My family and I took off almost immediately after school let out and headed east to Niagara Falls. It was exceptional. There is just something about millions of gallons of water pouring over a cliff that is inspiring. We thoroughly enjoyed our time away and I feel very blessed to have had the time with my family.
And now, back to reality. Much to my dismay, the budget woes have not been solved...I was hoping....
Unfortunately, contract negotiations have not progressed and arbitration looms on the horizon. I am afraid that this does not bode well for our district or our pocket books. The union is asking for a raise and I am told that the 2% raise that the district offered has been rejected. Is anyone else thinking that you can't get blood from a stone?
It has also come to my attention that several teachers attended a white privilege conference in La Crosse. Obviously, with the racial tensions that this district has been experiencing, a plan and goals need to be established. No child should ever feel afraid to come to school. That is just unacceptable. However, I have heard negative rumors about this conference. Whether or not they are true remains to be seen, but I certainly hope that the conference does not advocate the idea of "dumbing down" education to one set of students in order to bring up the scores of a different set of students under the guise of "closing the minority gap". That hardly seems like an admirable practice. I was not able to learn very much from the WPC website, but I will keep looking. If anyone out there has any factual information about this conference, I would be happy to hear it.
And now...the evening calls. What a gorgeous day it has been. Time to relax and enjoy it!
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I have gotten several correspondences regarding the White Privilege Conference. I will post a few, including a few links I received. Please feel free to explore this topic and form your own opinion!
ReplyDeleteDear Jennifer.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Meghan Walsh. I am a social studies teacher at Monona Grove High School. Currently I teach 9th grade social studies. I am a parent of 4 children (we attend school in Madison). I am a teacher who is particularly interested in promoting ways to use cultural relevant curriculum to engage all of our learners more deeply in the process of critical thinking in our schools. As a parent and an educator, I see the enormous work that all of us do to help our children learn. I also see the places where improvement in our efforts requires some very intensive and ongoing personal and professional engagement with what I call "racial wellness." Thus, I write to you from this perspective - a mom and teacher who believe ALL of our children must be encouraged to be the best learners they can be.
It has come to my attention, through Jessica Ace, that you are interested in knowing more about the White Privilege Conference that 8 of our district staff attended in the spring. I am the only HS teacher who attended, and I would be happy to answer any questions you have about the conference.
I have also included a list of other district staff who attended - I know each of them would be happy to add input. Here is the list:
Darren Johnson
Lori Jones
Linda Elsberry
Holly Elsberry
Heather Reekie
Jill Jensen
Meghan Walsh
Surbhi Madhia
Amy Burhop
I have also asked a few of the experts who presented at the Conference to take a moment to share with you their expertise about the goals of the conference (whose reach goes WELL BEYOND just educators). I hope you will hear from them. Included are
Tarah Fleming (Youth Conference Leader), Daryl Miller (Youth Conference Coordinator), Dr. Eddie Moore Junior (WPC Organizer), Dr. Paul Gorski (WPC Presenter), and Dr. Russ Vernon-Jones (WPC Presenter. retired School Principal, retired Teacher). I did have the chance to meet each of these excellent people at WPC and was in attendance at at least one of each of their workshops. They are experts in the field. So, while I can give you perspective from the "audience", they can provide more concrete details regarding WPC.
You wrote on your blog, "I certainly hope that the conference does not advocate the idea of "dumbing down" education to one set of students in order to bring up the scores of a different set of students under the guise of 'closing the minority gap'. That hardly seems like an admirable practice."
ReplyDeleteI want to assure you that I never encountered a single moment (or a strategy, nonetheless) at WPC workshops that hinted or implied 'dumbing down education." My experience was quite the opposite in that I felt 'best practices' were the focus of achievement for all students. I personally attended workshops appropriate for my work as an educator. Here are a few of them: "Building an Inclusive Classroom", "Achievement Gap or Opportunity Gap? Countering Deficit Ideology in Education" , "Crossing Boundaries: The Culture of Whiteness", "Grown Ups Making the Space for Youth Voice on White Privilege", "How Do You Do It? Teaching to Reach Diverse Learners", and "Making Your School or Classroom A Force for Dismantling Racism", and "Addressing MicroAggressions". Each of these workshops were superbly facilitated and full of engaging, encouraging, and thoughtful approaches to raising all of our students to new levels of excellence. Presenters and facilitators were professional, qualified, enthusiastic, helpful, and absolutely top notch people - the very kind of people who inspire me to continue searching for ways to improve my teaching and my 'reach' for all of my students. Furthermore, they are people who inspire me to be a better person - and that's a win win for me!
Jennifer, I hope I have answered your inquiry with enough detail to satisfy your concerns. It is difficult to know what sort of, and how much detail you need to develop an accurate picture of the great asset that WPC was for attendees. I could detail sessions, share notes, or spend time detailing workshop agendas - but that seems like a bit of overkill.
I hope that my colleagues will provide more details that are specific to their experiences too - between the 8 of us we attended a lot of workshops! In addition, I hope you hear from our esteemed workshop facilitators - they can provide more intimate details about pedagogy. I do welcome any specific questions that you have. I hope this e-mail gives you a broad response to the "rumor" you addressed, but also provides some insight. Have you seen the School Board Presentation that we gave about WPC? You can find it online here: www.mononatv.com It might give you a "feel" for how deeply moved we all were by our experience at WPC.
Please let me know if there is any more information I can share. I have a lot of materials from the conference - and I'd be happy to share some handouts or workshop details (many of us took pages and pages of notes!).
Thank you for your concern and for allowing me the time and space to make a good effort at conveying my experience at WPC.
Meghan Walsh
Social Studies
Monona Grove High School
I appreciated Meghan's offer to talk and am hoping to get together with her next week!
An email from Tarah Flemming, Youth Conference Leader.
ReplyDeleteHi Jennifer...
I am the director of the Youth Leadership Conference at the White Privilege Conference. I have spent the last 5 years working with some of the most talented and committed youth facilitators in the country to create a youth space at WPC where real dialog can happen about anti-racism activism and social justice leadership.
I can give you the names of hundreds of high school students that have attended our conference and had life changing experiences. They learned about their own identities, and how to respect the identities of others. They learned how privilege and power effect their lives and those around them. They learned how to organize on their campuses to create respectful and inclusive spaces and policies for all people.
This work is powerful and extremely important to our future if we are to understand how racism and sexism and heterosexism effect the lives of young people and how to create institutional change so everyone has a fair chance to succeed no matter who they are.
I understand the work of learning about power and privilege is uncomfortable and even scary. I also know that we are most afraid of what we don’t understand. As a white person I am learning everyday to listen and learn and be open to the fact that there are other experiences in the world I know nothing about and yet can be instrumental in in making change not only at a personal level but at an institutional level as well.
I invite you to use your beginners mind and open up to a new experience that will help you to grow compassion, understanding and a willingness to join the fight against the oppression that really is hurting all of us. It is an exciting time to be part of a movement that isn’t talking about the superficial, archaic and delusional notions of colorblindness and post racial liberalism, but rather embracing the realities of institutional inequities and specifically naming and changing them.
WPC is the most progressive anti-racism movement in the country and I am so excited to be part of such a brilliant community dedicated to creating true and authentic relationships across color lines....join us, you will be changed, and therefore a better ally, educator and role model for the next generation.
Please feel free to contact me for more dialog...and please take the time to watch this video clip made by the YLC:
http://vimeo.com/11224938
Tarah
I also received a few links:
ReplyDeletehttp://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2010/02/saturday-night-card-game-white.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68989891480&v=wall
Again, I will stress that I, too, am looking for information. I believe that tax payers have the right to know where and how their money is being spent. There were several other emails that I got that were very helpful, but I will not post every single one. Anyone who would like to see them is more than welcome - just drop me an email.