Practice: How Can We Do Better?

• In Event: "When You Know Better, DO Better": Racial Literacies and Teacher (Un)Learning

Abstract

Racial literacy asks that teachers take action against injustice in their school settings once they recognize it (Sealey-Ruiz, 2011). This paper focuses on practical strategies in an effort to build capacity and solidarity across the teaching-learning continuum, thereby increasing the likelihood of transformative change for both preservice and inservice teachers.

When preservice teachers are allowed to remain uninformed about the cultures of their future students, and the role of race and racism is not discussed constructively in preservice courses, teacher education programs become complicit in producing another generation of teachers who will fail to recognize how stereotypes fuel their “understanding” of students of color (Sealey-Ruiz & Greene, 2015). Racial literacy in teacher education calls for self-reflection and moral, political, and cultural decisions about how teachers can be catalysts for societal change—first by learning about systems of injustice and then explicitly teaching their students what they have learned through the use of dialogue, critical texts, journaling, and helping to develop their critical thinking and conversation skills around the topics of racism, discrimination, and prejudice (Sealey-Ruiz, 2011). This paper will share research-supported ideas to inspire activism within teacher preparation programs, including:
• Providing explicit and deep instruction (across more than one course) focusing on race and racism (examples from history teaching methods);
• Committing to the hiring and retention of faculty of color and racially literate faculty;
• Supporting preservice teachers of color;
• Providing opportunities for preservice teachers to practice and apply racial literacy principles in lesson plans; and,
• Create space for preservice teachers to develop skills in activism around racism during the program through action research or informed action projects.

Beyond teacher preparation, conversations about race often exist in silos only with educators who feel competent and compelled to act. Therefore, to advance racial literacies within preK-12 schools, practicing teachers need ongoing opportunities to expand their own understanding of race/ism and to engage in conversations with others. This paper will share research-supported ideas to inspire inservice teacher activism, including:
• Providing ongoing and tiered professional development on race and racism in education;
• Supporting professional learning communities that focus on race/ism and teacher practices;
• Committing financial resources, including covering costs for books and travel to conferences, to continue to develop racial literacy instruction and practices;
• Strengthening university and school partnerships to build capacity for racial literacy through learning opportunities; and,
• Seeking and building solidarity with like-minded educators within school/district and through Teacher Activist Groups.

In many ways, history education helps us understand how racism has been operationalized in our society and provides a blueprint of collective social movements that mobilized to dismantle institutional racism. Educators focused on developing racial literacies can engage in activism from interpersonal and pedagogical to institutional. The crux of the paper advocates the use of racial literacy practices in teacher preparation programs and continued learning opportunities to support both preservice and in-service teachers.

Author

• Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, District of Columbia Public Schools