Teaching to Transgress 3rd Meeting Highlights

Hello everyone! We just wrapped up a successful meeting today with some new faces and old. :) Today, we caught up with chapters 7-10...from chapter 7 thinking about the disconnect that occurs from white female racism and black female response, where black feminists struggle to be heard for being dismissed as "too angry" (p. 103). We wondered what brings about race consciousness in some white people to confront their racism and move forward while others remain uncomfortable...how people go through the "5 stages of grief", reacting with denial, anger, depression, bargaining, acceptance. Chapter 10 being a very meaty chapter, we discussed how structural racism affects classroom instruction. Where does the teacher stand in the classroom? What is the attitude toward student voice? What kind of teaching is respected and admired by our coworkers and admin? We wrapped up with some questions to continue considering: 1) How can we "examine possibilities for transforming internalized anger into constructive, self-affirming energy we can use effectively"? (p. 109) 2) How do we open up conversations about race among white people and help them see the importance of doing so? 3) How do we build more intersectionality in the conversation about race, class, and politics? Please join us as we bring our summer reading to a close with our last meeting on Wednesday, August 12th at 11:00 AM to cover chapters 11-14!! Ismael has generously offered his house as our next venue...more details to come in the next reminder for directions. Cheers, Elizabeth, Pamela & Shira