ted chen & merissa reed [email protected]...
TRANSCRIPT
What are your
observations about the following quotes?
How are these quotes
relevant?
Peggy McIntosh
Arthur Ashe, 1993
Lerone Bennett, Jr.
▪Context about us and our school
▪What is Critical Race Theory?
▪What does it look like in our classes?
▪How might you use CRT in your classroom?
Seattle, WAGrades 5-12853 Students
▪Emotional and academic health of students
▪Advancing the work of racial equity and justice
▪Updating and changing the narrative to reflect a variety of perspectives and experiences
People get triggered
Expect white fragility
But remember: the script can be flipped, especially in independent schools.
▪ “Awe this story is really sad that someone would have to dig deep to find one book/author and view and then use that to shape our children’s minds to take something where we can give thanks for things in our lives and turn it into something negative.”
Response on FB from a college acquaintance
A 30,000 Foot Overview
▪Originated in the 1970s
▪Framework to examine society, culture, and history at the intersection of race, law and power.
CRT IN EDUCATION:Tool for:
§ Deconstruction of oppressive structures and discourses
§ Reconstruction of human agency
§ Construction of equitable and socially just relations of power (Ladson-Billings, 1998)
▪Racism as “normal”
▪Race as a Social Construction
▪Revisionism/Historical Context
▪Use of Narratives/Counter-narratives
▪Intersectionality
▪Anti-essentialism
▪Goal is “Transformative Academic Knowledge”
▪ To help students develop skills to make decisions and participate in society to improve the human condition (Banks and Banks, 1999)
▪Understand how knowledge is constructed and how it reflects the knowledge canon
▪“Help students develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the status quo of the current social order” (Ladson-Billings, 1995)
▪“Diverse groups, including whites, are ‘missing in interaction.’ That is, missing in the curriculum are meaningful representations of the actions and interactions of diverse groups as agents, actors, and subjects in US history and society. Because diverse groups are missing in interaction in the social studies curriculum, school knowledge is a poor resource for enabling students to develop a discourse of contemporary race and ethnic relations….” (Wills, p. 44, 2001)
▪ School Culture:
▪ School mission and a commitment by administrators to have develop in students the ability to engage in dialogues about race in an open and respectful way
▪ Commitment to developing positive identity development in class and outside of class –affinity, alliance, student dialogue groups
▪ Intentionally Scaffolded Classroom culture:
▪ Creating an environment and culture of thinking in the classroom
▪ Critical thinking
▪ Questioning of sources
▪ How do we know “the truth” in history?
▪ Examination of multiple perspectives and “living in the gray” of history
▪ Building on empathic skills
▪2009-2010 school year:
▪Survey course
▪“Eurocentric” and “Americentric” view of history
▪2010-Present:
▪Thematic Focus:
▪The story of inclusion/exclusion
▪Windows & Mirrorshttps://themodagecottage.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/reclaimed-window-to-mirror-
profile.jpg
▪The American Dream:
▪Addresses equity: inclusion/exclusion/access/agency
▪Still in use/relevant
▪Applicable from 1492-present
▪When questioned, so is the dominant narrative
▪Has an alternative: American Nightmare
Enduring Understandings:▪ The American Dream is a myth, an idea, an
ideal and not ubiquitous in its attainability.
▪ Compounding advantage existed for European settlers and their descendants prior to the foundation of the nation= white privilege
▪ People can work together to help end oppression and improve the human condition.
▪ Dehumanizing a group endangers all people.
▪ It is important to know how knowledge is constructed that multiple perspectives add value in a 360 degree understanding model.
Essential Questions
▪ Who are the “We” in “We the People?
▪ Who makes the rules and are they just?
▪ Whose story is it?
▪ What is the cost of “Progress”?
▪Classroom culture is integral to use CRT:
▪ From the first days of school, an inclusive classroom culture is created by co-creating norms, providing windows and mirrors, multiple perspectives
▪ Western Hemisphere vis a vis Guns, Germs, & Steel
▪ Myth busting
▪ “Gold earring” – 1st contact
▪ “Virgin” Wilderness
▪ Purpose: brainstorm, see multiple perspectives, work on critical thinking, slow down the “thinking” process
▪ The steps of the protocol are to:
▪ See – Come up with initial observations about an image/object/reading – without judgment or inferences
▪ Feel – Select a person in the image/object/reading and try to identify what they are feeling and connect it with your emotions
▪ Think – Create a hypothesis about the image/object/reading based upon the observations
▪ Wonder – Come up with questions about the image/object/reading
See
Think
Feel
Wonder
Westward Expansion Unit final
project: Students are given choice
regarding their “character”. Most
are counter narratives and all ask
students to analyze how the
American Dream manifests in the
narrative.
▪ The government’s role was initially to build inequality by creating the Jim Crow laws which restricted people of color in multiple ways: Black people are unable to vote, attend the same restaurants, bathrooms and even waiting rooms. Why should the color of your skin decide your ‘importance’? Also, even after slavery, black people are treated like animals rather than equals along with immigrants, women, and native Americans. Holand D.
▪ The American Dream to me is less of a personal dream but a sort of a national objective. The Dream itself, I think, changes a lot based on the current American economic, political, and social (race, fair wages, gay marriage, etc.) outlook. For example, in this day and age I believe the American Dream means we would really have absolute equality—no more unnecessary police shootings, issues about gay marriage, and unfair wages between men and women. Luca P.
▪ Even as we turn our eyes towards the future we must not forget our past. We must look around us and see the inequality that still festers within our century old wounds. Can we not see the mirror image of the police shootings of innocents whose right to live is determined by their skin color? Vincent W.
▪After slavery was ended the enslaved people were freed, but they had no money and were put into debt by their former owners. So even though there wasn't slavery people of color still felt oppression. This is why I think there is still racism about people of color. If in our history they were treated like animals it’s no wonder why there is still discrimination about that today. There are some wounds only time can heal and I think that this is not one of them. Everyone needs to work harder especially our generation if we want racism to disappear. Gracie L.
▪What are you already doing that aligns with CRT?
■How can you deconstruct the majoritarian narrative?
How can you reconstruct human agency?
How can you construct more inclusive and equitable social relations?
▪What obstacles might you face implementing CRT?
▪What are your next steps to implement CRT?
Lerone Bennett, Jr.
