Learning to Relearn: Supporting Student Identities in Culturally Affirming Classrooms

Outline

1) INTRODUCTION (5 mins)
- Review of Workshop Norms & Expectations
- Icebreaking Activity/Game: "Sing That Tune"
Participants will have the option of choosing between two words: "Home". The object of the game is for participants to sing out loud songs that have the word "Home" in it. Alternatively, they can generate a list of song titles that have the word "Home" in it.

2) WHY HONOR THE DIVERSE IDENTITIES OF STUDENTS? (10 mins)
- Explaining to participants that identity-based harm is a violation of human rights. More specifically, it is a child protection and safeguarding issue, as indicated by the United Nations.
- Question for Group Discussion: Describe a moment in your K-12 schooling when you felt seen, heard, affirmed or welcomed as a student.

3) HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOUR HOME? (10 mins)
- Provide definition of belonging, which the feeling of being accepted, valued, and welcomed within a school, neighborhood, community, or workplace
- Question for Group Discussion: In what ways can we make our classrooms feel like home each and every one of our students?
- Independent Activity ("How Do You Define Your Home") - On a separate piece of paper, each participant will draw a circle in the center and proceed to complete the diagram by answering the following questions:

In the House: What does it look like, feel like, or sound like when you're at home?
Outside of the House: What does it look like, feel like, or sound like you when you're outside of home?

4) STRATEGIES FOR SUPPORTING DIVERSE STUDENT IDENTITIES (20 mins) - In this section, I will review and model the following strategies with the participants:
- "Me" Bag
- Saying Students Names Correctly
- Honoring Students' Preferred Pronouns
- Performing Equity Audits on Curricular Resources
- Honoring Non-Christian Holidays & Traditions
- Incorporating Students' Home Languages as Assets for Learning
- Embrace the Learning Styles of Neurodiverse Learners
- Engaging Social Emotional Learning with an ABAR Lens

5) CONCLUSION: EMBRACING DISCOMFORT (5 mins)
We can support students' identities by embodying the following traits/skills:
- Interrogation of Personal Biases
- Agency Building
- Community Building
- Critical Humility and Empathy
- Giving Yourself Grace After Making Mistakes

METHODS OF ENGAGEMENT:
- Breakout rooms, peer-to-peer interaction, whole group discussion

Supporting research

BOOKS:
- "Start Here, Start Now" by Liz Kleinrock
- "This Book is Antiracist" by Tiffany Jewell
- "The Identity-Conscious Educator" by Liza Talusan
- "Humans Who Teach" by Shamari K. Reid
- "Cultivating Genius" and "Unearthing Joy" by Gholdy Muhammad
- "The Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire
- "Reading & Racism" by Bree Picower
- "The Dreamkeepers" by Gloria Ladson-Billings

PUBLICATIONS:
- "Why SEL Alone Isn't Enough (ASCD Article) by Dena Simmons - https://ascd.org/el/articles/why-sel-alone-isnt-enough

- "White Supremacy Culture - Still Here" by Tema Okun

- "Critical Race Methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research" by Daniel Solorzano and Tara Yosso

- Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Antiracist Politics, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics" by Dr. Kimberle Crenshaw

VIDEOS:
- "Truth, Love & Racial Literacy" TED Talk (Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz) - https://youtu.be/-V_GdpVR6NI?si=lUN8-tJeMSsH2lCp

- "How Students of Color Confront Impostor Syndrome" TED Talk (Dena Simmons) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sQ2p89P0Us

- "The Urgency of Intersectionality" TED Talk by Kimberle Crenshaw - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o

WEBSITES:
White Supremacy Culture - https://https://www.whitesupremacyculture.info/

Learning to Relearn - https://learning2relearn.com/