black 18-35 year old activists and organizers, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. We do this through building a network focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and political education using a Black queer feminist lens.”
Overview and our 2024-2025 Focus:
BARWE began sending out a monthly inquiry series in September of 2018 (!) to encourage white educators to reflect on our own identity and biases, and interrogate the ways in which we show up in our classrooms, schools, and communities. Last year, we focused on investigating, reflecting, and responding to the myriad ways in which antiracist education and teachers are facing attack.
At times these attacks and events in the world around us can feel demoralizing. They can encourage us to shut our doors, keep our heads down, and teach in silos. Without a supportive community to encourage and hold us through these challenges, our efforts to do this work can be overwhelmed. This year we will be focusing on connecting with the folks in our groups, and building a community to progress through an arc of Grief to Hope to Action. Drawing heavily on texts from Mariame Kaba, Kelly E. Hayes, and Jeff Duncan-Andrade, we hope you’ll be able to use this year to build strength and critical hope in order to keep going as we move towards a just world for our students, colleagues, and communities.
Our 2024-2025 Inquiry Series will feature a small change from years prior. Rather than e-mail a new discussion guide every month, you can expect to receive our discussion resources on a quarterly basis. We will still be in touch monthly to provide updates on our work and highlight relevant resources to help your meetings and conversations. Our first themed discussion guide will arrive on October 1.
Just as with our previous September e-mails, before diving into the inquiry topic we want to propose that you take this month, September, to reconnect and recommit to the anti-racist work you’ve been engaged in. We cannot expect to make any meaningful progress alone, separated from the people who we should be struggling alongside. By reaffirming our relationships and shared commitment to this work, we can build the coalitions that will realize change in our schools and communities.
As you schedule and plan your first meeting, reflect on how you and other regular participants might intentionally make space for additional colleagues. We encourage you to set a goal of growing your group throughout the year! Here are some things to consider:
- Send an email to your entire school to restate the purpose of this group and to make sure that colleagues are aware it exists and that everyone is invited.
- Conduct a new poll for the day/time the group meets to make sure everyone who wants to join this year is able to.
- Consider the space you have been meeting in. Is it a neutral and inviting space for new people to join? If not, consider moving it to somewhere all people feel welcome (ex. library, multi-purpose room)
Primary Resource: In lieu of a resource, this month, we encourage utilizing our journal prompt to guide your discussion. We hope that this journal prompt will encourage you to dream alongside your partners and create a vision for the work you may take on this year.
In the past we have recommended How to be an Antiracist Educator as a September reading. If you are new to BARWE or would like to return to a familiar text for reflection, please feel free to share with your group. Our previous September discussion guides are available on our website, and feature additional resources as well, if desired.
Meeting Flow:
- Fellowship: Greet and catch up with the folks in your meeting. Share snacks. Make tea. You might have folks find a photo on their phone that represents their summer joy and turn and share it with a partner.
- Norming:
- Journaling (Suggested Time: 8 minutes):
- Journal Prompt: Envision a just school (or classroom/organization/community) free from white supremacy.
- Journal about it. You may draw or doodle your answer. You may use the questions below to help you, do not feel contained by them.
- What does your space look, sound, and feel like?
- What are some things that will need to be done in order to realize your answer? How will you get them done?
- What are some obstacles to realizing your answer?
- From where will you draw hope to sustain the antiracist work to realize your answer?
- Journal Prompt: Envision a just school (or classroom/organization/community) free from white supremacy.
- Pair Share (Suggested Time: 12 minutes):
- Have participants pair up. You may choose from a variety of formats for this. We suggest the following:
- Person 1 shares their journaling. They may read directly to challenge themselves not to self-edit or they may summarize. (Suggested time: 4 minutes)
- Person 2 offers thoughts or questions in response (Suggested time: 2 minutes)
- Person 2 shares their journaling. They may read directly to challenge themselves not to self-edit or they may summarize. (Suggested time: 4 minutes)
- Person 1 offers thoughts or questions in response (Suggested time: 2 minutes)
- Person 1 shares their journaling. They may read directly to challenge themselves not to self-edit or they may summarize. (Suggested time: 4 minutes)
- Have participants pair up. You may choose from a variety of formats for this. We suggest the following:
- Group Discussion/Debrief:
1. What emotions did this exercise bring up for you?
2. What questions did this exercise bring up for you?
3. What antiracist commitments does this exercise lead you to make? Can you think of a person to share with who can hold you accountable to your commitment?
- Closing
- Pass the Hat and collect donations for BYP100 this month.
- Complete the Feedback Form.
- Prepare yourself for October by setting a date and time, inviting colleagues, and looking out for our next Discussion Guide on October 1st.
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 journal prompt 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.
Feedback Form:
We have made edits to our feedback form, with the hopes that you find it faster and more straightforward to fill out. Please have one person in your group take a few minutes to fill out our feedback form to let us know how it went. It is very helpful to hear from you, and helps build a connection to you!
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 donate to BYP100. “BYP100 is a national, member-based organization of Black 18-35 year old activists and organizers, dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people. We do this through building a network focused on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and political education using a Black queer feminist lens.”