Anti-bias and Anti-racism in HUSD is not just a professional development training, it is an approach to education in general

AB/AR in Action in HUSD

IDENTITY

As we sit to discuss this newsletter, Marie is simultaneously supporting a student in the next room who came in to spend extra time working on an art project. With the student’s permission, they shared this creation that Marie described as “powerful and profound,” as it represents both the student’s passionate representation of one aspect of her identity as well as her great artistic skill in sculpting (pictured left).

Marie brings her identity into the classroom and invites her students’ as well. She starts each school year with projects utilizing concept maps to explore all facets of their identity. They get inspiration from antiracist texts to give context and they even grapple with the idea that who we are and who we want to become may contradict the way we have been raised by our parents. She says “I love to help them tease out information about themselves and turn that into a visual art piece.”

Marie Butler is a VAPA teacher at Mt. Eden High School and is the great-granddaughter of a Blackfoot woman who lived on a reservation in South Dakota. Marie is also daughter of white mother and a half African-American and half Blackfoot father, who’s mom was Creole and from Louisiana. She recalls how her grandparents' house was filled with Native American artifacts and distinctly reflected on a portrait of her grandmother on deer hide.

Her dad “identified more with his Native American side than his African-American side she notes, probably because he grew up in Fallbrook when there was a strong KKK presence in the community and also because he was in the military and was conditioned to ‘not see color.’” He even once told Marie, who has darker skin than her blue eyed and blonde hair sister who passes for being white, that Marie would have a difficult life. He didn’t have this conversation with the sister. She notes, “When most people look at me, I’m perceived to just be a light skinned black woman. Most don’t usually identify my Native heritage.”

SKILLS

Marie’s dad and grandfather shared many traditions from their Native American culture. Her dad raised her and her siblings on a ranch and taught them how to care for the land and live in balance with it. “He taught us how to hunt, survive in the wilderness, and live in balance with nature. He taught us hunter safety and he was in fact an official Hunter Safety Instructor.”

Her grandfather taught her some of their native language, which is only passed along orally. They even took Marie to visit reservations and historical monuments in Alaska to deepen connection to their culture and history.

This background is translating into Marie’s classes. For example, “we have learned about the History of Masks in Art and in honor of Native American Heritage Month, we are working with artist Brian Jungen from British Columbia, who takes Nike shoes, breaks them down, and creates cultural masks out of them. He is extremely passionate about including First Nations imagery in his art. This is a concrete example of how I am working more broadly to help my students understand the Art World; know its history; express themselves; and pursue their own passions.”

INTELLECT

“When my students leave my classroom, I hope they have learned how to exist as community members together who support each other. For example, I have an older senior student in a class of younger students who is very social and at times can be a distraction. I have been communicating with him about how he wants to be within our community. We have worked together to redirect his skill with multitasking to empower him to be who he wants to be in our space in a productive way.”

Marie has been a member of her school’s Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) for many years and she has participated in the district Deeper Learning Network. She also recalled how attending the Deeper Learning Teacher Conference in San Diego positively impacted her practice. She feels that “ILT has challenged me to look deeply into my own practices so I can help guide my peers with this. You learn way more having to teach than when you can just be the student. And reading antiracist texts has pushed me to grow my repertoire.”

CRITICALITY

Marie’s family consciously decided not to visit their ancestral reservation in South Dakota because of its current blight, due to “assimilation, genocide, and a loss of culture.” Many there Marie commented are plagued today particularly by alcohol abuse, drugs, and “it just isn’t what it used to be.” Her awareness here translates into the classroom where Marie embeds social issues like this for students to reflect and create around.

Marie says in the past few years, she has more thoroughly embedded Social Justice tools of action that start in the classroom, but also extend beyond. “We talk about Social Justice and how art can be a tool for activism. I encourage them to dig deep and look critically at the world around them. I ask them to think about how they experience the world and how they would want it to be. We are aiming to include more civic engagement projects, like writing to local representatives on issues students want to continue their activism around. ”

Marie helps to facilitate student’s ability to share their work in the community. Beyond hosting internal art showcases in which students can show and sell their art, she also helps to create opportunities off campus. Students also show their work at City Hall and at the Sun Gallery.

JOY

“One of my favorite memories was how he used to give us Dream Guide gifts when we were young. This was a treasured piece of my childhood.”

Marie is taking joy in expanding her teacher skillset. "I am getting more interdisciplinary,” she commented. She discussed how she is bringing in what may be seen as content from English or Social Science into her VAPA courses. “We talk about how art is made for art's sake sometimes, and sometimes is made with academic connections.”

“When I am having a rough day, I look at my bulletin board that is filled with student notes of appreciation throughout the years. The work I do in the classroom feeds me so I am trying to focus on more of that.”