by Alex Storm @alexstormtmt
Last week on The Modern Truth, I discussed the importance of conversations around peoples’ experience with race in schools. These conversations have to start with the faculty, from the administration to the custodians. Adults need to find a level of comfort and an understanding of each other’s experiences before they can begin to have hard conversations with their students.
Depending on the diversity of a school staff, conversations about race may come more easily and organically, but however they come, they must come. Administrators cannot stand by and hope that these conversations happen in their faculty lounges naturally as people discuss the previous evening’s news. Administrators must model and lead and work to gain their own insights into biases they hold and the biases that shape their schools. Here are several tools that I have observed and used effectively for conversations regarding race and equity in schools.
1. Don’t make any assumptions. Practice listening instead.
No matter what race a person is, their experience is unique. We all have commonalities, but we are all at different places in our journey of understanding of ourselves and each other. Start the conversation by discussing the importance of listening. It may even be helpful to read an article on the importance of listening and do personal reflections before any discussion begins. The Art of Coaching by Elena Aguilar has an excellent chapter on listening and offers great tools for constructive conversations. A helpful exercise for improving people’s listening skills and giving everyone the gift of being heard is a dyad. A dyad is an exercise in listening. Rules can be added, but these are the three basic ones: 1) Each partners gets equal time (usually 1-2 minutes) to respond to the prompt. 2) The listener does not speak or nod, and remains silent until time is up, even if the speaker has no more to say. 3) What happens in the dyad stays in the dyad. Respect confidentiality, and do not bring up anything your partner shared to them later.
2. Use stories: your own and other people’s.
Sometimes it’s easier to sit with the idea of race by experiencing it through other people’s eyes. As a staff read accounts of people’s experience with race at different stages in their lives. Do not focus on any one race because the conversations that must happen around race are for the sake of all races. Having strangers’ stories of race from which to ground conversation can help others in the staff open up and see how their experience may have commonalities with others.
3. Learn about history.
It is extremely important that educators know the history of our nation. It is equally important that they recognize who writes history and how the hand that writes the history can shape it. Knowing how various groups have been marginalized for different ends throughout the history of the United States can help educators make connections with what they see in the world today. Try hanging quotes regarding educational law or a timeline of education from the beginning of the United States to present day and have educators do a silent gallery walk to reflect it. This exercise will highlight how education itself has been used as a means of maintaining a certain status quo in American society.
4. Emphasize values that unite people.
We are all in the field of education for a reason. I don’t believe that there are any teachers or administrators who wish to purposefully harm students. Encourage educators to embrace issues that could be divisive or uncomfortable, instead of shrinking from them. The best teachers never stop learning, and many still have a lot to learn about the ways in which race and experience shape our lives. Reassure educators who are uncomfortable with taking up the race issue by reminding them that it will ultimately lead to a better education for their students and a better world for all of us.
5. Be prepared to feel emotions, accept them, see what’s behind them, and use them.
There will be difficult, emotional moments when race is openly discussed. That’s why people avoid it. Be prepared to accept that everyone’s emotions may run high. Encourage your colleagues to examine what underlying beliefs they hold that are being shaken and causing them to feel strong emotions. Years and years of being in the world have shaped who we are, and it takes years to unpack and unravel the unknown biases and beliefs that we hold about the world. It’s ok to be emotional, as long as we use those emotions as a tool for introspection and growth.
6. Don’t try to persuade anyone to believe anything.
Everyone is at a different place in their development of a racial consciousness. A conversation about race is not meant to change what anyone believes. Ideally, some eyes may be opened and people may be able to see the world a little differently, but it can’t be forced. The first goal must be to listen and see each other’s perspective. Earth shattering revelations are not going to happen until people can truly understand each other and feel safe expressing themselves. Create a safe space for people to speak their truth and watch your school evolve from there.
These ideas are a solid starting point from which to begin conversations about race in our schools. There are many more helpful tools available online (Teachingtolerance.org, rethinkingschools.org, nationalequityproject.org) and through programs specializing in equity education (educationalequity.org and diversitydirections.com). I can’t stress enough how important these conversations are. They are the starting point for all equity work in schools. Once a staff is well versed, comfortable and capable of discussing race, they will be able to elicit that conversation in a safe and honest way with their students. Next week The Modern Truth will offer tips for conversations about race with and for White people.
Depending on the diversity of a school staff, conversations about race may come more easily and organically, but however they come, they must come. Administrators cannot stand by and hope that these conversations happen in their faculty lounges naturally as people discuss the previous evening’s news. Administrators must model and lead and work to gain their own insights into biases they hold and the biases that shape their schools. Here are several tools that I have observed and used effectively for conversations regarding race and equity in schools.
1. Don’t make any assumptions. Practice listening instead.
No matter what race a person is, their experience is unique. We all have commonalities, but we are all at different places in our journey of understanding of ourselves and each other. Start the conversation by discussing the importance of listening. It may even be helpful to read an article on the importance of listening and do personal reflections before any discussion begins. The Art of Coaching by Elena Aguilar has an excellent chapter on listening and offers great tools for constructive conversations. A helpful exercise for improving people’s listening skills and giving everyone the gift of being heard is a dyad. A dyad is an exercise in listening. Rules can be added, but these are the three basic ones: 1) Each partners gets equal time (usually 1-2 minutes) to respond to the prompt. 2) The listener does not speak or nod, and remains silent until time is up, even if the speaker has no more to say. 3) What happens in the dyad stays in the dyad. Respect confidentiality, and do not bring up anything your partner shared to them later.
2. Use stories: your own and other people’s.
Sometimes it’s easier to sit with the idea of race by experiencing it through other people’s eyes. As a staff read accounts of people’s experience with race at different stages in their lives. Do not focus on any one race because the conversations that must happen around race are for the sake of all races. Having strangers’ stories of race from which to ground conversation can help others in the staff open up and see how their experience may have commonalities with others.
3. Learn about history.
It is extremely important that educators know the history of our nation. It is equally important that they recognize who writes history and how the hand that writes the history can shape it. Knowing how various groups have been marginalized for different ends throughout the history of the United States can help educators make connections with what they see in the world today. Try hanging quotes regarding educational law or a timeline of education from the beginning of the United States to present day and have educators do a silent gallery walk to reflect it. This exercise will highlight how education itself has been used as a means of maintaining a certain status quo in American society.
4. Emphasize values that unite people.
We are all in the field of education for a reason. I don’t believe that there are any teachers or administrators who wish to purposefully harm students. Encourage educators to embrace issues that could be divisive or uncomfortable, instead of shrinking from them. The best teachers never stop learning, and many still have a lot to learn about the ways in which race and experience shape our lives. Reassure educators who are uncomfortable with taking up the race issue by reminding them that it will ultimately lead to a better education for their students and a better world for all of us.
5. Be prepared to feel emotions, accept them, see what’s behind them, and use them.
There will be difficult, emotional moments when race is openly discussed. That’s why people avoid it. Be prepared to accept that everyone’s emotions may run high. Encourage your colleagues to examine what underlying beliefs they hold that are being shaken and causing them to feel strong emotions. Years and years of being in the world have shaped who we are, and it takes years to unpack and unravel the unknown biases and beliefs that we hold about the world. It’s ok to be emotional, as long as we use those emotions as a tool for introspection and growth.
6. Don’t try to persuade anyone to believe anything.
Everyone is at a different place in their development of a racial consciousness. A conversation about race is not meant to change what anyone believes. Ideally, some eyes may be opened and people may be able to see the world a little differently, but it can’t be forced. The first goal must be to listen and see each other’s perspective. Earth shattering revelations are not going to happen until people can truly understand each other and feel safe expressing themselves. Create a safe space for people to speak their truth and watch your school evolve from there.
These ideas are a solid starting point from which to begin conversations about race in our schools. There are many more helpful tools available online (Teachingtolerance.org, rethinkingschools.org, nationalequityproject.org) and through programs specializing in equity education (educationalequity.org and diversitydirections.com). I can’t stress enough how important these conversations are. They are the starting point for all equity work in schools. Once a staff is well versed, comfortable and capable of discussing race, they will be able to elicit that conversation in a safe and honest way with their students. Next week The Modern Truth will offer tips for conversations about race with and for White people.