"But there is no neutrality in the racism struggle. The opposite of “racist” isn’t “not racist.” It is “antiracist.”
― Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist
Pedagogy Discussed:
Reflecting on your upbringing and biases and listening to students
Educating yourself with anti-racist literature
Informing yourself on the diversity in your curriculum, the books you choose for your class, and analyzing the lack of diversity or the groups that may be unrepresented in the text
Advocate for changes in your school to make students of color more comfortable, add social justice into the standards, empower your students to find their voice, include or remove specific literature in your class, and become knowledgeable of your language in the classroom so that people of color feel respected/comfortable
Implementing this in the Classroom:
Creating "people-first language" posters with my class & creating a journal system for students and giving them to option to let me read them and listen to them or keeping them in a locked drawer
Offer diverse literature like "New Kid" by Jerry Craft with joy and important discussions about the culture shock POC face, not just struggle stories
Incorporate literature with people of color in every lesson every month not just Black History Month, don't use the N-word, highlight the progress that movements like the Civil Rights have created, and refrain from hyper-focusing on traumatizing images
"Cultural responsibility and responsiveness this is where we announced the movement this was day one and there's many more days to come so let's band together let's find what education truly means let's be culturally responsive let's innovate and find our oxygen."
(13:13- 13:28 Dessources)
Pedagogy Discussed:
Cultural Response Teaching & Awareness: Have authentic conversations with students to help diversify you and your classes views
Reshape your leadership curricula to include social change and not leave students of color behind
Become culturally aware of your classroom: respect the student's wishes, their likes/dislikes, and treat your students as educators as to dismantle the hierarchy within the classroom
Implementing this in the Classroom:
To promote cultural awareness, a good strategy would be discussing current events biweekly for 10 minutes before or after class to discuss everything from town issues to state issues (like army recruiters recruiting poc towns and how it affects students) and how it affects students to connect students with potential mental health resources
Leadership curricula can be changed by including a multitude of intersectional identities in literature and films and dismantling the white savior complex through analyzing films like "Freedom Writers" and "The Help" through a critical lens
Promote usage of pronouns in the classroom by asking students their pronouns and again offering a class journal as said earlier for 10 minutes in the beginning of class, and offering "teach the class days" where students get to present about a theme they enjoy within our novel or film
Another way to promote pronouns is to create and carry a poster with my student's names for each class and making removable pronouns stickies just in case students want to change them at any time
Quote: “Being hungry is the hardest thing, & to this day I have prayers of gratitude for the Black Panthers, who made Breakfast for Children a thing that schools should do. We qualified for free lunch & breakfast, & without them, I am almost sure we wouldn't have made it out of childhood alive despite my hardworking parents.”
― Patrisse Khan-Cullors, When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
Pedagogy Discussed:
Understanding the oppression and prejudices that students face from school "teachers, administrators, and counselors" before blaming "at-risk" students for their grades and for falling off the tightrope and being pushed into suspension or other schools (Sheri 521)
Explore critical youth literacies with students discussing "identity exploration related to privilege, power, and oppression" (Sheri 525)
Evolve Borders & Form Student Critical Consciousness: allow students to share their personal stories and bring in speakers/teachers
Discuss pathways for youth through theory, concept, and methodology through creating programs implementing change
Implementing This in the Classroom:
Have strategic mental health days in the class during or after exam weeks where students do not write a journal but instead write a one-pager on how they feel they are doing academically and mentally, put on a film related to our last class/ book, and have snacks to destress to better understand and support students in their oppressions or struggles
Incorporate the fact-based novel "When the Heart Turns Rock Solid" which discusses the intersectional issues of three Puerto Rican brothers and the struggles they face into their adulthood because of their skin color and poverty
To shape student critical consciousness it is essential to allow students to have discussions and form questions about inequalities in literary pieces through Socratic seminars
Alongside Socratic seminars, ask admin, staff, or educators to speak about their experiences with privilege or oppressions inside of the classroom to understand and see first-hand real-life examples of both
Urge and advocate for your school to create programs through advocating in board meetings for disadvantaged students when students face disparities with: afterschool tutoring programs,1-period tutoring classes, or creating classes like "La Raza Studies" to discuss the prejudices that people of color face
Quote: "Media literacy is not just important it's absolutely critical. It's going to make the difference between whether kids are a tool of the mass media or whether the mass media is a tool for kids"
-Linda Ellerbee
Pedagogy Discussed
Implement the usage of current and past media in the classroom when creating lessons to better connect with students
Promote the critical analysis of media by having students analyze media
Influence students to connect intersectional identities together when engaging and consuming media literacy
Implementing This in the Classroom:
Engage the class by having creative projects and allowing free range for presentations ranging from songs, rapping, and acting, to creating Tiktoks or using social media for their projects
In order to make class assignments more interactive, create assignments involving bringing online articles, social media posts, and Tiktoks about our topic
After going over the lesson for the day ask students if they felt their source related to our lesson or not to not in order to teach students the importance of trusted sources and create a more interesting dialogue of the topic
First, ask questions like this in class for interactive media assignments :
Does this post have people that look like you as the consumer?
Does this video discussing the college you want to go align with your ideals? Are you aware of culture shock?
Does this news channel exclude people of your religion, skin color, or sexuality?
Then, proceed to ask students to come up with their own conclusions and questions about how the media we are seeing can harm or aid people of different races, sexes, genders, religions, etc!
Pedagogy Discussed:
Make sure that the classroom is inclusive of all cultures and respects students diversities
Practice scaffolding in lessons to maintain relatability with students which simply means to establish connections using previous knowledge to learn new knowledge (for example playing a popular song with lyrics containing literary devices to promote memorization)
Offer texts that are mirrors for students but also opposite to their lifestyles for a wide range of literary intellect
Allow for "teachable moments" in the classroom and funny moments to avoid boredom in the classroom which could lead students to associate the class with boredom and lose enthusiasm
Implementing This in the Classroom:
When having class parties it is important to be considerate of students who do not celebrate specific holidays and offer other options for them; for decorating my classroom I would
Ask students to ask their family, peers, and research media to learn about our in-class topic and tell me what they have gathered about that topic before discussing what it is to create more engagement
If the school involves majorly students of color, include work with joys, successes, and struggles of students of color and vice versa of white student stories
Joke with students, laugh with them, and refrain from calling students to attention multiple time