My Training & Experience

When I began my career, 10 years ago, I was trained at Tufts University by the mothers of anti-bias education itself: Debbie LeeKeenan and Louise Derman-Sparks (authors of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, 2009). Debbie, the former Director of Tufts' Eliot Pearson Children's Lab School, was my advisor and mentored me during the early years of my teaching career. She was working with Louise Derman-Sparks on their next book, at the time, and using our lab school as part of their research. I was fortunate to be able to learn from the source how to address biases and prejudices, what anti-bias education looks like for both for children as well as adults, and how to teach others the steps necessary to do this important work.

It is because of this strong working knowledge of anti-bias education in combination with my work experiences in a myriad of different settings, that I possess a well-rounded skill set that helps create safe spaces for unpacking your identity journeys. I have built almost immediate trust within each environment I've helped by first sharing my own vulnerability, using different conversation scaffolds or protocols, and then modeling ways to protect the conversation and its particpants, such as making group agreements or norms before we begin and staying in tune with how everyone is responding to the direction and nature of the conversations we have. Advocacy, checking in, sitting with silence for the purpose of reflecting or waiting until you feel "moved" rather than forced participation, and overall social justice in action are all nuggets of wisdom I gleaned during my time at Cambridge Friends School. I adopted some of the Quaker philosophy, too, such as "holding each other in the light," which means you lift someone up if they're down or you assume good will until proven otherwise. It also inspired me to use change makers in history and current society, highlighting them as real superheroes for children. This effort to empower children to see the wide scope of activism possibilities with diverse representation is when I began to build my People of Inspiration cross-curriculum. I integrated anti-bias work and universal virtues, such as peace, stewardship and equality, that almost everyone hopes the next generation will emulate. Discovery Charter School 2 (now known as Discovery Falcon School) was where I truly blossomed in this sense with the freedom to blend my Reggio-inspired teaching with my passion for social justice and anti-bias awareness.

However, it was during my time lecturing at Foothill College that I really began to highlight the idea of "intent vs. impact" in the classroom and in life, because so many of my students experienced or bore witness to prejudices that went unchecked, because they weren't sure how to address them. Most of these instances were microaggressions, but the problem is they built up and contributed to a culture of disparity dictated by an imbalance of social power based soley on targeting the minority groups as "less than." This was ultimately leading to a drop in self-confidence among kids who were viewed as different than the norm, and ultimately it was affecting their performance at school, as well. The microagressions adults and kids experience everyday are often laced with good intent - i.e. "You're so well spoken for a black woman!" or "You're really hot for a trans man." But the reality is that those people feel impact over the intent. That's the sting of prejudice.

My passion is to teach adults and children how to participate in and eventually facilitate courageous conversations that work to tear down biases and create inclusive environments where everyone feels a sense of belonging and understanding as they're accepted for who they are and not how they compare to our biases. I have honed talents in leadership, communication, innovative presentation styles and tailored training styles which all come together to shape a dynamic method of connecting with others on a deep and impactful level and instilling in them the confidence to try to act with equity.

Curriculum Vitae

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

In light of recent events in our country that have exposed an undeniable pattern of systemic racism and legally enforced oppression, I find it necessary to address that here. I made a video (above) imploring friends and family to empower their children to help them find ways to help become a part of this movement. It's important to recognize that what we're experiencing now is due to a history of "white rage"; systemic racism is but a symptom. All of this is part of a larger tradition of injustice that has yet to be authentically addressed. Historian and African Studies Professor Carol Anderson explains this concept eloquently when she says:

"White rage is not violent. We often think of rage as this visible thing, but white rage is...subtle. It is corrosive. It operates through the state legislatures, through congress, through the judiciary, through school boards. It cloaks itself in legalities. Because it’s so quiet, so subtle, I set out to blow graphite onto that fingerprint to be able to trace white rage throughout time. It became clear to me as I was trying to see how white rage works, that black people are not the trigger for white rage. No. It is the presence of black people with ambition, the presence of black people with drive, the presence of black people with aspirations, the presence of black people who achieve, the presence of black people who refuse to accept their subjugation, the presence of black people who DEMAND their rights. That’s the trigger for white rage and this society has therefore punished black resilience and black resolve."

That being said I'm left to think about how to rid our country of the prejudice and "-isms" that have created the dry rot of systemic oppression, weakening our country's foundation. In my reflections, I'm reminded of what award winning actress and social activist Anne Hathaway once said at the Human Rights Campaign's 22nd annual National Dinner when she was honored with the National Equality Award for her work in advocacy and awareness:

"I realized that with the exception of being a cisgender male, everything about how I was born put me at the current center of a very damaging and widely accepted myth. That myth is that gayness orbits around straightness; transgender orbits around cisgender; and that all races orbit around whiteness. This myth is WRONG, but it's too real for too many. [...] Authentic equality doesn’t prioritize sexual orientation. It doesn’t put any one gender or race at the center. It doesn’t erase our identities, either. What is DOES do is centralize LOVE. And when love is fully centralized, every door opens for EVERYbody. I know that there are very real obstacles block the door to equality, and I know that removing them is easier said than done. But I also know that myths are destroyed by the same thing that creates them: A COMMUNITY."

This is a time of high emotions, introspection, courageous conversations, rebuilding trust, and ultimately reconciling to help one another find peace and healing. I believe that we need to address racism on all levels, starting with us as individuals and then working as a community to change the narrative and destory the very damaging myth that a group of people always has to be "less than" in order for others to feel worthy. We have to do the work to erradicate or at the very least CHECK our privilege (for those possessing it) as well as our implicit and explicit biases. Now's the time. I hope that our legislators will work together to effectively address the national crisis of black lives at high risk across the country and that we as citizens do everything WE can to hold them accountable in the right direction.

Thank you,

Kate M. Beal, M.A.T.