Blog
Incorporating Race
Students experience issues related to race daily and conversations about race occur in the classroom all the time. Schools are in a special position because they have the potential to help prepare students to navigate conversations and experiences around race. For teachers and students, especially white teachers and students, learning to discuss race is a constantly evolving process, and needs to be handled with care. Educators and education leaders need to ensure that they have developed and continue honing their skills to talk about race as it comes up and to engage dialogues about race in the classroom.
It is key to think ahead about how race conversations might look in a classroom or building and to work with faculty and staff to prepare and plan for responses to conversations and ways race will be incorporated into classroom discussions and learning. This will not come naturally to all teachers or leaders and having a team work on this together can be useful as a plan is implemented. It is also key to plan for how the team and the individuals will reflect on what worked, what did not work, and how to make improvements.
West Wind’s resource, Incorporating Dialogues about Race in the Classroom, provides teachers and building leaders with three stages to consider when incorporating race dialogues in the classroom: 1) Preparing and Planning, 2) Practice and Implementation, and 3) Reflect on Impact. If you are a member you can access the resource at the link below.