Saturday, April 6, 2013

New Professional Development Resources for Educators

I've just created a new set of dialogue scenes that provide school communities with tools to guide discussion among administration, faculty, and staff about common, destructive interaction patterns and attitudes arising from 1) white privilege, 2) internalized superiority, and 3) unresolved emotions.

This set was inspired by requests from many educators (over the last few years) who asked me to create more dialogue scenes like the one that is within the Chapter 2 Workshop of the Witnessing Whiteness Series. (That scene is oriented around a meeting in a non-profit organization).

After two years of interviewing, planning, writing, and revising, these scenes are finally ready for your review and use! (They are in advanced draft phase, so your input and feedback is welcome! They have been reviewed by fellow educators, but they are just beginning to be tested with audiences. So far, so good. They resonate with many. But, I'm sure these will be refined over time.)

Some of the scenes are more specific to public schools, and others target dynamics common in independent/private schools. Check them out and see which ones might be useful for your faculty and/or teacher development courses.

Dialogue scenes to prompt discussion include:
1. Committee Meeting on Creating Inclusive Classrooms
2. Committee Meeting on Campus Inclusivity
3. Grade Level Meeting on Multicultural Curriculum
4. Increasing Parent Engagement
5. Ethnic Representations in Schools
6. Student Evaluation and Assessment
7. Classroom Structure and Discipline

An introduction to the series is also available and offers descriptions of the seven dialogue scenes, a full listing of the destructive patterns treated, and a sample facilitation agenda. Facilitator's notes are also available. All resources are available at no charge on the Xtras page at www.witnessingwhiteness.com.

I'd love to hear how things go if you decide to use them! As is always true, it's best if those who facilitate the dialogues have a lot of experience both with facilitation and with racism/diversity issues.


1 comment:

  1. Dear Shelly,
    Hello, there, Shelly! It is wonderful reading your great blog post again! I really enjoy and learn from your sensitive, great, and inspiring blog posts! Shelly, you and all of the other marvelous white antiracists do such splendid work working on white privilege, as well as working to end racist inequities, racism in general, and racist discrimination!

    I have started to study your superb materials! What great work you have done, Shelly! Thank-you, thank-you so, so much for all of your advocacy and for being a super white ally! You and all of the other white allies give me hope, inspiration, and optimism for the future! I am not an educator myself, but I have dearest and darling white women sisterfriends who are educators. like one of my dear white sisterfriends is a professor at a college here in Iowa where I live, and my other friends work at the college level, and in the Iowa City, Iowa Community School District. I will for sure let them know about your superb materials, Shelly!

    Shelly, you, AWARELA, and all of you fine and excellent white allies and antiracist activists give me such inspiration as the 51-year-old black/African-American woman and lesbian who I am! My heart continues to heal as a person who has experienced heterosexism, homophobia, sexism, racism, and all kinds of discrimination because of people like you and all of the other marvelous and hard working white allies and advocates! Thank-you so, so kindly and so, so dearly, Shelly! You are doing excellent work! Blessings, blessings so, so very much to you for always, Shelly@
    Sincerely always,
    Sherry Gordon

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