Developing Suburban White Educators' Racial Literacy
Abstract
This presentation aims to address a major social taboo in many suburban white educators’ classrooms: talking about race. As the racial demographics of suburban districts in our area become a majority students of color, white educators must develop their own racial literacy to effectively navigate essential, and often uncomfortable, conversations about race. By disrupting the old patterns of claiming to be “colorblind” or the more modern behavior of being “colormute” (unable to speak about race), I hope to equip white educators with best practices to develop their own racial literacy and identify the major barriers to doing so. We need more educators of color in our schools, and as that long-term shift is happening, white educators need the tools to discuss race with the staff and students in our classrooms right now. By defining racial literacy in the classroom, identifying the largest obstacles to developing racial literacy, and then sharing best practices to do so, I will disrupt particular scripts that prevent white educators from engaging in meaningful racial discourse with their students and with each other. Above all else, as a suburban white educator myself, I believe it is my responsibility to invite my white colleagues into these conversations instead of ostracize white educators away from them.
Developing Suburban White Educators' Racial Literacy
UW Tacoma Tioga Library
This presentation aims to address a major social taboo in many suburban white educators’ classrooms: talking about race. As the racial demographics of suburban districts in our area become a majority students of color, white educators must develop their own racial literacy to effectively navigate essential, and often uncomfortable, conversations about race. By disrupting the old patterns of claiming to be “colorblind” or the more modern behavior of being “colormute” (unable to speak about race), I hope to equip white educators with best practices to develop their own racial literacy and identify the major barriers to doing so. We need more educators of color in our schools, and as that long-term shift is happening, white educators need the tools to discuss race with the staff and students in our classrooms right now. By defining racial literacy in the classroom, identifying the largest obstacles to developing racial literacy, and then sharing best practices to do so, I will disrupt particular scripts that prevent white educators from engaging in meaningful racial discourse with their students and with each other. Above all else, as a suburban white educator myself, I believe it is my responsibility to invite my white colleagues into these conversations instead of ostracize white educators away from them.