For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood

The general consensus as we discussed the pedagogical strategies Emdin describes in Chapters 3 - 9 was that, as a whole, they seem consistent with the actions of a culturally competent teacher. Many found Emdin lacking in his conceptualization of these pedagogical actions within a coherent anti-racist framework. An interesting discussion then emerged around the question, 'Can teachers become less racist/more anti-racist without engaging in deep self-reflection about implicit bias and institutional racism before following Emdin's "steps" OR is starting with Emdin's "steps" an accessible way to get teachers who might initially be put off by critical self-assessment to self-reflect on biases as a result of the teacher-student interactions the 'steps' create?' 

Looking forward to our last session on August 11, we began brainstorming actions we could take as a result of our discussions and learning over the course of a book group. Ideas included supplementary reading lists (add resources here), creating PD materials to share with our schools and networks, and turning this book group into an ItAG.

{Derrick Houck}