Reading as a Vehicle for Fostering Anti-Racist and Inclusive Students: Notes from NAIS PoCC 2020 Seminar

BOOKS BEYOND BORDERS PROJECT

• Read one book per month about a character or setting that allows you to explore a variety of lived experiences that are different than your own
• Use a variety of identifiers (race, gender, religion, geographical borders--so on)
• Write a reflection
• Have a conversation about what you read with teachers, peers, parents
• Inspiration from the project came from Rita Platt blog post

10 REASONS TO TRY THIS PROJECT

1. Skills in history/SS studies: it teaches perspective and allows students to consider different historical contexts.
2. Skills in English: plot structure, conflict, character development, questioning skills (especially about unfamiliar topics); gives context for students to continue reading outside of class; normalizing reading these books and builds empathy
3. Benefits of independent reading: at least 20 minutes per day increases vocabulary use and standardized testing achievement; develops a love of reading
4. SEL skills: awareness of self and others
5. Open dialogue: informal conversations--teacher-student and student-student
6. Teacher/student connection
7. Exposure: Celebration of diversity
8. Allyship & activism: students will encounter issues like microagressions or experiences that they may not be familiar with; it's ok if you're one identity and want to read about other people's experiences
9. Identity development: explore who they are as they learn about other people
10. Anti-racism work: building a culture of anti-racism in the classroom, inspiring anti-racist students

-Culturally neutral books might present a person who has a known difference while their experience is somewhat normalized

-Culturally authentic books present real lived experiences of differences rather than a singular monolithic cultural experience

-Anti-racist books present stories of people who are understanding the world outside of their own lenses and their privilege; might inspire students to engage their own work in anti-racism

GUIDANCE

-Avoid having students tokenize other people or typify other people's experiences a la "The Danger of the Single Story"

-Easy access to these books and encouragement to encounter different voices can be super powerful 

-Teachers should read the books along with their students

-Create a visual display that celebrates the reading project and allows students to share their reflections

-Build interdisciplinary reading by partnering btwn language, math, STEAM, humanities

“I’m NOT Too Young to Read about This” Literature: A Vehicle for Anti-Racism ToolKit

Presentation slide notes

Teaching for Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice LINK-A-PALOOZA!!

Classroom Resources

2019 Rainbow Book List

50+ YA Books by QPOC About QPOC

The YA/MG Trans & Nonbinary Voices Masterlist

Awesome booklist as described!  👆

Social Justice Standards Rubric

Teaching Tolerance’s Social Justice Standards, a road map for anti-bias education at every grade level

Zinn Education Project
SO MANY actionable lesson plans to reframe teaching history, social studies, and language arts with a People's History approach

YA Reading List Telling the Stories of People Living in (Post)colonial Conditions

1619 Project
"The goal of The 1619 Project is to reframe American history, making explicit how slavery is the foundation on which this country is built. For generations we have not been adequately taught this history. Our hope is to paint a fuller picture of the institution that shaped our nation."

Teaching While White
Considering:

• What are the best practices for making whiteness explicit in classrooms?

• What skills are needed to become racially literate both for teachers and students?

...And other relevant questions around allyship through podcast and resource sharing

Tips & Tricks: Teachers Educating on Zoom
A dedication to equity necessitates mastering the medium through which we're educating and understanding the variety of features that allow for various kinds of communication

Community Resources and Information

Good Ancestor Podcast
"An interview series with change-makers & culture-shapers exploring what it means to be a good ancestor. Hosted by globally respected speaker, anti-racism educator, and New York Times bestselling author of Me and White Supremacy, Layla F. Saad."

Ryse Center 
Youth empowerment community center in Richmond, CA-- a model for safe spaces for queer / black / people of color
Food for Thought
Reimagining schools as a space for healing, recovery, and limitless imagination

Food for Thought

Using COVID-19 as a Learning Opportunity
"The following interdisciplinary resources for history, English, math, and science maximize students’ ability to understand the world and their relation to it and reassure them that humans have weathered pandemics before and will do so again."

What If We Radically Reimagined the New School Year?

Teaching Gender Diversity in Middle School and Incorporating Intersections with Racial Justice

Grounding Theory: Indigenous Feminism: If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound in mine, then let's get to work

If Black trans women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since their freedom would necessitate the destruction of all systems of oppression.

LEARNING ABOUT TEACHING GENDER AND RACIAL JUSTICE:
-Due to cisheteropatriarchy, and colonialism, middle schoolers have unlearning to do

• But not as much as ppl might think
• Multiple touches help entry points (books, lessons, movies, and teaching it)
• Biggest confusion: conflating gender and sexuality
• Review anatomy of gender, sexuality, and expression

-Students fundamentally understand that people deserve respect
-Books and key figures are great learning tools--center black-trans-women in this

• Sister Rosette Tharp, Nina Simone, Little Richard,  Bessie Smith, Storme Devarie, Bayard Rustin, They Call Me Mix, It Feels Good to Be Yourself, 

-Every subject must center black transwomen

• Science-- be clear in educating (genitalia doesn't = gender)
• Name the harm done by science against women and transgender people (Eugenics!)
• Ben Barres The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist

-Middle schoolers need to understand the language/function of pronouns, natural link to gender identity

-Conversations about race in terms of resistance, marginalized peoples' contributions 

-Share your gender identity

Let's Get Free: A Racial Justice Approach to Supporting Gender Expansive Youth of Color

Centering the lived experiences of the youth--creating community that sees all the kiddos as individuals

-None of us are free until Queer, Trans, GNC and non-binary, Indigenous, YoC are free
-Gender binary and gender norms are rooted in white supremacy
-We don't have time to not talk about race
-If it's not racially just it's not trauma informed
-Resilience is the baseline, not the benchmark (survival isn't enough--why do people have to be resilient--let's address the harm so we're not always bouncing back from harm!!)
-Trauma is atmospheric, so our healing must be
-Nothing about YPOC, without YPOC
-Gender expansive youth of color are the experts of their own experience

PAT PARKER:
"The first think you need to do is forget that I'm black. Second, you must never forget that I'm black."
-This is just the first step
-Seeing people as whole people--not just their identity markers, but not forgetting their identity either

RYSE CENTER:
-Centering young peoples' voices
-Fostering creativity
-Restorative justice approach
-Youth organizing club
-Sanctuary and safe space
-Opportunities to connect, heal, learn, and lead

IN GIVING SERVICES
-Avoid weaponizing the available and treating them as band-aids for a broken system
-Naming the problems of the system so that people know they aren't the problem
-PPL often sitting in their own pain while trying to do the work of advocating for themselves and uncared for
-Conventional research doesn't center and cherish trans and gender diverse ypoc (seen as problems to be dealt with)
-Ppl are problematized--shows up in state violence, shows up to make the people bad rather than addressing the problem that hurt them


COLLECTIVE LIBERATION--we are a part of the process, we can create the space but it's also for us, it is work we can do together

HEALING CENTERED ENGAGEMENT
-Healing and well-being and fundamentally political
-Young folks develop and analyze these practices and policies that create the trauma in the first place

BELOVED COMMUNITY
-We lead with love and rage
-We prioritize relationships
-We acknowledge injustice and harm
-Modeling healthy relationships by engaging the young ppl with love
-We stop to acknowledge grief and loss
-Grief is needed for healing and movement

SELF CARE
-Seen as an individual rather than systemic--and then we come back to the problematic system
-How can we learn about ourselves from the joy that we give/get from our experiences
-Creating space to center joy and pleasure allows sustainability, collective liberation and healing

Apologizing is important. Acknowledging the harm that has been done.

Gender Spectrum Day 2: Build It and They Will Karaoke

A Case Study from Rockland County Community Center

Running a Meeting:
-Share names and pronouns
-Share something magical in your life
-Share gay/queer history or community leader
-Dinner
-Social time

Other Features: community agreements, themed nights, coping and emotional development skills, community building and advocacy skills, life skills, presence of trained crisis intervention staff, leadership by Black Trans people and other ppl of color
-If you don't know who the black trans people who are already doing the work--THAT is

*CLAPPING for people on all their wins (grades, showing up, community validation)
-baking validation into every aspect of communication and

*This is not therapy*

SUCCESSES:
-Chosen family
-Support Black and Trans leadership
-Creativity and play
-There is not therapy, this is not a support group--it is AFFIRMATIVE
-Holiday wish list (not charity but community caring in a reciprocal way)

EVENTS:
-Drag night
-Couture night (making couture pieces on mannequins out of newspaper--then they wrote the words that people have used against them on the newspapers)
-Dear queer elder letters asking for holiday presents

PANDEMIC SUPPORT:
-Food/nutrition support
-Providing technology
-Socially distanced in-person meeting

ALLIES:
-Mentorship program through a community program
-Not everyone can just come into the space
-Teachers
-Be careful about who you allow in
-For youth, we don't turn people away--they might be showing up as allies and then come out later

Creating and Sustaining Groups for LGBTQIA+ Children and Families in Elementary School

How can we start such a group at our own schools?
-"Rainbow Clubs" "Affinity Groups"

• Safe place to support identities 

How to start a group:

1. Find at least one ally in the community
• Principal, union rep, supportive family members,
• Who is supporting teachers? What are their views?
• How responsive would admin be? Who would I contact first?
• Admin would be generally supportive without getting involved
• I would connect with other queer teachers
2. Decide who will plan, host and organize each meeting
• Works well in teams
• Planning meeting ahead of time
• Will you include families and siblings in meetings?
• At least one LGBTQIA+ member and one person of color
• Who would make good additions to the group?
• How can we prioritize black voices?
3. Decide where and when your group will happen?
• Pick a space that won't change during the year
• Frequency?
• Consider accessibility (time, transportation, internet access) 
• Where would be the best spaces for us to meet? (Neutral space--SEL room?)
• How often? What time of day? (Lunch clubs)
4. Get the word out
• How can we reach most of the community? (Direct outreach usually more effective)
• Students, families, staff, allies
• Posters? Involve students with flyers? Morning meetings? Newsletters? Class notes?
5. Host the first meeting
• Get the word out 1-2 wks before the first meeting
• Give reminders in the days leading up the meeting
• Check in with families so we know some ppl will be there
• Fams/sibs may be present
• Consider privacy (especially online)
• Make everyone feel welcome
• Take time to reflect and consider what went well
• What kinds of activities would we want to do? (choose a structure and a theme for each meeting)
• Start with play and chat--open activities for students
• Read a story aloud and discuss
• Make posters, 
• Playing with pronouns cards, gender non-binary dolls 
• Celebrate ally week, no name calling week
• Make buttons that show students' pronouns--or just getting creative

• Special considerations for online groups:
• Greater potential participation
• Challenges of coordinating schedules
• Find ways to be interactive (chat, breakout, "change one thing," treasure and scavenger hunts around the house
• Ensure access to tech
• Work time:
• Gender Inclusive Classroom's page about Rainbow Clubs
• GLSEN School Year Calendar with LGBTQ+ dates
• Bi-monthly themes for long term planning
• Sample letter to principal
• BLM @school coloring pages
• TIPS:
• Building a larger allies across schools 
• Building identity maps, race, ethnicity, gender, religion
• Snacks, community, fun

Creating Inclusive Curriculum

Why have an inclusive curriculum?

• Strongest predictors of students' feeling of safety at school (teaching empathy, kindness)
• Benefits all students; "windows and mirrors"-- Rudine Sims Bishop
• GSA is great but not the only indicator of inclusive climate @ school

Inclusive curriculum problems

• 2sLGBTQ topics restricted--how do we talk about gender/sexuality with children when it's seen as taboo?

Quick tips!

• Integrate queer/trans lives in the day-to-day (rather than tokenize)
• Subtel integration--bring up individuals without in-depth topic discussion
• Overt-- openly talk about issues of sexuality and gender

Example: James Baldwin

-Discuss his contemporaries (MLK, give context); he was also queer (mentioning it)

-I Am Not Your Negro

-"Go the Way Your Blood Beats"-- interviews about sexuality and the movement for Black lives

ELA Recs:

-Emily Dickenson, Tennessee Williams, Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Alice Walker, Langston Hughes, "The Color Purple," "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

ALL THE LINKS:

Understanding Gender Dysphoria

Presener: Aydin Olson-Kennedy

"Coming in before coming out"
-Coming in: Exploration of gender in order to understand their experience

• Taking information in privately (YouTube, forums) before they can come out
• People can have gradual coming out process as they perceive themselves, understand their own gender

-Coming out: at times people to come out in spaces where there is some distance/safety (text or grocery store

• People can be resisted in coming out: being disbelieved as "attention seeking" or a phase
• Questions can feel like accusations at first exposure
• Coming out is exhausting! People have been doing work to understand themselves for months/years before bringing the information to whoever they're coming out to
• (Based on study participants) Ave. age when people recognize their difference (coming in) at 13; disclosure at age 27--ppl doing lots of work coming in for years before coming out
• Never ask ppl to "de-evolve" or step back in their movement forward

-Factors that can influence coming in and out

• Racial/ethnic identity
• Family structure
• Religious identity or affiliation
• Geographic location
• Access to information
• Perceived family/social support structure
• Designated gender at birth, gender identity, sexual identity
• Media

-What is gender dysphoria?

Diagnosis: An incongruence between experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender (for at least 6 mos) based on specific criteria leading to clinically significant distress

• This can be harmful as it withholds care until people are in distress--and is not preventative

What it can look like:

• Depression, anxiety, disengagement, anger, poor academics, negative body image, exhaustion, distracted but able to focus on specific things (escapism)

Sound like:

• What will my family identity be if I come out?
• I do/don't hate my body--feeling like they're not doing trans "right" if they don't hate their body
• Grief over never being "real"--less than the real they want to be

Might get dysphoric over:

• body, facial features, periods, emotions, mannerisms, voice, interests

Dysphoria is trauma; dysphoria can feel like being born in the wrong body

• Suicidality may be a something dysphoria evokes

What You Need to Know Before the Gender Spectrum Symposium!

Dear Professionals’ Symposium Attendee,

We are so excited that you will be joining us for this year’s event. We believe we have an incredible program that will provide deep learning, reflection and connection for all involved. Below, please find a variety of items that will help you get the very most out of the gathering.

1. Here is a short video that will help to explain how to access the symposium. Being part of the event is quite simple and will run through the event website. If you need help logging onto the website, email support@heysummit.com 
2. If you have not yet done so, we strongly encourage you to identify the specific workshops you plan to attend and add them to your online schedule.
3. Gender Basics Video: Attendees bring with them a wide range of knowledge and experience with the subject of gender. We have created this video to provide participants with some foundational concepts about gender. We have asked presenters to refrain from a lot of “Gender 101” content because workshops are just one hour. This ~22 minute video will do a great job of grounding you in some basic gender literacy and terminology. 
4. Participation Guidelines. The Professionals’ Symposium is designed to be an engaging and respectful community. In order to support deep learning and reflection,  it is important that there is plenty of room to explore ideas, express feelings or simply listen without fear of being disrespected.  In order to make room for each person’s perspective and give all of us the opportunity to learn with and from one another, we ask you to observe these guidelines.
5. Racial Justice and Gender Articles. It is not possible to truly be gender inclusive without taking into account the impact of white supremacy, racism, and oppression on transgender and gender diverse young people, especially youth of color. There are many wonderful resources in this regard and these are just a few that we find helpful.

Recommended articles for everyone 

• Why organizers are fighting to center black trans lives right now A first person essay on the news site, Vox, by Joshua Obawole Allen, our Thursday Keynote Speaker.
• What Is White Privilege, Really? An article that explores not only what White Privilege is, but what to do about it. From Teaching Tolerance
• Pronouns Matter College Students provide some tips to use pronouns to include everyone.  The Gender Equity Center at CSU San Marcos

Recommended Reading especially for Workshop Facilitators and Educators

• From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces This longer, but critical article, asks the question, “Can we really create safe spaces or should we strive to create brave spaces that acknowledge the complexity of education and dialogue related to social justice?”

Once again, we cannot wait to be with all of you later this week!

The Gender Spectrum Team

Gender Spectrum Day 1 Webinar: Becoming an Active Ally to the Trans and GNC Communities

Webinar: Becoming an Active Ally to the Trans and GNC Communities

Closed eyes exercise:

Have you ever experienced bullying or discrimination for your gender presentation? 

-Think about the incident; what happened? how did it feel? did anyone else step in?

-Imagine it happening every day--even within your own self

If you were an active ally, what would you have done?

*Breakout rooms to share about those experiences*

Discussion:

What barriers might TGNC ppl face when trying to access services?

-Healthcare providers who don't know they're biased--parents can confirm the suitability of a provider

-Use of dead names on documents and healthcare systems, unintentional outing through healthcare providers

-Teachers' use of gender rolls in classroom

What barriers might you have in working with TGNC clients?

-Unsupportive families

-Personal biases

-Status quo

Journaling: How can I use what I've learned about today to make changes?

-Embrace all students where they are in their process of self discovery

-Continue to press myself to make changes around naming and gender ID in school systems

Links: 
https://www.buildingallies.org/blog/what-happens-if-we-do-something-different/
https://www.buildingallies.org/becoming-an-active-ally/