Confronting Race in the Classroom

A Little Bit About Lisa Espinosa Teacher Healer Writer Taught on the South Side of Chicago for the past ten years

Her students had to research first-person- accounts from teenagers who were activists in the Civil Rights Movement, which led to understanding and empathy. “Part of teaching my students about who they are in the world and how to overcome oppression means helping them see the commonalities between their struggles and those of people of color.” Espinosa was attempting to teach her Latino students about empathy

Making Changes in the Classroom Espinosa added three different strategies to her classroom in order to see perspectives Power to the Students Providing background knowledge about the history of racism and discrimination in the country to how that leads to inequalities that exist today Looking at current issues that affect people of color Examining how the media creates and perpetuates negative images of people of color She had her students write letters about the Dame Edna interview Discussed and read about the Civil Rights Movement Reflection journals

The key in education is learning about each other’s history current experience and culture by using media and other tools and strategies. Lisa Espinosa was able to take her class through different times and perspectives in order to help their empathy and perspective grow

A Little Bit About Nathaniel Smith From the deep South, Dr. Smith came to Philadelphia in 1996 and did two years’ full-time high school teaching experiences. As well as, he has taught courses at Penn GSE (and several other local universities) for 15 years. Along the way he has published pieces regarding curriculum, race, diversity, and nationalism in public schools

If race truly is perceptional, it must be challenged on the level of perception All race categories are political lines drawn in the sands of cultural and genetic diffusion and evolution “I wanted to make race enormous, difficult, and personal, when many students defined it as stupid, simple, and external.” Smith talked about race as a social construct, and wanted his students to understand the origins of race

Smith’s Changes in the Classroom Pictures without captions exercise Blank family tree example Constructing race, the daily practice of describing rolls and identity's to physical features, is a matter of active perception In order for us to get along, we must understand why we do not get along

How do any of us know we are a specific race at all?

by Daniel Solorzano and Tara Yosso Racial Stereotyping and Deficit Discourse Toward a Critical Race Theory in Teacher Education by Daniel Solorzano and Tara Yosso

Tarra Yosso and Daniel Solorzano Teaching based on CRT (Critical Race Theory) Published in journals such as History of Education Quarterly, Radical History Review, Race Ethnicity and Education, Qualitative Inquiry and the Harvard Educational Review Became a professor the School of Education at the University of Michigan in 2015 Daniel Solorzano is a Professor of Social Science and Comparative Education and Associate Dean for Equity and Diversity in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His main research includes critical race theory in education; racial microaggressions and other forms of everyday racism; and critical race pedagogy

Critical Race Theory A framework tool that uses critical theory to examine society and culture as they relate to categorizations of race, law, and power

CRT also intersects with classism, sexism and other forms of subordination Critical Race Theory The Centrality and Intersectionality of Race and Racism The Challenge to Dominant Ideology The Commitment to Social Justice The Centrality of Experiential Knowledge The Interdisciplinary Perspective -Seeing that racism has played a role in school practices -4 Dimensions -Examining the system of education as a critique of social inequality - We envision a social justice research agenda that leads toward the elimination of racism, sexism, and poverty, and the empowering of underrepresented minority groups -Critical race educators can utilize methods such as: storytelling, narratives, chronicles, family history, scenarios, biographies, and parables to draw on real life experiences from students -Analyzing race and racism by placing them in both an historical and contemporary context using interdisciplinary methods

“We define a CRT in teacher education as a framework that can be used to theorize and examine the ways in which race and racism impact on the structures, processes, and discourses within a teacher education context. This framework challenges dominant ideology, which supports deficit notions about students of color.”

No madder whether race is grinded in science or ideology it shapes our society in inescapable ways