The afternoon continued…and these are my notes from the continuing presentation: This was the first break-out session after the key note with Dr. Eddie Moore for the Guided Pathways: Designing for Equity – Rendezvous 2018 conference on Monday, July 23, 2018. He led this session as well. According to the program: Participants will engage in activites and large and small group discussions grounded in exploring what teachers need to implement quality multicultural education into their classrooms. Participants will also engage in short and long-term goal setting for the classrooms and institutions.
Plug for his book “The Guide for White Women who Teach with Black Boys.”
The stats for kids of color have not been good.
He showed an image that had a “secret coded message.” The picture was a square of famous black men (and some kids) and a circle of famous black women. Each section had a blank circle. Do you have the skills to produce students of this level of success. There is a diversity of possibilities. What are we bringing to the classroom that encourages black students to be successful?
Black History month – do a quiz on every February 1st.
How can the black community rely on “white folks” to bring black children to their highest level possible. We are all trained with-in the system that has failed the black community. What evidence do we have that white teachers can teach black children? Why should black families not send their children to segregated schools.
You can educate black children to be gifted but teachers need competence and confidence. Do you believe in yourself as an educator? The success of kids of color is going to fall on us.
Understanding
White fragility – Robin Di Angelo’s book – it is not weak, but the fragile state you develop because you have not had the conversations about difficult questions around race. He said that if a white woman at work does something heinous that they can cry and get “hugs not consequences.” He also said that we have to have more conversations about white women in society.
Comment – A teacher in the audience said that we can learn a lot from historically black colleges who do things like meet the students at the door and know the students names.
Respecting
He asked black male students what worked when they where in a classroom with a white female teacher.
Understanding the student, learning about their culture, and where they are coming from.
Code Switching – the way that people present themselves to the dominant culture. The motivation to change what we do is that children are being pushed into children. His experience is that there is no motivation or inspiration.
Connecting
The practice of good teaching being expanded to be the most inclusive. The research shows that white teachers are unprepared to teach black students and that they are afraid of them.
Diversity is not about who fills the space but who controls the space. – Debby Irving
How many racists have our own class rooms produced?
