Teaching While White Virtual Workshop Series
Understanding Whiteness and Its Impact on Teaching and Learning
In many ways, the racial injustice being highlighted at this time in history is not new. What IS new is the way racial justice is now being covered by the mainstream media and discussed in every forum. Students are looking to their teachers to help navigate and make sense of what they are seeing. This workshop series is conducted as a white, antiracist affinity space so that we can develop a greater understanding of white racial identity and develop the skills and racial literacy to guide the next generation towards greater racial justice.
Workshop 1: Teaching While White: Now What?
A two-session, virtual workshop that meets via Zoom for white teachers and administrators who understand that race matters in the classroom, but who still feel uncomfortable engaging in racial topics, especially across racial difference. To better understand our own perspective, we will explore what it means to be “white” and why it matters. We will explore the concept of managing racial stress and what to do when we start to feel overwhelmed. We will discuss why being “colorblind” is not a solution, what language is appropriate to use, how stereotypes influence everyone, and how we can be more conscious of our own biases in the classroom to ensure we are effective teachers for all students.
Workshop 2: From Ally to Accomplice — Strengthening Our Skills to Act Against Racial Injustice
A two-session, virtual workshop that meets via Zoom for white teachers and administrators who want to expand their strategies for increasing racial equity in schools. We will explore Dovidio’s research on aversive racism to enhance our understanding of racism as a system. We will practice how to interrupt racially stressful situations and how to manage white guilt, shame, and paralysis in the face of racist comments or behavior. We will identify how white fragility operates in schools and ways to challenge it via both pedagogy and content. Participants will leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of allyship as an action and with strategies to support healthy, antiracist teaching/learning environments.
Prerequisite
We ask participants to register for this workshop only after completing workshop #1.
Workshop 3: Engaging Institutional Resistance
It’s not a question of if racism is operating, but when, and are you prepared to address it head-on, both individually and institutionally? These sessions will build on the concepts from the first two workshops: white racial identity development, challenging color-evasiveness and white silence, and identifying effective interpersonal interventions. As a next step in this progression, we will consider many of the systemic issues that become more visible as we hone our own strategies for reflection and resistance. We will refine our skills for disrupting racism and white dominant culture in schools. We will utilize tools to help anticipate moments where bias and racism may emerge so we can plan ahead and practice accordingly.
Prerequisite
We ask participants to register for this workshop only after completing workshops #1 and #2.
Facilitators
Interested in
Workshops
1, 2, and 3?
Let us know and we will notify you when they are next offered.