Right Now Zone
For educators who are ready to learn more about ABAR (anti-bias and anti-racist) work and are in the initial stages of their learning.
It is likely that you self-identified with mainly 1s and 2s on the equity assessment. Ibrahim’s Fear Zone likely resonated with you, as well.
Explore the Learning Resources in the order they are listed. While doing so, engage with the Reflection Questions as you proceed. To most effectively engage with this toolkit users should review the Reflection Questions in their entirety both, before and after they’ve fully explored the Learning Resources provided.
Learning Resources
Reflection Questions for White educators
Reflection Questions for Black or IPOC educators
What are my biases, and how did they form?
What is “bias”? What does it look like in school systems, how does it impact students?
Take the Harvard Implicit Bias Test to help better understand your biases, and how they may impact others.
How have I experienced biases in the education system, and how have those impacted me, both in and out of the classroom?
For white educators: What are my biases?
Read Being an Anti-Racist Educator Is a Verb for an introduction of what it means to truly be an anti-racist educator. Consider additionally watching this video on hidden bias, as well as explore strategies for ensuring that students in every grade feel like they’re part of the classroom community.
How can I continue to promote anti-racist conversations in my school community, and how can I involve white educators in the conversation?
How do my biases impact my work in the classroom and school community?
Consider: Did any of your thinking change, why? How does bias relate to how you think about or approach your students or school community?
Explore Talking About Race: Being Anti-Racist which includes articles and materials on how to begin anti-bias work within ourselves.
What conversations can I have regarding race, racism, and bias? With whom can I engage?
What will I do if a colleague exhibits biased behaviors towards BIPOC students or adults?
What will the work of becoming more anti-racist cost me, specifically?
How can I decolonize my classroom library? Am I presenting windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors in my curriculum for all students in my class? What tropes or stereotypes might those reflections hold?
Dedicate time to return to the reflection questions in their entirety.
Take Action
Actionable steps that test and implement the lessons throughout this toolkit.
Review these Four Strategies To Build Relationships With Students and implement one activity from Short Story 4 Square Project as a remote or in-person lesson. If you choose the activity “Survey Your Students...”, set a goal date for knowing the answers to all or most of the questions listed.
Read What Books Are On Your Shelf and follow links from NCTE to expand your bookshelf. It is critically important that every student see themselves within books in your classroom, and that all students can also see and learn to appreciate characters that are different than they are. Make sure that students know what books are in your library.
Read Disrupting Implicit Racial Bias and Other Forms Of Discrimination and review the “solution slides” on pages 13 and 17 to identify an approach that you will introduce in your classroom.
Share a website, resource, or video that you find helpful with a colleague. Set a time to have a conversation with them.