Monday, July 24, 2017

Other People's Children, Meeting 2


Meeting number two focused on Part 2 of Other People's Children. The focus of the first two chapters was on what Delpit learned from teaching/research in Papua New Guinea and in a Native Alaskan community. This lead us to opening the meeting discussing moments in which we have explicitly or subtly learned from a culture other than our own. Many of the conversations that were shared to the whole group highlighted how this learning can help us to reduce judgement and value other perspectives. Next we shared in the whole group about parts of the reading that stood out for us. 


We ended the meeting by looking at data about the Philadelphia school district student and teacher demographics. After talking in small groups about pieces of the data  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w-z9jecMhL8uzvylrBNxyjcGpg1rcQMIkI2LYm8GQtc/editwe created visual and written interpretations of the data based on these three questions:




  • What stands out / sticks with you about the data?
  • What are the connections to the chapters or your own experience?
  • What are some potential solutions from Delpit chapters?

We shared back to the whole group what we had discussed. Some highlights include that money (the lack of it in the best and fairest places) was a major challenge for many reasons, and that there are many barriers that are not just financial for people of color in education. We discussed how, as a group of White educators we felt uncomfortable coming up with solutions, we could be fully hearing the voices of people of color and helping to implement those solutions.

Join us as we read the final section of Other People's Children on Tuesday, July 25th at the A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave, at 4:00.

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