Session #1 - The Self in Society: Committing to Socially Just Education In this session we will spend time unpacking the foundational concepts and tenets of socially and racially just approaches to education, including the role that privilege and unconscious bias play in our approaches to teaching and learning. We will spend time working with the common read (Is Everyone Really Equal?) in an effort to build a shared understanding of foundational concepts and tenets as well. The remaining time will be devoted to identity-related self-inquiry and small group dialogue concerning the intersecting impacts of our various social identities. The goal of the first session is to establish a baseline for folks concerning their awareness of their identities and how they have impacted and continue to influence their daily lives. 

The goal of the second session is to establish this PD space as one for critical engagement, self-inquiry, and authentic dialogue. We will ask staff to engage in a self-assessment (which will include questions concerning the current world climate, concepts related to Whiteness and antiracist education, and their personal hopes and concerns), and we will also ask folks to move towards deeper reflection of their own lived-experiences as socialized, racialized members of this world. Finally, this session will focus on bridging our work on identity with the skills necessary for engaging in difficult dialogue.

Building on the previous two sessions, the goal of this session is to develop the skills necessary to engage in difficult dialogue in the context of actively anti-racist teaching and learning. We will spend time exploring strategies for entering into difficult conversations safely and effectively while we learn to more deeply understand our own perspectives and experiences. Readings/videos will be provided prior to this session that will support our ongoing work, and these texts will be woven into the conversations and activities. 

The goal of this session is to begin the practice of entering into and fully participating in difficult dialogue as it relates to actively anti-racist teaching and learning. During this session, we will engage in a series of dialogues using a variety of strategies, and will take time to debrief after each one. This session is focused on preparing teachers to facilitate difficult dialogues in safe and affirming ways, while recognizing that becoming a skilled facilitator takes more time and practice than is possible during one session. 

In this session we will work collaboratively to practice and share strategies and methods for bringing culturally sustaining and anti-racist pedagogy into your classrooms. We will: 

•  Build and draw upon intergroup awareness, understanding, and skills.

•  Learn how to build racial stamina and ways to embrace comfort in discomfort. 

• Work to create classrooms and communities that build on the work you have already done to reflect/center diversity, equity, and justice. 

• Strategize and plan ways to further implement anti-bias curriculum as part of individual, school, and community action. 

• Support student identities by creating spaces that invite and make it safe for them to be themselves and share their knowledge(s).