69传媒

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Classroom Q&A

With Larry Ferlazzo

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers鈥 questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to lferlazzo@epe.org. Read more from this blog.

Education Opinion

Q&A Collections: Race & Racism in 69传媒

By Larry Ferlazzo 鈥 June 18, 2020 15 min read
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During the summer, I will be sharing thematic posts bringing together responses on similar topics from the past nine years. You can see all those collections from the first eight years .

Here are the ones I鈥檝e posted so far:

Today鈥檚 theme is on Race & Racism in 69传媒. You can see the list following this excerpt from one of them:

Four educators share changes they are making in their teaching as a result of the violent death of George Floyd and subsequent protests, such as trying to leave a deficit framework behind and looking at more systemic causes of racism.

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Five educators offer recommendations about confronting colleagues who engage in racist language and actions, such as highlighting the differences between 鈥渋mpact鈥 and 鈥渋ntent鈥 and referencing school institutional values.

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In the face of the shootings of George Floyd, Jacob Blake, and others, four educators share their plans for confronting racism, including encouraging a culture of questioning in the classroom and engaging with Black community members.

Three educators discuss why teachers should not believe or act like 鈥渢hey don鈥檛 see color鈥 and, instead, invite students to share their experiences of how race impacts their lives.

Three educators discuss what teachers can do in response to George Floyd鈥檚 death, including not stopping at conversations and instead moving to action.

Three educators share what schools should and should not do to support teachers to become anti-racists, such as lifting up black student voices and bypassing prepackaged 鈥渃haracter-building鈥 lessons that don鈥檛 address racism.

Three educators offer suggestions for educators in the face of George Floyd鈥檚 death, among them, going beyond social-emotional-learning skills and 鈥渒now and teach the history of race.鈥

Two educators challenge White teachers to confront 鈥渉ard truths,鈥 including recognizing the role of White privilege and acknowledging their own biases.

Three educators offer lessons teachers can learn from the death of George Floyd, such as neutrality has no place in the struggle for racial justice and White educators must stop expecting their colleagues of color to do the 鈥渉eavy lifting.鈥

Two educators offer advice to White teachers, including learning more about restorative practices and focusing on their actions, not their intentions.

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Two educators offer suggestions on what to do--and not do--in the wake of George Floyd鈥檚 death, such as learning about the legacy of racism before taking action and not just limiting actions to empty messages of support.

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Two teachers reflect and communicate about what they think educators should learn from the death of George Floyd, including the importance of being anti-racist and challenging White teachers to acknowledge their implicit biases.

Shannon R. Waite, Ed.D., writes that Black students need to be shown love during the pandemic and that love should be demonstrated through developing 鈥渁 critical consciousness in teachers and administrators.鈥

Jamila Lyiscott, Ph.D., writes about the challenges facing Black students before and during the Coronavirus crisis and how schools must invite them to help identify their own needs.

Educator Adeyemi Stembridge, Ph.D., shares strategies to bolster African American students during our present emergency, such as inviting them to share their stories and their art.

Two educators describe how schools can directly respond to the needs of African American students during the COVID-19 crisis, including by regularly contacting their homes and developing a student-centered curriculum.

Five educators share culturally responsive teaching 鈥渢ips,鈥 including the use of restorative circles and creating lessons with students鈥 cultures in mind.

Five educators provide recommendations on how to incorporate culturally sustaining pedagogy in the classroom, including offering a four-step process and encouraging teachers to start with educating themselves about their students.

Ten educators offer specific ideas on how to apply culturally responsive pedagogy in schools, including through the use of diverse literature and by inviting students to share their own life experiences.

Six educators share specific suggestions on how to make lessons more culturally responsive, including through having teachers assess their own biases and by elevating students鈥 culture and language.

Veteran educator Dr. Karen Baptiste discusses how teachers believing they are 鈥渃olorblind鈥 contributes toward the school-to-prison pipeline for students.

Four educators offer recommendations on how to respond to teachers who say they 鈥渄on鈥檛 see race,鈥 including specific questions to use for deepening the conversation.

Seven educators challenge the idea of 鈥渘ot seeing race or color鈥 in the the classroom and offer suggestions like considering our own implicit biases, as well as providing additional resources.

Nine educators write about possible ways to respond to teachers who say they 鈥渄on鈥檛 see color,鈥 including by framing the discussion around differentiation, school climate, and white privilege.

When teachers claim they 鈥渄on鈥檛 see race鈥 or 鈥渄on鈥檛 see color, that makes it difficult for them to build relationships with students. Eight educators offer suggestions of how to respond to those teachers.

A six-part series on why educators must 鈥渟ee color鈥 is wrapped up by Justin A. Coles, Dr. Chezare A. Warren, and Christopher Emdin. This series has been guest-edited by Shannon R. Waite, Ed.D.

Dr. Marcelle Mentor, Jane Bolgatz, and Dr. Akane Zusho discuss the costs of not addressing colorblindness in education. This post is Part Five in a series guest-edited by Shannon R. Waite, Ed.D.

Jia Lee, Melissa Payne, and Brady Smith write about the myth of 鈥渘ot seeing race.鈥 This post is Part Four in a series guest-edited by Shannon R. Waite, Ed.D.

Public school student Jehan Pitt and Professor Kaliris Salas-Ramirez, Ph.D., discuss how teachers can deal with the issue of race in the classroom. This is Part Three in a series guest-edited by Shannon R. Waite, Ed.D.

Kris DeFilippis and Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad question teachers who say they 鈥渄on鈥檛 see race,鈥 in this series guest-edited by Shannon R. Waite, Ed.D.

Judd Rothstein and Terri N. Watson, Ph.D., challenge the notion of teacher 鈥渃olorblindness鈥 in this series guest-edited by Shannon R. Waite, Ed.D.

Vernita Mayfield agreed to answer a few questions about her book, Cultural Competence Now: 56 Exercises to Help Educators Understand and Challenge Bias, Racism, and Privilege.

For the 100th book-related post in this blog, Gholdy Muhammad agreed to answer a few questions about her new book, Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy.

Adeyemi Stembridge talks about his new book, Culturally Responsive Education In The Classroom: An Equity Framework for Pedagogy, including explaining the difference between 鈥渆quity鈥 and 鈥渆quality.鈥

Dr. Tracey A. Benson and Dr. Sarah E. Fiarman agreed to answer a few questions about their book, Unconscious Bias In 69传媒: A Developmental Approach to Exploring Race and Racism.

Daisy Han and Lorena Germ谩n agreed to answer a few questions about the new book they have edited, Speaking For Ourselves.

Jamila Lyiscott answers some questions about her new book, Black Appetite. White Food: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom.

Marian Dingle, Sydney Chaffee, Raquel Rios, Rinard Pugh, and Dr. Kimberly N. Parker talk about mistakes that are often made when trying to tackle race and racism in the classroom and explore what we teachers can do, instead.

Dr. Tehia Glass, Dr. Erin Miller, Eddie Moore, Jr., Ali Michael, Marguerite Penick-Parks, Dr. Chezare A. Warren, Brian L. Wright, Ph.D., and Leah Wilson share their thoughts on the biggest mistakes made when approaching race and racism in the classroom.

A three-part series approaching race and racism in schools is wrapped up by Dr. Larry J. Walker, Dr. Jaime Castellano, Dr. Mara Lee Grayson, Ashley S. Boyd, Jennifer Orr, and Kelly Wickham Hurst.

Dr. Terri N. Watson begins guest-editing a three-part series on the discipline disparities affecting black girls. Dr. Watson and Yolanda Tomlin contribute their thoughts in this first post.

Part Two of this series will feature practices schools and districts have and/or should implement to improve the schooling experiences of black girls. Gholdy Muhammad, Shannon R. Waite, Marquitta T. Speller, and Valerie Kinloch share their commentaries.

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This final post in a series on school discipline and black girls includes recommendations from Venus E. Evans-Winters, Zakiyah Ansari, and Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz. The entire series has been guest-edited by Dr. Terri N. Watson.

Mandy Smoker Broaddus, Gregg Castro, and Jennifer Jilot discuss the challenges faced by Native American students and ways educators can effectively respond to those issues.

Dr. Susan C. Faircloth, Kelly Sassi, and Jennifer Borgioli share their thoughts on the challenges facing Native American youths.

Timothy San Pedro, Alayna Eagle Shield, and Amanda Holmes wrap up a three-part series on Native American education.

Matthew R. Kay agreed to answer a few questions about his new book, Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom.

Rich Milner agreed to answer a few questions about his recent book, 鈥These Kids Are Out Of Control鈥 Why We Must Reimagine 鈥楥lassroom Management鈥 for Equity (co-authored with Heather B. Cunningham, Lori Delale-O鈥機onnor, and Erika Gold Kestenberg).

Cia Verschelden agreed to answer a few questions about her book, Bandwidth Recovery: Helping 69传媒 Reclaim Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Racism and Social Marginalization.


Part Two of an interview with Cia Verschelden about her book, Bandwidth Recovery: Helping 69传媒 Reclaim Cognitive Resources Lost to Poverty, Racism and Social Marginalization.


Tony Diaz, Ruchi Agarwal-Rangnath, and H. Richard Milner IV write about the importance of ethnic-studies classes.


This post on the role of race and equity in social-emotional learning is 鈥済uest-hosted鈥 by Mai Xi Lee, the director of social-emotional learning for the Sacramento City Unified school district. After her introduction, she brings together responses from Robert J. Jagers, Mary Hurley, Sonny Kim, Dr. Christina Arpante, Meena Srinivasan, Africa S. Fullove, and Kashia Jensen.


Carla Tantillo Philibert, DeEtta Jones, & Peggy Collings continue the discussion on the role of race and equity in social-emotional learning.


Matthew Kay, Martha Caldwell, Oman Frame, Debbie Silver, Sonja Cherry-Paul, Dana Johansen, Alice Mercer, and Amy Okimoto share their thoughts on engaging with race in schools.


Karen Baptiste, Dr. Jonas Chartock, Jason Flom, Dr. Mara Lee Grayson, and Dara Naphan share their commentaries on engaging with race and implicit-bias issues in the classroom.


Adeyemi Stembridge, San茅e Bell, Raquel R铆os, Ruchi Agarwal-Rangnath, and Lynell A. Powell share their counsel on approaching race and implicit bias in the classroom.


Megan Adams, Sanjuana Rodriguez, and Kate Zimmer agreed to answer a few questions about their book, Culturally Relevant Teaching: Preparing Teachers To Include All Learners.

Lorena Germ谩n, Adeyemi Stembridge, Stephen Lazar, Jen Schwanke, and Aubrie Rojee share their ideas on how to handle so-called 鈥渃ontroversial鈥 topics in the classroom.

Gabriella Corales, Tom Rademacher, Martha Caldwell, Oman Frame, Danny Woo, Paul Barnwell, and Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski share their responses to the question: 鈥淗ow do you handle controversial issues in the classroom?鈥

Dominique Williams, Matthew Homrich-Knieling, Meg White, Kristina J. Doubet, Jessica A. Hockett, Vance Austin, and Stephanie Smith contribute to Part Three in a series on handling 鈥渃ontroversial鈥 issues in the classroom.

Today鈥檚 answers on dealing with controversial issues in the classroom are provided by Sara Ahmed, Jennifer Borgioli, Kevin Scott, Erik M. Francis, Phil Hunsberger, Jackie Walsh, Beth Sattes, and Dave Stuart Jr.

A five-part series on handling 鈥渃ontroversial鈥 topics in the classroom series is wrapped up with commentaries by Meg Riordan, Lymaris Santana, Sarah Thomas, and Thomas Armstrong, along with many comments from readers.

Django Paris and H. Samy Alim agreed to answer a few questions about their new book, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World.

Angela Valenzuela agreed to answer a few questions about the new book she has edited, Growing Critically Conscious Teachers: A Social Justice Curriculum for Educators of Latino/a Youth.

Jane Fleming, Susan Catapano, Candace M. Thompson, and Sandy Ruvalcaba Carrillo agreed to answer a few questions about their book, More Mirrors In The Classroom.

I interview Chris Emdin about his new book.

This post is Part One of a two-part special project guest-hosted by Django Paris, Ph.D., & Travis J. Bristol, Ph.D. It has an introduction by Django Paris and contributions from Charlene Mendoza, Lorena German, David Flores, Matt Knielling, and Gabriella Corales.

Part Two consists of a short introduction by Travis Bristol and commentaries from Linda Bauld, Brian Pew, Lakisha Odlum, and Cyrene Crooms.

This is the first post in a three-part series 鈥済uest-hosted鈥 by Travis Bristol, Ph.D., & Terrenda White, Ph.D. Part One 鈥渇eatures examples from school districts that have implemented innovative strategies to recruit and retain teachers of color.鈥

Part Two in the series 鈥渇eatures the work of universities, schools of education, and teacher-preparation programs.鈥

Part Three 鈥渟potlights the work of alternative teacher-preparation programs and charter schools, as well as community-based efforts on the part of parents.鈥

Educators Cornelius Minor and Bridget Wilhelm co-author a guest review of Ta-Nehisi Coates鈥 book, Between the World and Me.

Gloria Ladson-Billings, Travis J. Bristol, and Terrenda Corisa White contribute their responses here.

This post highlights contributions from teachers Antoine Germany, James Pale, Dominique Williams, and Evelyn Ramos and from student Jacquelin Estrada.

Teacher Ya Po Cha, teacher Elizabeth Villanueva, student-teacher Billy William Ivy, biligual aide Alma Avalos, and student Amanda Martinez provide their thoughts on the topic.

I interview Zaretta Hammond about her book.

Three educators--Ashanti Foster, Melissa Bollow Tempel, and P.L. Thomas--and a number of readers share their thoughts.

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.