Chapter 1

Create a Storytelling Community

  • Issues of race and racism can be authentically and productively engaged with

  • Feeling of safety to explore controversial and contested topics that can be personally painful

  • A place to unlearn what they know

  • Supports students through process of learning and taking anti-racism action

 

Chapter 1: Overview

Main Objectives: 

  • Students will collectively discuss and agree upon classroom norms and rules 

  • Students will have a safe and supportive environment so that they may take appropriate risks (away from their “comfort zone”) during classroom discussion

 

Guidelines: 

  • Know each other by name

  • Low-risk interaction opportunities

  • Multiple connections and relationships in group

  • Every student is integral

  • Respectful listening

  • Speaking from own experience

  • Able to express ignorance and ask questions without shame or fear

  • Able to indicate hurt or offense

  • Able to address misunderstandings

Chapter 1: Lesson 1

Comfort Zone and Learning Edge: Guidelines for a Risk-Supportive Learning Community

Learning Outcomes: 

  • Students will have a chance to openly discuss and collectively agree upon classroom norms and rules for embarking on their study of race and racism

  • Students will anonymously note what they would like to learn or understand about the topic (hopes) and what they fear about exploring such a topic in the classroom (fears)

  • They will be introduced to the concept of “comfort zone” and “learning edge” as a way to monitor their own reactions to course content and develop appropriate ways to take risks

 

Lesson Outline: 

  • Opening  (17 min)

    • (5 min) Opening Up Our Space

    • (10 min) Deeper Facilitator/Teacher Intro

    • (1 min) Guiding Questions

    • (1 min) Agenda: How We’ll Spend Our Time

  • Content (30 min)

    • (5 min) Introductions

    • (15 min) Zones of Learning

    • (10 min) Co-Creation of Learning

  • Reflections/Exit Slip (13 min)

Chapter 1: Lesson 2

Prevalence of Race Continuum

Learning Outcomes: 

  • Students will be able to learn about their own and each other’s experiences in regards to race and racism

  • Through movement and placement within a continuum students will be able to visualize the degree of impact that race has in their own and other people’s lives

 

Lesson Outline: 

  • Review guidelines established by the group

  • Students indicate their alignment along a continuum (“true for me” to “not true for me”) in response to statements about cultural heritage, experiences of racism, and feelings about racism

  • Explain the four story types the curriculum is based around: Stock Stories, Concealed Stories, Resistance Stories, and Counter Stories