What the research is saying about anti-racist teaching
The research presented here comes primarily from the anthology The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys. Although this collection of essays presents approaches to anti-racist teaching within the context of the white-woman-teacher/black-boy-student relationship, what I have included here is applicable to all white educators and to all students.
During my PS3 internship I introduced my students to a great deal of content involving anti-black racism in the United States and Canada. Having five black students in my grade five class, I found myself contemplating my relationship as a white educator both to these students and to the content I was teaching them about. Therefore, I chose to focus my research through this book as I found the information relevant to my current context.
During my PS3 internship I introduced my students to a great deal of content involving anti-black racism in the United States and Canada. Having five black students in my grade five class, I found myself contemplating my relationship as a white educator both to these students and to the content I was teaching them about. Therefore, I chose to focus my research through this book as I found the information relevant to my current context.
do not adopt a colour blind approach to race -
acknowledge that race exists
When I say a "colour blind approach" I am referring to the mentality that the best way to deal with race is simply to ignore it. This approach generally comes with the phrases "I don't see race" or "I treat everyone the same". The problem with this is that everyone actually does see race and it effects the way that we perceive everyone we encounter, whether we are aware of this or not. The other issue is that we, as teachers, cannot just treat everyone the same because everyone is not the same; every student that walks into a classroom comes with different beliefs, experiences, and understandings of the world. As such, every student deserves a teacher who is willing to learn about those differences and implement a teaching practice which meets the needs of all students in the room.
Elizabeth Denevi, in her article entitled "What if Being called Racist is the Beginning, Not the End of the Conversation", tells a story of her first day as a white English teacher in the mid-1990's. Denevi presented her class with a short story by William Faulkner. After reading the story, a black student raised his hand to tell Denevi "'I'm tired of reading books with the n-word in them. For my entire life in school, I've had to read this word over and over. It's not right, and I'm not going to discuss it anymore.' He and the other two Black students get up and leave" (Denevi, 2018). Denevi goes on to say of this experience: "I had no understanding of the cumulative effect of hearing these slurs in the classroom over and over. For me, it was an intellectual exercise. For these young men, it was an assault on their very being" (Denevi, 2018).
When white teachers adopt a colour blind approach to education, they are suppressing students' racialized experiences and therefore denying them the equitable education they deserve; this is precisely what Denevi argues throughout her article. Teachers need to acknowledge the ways in which race impacts our students experiences. Students deserve a teacher who is willing to recognize their racialized experiences and make them feel seen and heard in the classroom.
Denevi, E. (2018). What if being called racist is the beginning, bot the end of the conversation. In E.J. Moore, A. Michael, and M.W. Pennick-Parks (Eds.), The guide for white women who teach black boys (pp. 55 - 58). Corwin.
Elizabeth Denevi, in her article entitled "What if Being called Racist is the Beginning, Not the End of the Conversation", tells a story of her first day as a white English teacher in the mid-1990's. Denevi presented her class with a short story by William Faulkner. After reading the story, a black student raised his hand to tell Denevi "'I'm tired of reading books with the n-word in them. For my entire life in school, I've had to read this word over and over. It's not right, and I'm not going to discuss it anymore.' He and the other two Black students get up and leave" (Denevi, 2018). Denevi goes on to say of this experience: "I had no understanding of the cumulative effect of hearing these slurs in the classroom over and over. For me, it was an intellectual exercise. For these young men, it was an assault on their very being" (Denevi, 2018).
When white teachers adopt a colour blind approach to education, they are suppressing students' racialized experiences and therefore denying them the equitable education they deserve; this is precisely what Denevi argues throughout her article. Teachers need to acknowledge the ways in which race impacts our students experiences. Students deserve a teacher who is willing to recognize their racialized experiences and make them feel seen and heard in the classroom.
Denevi, E. (2018). What if being called racist is the beginning, bot the end of the conversation. In E.J. Moore, A. Michael, and M.W. Pennick-Parks (Eds.), The guide for white women who teach black boys (pp. 55 - 58). Corwin.
Teachers need to recognize and challenge unconscious bias
Unconscious bias "refers to attitudes of stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner" (Finnerty, 2018).
Unconscious bias has been shown to manifest in teaching practices in these areas:
1. Expectations of classroom behavior
White teachers are more likely to expect inappropriate classroom behavior from black boys than students of other races and genders.
2. Perceptions of hostility and violence
Studies have shown that black men and boys are perceived as more hostile than other populations.
3. Assumptions of innocence and accountability
Black boys are perceived as older than their peers, leading to them being held more accountable for their actions than their white counterparts.
4. Expectations of intelligence and academic performance
A study demonstrated that teachers "perceived students with a 'Black walking style' as having lower academic achievement, being highly aggressive, and being more likely to need special education services" (Finnerty 2018)
Although Finnerty's research focuses on perceptions of black boys, these areas in which unconscious bias manifest are widely applicable to perceptions of all students. For example, teachers may have a tendency to perceive Indigenous students as more hostile than their white counterparts or to expect that Asian students will be capable of high levels of academic performance than their latinx counterparts.
Finnerty, D. (2018). Understanding unconscious bias as one more tool in the committed white teacher´s equity toolkit. In E.J. Moore, A. Michael, and M.W. Pennick-Parks (Eds.), The guide for white women who teach black boys (pp. 55 - 58). Corwin.
Unconscious bias has been shown to manifest in teaching practices in these areas:
1. Expectations of classroom behavior
White teachers are more likely to expect inappropriate classroom behavior from black boys than students of other races and genders.
2. Perceptions of hostility and violence
Studies have shown that black men and boys are perceived as more hostile than other populations.
3. Assumptions of innocence and accountability
Black boys are perceived as older than their peers, leading to them being held more accountable for their actions than their white counterparts.
4. Expectations of intelligence and academic performance
A study demonstrated that teachers "perceived students with a 'Black walking style' as having lower academic achievement, being highly aggressive, and being more likely to need special education services" (Finnerty 2018)
Although Finnerty's research focuses on perceptions of black boys, these areas in which unconscious bias manifest are widely applicable to perceptions of all students. For example, teachers may have a tendency to perceive Indigenous students as more hostile than their white counterparts or to expect that Asian students will be capable of high levels of academic performance than their latinx counterparts.
Finnerty, D. (2018). Understanding unconscious bias as one more tool in the committed white teacher´s equity toolkit. In E.J. Moore, A. Michael, and M.W. Pennick-Parks (Eds.), The guide for white women who teach black boys (pp. 55 - 58). Corwin.
Recognizing your own whiteness is a process
Janet Helms, PhD describes phases that white people go through phases as they become racially conscious. These ideas come from her book A Race is a Nice Thing to Have: A Guide to Being a White Person or Understanding the White Person in Your Life. Helms says that these phases are natural stages that every white person goes through as they begin to recognize racism and respond to it. She says that the end goal for white people should not be racial guilt, but rather they should strive for a "beloved community" (hooks 1995) in which people of all races are able to communicate and interact in a way that celebrates cultural hybridity. Helms adopts the idea of a beloved community from bell hooks.
People may not move through these phases in a chronological order and may repeat stages.
Ali Michael sums up Helms's phases, which have been paraphrased below:
1. Contact
This stage occurs the first time the white person encounters the idea of racism after a lifetime of believing that the world around them has moved beyond racism.
People in this phase believe the best defense against racism is to be colorblind and that recognizing and affirming racial differences is a bad thing. Conversations about race often make them uncomfortable and they will be quick to shut them down.
2. Disintegration
In this phase people begin to literally "disintegrate because the reality of racism is so different from the foundation of what they were taught" (Michael 2018). People in this stage feel an overwhelming amount of guilt and sadness. They are becoming more aware of privilege and racism but feel conflicted and confused about it.
3. Reintegration
In this phase people try to reintegrate their previous understandings of the world. They become hostile and angry. People in this phase blame people of colour for problems influenced by racism, indicating that they just aren't putting in enough effort to overcome.
Teachers in this phase may avoid interacting with parents and colleagues of colour. They may believe that everything they do will be wrong simply because they are white.
4. Pseudo-Independence
People in this phase are beginning to understand racism but still have an internalized idea that white ways of doing things are superior. They hold a belief that they are better equipped to support students of colour than adults of colour will be. They may hold lower expectations for students of colour.
5. Immersion
This phase is a process of immersing yourself in the implications of racism and racial privilege which impact your life and the lives of your students. You will begin to research racism and apply this knowledge to your life. People in the phase are often angry to a point that it impacts their ability to meaningfully engage in anti-racist practices. They disconnect themselves from their whiteness and believe that their understanding of racism makes them a better white person or less white than other white people.
6. Autonomy
Michael dubs this phase the beloved community phase. This is when white people adopt a "new, positive, anti racist identity in which they are conscious of their racial privilege and use it to take action" (Michael 2018). This is the phase in which white people are able to productively bring about change and effectively challenge oppressive structures.
Michael, A. (2018). White racial identity development. In E.J. Moore, A. Michael, and M.W. Pennick-Parks (Eds.), The guide for white women who teach black boys (pp. 66 - 72). Corwin.