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?