Reflect and Act

A personal example of how racial categories are not inclusive or even accurate is when my daughter was applying to college and her race was requested on the application.  After reading all the categories, we were genuinely getting more and more annoyed.  Some of the choices were  "white" to which she responded 'My skin isn't white, it's olive", "Non-Hispanic" for which she wondered why being "Non-Hispanic" mattered and the list went on and on and nothing was truly applicable. In the end she chose "prefer not to answer".   We understood that this question was possibly to qualify for financial aid due to race, however, it was really more insulting.

I have looked at our school data relative to our area and vs. New York State. Our district is majority white (86%), a figure which has held steady for the last 10 years. However, the percentage of "economically disadvantaged" students is rising, up to 21% in 2020-21. There is no hiding from the issues anymore, and while programs like Connected Community Schools are working to address inequities there is much more to do. Also, there is a challenge in that we have so few Black students that they sometimes do not appear on state reports as a category - it is difficult to evaluate how students are doing and whether programs are having an impact when there may be so much variability from year to year. When you only have a handful of students from a particular group, it makes having individual conversations much more important than relying on data points. 

This video contains so many ideas in just 3 minutes. I found it interesting that some medical diagnoses are associated with a certain race of people but should be associated with other illnesses and regions where they are common.

For s short video, there sure was a lot to take in! I had to rewatch this video to fully understand the message being delivered. The video mentioned that although race has social and political outcomes, the idea of race is truly just a myth. I also found it quite interesting that the "characteristics of race" has changed over time. What was once considered "black" depending on what was going on socially during the times. (ie.more of a labor force needed)

I watched the video "The Myth of Race: Debunked", and had to rewatch it because I wanted to make sure I had heard/read correctly. To hear that there were no scientific indicators of race in DNA is astonishing. Why is this not more widely known? How does this impact our societal need to categorize ourselves and others, specifically to feel a sense of belonging? I think if this mindset were more prevalent in society, and for a prolonged period of time, we might be more prone to see people as individuals first, and then what groups they identify with after.

This was really good, I was familiar with all of the ideas put forth in the video, but I think that it would be worth sharing with students in our genetics unit.  It is a concise but informative resource.

Though short, I found this video to be extremely interesting regarding the "changing" of people's race based on the political need. Race as a topic seems to be so controversial when in reality, it helps a person claim an identity and allows him or her to be a member of a group of people with similar sentiments. I also thought the commentary on people feeling they belong to multiple races aligns with how some people feel about their gender identity. There are so many variations of gender identity, gender expression, and sexual preferences that it feels race almost trends the same way. Ultimately, we should be valuing people for who they are and not how they look, how they identify, or who they love and I feel this video supports that belief. 

I watched this video several times because there was so much information in such a short video clip. Inquiring about one's race seems so simple, but as explained in the video, race was created to categorize people. These categories have changed over time reflecting the needs of political and social priorities. However, racial categories assigned and the way an individual identifies do impact one's real-life experiences. If race is such a hard concept to define, what makes it such a controversial topic to discuss? By sharing this video with others, maybe the discussion can change from being about an individual's race to being about an individual's shared diversity in the world we live in.

In examination of this 5 leveled checklist (levels 0-4), I noticed that though my introductory level Spanish program does not include ~much~ culturally responsive pedagogy (pieces of levels 1&2), I do know that at higher proficiency levels in the Spanish program (at the High School especially), culturally responsive pedagogy is much more prevalent (pieces from all levels of the checklist). As I have stated on other occasions, my introductory Spanish class is meant to introduce the students to their new language and cannot use overly complex language if they are to comprehend the content. However, one of the awesome things about teaching a new language is that we not only get to teach about the language(s) but that we also have the opportunity to talk about the people and their cultures! So, I would argue that language classes have the inherent tendency to be culturally responsive classes due to the curricular content. The next step is to find a way to incorporate the varied culture(s) of the students into the scope of the class – even at, at minimum, a “compare and contrast” level?!

I chose Audit your classroom library while playing bingo. While going through the bingo board I was only able to fill in a couple squares. This made me realize that I have been only reading stories that have characters “like me”. It made me realize that I need to change my reading library so it is more diverse.

I find that when we can be open and honest in our classrooms we really open a door to other ways of thinking.  Many times kids or even adults are fearful to bring up hot topics for fear of the outcome.  But I like to think that we are here to hear and see how others think and feel.  It is important to bring all aspects of the topic to the table. Using the video on "The Myth of Race: Debunked in 3 Minutes is a great way to bring on great conversation whether it is questions posed or stories that they can share or even ideas on how we could move forward as a human race.  I would like to play the video and stop it throughout and ask some questions.  This may even be a great Edpuzzle for those students wanting to talk about it without actually talking about it.  Using this video with questions would be perfect for those that don't necessarily want to be part of the discussion but would like to learn more about this topic on Race.