Anti-Racism
Anti Racism Session Synopsis
To maintain our level of transparency with Jones Community with our efforts with racial equity, we would like to share with you what we are doing in our antiracist training sessions. We will share a synopsis of each session and make available some of the resources and links to videos that we viewed and provide some context.
Sessions will be added as they are completed:
Session 1 - January 20
On January 20th all Jones staff was invited to participate in our first (in a series) of professional development focusing on anti-racism. We have committed to a year’s worth of professional development that will span the rest of this school year and into the 2021-2022 school year. The sessions are intentionally designed to build a shared understanding with all staff about systemic racism, the roles we play in perpetuating it, and ultimately some strategies that we may be able to incorporate to begin dismantling the white supremacy culture identified in the school and create a safe and inclusive space for all students. Our specific goals identified with Davis Consulting are:
- Develop a shared language and analysis in regard to racial equity
- Develop necessary skills for ongoing personal and organizational reflection on racial equity
Our first session focused on Racial Equity Foundations. Our objectives for the first sessions were to:
- Identify and apply the group norms for our time together
- Define the terms “racial diversity,” “racial inclusion,” “racial equity,” “anti-racism”
- Name levels of racism (internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and systemic)
- Describe how the Cycle of Socialization has helped to reinforce social identity
In addition to opportunities to share our thoughts on these topics, the presenter provided us with a few video clips that were thought-provoking and required some additional conversation.
A survey was taken after the session to get feedback from the participants. We will continue to collect this data and make adjustments to the additional work we plan to do in between each session. The staff will receive additional resources after sessions as well as “pre-work” for the next session. Additionally, the administration will have “tasks” for staff to complete between each session.
Although you may not have all the context for how these resources were presented to participants, we wanted you to have access to the resources that were shared with us during this session.
Session 1 Resources
Unequal Opportunity Race Video
Cycle of Socialization Article
Supplemental Reading - Confronting Inequity / Who Has the Privilege to
Be Empowered?Session 2 - February 10
On February 10th all of the Jones staff was invited to participate in our second session (in a series) of professional development focusing on anti racism. We have committed to a year’s worth of professional development that will span the rest of this school year and into the 2021-2022 school year. The sessions are intentionally designed to build a shared understanding with all staff about systemic racism, the roles we play in perpetuating it and ultimately some strategies that we may be able to incorporate to begin dismantling the white supremacy culture identified in the school and create a safe and inclusion space for all students. Our specific goals identified with Davis Consulting are:
- Develop a shared language and analysis in regard to racial equity
- Develop necessary skills for ongoing personal and organizational reflection on racial equity
This second session focused on the History of Race. Our objectives for this session were to:
Staff in preparation for the session listened to a podcast Seeing White S2 part 3. There were some guide questions for teachers to think about as they listened. During the session, we went into smaller breakout groups to work on the “birth of Whiteness Timeline” linked below. Each group was given a portion of the timeline to engage with. There were 3 questions to guide the conversation. We then came back together to discuss the timeline. Each group had a spokesperson to speak on what the group synthesized.
A survey was taken after the session to get feedback from the participants. We will continue to collect this data and make adjustments to the additional work we plan to do in between each session. The staff will continue to receive additional resources after sessions as well as “pre work” for the upcoming session. Additionally, the administration will have “tasks” for staff to complete between each session.
Although you may not have all the context for how these resources were presented to participants, we wanted you to have access to the resources that were shared with us during this session.
Session 2 Resources
Session 3 Pre-Work
- Read the article “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Reflect on the following questions:
- Which aspects of the article were a mirror of your experience with the concept of homeownership?
- Which aspects of the article are a window into a new experience?
- How might the systemic racism revealed in this article, impact how Black students perceive authority? How might it impact how students of color perceive authority? How might it impact how white students perceive authority?
Session 3 - March 3
Anti Racism Session #3 Synopsis
On March 3rd all of the Jones staff was invited to participate in our third session (in a series) of professional development focusing on anti racism. We have committed to a year’s worth of professional development that will span the rest of this school year and into the 2021-2022 school year. The sessions are intentionally designed to build a shared understanding with all staff about systemic racism, the roles we play in perpetuating it and ultimately some strategies that we may be able to incorporate to begin dismantling the white supremacy culture identified in the school and create a safe and inclusion space for all students.
Our specific goals identified with Davis Consulting are:
- Develop a shared language and analysis in regard to racial equity
- Develop necessary skills for ongoing personal and organizational reflection on racial equity
- Adopt an ongoing accountability practice for naming and addressing white supremacy culture/systemic racism as it arises at Jones College Prep
- Explore critical pedagogy as a tool for addressing educational inequities
This third session focused on Understanding Systemic Racism. Our objectives for this session were to:
- Distinguish between individual prejudices and systemic racism
- Discuss redlining as a case study in systemic racism
Staff, in preparation for the session, read the article “The Case for Reparations'' by Ta-Nehisi Coates. There were some guide questions for teachers to think about as they read. In the beginning of the session the presenter spent some time addressing things that had come up as feedback from the previous sessions. One important note that came out of the discussion was clarity of how the training is being delivered and a clarification that this training is not about looking at racism as simply Black and White. Our training truly reflects on “Whiteness” and everything Non-White. Our training does use a lens from the Critical Race Theory. We spent some time digesting what that theory is. All the historical context we’ve been provided up to this point supports that idea. This was an important distinction for many participants.
The main content of the day was to use the article and a short video on redlining as a case study to see and understand systemic racism. Redlining is a great example of systemic racism that to this day has rippling effects. We broke up into breakout groups and proceeded to process what we saw and read. We met back in a large group to share some thoughts. For many it was an eye opening experience that invoked a lot of emotion and discussion.
A survey was taken after the session to get feedback from the participants. We will continue to collect this data and make adjustments to the additional work we plan to do. Starting in the month of March, the staff have created “processing pairs/pods” to continue processing the information we are getting. They will meet at least once a month to process information from the previous session or to discuss materials given as “pre work” for the upcoming session. The staff will continue to receive additional resources after sessions as well as “pre work” for the upcoming session. Although you may not have all the context for how these resources were presented to participants, we wanted you to have access to the resources that were shared with us during this session.
Session 3 Links
Chicago Redlining Map
Session 4 Pre-Work
- Read the article “Monopoly - When the Rules are Fair but the Game Isn't"
- Think through the following questions:
- In your opinion, which aspects of the classroom activity were successful?
- Where were there opportunities for growth?
- Why might it be useful to teach these concepts to our students?
- If you work in the classroom, how might you implement an activity like this
Session 3 - May 12
To maintain our level of transparency with the Jones Community with our efforts with racial equity, we would like to share with you what we are doing in our antiracist training sessions. We will share a synopsis of each session and make available some of the resources and links to videos that we viewed and provide some context.
On May 12th all of the Jones staff was invited to participate in our fourth session (in a series) of professional development focusing on anti racism. We have committed to a year’s worth of professional development that will span the rest of this school year and into the 2021-2022 school year. The sessions are intentionally designed to build a shared understanding with all staff about systemic racism, the roles we play in perpetuating it and ultimately some strategies that we may be able to incorporate to begin dismantling the white supremacy culture identified in the school and create a safe and inclusion space for all students. Our specific goals identified with Davis Consulting are:
- Develop a shared language and analysis in regard to racial equity
- Develop necessary skills for ongoing personal and organizational reflection on racial equity
- Adopt an ongoing accountability practice for naming and addressing white supremacy culture/systemic racism as it arises at Jones College Prep
- Explore critical pedagogy as a tool for addressing educational inequities
This fourth session focused on Maintaining White Supremacy. Our objectives for this session were to:
- Describe the role that US schools play in supporting white supremacy and developing white supremacy culture
Staff, in preparation for the session, read the article Monopoly--when the rules are fair but the game isn't. During the session we also referenced white supremacy culture by Tema Okun. Due to some scheduling conflicts we did not have an April session so it had been over a month since we were last together. The first portion was an opportunity to review our goals and refresh the common language we had been developing. During the session we developed a shared understanding of what White Supremacy culture is. We discussed that in education there is an explicit curriculum and a “hidden curriculum”. By hidden curriculum we were referring to:
- How to respond to authority/institutional power
- How to engage with race and anti-racism work
- Which facts and viewpoints are important
- How to deny that systemic racism exists
This discussion on hidden curricula and white supremacy led to small group discussion about the hidden curricula at Jones. During this session we began to transition from goal #1 to goal #2. The staff will continue to receive additional resources after sessions as well as “pre work” for the upcoming session. Although you may not have all the context for how these resources were presented to participants, we wanted you to have access to the resources that were shared with us during this session.
Session 4 Pre-Work
- Read the article “Monopoly - When the Rules are Fair but the Game Isn't"
- Think through the following questions:
- In your opinion, which aspects of the classroom activity were successful?
- Where were there opportunities for growth?
- Why might it be useful to teach these concepts to our students?
- If you work in the classroom, how might you implement an activity like this
Session 4 - May 19
Anti Racism Session #5 Synopsis
To maintain our level of transparency with the Jones Community with our efforts with racial equity, we would like to share with you what we are doing in our antiracist training sessions. We will share a synopsis of each session and make available some of the resources and links to videos that we viewed and provide some context.
On May 19th all of the Jones staff was invited to participate in our fourth session (in a series) of professional development focusing on anti racism. We have committed to a year’s worth of professional development that will span the rest of this school year and into the 2021-2022 school year. The sessions are intentionally designed to build a shared understanding with all staff about systemic racism, the roles we play in perpetuating it and ultimately some strategies that we may be able to incorporate to begin dismantling the white supremacy culture identified in the school and create a safe and inclusion space for all students. Our specific goals identified with Davis Consulting are:
- Develop a shared language and analysis in regard to racial equity
- Develop necessary skills for ongoing personal and organizational reflection on racial equity
- Adopt an ongoing accountability practice for naming and addressing white supremacy culture/systemic racism as it arises at Jones College Prep
- Explore critical pedagogy as a tool for addressing educational inequities
This 5th session focused on White Supremacy and Implicit Bias. Our objectives for this session were to:
- Describe the role that Jones plays in supporting white supremacy culture (WSC)
- Describe how WSC and implicit bias impacts the hidden curriculum at Jones College Prep
This session was a makeup session from April. This session was 1 week after session #4 so there was no additional pre-work. If staff had not had a chance to do the pre-work from session #4 they had those resources to reference. So again staff had access to the article Monopoly--when the rules are fair but the game isn't. During the session we also referenced white supremacy culture by Tema Okun. During the session we continued the conversation about white supremacy culture at Jones. We reviewed the WSC indicators from the Okun article and the things that staff mentioned from session #4. The facilitator had grouped the Jones comments to the WSC indicators. We left space to clarify and add comments to each category.
This session modelled how we as a large group can have difficult conversations and it demonstrated the trust that has been built from the previous sessions. Before our final session before the summer, we will have a staff listening session to continue the discussions that came from this session. We will end our 6th session with our plan for the fall.