Stretching Our Thinking

I read both of these articles and I think they work well together.  What is Racial Equity did an excellent job of defining different terms and helping the reader understand the similarities and differences between the different areas such as diversity vs. inclusion, equity vs. equality, and the differences between different types of racial bias (individual vs. institutional vs. systemic).  The most interesting and useful part of this article was the part that separated institutional racism from systemic racism.  Individual racism has been clear to me and is what I grew up understanding racism to be. Prior to this article, I did not understand the difference between institutional racism, that which occurs within particular institutions, and systemic racism which is a much larger framework.  Prior to this, I had been using the terms interchangeably so this helped to reshape my thinking.

The other article titled Beware of Equity Traps and Troupes was also an interesting read.  I had head descriptions of some of these "traps and troupes" but had not had labels attached to them.  For example, the one I was most familiar with was "The Great White Hope" although it had not been called that.  The idea that there could be a savior of people of color has been well established in books and movies over the years.  The Blindside is a good example of this.  It has been a pervasive troupe in much of main stream media and I have been working to be more aware of it when I come across it.  Many of the other traps or troupes are things that I have experienced, but had not put voice to it.  For example, siloing equity is what I have seen take place at school.  Many people are interested in pursuing equity and discussions about how to be more equitable are had, but no real change has taken place.  I think that may a function of looking at equity as an add on or something that we need to do, rather than something that should be integrated into instruction, SEL, and into conversations with others.  One of the other traps or troupes that struck me was structural equity, in particular, the mention of restorative practices.  As the district has moved toward restorative practices, it has not met with universal acceptance in schools.  My experience this past year was that people were really looking for consequences and punishment and were not putting enough stock into supporting restorative practices as a way of helping children understand and repair any harm that may have been caused by their behavior.  I think that staff need training to understand both the benefits of restorative practices, but more practically, how to do restorative practices with a diverse population.

I am a Special Education who teaches seniors.  I teach a class called Mosiacs.  In this class we discuss current events, and topics such as racism, poverty, crime, injustices.  I chose to watch the TED Talk The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  In this TED Talk she talks about how sterotypes can be portrayed through literature.  The kids in my class have constructive conversations, but we rarely read literature in this class.  We decided to have them start this year reading articles.  I contacted my co-teacher, and we discussed showing this TED Talk , and having a discussion around it.  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shares great examples of what it was like for her coming to America.  She shares sterotypes that people had about her when she arrived at college.  Her college roommate asked her if they could listen to her "tribal" music, or wondered how she knew how to speak English.  This made me think about kids in our classroom, and our school, who come from diverse backgrounds.
I am hoping we can show this TED Talk, and have students shares experiences they may have experienced with steretypes.  The plan I want to implement is to have each student chose a book whether its a novel, or a children's book that is from an author from a different culture or country.  We can them have the students share how their story or perceptions were changed after reading the book.  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie shared how books saved her from having a single story.  My hope is through literature the students in my class can change their story, or those of others.  Literature is a good genre to have kids make connections and learn whether on their own, or with discussions with others.

I chose Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 's The Danger of a Single Story Video.  I chose it because of the power of literature in a classroom.  I teach First Grade, and it is evident how impactful literature is in a classroom.  The students listen, and identify with stories and characters in the books.  I thought to myself  "how can I help children learn about different cultures, and different parts of the world? and at their level?"  I had watched a small clip of this TED Talk before, and remembered it was captivating,  and reflective.  I recently received books in my classroom through a grant our Equity team had written.  I was asked to store the books in my classroom.  When asked I remembered this TED talk.  I knew I had to focus on reading the books stored in my classroom for many reasons. I needed  to know what the books were about, and I needed to be able to answer questions about the books if a teammate asked.  However, more importantly, I needed to read them for myself and my students.  As I began reading them, my students began to identify with some of the characters.  They started making real world and text to text connections.  What I found most impactful, was the books started wonderful and meaningful conversations.  These conversations were student lead a lot of the time.  I was so proud of the questions and comments my little 1st graders asked and shared.  I witnessed this past year the power of not reading "ONE story".  Although I read many books, I realized after participating in the reflection BINGO activity, I still have a long way to go.  However, everyone has to start somewhere, and I was proud I started! 

I chose to read Beware of Equity Traps and Tropes because I am concerned about how easy it is to mean well, but not have your intentions work out the way you would like. I worry that the work I do may be seen as trying to be the Great White Hope or that by trying to include the very few voices of minorities in our rural community, I would be putting too much pressure on that one voice and make them feel that they are the Lone Ranger of Color or the Token Equity. I agree with the quote “Our sense of urgency gets in the way of understanding complexity...” I think it is ultimately important to constantly question what you are doing, work with a group that is equally committed to the work, and “commit to a long-term change process.

I was especially affected by Chimamanda's comment relating  American Psycho to all white, middle class men. The complexity of people's lives cannot be conveyed in a single story. We have to consider the "yes, and..." elements. Her servant Fide was poor and had a robust life outside of working in her home.
I also related this TED talk to deficit thinking. If we approach anyone who is different as being or having less than us, we are blaming them for their differences. In education, deficit thinking results in all sorts of disproportional outcomes. 
I use this TED talk with my students during our SEL lessons every year. 

The article discussed 10 Traps and/or Tropes to be aware of and to hopefully avoid.

Wow. This was enlightening and somewhat disheartening at the same time. When reviewing the 10 items, I could see where we (my district) have gotten trapped in almost all of them. I think the most important takeaways for me at this moment are to avoid "the equity warrior," and "siloing equity," and the "navel-gazing,"

It is really important in my district, where there are very few adults of color that we do not get sucked into the great white hope mentality. We need to investigate ways to avoid this!  

Also, I can almost already see the siloing and navel-gazing unfold before my eyes. As the professional development specialist in my district,  I need to advocate for true transformative, systemic change.

I choose to watch this video due to it's relevance to my work.  I am currently part of a curriculum review in my district and one of the things we are focusing on is the need to provide multiple perspectives.  As an educator, it is not my job to tell students how to think, it is my job to provide the necessary resources to help students reach their own conclusions.  I cannot do this by having a singular focus.  Across all content areas it isimperative that students have exposure to multiple perspectives from multiple resources on any given topic.  I think of my own education about Christopher Columbus for example.  In school, I only learned how great he was for 'discovering' America, yet through my Native American relatives (ancestry) I learned a much different story.  I struggled to reconcile this new information at the time.

This video really hit home for me. My husband is from Nigeria. It is challenging when people make assumptions about our family based upon service appearances and not taking the time to know us. Chimamanda is a great speaker and storyteller, it is a must see. It is an important video for people to see especially when there is discussion of "immigrants". Sadly, some people use this word with a negative connotation but this video helps people to see that it is the opposite.