Stretching Your Thinking

I chose to complete option 1.  After watching the videos the thing that really resonated in me was the statement made by the first woman speaking.  She said "We can predict who will be in AP, General Education or Special Education.  We can predict who will graduate High School, and go to college and who will go to jail".  She then went on to say "what are we going to do about it".  That was profound to me because I thought about how young my students are at 1st grade and how important it is to give them a solid foundation, but also to establish a relationship with the families too.  I believe what was said that when we can establish these meaningful relationships, we can change things as educators.  I appreciate that the conversations and concepts were streamlined into 4 Agreements of Courageous Conversations.  They were 1. Stay Engaged, 2. Speak Your Truth, 3.  Experience Discomfort and 4.  Expect and Accept a Lack of Closure.  
Glenn Singleton started off by thanking his ancestors.  How appropriate to start there.
I thought the use and discussion of the exemplars of courageous conversations was helpful especially as an educator. We use them with our students. When Glenn Singleston walked the viewer through the timeline with the milestones, it showed a historical progression.  One which is in our history not theory! That he was rejected in 1999 by NSDC for the conference.  Then in 2000 after a mentor Mike helped rewrite it, Glen began his training.
Then in 2002 he had his first KeyNote,  Then by 2005 he had the opportunity to write the first book in Courageous Conversations happened.  Although there were obstacles, Glenn continued to push on to encourage and educate others about race.
Portland Public Schools was the first exemplar shared. Educators found a way to engage students rather than discipline them. They diversified the staff. They educated the parents.  It was a partnership of people who did not start off comfortable together having the conversations, but benefited their community by having them, and their students.  It works and Portland Public Schools proved it.  The data does not lie.

Dr. Crenshaw talked about the origin of "Say her name" which has morphed into "Say THEIR names". I did not realize that the original phrase was intended to draw attention to the fact that black women are more likely to die at the hands of the police than white women. Adding the layer of gender into police violence surprised me. Thinking of social justice as a prism, with different layers that vary, is helpful to me. In the prism, straight, white, cisgender, Christian males have the greatest privilege in the USA. Changing any of those elements changes the level of privilege enjoyed by the person. Knowing that adds complexity to my work with anti racism. 

The video focused on predictable, racialized, achievement disparities.  I loved how the video focus on doing something about the disparities. Courageous Conversations enables educators to examin the intersectionality between race and schools.  What really stood out to me was how having these courageous conversations about race, allows us to move beyond just noticing disparities to having tool to engage with the disparities.

There were a number of moments/ideas that resonated with me while viewing the videos (in particular the Learning Forward Keynote from 20218).

1. Inspire vs. Require 
2. The voice of "slow down: sounds a lot like the voice of "don't ever start."
3. The need for community partnership
4. The need for diversity in hiring
5. The importance of amplifying student voices.

In our effort to get things moving faster, we risk the "strong-arm" approach which may not achieve the change of heart and belief that we are looking for. This has to be balanced avoiding giving in to the segment of the population that keeps wanting to slow the process down because they are afraid or because they truly don't believe in it.

It would be great to partner with local industries, companies, businesses to work on empowering diverse voices. I am hoping to talk more about this with our policy board.

I am eager to learn more about how we can encourage students of color to go into the field of education!! I know NYSED and NYSTCs are working on this. I want to be a part of it!

I also want to empower our students  to imagine the school they want to attend and that meets all their needs and then give them the tools and the voice to make that happen.

I watched Courageous Conversations with Glenn Singleton. I really enjoyed his in-depth keynote from the Learning Forward Conference. I was fortunate to see him in person. We have used this book in our district for the past few years. His guiding principals our the foundation of the equity work in my district. I especially resonated with the idea of speaking your truth. I appreciate how he outlines this. It's not about shouting at one another and name calling. It is about sharing your story and connecting with people as humans.

I watch "Courageous Converstions About Race with Glenn Singleton". I also watched most of the extended version. As someone that looks different than most of the other people I come into contact with, I feel that race/ethnicity has to be address rather quickly. I feel that there is a natural curiousity. I can either address it or let it be a lingering question. In doing so however, I can often engage in the converstation of race/ethnicity. I hope I approach all people with genuine care and respect. I hope that I can convey that quickly. If this is the case, if I say something that is not politically correct, I hope the person can see that I am not intending harm. Courageous Converstions also means that I must provide grace when I recieve a potentially threatening comment. Whlle it is an oversimplification, if we all approachconverstations with civility our converstations would be much easier. 
The video also reminded me that we all have a story, a narrative. Our job is to learn about other peoples stories. We can wonder how does someone elses story fit with our story. If that persons story is different it is a rich opportunity to enter into a new world.