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Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism and Privilege: Educating Our Way to Literacy Sylvia Bailey July 2005

Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism and Privilege: Educating Our Way to Literacy

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Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism and Privilege: Educating Our Way to Literacy Sylvia Bailey July 2005. Staff Development Workshop. Primary Audience Southfield High School Staff, Southfield, Michigan Student population 1,650 98% African American - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism and Privilege:

Educating Our Way to Literacy

Sylvia Bailey

July 2005

Page 2: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Staff Development Workshop

Primary Audience– Southfield High School Staff, Southfield, Michigan

– Student population • 1,650

• 98% African American

– Teacher population• 120

• 60% White

• 40% Black

Page 3: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Secondary Audience More than 400 Oakland (MI) Writing Project

Teachers (County ISD)– County

• 28 school districts (pop.1.2M)• range is from urban to suburban to rural • approximately 210,000 students (about one-tenth

of our state’s school age population) • Extremely diverse in terms of race, culture,

language, and socio-economic status (50 different home languages spoken

• Minority student population in the county is 22% (minority populations tend to be concentrated in only 3 of the 28 districts—Southfield, Oak Park and Pontiac

– Pontiac• nearly 13,000 students

– 64% African American– 11% Latino– 5% Asian

Page 4: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Objective

Integrating African American Literature and Culture across the Curriculum to Increase Literacy

Page 5: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Rationale -Teachers Increase the understanding of AA history/culture

the more effective our teaching Unaware of the impact slavery and oppression has

on our students Learn from prior knowledge and experiences of

others Achieve greater insight into text Construct relevant connections to the past and

students’ lives today

Page 6: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Impact on Students

Enhance engagement in learning by showing the relevance of AA history and culture on their lives

Increased literacy in order to successfully compete in the global marketplace

Page 7: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Workshop Structure Frequency

– Six collaborative Mondays Time

– 2:30-4:00 pm Location

– MC 2 Workshop Size

– Maximum 30 Assignments

– Required Reading– Lesson Plans

Page 8: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Pre-Reading

Session 1 –Introduction: Woodson, Carter, The Mis-Education of the Negro

Session 2- History: Slavery and Oppression: Bennett, Lerone, Before The Mayflower

Session 3- Language: Delpit, Lisa, Other People’s Children Session 4 -Cultural Stereotypes:

Color Complex, by Kathy Russell (Book excerpt) http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0385471610/ref=sib_dp_pop_ex/103-9060415-3977415?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00I#reader-linkColbert, Jessie, African American Women in Film (article) http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto01/173/colbert.html

Session 5- Lesson Plans: Kunjufu, Jawanza, Black Students-Middle Class Teachers

Session 6- Activism/Radicalism: Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Page 9: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Workshop Agenda-Month 1 (90 minutes)

Introduction– Rationale: Why the need to talk– Overview of Workshops– Deconstruct Workshop Title– Activity-Jump Street Odyssey– Assignment: Read The Mis-Education of the

Negro

Page 10: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Deconstructing The Title

Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism and Privilege: Educating Our Way to Literacy

Discussion: – What do these terms mean to us?

• Oppression

• Slavery

• Racism

• Sexism

• Privilege

Page 11: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Activity: Essence of Your BeingI. Who am I?

How do you identify yourself? (Racially/culturally/ linguistically/ socio-economically/religiously/ sexually/etc.)

II. Where did you grow up? Describe the neighborhood, relationships your parent or family had in the community.

III. Where did you attend school? Describe the environment, the teachers, support staff, the building and neighboring environment. How did you feel about school?

IV. Describe a place or time when you felt comfortable with those around you. Describe a place or time when you felt different from those around you. Focus on the feelings you experienced at that time.

IV. As a teacher who are you today? Who are your students? (Racially/culturally/ linguistically/ socio-economically/religiously/ sexually/etc.) What issues do you face currently in your classroom/school/community?

 

Page 12: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Workshop Agenda-Month 2 (90 minutes)

History: Slavery/Oppression/Privilege Activity

– view first 20-30 minutes of Crash Discussion of Readings and Film

– Why do students need an in-depth appreciation and understanding of African American History

– Why is it necessary to discuss oppression?– Can power and privilege be used responsibly?– Having looked at examples of white privilege, how can I help my

students deal with it?– How is oppression related to student behavior, achievement and

expectations ? Assignment

– Read: • Delpit, Lisa, The Skin We Speak• Baldwin, James, “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What

Is?”

Page 13: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Workshop Agenda-Month 3 (90 minutes)

Discussion –Language– Prose

– Poetry

– Song

– Signifying

Assignment- Read:

– McIntosh, Peggy “Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack:White

Privilege” (Handout)

– Color Complex by Kathy Russell (Book)

Page 14: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Workshop Agenda-Month 4 (90 minutes)

Racism/Stereotypes– Activity-View Video The Color of Fear

– Discussion of video and readings

– Harmful Effects of Racism

Assignment– Design a lesson plan that integrates African American

Culture/History/Literature into a unit of study

– Use resource lists

– Bring enough copies for the group

Page 15: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Workshop Agenda-Month 5 (90 minutes)

Response groups: Lesson plans Activity- Identifying Famous African

Americans (Contest) Assignment:

Read: Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Page 16: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Workshop Agenda-Month 6 (90 minutes

Radicalism/Activism– What can we as teachers do?

– How can we help our students to think …

• about their identity?

• about their own values?

Activity- View PBS video- Dr. King’s, I Have a Dream

Discussion

– “It is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person.”

Page 17: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Resources-Bibliographies (Handouts)

Teaching Africa and African American Roots An Annotated Bibliography Teaching Slavery

Differently:The Black Radical Tradition A Brief Bibliography on Black Vernacular English Delaney Group Reading List

Page 18: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Books

Delpit, Lisa, The Skin We Speak and Other People’s Children

Freire, Paulo, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Kunjufu, Jawanza, Black Students-Middle Class Teachers

Morrison, Toni, The Black Book

Page 19: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Articles/Essays-Handouts

Baldwin, James, “A Talk to Teachers” Baldwin, James, “If Black English Isn’t a

Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” Bell, Lee Anne, “Theoretical Foundations for

Social Justice Education” Cutter, Martha J., “Dismantling ‘The Master’s

House’” Edelman, Marian Wright, “A Closer Look: the

Costs of Child Poverty in America”

Page 20: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

More Articles/Essays-Handouts Hughes, Langston, “The Future of Black

America”

Jefferson, Thomas, “Notes on the State of Virginia, 1987)

McIntosh, Peggy, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”

Moses, Robert P. and Charles Cobb Chapter 1: Algebra and Civil Rights and Chapter 3: Standin’ at the CrossroadsWideman, John, The Black Writer and the Magic of the Word

Page 21: Undoing Oppression from Slavery, Racism, Sexism  and Privilege:  Educating Our Way to Literacy

Resources-Websites

http://search.msn.com/results.asp?FORM=sCPN&RS=CHECKED&un=doc&v=1&q=%22African%20American%22%20Mathematician (African American Mathemeticians)

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/search.html (Slave Trade and Slave Lives)

http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/bltclive/index.html (Black Thought and Culture)

 http://www.csuchico.edu/art/contrapposto/contrapposto01/173/colbert.html (African American Women in Film-Stereotypes)

http://racerelations.about.com/od/stereotypesmentalmodels/a/blackimage.htm (Race Relations-Stereotypes)

http://jab.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/40/2/146 (Myths, Stereotypes, and Realities of Black Women)