Session Summaries

This page chronicles our first year of sessions in a 'blog' format. We continued to meet in 2018-2019 but we just stopped writing everything down! :)

For 2019-2020, we are currently on hiatus, but if you are interested in doing equity work as a teacher there are many other active groups and workshops in Boston that you can get involved with!


May 2018: Developing & Sustaining Action/Inquiry Work

This was our last meeting at the Bolling building (until next year)! We spent most of the time working on our projects and engaging in conversations as they came up about everything from the new science MCAS exams to difficult conversations with colleagues and everything in between. We continued to use graphic organizers and tips from TD4Ed as we worked through different stages of the design process for our projects. Although it was bittersweet to say goodbye, we will gather one last time for a celebration in June and then this cohort will continue meeting next year in parallel with the new cohort to further develop and sustain the relationships and work we have created. A HUGE thanks to all of our participants for co-creating this experience throughout the year with your insights and feedback, being patient with me and Ulana, and constantly giving your full heart and mind to this work. Participant bios and project summaries will be on the website soon so others can read more about who we are as a cohort and the work we are doing!


April 2018: Action/Inquiry Work Continued

This month we had a smaller group (no reason, just a few different folks had conflicts) and we really dug in to giving each other feedback and playing with ideas for our action/inquiry projects. We started with the blob tree, compass, agreements and conditions as always. Then we used this framework from TD4Ed to begin writing out the data and patterns that each of us have observed over the past month in our various school contexts. We worked with different partners to give and get feedback and add on to the data and patterns before creating posters of our insights using various graphic organizers. We used post-it’s to add comments marking up each other’s posters, keeping in mind the 6 conditions all the while. Once each person had a strong sense of insights about their topic, we each came up with design principles that would guide our project work going forward. After the break, we played a couple of brainstorming games to help us transition forward through the design process. We isolated two (very different) obstacles that multiple people had noted on their insight posters: lack of time and space for teachers to meet; and white people’s avoidance/discomfort around talking about race. We split up into teams and for each of these obstacles we had a competition -- whichever team could brainstorm the most different ideas for how to get around that obstacle would be the winner. It was kind of a tie but many ideas were generated and much fun was had by all! Plus, the brainstorm of how to get around white folks’ avoidance/discomfort ended up spontaneously leading into a very real moment of courageous conversation about how we talk about race in our personal relationships. With just a few minutes left, we transitioned into one last brainstorming activity. Each person wrote down a line about what they were currently thinking or planning for their project. Then we passed the papers around so that everyone in the circle could add a note (with the suggested sentence starter “Yes, and…!”) and the original writer got their paper back full of new ideas. We left on an open ended note with folks planning to continue their project work in some way, shape or form over the next month before we meet again.


March 2018: Exploring Our Power as Change Agents

We began this session with a flowing conversation reviewing the agreements and compass. Participants shared reflections on how these concepts have been showing up for them throughout the past month. Then we sprinkled in some ideas and images about systems thinking for equity and adaptive leadership: this iceberg of patterns, structures and core beliefs that lead to observed events; this graph showing how adaptive solutions push us to stay in productive discomfort as we push ourselves to examine and change those deeper patterns and beliefs; this contrast between equality, equity and liberation…

We moved to the hallway and used a concentric circles structure to get ideas flowing about the possibilities for each of us to enact change at our schools. Participants went back and forth with quick prompts like “A problem I’d like to learn more about is __,” “In my role I have a lot of freedom to __,” and “What’s at stake for me/my school is __.” Then we returned to journaling and each participant used the structure of a problem tree to begin defining and brainstorming the problem that will form the core of their action project at their school. After getting feedback and developing their problem tree with the help of a partner, each participant then crystallized their problem into a clear “vision statement” in the form of a question.

It’s really gratifying and exciting to see how fluent everyone has become with the language of our work, from isolating race to shifting and centering ourselves and our stories on the compass -- and it was evident today that our fluency in these conversations is translating into empowerment as each participant begins without hesitation to develop their action project and personalize the design work in a way that makes sense for their context and specific interest. After mapping out the stakeholders for each of our projects, we shared out around the circle. Then, we each made an exploration plan for how we will gather information to develop our understanding of the problem that we are focusing on before coming back together in April.


February 2018: Whiteness in Schools

We began this session with a deeper look at the 5th and 6th condition from Courageous Conversations. These conditions teach us that in dialogue about race and racial justice, we must constantly refine and investigate our working definition of race (5th condition); and, that these conversations are at best ineffectual, perhaps at worst hypocritical and damaging, if we fail to examine the presence and role of whiteness (6th condition). For the 5th condition, we talked about two different frameworks for defining race: the 3 C’s (Color, Culture, Consciousness) from PEG, and the 5 C’s (Color, Class, Culture, Context, Character) which are explained in more depth here. The 6th condition framed most of our discussions throughout the day as we worked in groups to investigate the role and presence of whiteness in our different kinds of school contexts, and the day-to-day effect that specific aspects of whiteness, white culture, and systemic racism have on students in schools.

For the first half of the session, we grouped by school context. We had a group of charter school teachers, a group of teachers from large district public schools (including Madison Park, Brookline, Newton, and Lawrence), and a group who chose to focus on teacher training and evaluation. Each group had 30 minutes to discuss the myriad ways in which whiteness shows up in their context, from day to day interactions, to structural issues, to the way their type of school (or the teaching profession in general) is portrayed in the media. Then, we came back together and each team shared out some of the ideas that came up in their conversation. This was the first time we had jumped into such a long and unstructured chunk of work time without specific prompts or time limits to guide the conversation, and as you might guess, the dynamics of the conversations that evolved in the different groups were almost as interesting as the content they were discussing. We paused to notice racial and gender patterns in who was speaking, as well as structures and schemas that groups seemingly automatically adopted for their dialogue. It was clear throughout the work time that our use of the compass and agreements is becoming more internalized as participants pushed themselves and one another to keep stories personal, local and immediate while illustrating the systemic presence of whiteness in their schools.

During the break, we began to draft a list of themes and patterns that had come up across all the different school contexts. This became the list of topics for the group work in the second half of the session. The format of group work was the same as before: 30 minutes in groups, then come back together and share out. But the goal this time was specifically to hone in on students’ and teachers’ lived experience and how a few particular aspects of white supremacy and white culture in schools actually affect people on a daily basis. We ended up settling on three groups/topics: culturally relevant curriculum, literature and discussions in the classroom; staff racial identities, relationships, decisionmaking and authority; and school funding.

Again, it was exciting to see how different discussion processes evolved in each group -- not only because of racial and interpersonal dynamics but also because of specific facilitation skills that individuals brought to each group, such as asking the group to journal, use serial testimony, and use the compass and conditions to ground their dialogue. As a result of participants’ continued commitment to and embodiment of these aspects of the dialogue process, rich perspectives came out of each group when they shared out at the end. I’ll speak for myself when I say that the whole session left me feeling more informed, outraged and even overwhelmed at the complex ways in which white supremacy insidiously manifests itself in schools and our schooling system - but also hopeful that by breaking down our questions and engaging in the discomfort of real, raw dialogue, we move ever closer to empowerment as informed, effective actors for change. More on that note next month!


January 2018: Our Schooling System

In this session we looked at how the U.S. education system has been used throughout its history to perpetuate inequality and oppression. We pared down the activities in the session to allow more time for conversation to flow and stories to be sculpted for each prompt. We began by putting together a timeline of major events in the history of public education in the U.S.: not just Brown v. Board and No Child Left Behind, but a lot more “below the line” history, from decisions and changes that shaped the education system as it was first being created, to the tangled aftermath of Brown that has left our schools more segregated today than they were in 1970. We asked participants to reflect on the presence of white supremacy throughout this history, as well as our own emotional reactions and how we personally relate to the history.

We then watched a TED talk by Kandice Sumner, a Boston Public Schools teacher and skilled storyteller who uses her personal story as a METCO student and teacher to inform her audience about the education debt and call them in to the fight for fair school funding. We analyzed Sumner’s presentation through the lens of the 6 Conditions, looking for examples of how she uses each technique to draw her audience in and make her case. The 6 conditions felt like a lot to keep in mind last month when we first introduced them, but today we felt increasingly able not only to identify where the conditions were present or absent in Sumner’s talk but also to apply them to our own storytelling and dialogue.

For the last part of our session, we worked to unearth our own stories of how our experiences with education (both as students and teachers) have permanently shaped our patterns of beliefs and behavior. We each reflected on moments from our lives that were illustrative of systemic disparities in education. We practiced telling each story multiple times, distilling it down to its most vivid, emotional and honest core. Our final circle of serial testimony was representative of the incredibly diverse experiences that our participants bring to the table and their commitment to complete engagement in this work.


December 2017: Wealth, Income, Social Class

We practiced our storytelling a lot in this session. We worked on staying grounded in the compass, agreements and conditions. We also investigated our understanding of history and the ways that storytelling, power and oppression shape the narrative that gets told over time.

We began by using the blob tree as a warmup/check-in. When going over the agreements and compass, we also branched into a broader conversation about allyship and antiracism: how trust must be earned through relationships, ignorance isn’t an excuse for racist actions, and knowledge gained must be transformed into action. We introduced the topic of social class by brainstorming as many related concepts as we could think of that started with the letters M, E, A, N and S. This got us thinking about everything from mass incarceration and the middle passage, to entitlement and elitism, and more.

For our first partner conversations, we used the prompt “What was valued in your home growing up?” with the additional suggestions “How did your family think about money? What was money for? How was this message affected by race and/or gender?” After one participant shared, their partner reflected back about how the first speaker showed up on the compass and/or how they embodied the agreements and conditions. To build on this feedback, we all journaled again about the same prompt, but this time we were tasked with writing a specific, vivid story that would illustrate concepts about what was valued in our homes and how that was affected by race. We told our stories to the same partners and again heard reflections back from our partner about how we showed up on the compass, agreements, and conditions. This exercise helped each storyteller develop their individual, specific narrative as well as a lasting self-awareness of how to stay grounded in the compass, agreements and conditions.

After the break, we worked in small groups to list as much information as we could remember about the G.I. bill. As a full group, we put all of this information together on a poster. But we divided the statements on the poster into two halves: “Above the Line” - commonly known, “colorblind” facts that we learn in our schools and through media channels - and “Below the Line” - a race-conscious understanding that we can only gain if we search and seek out multiple perspectives. We talked about the fact that depending on who is in power and who is documenting the situation, many different perspectives can be missing. And it’s hard to convince people to seek out a “Below the Line” understanding if they are only interested in confirming what they already think! To understand more “Below the Line” history about the G.I. bill, we watched a clip from Race: The House We Live In. Then we journaled and dialogued with partners about our families’ roles in this history, our reactions to learning more about it, and ways in which we can help to break down the racial wealth gap that exists to this day.


November 2017: Gender and Sexual Identity

This month we worked on keeping the four agreements and compass at the forefront of our conversations throughout the day. One participant noted, “This session I finally understood the importance of the compass and agreements. I felt way more accountability to self-reflect about where I was.” Using the compass means noticing where you are, noticing where others are, and centering yourself so that you can connect with others.

We began by reflecting on the gendered messages that women and men hear throughout our lives and how those messages lead to patterns of internalized oppression/dominance. We broke into gender affinity groups to tell stories about times when we exhibited tendencies of internalized oppression/dominance. Big thanks to Malcolm for facilitating the male affinity group.

After listening to a short comedy excerpt (13:00-15:00) about sexism, we broke into triads to share how sexism affects each of us daily. Although the prompt did not specifically remind us to tell personal stories, we used a protocol where one person in each triad was responsible for monitoring and reflecting back about how the speaker was showing up on the compass. This helped us to recognize our collective need to stay engaged with our personal stories and feelings, and break through the tendency to talk more superficially about beliefs and thoughts.

We did two activities directly from SEED in this session. First, we did an activity called Gender Boxes, in which we reflect on the specific sources of gender messages in our own lives and what our lives would look like without the pressure to conform to gendered roles and expectations. Then, we did an anonymous survey called Act Like Your Gender, in which we observed how gender pressures affect both men and women in different ways. Throughout these activities we continued to use the compass to ground and deepen our conversations with a variety of partners/triads, and we brought the focus back to the intersection of race and gender by reflecting on how our race, ethnicity, culture and other identities affect the way we live and experience our gender messages.

For the last half hour, we focused specifically on the history of white supremacy within the feminist movement. We looked at Sojourner Truth’s speech “Ain’t I A Woman?” (1851 version)* juxtaposed with racist quotes from white suffragette leaders and reflected on how this history and our own racial identities affect our work. As always, we wished for more time to continue the conversation, and we left with three readings to take home as we continue learning throughout the month: The Uses of Anger, White Women in Robes, and Why I Don’t Like White Women.

*The 1851 transcription is believed to be more historically accurate, but I was moved by the version performed by Alice Walker, so I wanted to include both here. For me, the "Ain't I a woman?" refrain and the image of not being lifted into carriages helped connect this speech more explicitly with the historical context of white supremacy that we’re focusing on. Plus the audience reactions made it easier to follow. But check out the Sojourner Truth project for other performances of the 1851 text and make up your own opinion!


October 2017: Let's Talk About Race!

We're talking about race all year, but this month our main focus was racial identity and racism. After reviewing the agreements and compass and introducing ourselves and our school contexts, we looked at these definitions compiled by Sharon Martinas. Of course, these being “working” definitions, we quickly began complicating and correcting them - which is as it should be in such a complex conversation! Next, we considered the "DKDK" - meaning our blind spots, the things we don't even realize that we don't know about race and racism. After engaging in a dialogue about what's hard and scary about talking about race and what's good and useful about talking about race, we moved into affinity groups. Check out this video shared by a participant to see some cute elementary schoolers talking about the purpose and benefits of affinity groups! In affinity groups we focused on racial identity development and messages we have received about our racial identity. White folks also talked about ways in which we personally have not only benefited from but also participated in and perpetuated racism. After the break, we looked at Judith Katz's list of aspects and assumptions of white culture in the US as well as this video about the cycle of oppression and read a little bit more about internalized dominance and internalized oppression. Thanks to all of the participants for engaging in honest, open conversation. Throughout the next month we will be looking to notice ways in which race, racism and whiteness show up in small interactions at school and throughout our days.


September 2017: First Workshop Recap

This month’s theme was an introduction to identity and systems of oppression. In this update I’ll recap some of the activities we did so that those who didn’t get a chance to attend can still have a view into what the workshop was like. If you are facilitating your own workshops and want to talk more about any of these activities, please feel free to contact me or Ulana!

We began with an activity using art pieces from Riva Lehrer, Kehinde Wiley, Matika Wilbur and Carmen Lomas Garza to notice and describe windows (views into experiences different from our own) and mirrors (reflections of our own experience). Then we created art pieces to introduce ourselves. We each decorated the front cover of our journal with an art piece showing the story of our name and how our name can represent many facets of our identity. We’ll write in these journals all year and decorate the back cover at the end of the year.

After going over the Courageous Conversations compass and agreements, we read an excerpt from “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye. Frye uses the image of a birdcage to help readers understand the nature of systemic oppression. After the reading, we moved in silence to a crossover activity in which we began to identify our individual and relative positions in regard to the oppressions of racism, sexism, cissexism, heterosexism, ableism, monolingualism, Christian dominance, and xenophobia.

For the second half of the workshop we went more in depth into telling our stories. We broke into triads and each person told a 1-minute story about a personal experience with a specific type of oppression in which they were located either in the dominant group or in the marginalized group. We used a series of prompts to help us keep our stories vivid and impactful for our listeners. Then we did a super speedy art challenge (2-minute tinfoil sculpture) to create a visual aid for our stories and practiced telling the same stories again with a larger audience.

Our last activity allowed us to begin thinking about bringing these equity concepts back to our schools. Each participant rolled a pair of dice which prompted them to choose a combination of an equity concept (windows and mirrors, locating ourselves in systems, etc.) with an area of school (family and community engagement, student-student interactions, etc.). Of course, this is only the beginning of our year-long conversation. We can’t wait to continue the conversation next month with our October session which will focus primarily on race.


August: getting started

BEE is finally getting off the ground! It's been over two years since the initial attempts to start this project. That's two years of brainstorming, grant writing, training, recruiting, making this very website, and so much more. We are sooooo excited that it's finally getting started! August is a month of getting all the details set and ready to go.

We have participants! And content! As of today, we have eleven participants signed up for the BEE workshops. Ulana and I spent four hours the other day planning out some awesome activities, prompts, and timing for the first workshop. We are mostly using activities from SEED New Leaders Week as well as some from Courageous Conversations. We've got activities involving markers and colored paper, tin foil, giant dice, and of course walking across the room. But all of these activities are simply frameworks to draw out the real content of the workshop: our participants' stories, experiences, perspectives and connections with one another. As Emily Style says, half the curriculum walks in the room on the first day... it can't come soon enough!

Wait, go back... how did we get here? Ulana and I (Zoe) have been working together since last summer. We are both full time teachers who were interested in diversity and equity work, and we had each participated in multiple courses and workshops similar to BEE. But how did we go from being participants, to having the resources to actually plan and facilitate our own workshops? What makes us confident that we can provide a worthwhile experience for other participants like ourselves? Two (non-)answers:

1. There is no stamp that says "you are now officially good/wise/trained/experienced enough" ... And there never will be. Learning about our own identities and social systems is a constant process. We don't stop being participants just because we're also facilitating and creating this space. We're creating the space precisely *because* we want to keep learning alongside others who are curious and committed to this work.

2. ... but there are experiences that help a lot. Although the same experiences might not necessarily be meaningful for everyone, here's a list of some amazing trainings and resources that are out there and have had a big impact on me/us over the past year or so.

Anyways. We're really excited to finally be starting this thing off. There is still time to apply if you are interested in joining us, and if you can't come in person then check back in online every once in a while - we plan to post updates every month with highlights from the workshops. See you in September!