Antiracism/UDL reflections

Just had our Wednesday “implementation” book group. We’re small but mighty: 3 of us.

Our list to think about:

— how can we create a safe space/environment for students to use their voices discussing current events that happen about racism? Not in general, but … when they happen. Like when another 20 year old gets killed by a cop.
Yesterday, a student got a text from a friend and they eagerly said that they were hoping to find out how the friend did on an exam that day… except the friend was saying they were out of town because their brother had been killed.

_____. Words fail. I left so the student could call the friend… bit later student said the friend would want student to focus… so kept prepping for that GRE verbal and math stuff.

We spent more time on the idea that Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning is a book that should be taught … infused into every education class out there… but how do we keep this being “the most recent thing they’re shoving down our throats”? First, the book is written to make that a whole lot less likely 😉 Welp, one of our group is leading teachers in reading it… how can we look at our content and see if our students are represented therein?

… but we do need to go more deeply than changing a few images. How can we inspire students to do more than survive and comply in the school setting?

Also, in higher ed it would be the syllabus but we can generalize: how are we expressing expectations to students? Is it phrased punitively? How can we be “warm demanders” who have high expectations — that we nurture?

IT was good 🙂 Now it’s lunchtime and time to sneak outside! Yesterdays COVID graph seemed like it might be at least not accelerating… today’s … welp, as one twitter poster noted, it’s not waxing exponential. However it’s not waning.

And in the meantime how can I make connections to make better things happen?

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Posted in: antiracism, udl