![]() ![]() Explore some examples here: JMCS equity team video, JMCS administrative voice recording. This is the first step to modeling vulnerability as a leader. Why are you engaging? Why does this matter to you? Transfer these notes into a coherent “why” statement to share with your staff. Follow it with action.Īction: As you do your self-work (see below), take notes on why you are pulled to this work. Make your message clear and strong about why this work matters. Figure out your personal why, gather the whys of others who are committed to race work, talk to students about why schools should talk about race, and share the whys with everyone. Throughout this year, I have learned some hard, valuable lessons about what it takes to be successful leading this work. We have been able not only to begin these discussions, but to sustain them. Our work has allowed us to reexamine long-held beliefs about our students’ potential and the ways in which our expectations and assignments serve to either empower or disenfranchise our students. Together we have engaged our colleagues in introspection and difficult racial conversations that have allowed us to understand ways in which we have either perpetrated or been a victim of oppression. But I have not made this journey alone and it is through the strength of my equity team that the joy has been greater than the pain. ![]() My self-work has brought up painful realizations of all the ways in which I’ve oppressed marginalized students. There are people who are disgruntled with our school’s new path and there are often moments when I fight my own white savior complex. We have spent the past year using Glenn Singleton’s Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools (2015) as a guide for discussing systemic racism, internalized oppression, bias, microaggressions and more within the context of our own stories.Īddressing race with staff has been anything but easy. Over 80% of our students are of color and over 60% of our staff is white, including myself. ![]() I work for a school in which 100% of students are former high school dropouts. To successfully rebuild authentic relationships, we must recognize the role race plays in our society, in our schools and in ourselves. When this pandemic is over, schools will have to rebuild their communities, their relationships and readjust their expectations. Students are struggling to find the motivation and the resources to succeed. Teachers are struggling to maintain relationships and engage students. Right now our schools are closed and we are facing a national crisis that is exposing inequities in education like never before. ![]()
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