No Excuses… Anti-Bias Training and Critical Conversations Have To Happen Now
By Sarah Said
As an instructional leader and consultant, I get messages from teachers, coaches and administrators from all over the country who ask me “With all this remote and hybrid learning professional development, how do you even make time for the anti-bias work that you do with staff in your building?” My answer is a simple but complex answer. It’s simple in that we all know that it is imperative to have anti-bias work happening in our staff development and in our curriculum as well. It’s complex because well…with all the things teachers need to learn this year how do we make sure that it is given the time, space, and funding it is needed to be given?
Sometimes there is push back on this kind of thinking. Why? Because when this work is done well, there are people who feel uncomfortable. When people feel uncomfortable with it, it’s because they are self-reflecting and the anti-bias work is working…
Let’s Focus on the Why…
The riots in the US Capitol were eye opening to the fact that we have so much work to do to fight hatred in this country. The riot was not about partisan issues, it was really about pure hated—hatred that we have to combat in our schools, now. We can’t wait for the time to “launch an initiative” anymore. Anti bias training is not an initiative- it’s part of a permanent school culture.
The Covid-19 pandemic has uncovered so many inequities not just in our schools, but in our labor forces and in our healthcare system. The place to begin planting seeds in creating systemic change is schools. In schools, it starts with the adults looking at themselves internally and beginning to change to create better opportunities for students.
We need to tackle anti-bias work now because remote learning has created so many windows for teachers to see in the lives of students. Daily, teachers see the way that their students and families live through remote screens. Some teachers have gone the extra mile to have “porch visits”. Many teachers are struggling with how to support students as they get more of a window into their home environments and can really struggle with what to do and what to say.
My Story of Getting This Work Started
In the past, I made the mistake of solely digging into Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning as a way to support teachers’ understanding of race and culture. I was scared. I am a school leader of color. I didn’t want teachers to feel that I was “making them feel racist” and “making them uncomfortable”. I thought it was a way of talking about race in schools but not talking about it. After reading, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Race by Robin D’Angelo and How to Be An Anti-Racist by Ibram Kendi, I began to realize how important it was to not try to push these conversations solely into a realm of instruction because I was scared to have the real conversations.
I further came to a realization one day as I was again “trying to tread lightly” and give professional development about culturally responsive learning when I looked at some of the staff I was presenting to and realized that they don't understand the importance of this because I haven’t had the conversations about antiracism and equity. This is where I learned my approach needed to be different.
This year when I lead conversations about antiracism, I learned that, on my end, “less is more”. I started the conversations off by not talking. Instead, I had teachers in what we call a “chalk talk” analyzing images of microaggressions. They wrote what came to mind as they viewed these images. Then in small groups, they had bigger conversations about the images. Some broke down in tears about their own values at the end of the conversation, where others had anger about the microaggressions they endured in their lifetime. They also then began to slowly think about how their own perceptions of students impact their instruction.
As the year has progressed, we have begun to slowly uncover systemic racism and how it impacts our school. We have also thought about the conversations that WE can have as a team to better understand our communities. Currently, I am working to have our student voice be part of that conversation so that teachers better understand the lives of their students.
Suggestions on Where to Start In This Work
The way that you can start this work will depend on the population that you serve. In some communities you can just dive in. Other communities will need baby steps in this work for it to go well and have an impact on the teachers and stakeholders. This can start with simple exposure of understanding student home cultures in a “non-threatening” but “non-Epcot center” way. Teachers can learn from students about what their home culture is like through assignments that you help them plan in their classroom, so that they feel like they are in the drivers’ seat. Or you can launch anonymous reflections on what teachers know and need to know about the students and their communities. Most teams will not push back if their work is done the right way. If there is that one person who becomes a “nay-sayer” you need to have that message in the back of your mind that what you are doing has an effect on them; because what you are doing is working.
We also have to remember that we are in turbulent times. Events like the murder of George Floyd and the Insurrection of the US Capitol has not only traumatized students, but adults have trauma they are dealing with as well. Some of this work may need to be mindfulness work that supports teachers in recuperating from seeing the behavior they have seen on the news. Some struggle with having conversations with adults and students because they are trying to find their voice as well. The less talking you do and the more structures you build as a presenter for listening- the better.
Time
There are many districts concerned about having the time needed to have this work. Whether you start big or small—time cannot be an excuse anymore. Many districts preserve days for professional development in order to support teachers’ needs. Some of this professional development comes in small bursts. I have actually found that for this type of professional development that it needs to happen piece by piece so that teachers can absorb and reflect on the different layers of understanding implicit bias. This cannot be a “box you check” one day training that has no follow up. The conversations need to be on going.
Space
Spaces for this training need to be comfortable and safe spaces. These training can be done online or in person. You just need to think strategically about who you are grouping together and plan what conversations will look like. Start conversations off with norms and provide teachers with sentence frames to support how to have small group conversations regarding biases. Also model with a peer how these discussions will look. As a person of color who facilitates these discussions, I learned that they work best with a white partner to facilitate them and we model our conversation. If staff is not equipped to facilitate these conversations, you need to bring in an external facilitator that will work with your staff.
Funding
If you need to buy resources or bring external facilitators in, you need to make these funds a priority. Yes, a new STEM lab is pretty, but without equity in a school system that STEM lab will not get the use and results it needs to get for those who can benefit from it. Utilize your Title funds to support these training. Organizations like Learning for Justice provide funds and resources to help schools support this work. Also Re-imagining Migration is a great place to look for resources and support as well in this work as well as Confianza, including links we added below for further learning.
To start this work you really need to know your teams, students, and communities and their needs. From there, with your team and an outside partner if needed, work on a plan. That plan will be ever changing based on the conversations you have had with your team and the changing of this work. Investing in this work, is an investment in all of the work you do as a school community.