Everyone knows that the past two years have been unusually difficult for teachers, as they have responded to ever-changing conditions precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic: switching back and forth between in-person and online learning (and sometimes leading both simultaneously), adapting curriculum and adopting new teaching practices, and supporting students who have struggled to stay engaged.
Amid these efforts, many teachers have also challenged themselves anew to address systemic racial inequities in the curriculum. Last fall, I had the privilege of participating in a collaboratively designed course, “Antiracist Literature Curricula and Teacher Identity,” which was offered online by the Western Massachusetts Writing Project (WMWP), a “teachers teaching teachers” program sponsored by the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at UMass Amherst.
The course was unique in that it grew from deliberations of an informal study group, and each of the course’s Saturday sessions and asynchronous discussions was led by a different team of teachers, some experienced in antiracism curriculum work, some just getting started.
“Working with my peers on this course has been enlightening and eye-opening,” reflected Allyson Smyth of Argosy Collegiate Charter School in Fall River. “I found that my thinking was challenged. … By listening and learning from my peers, I was able to reframe how I approach antiracist teaching in my classroom [and] consciously seek to use texts from nonwhite authors about nonwhite people.”
Smyth was one of 16 educators from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire who began the semester by examining their own identities to understand better what students bring to the classroom and “working with other people to begin owning the responsibility of learning” culturally responsive practices, as Chelsea Pacheco, a teacher at East Windsor (Conn.) High School, put it.
Pacheco, a WMWP co-director, was a member of the course design team. “It was both humbling and empowering to pore through texts and debate the whats and hows of our budding course,” she said.
Other topics addressed in the course included critical approaches to current literature curricula such as reexamining how the “canon” of traditionally taught texts (read: mostly white) is presented and complementing the “classics” with culturally diverse contemporary works in which students can see their lives and experiences represented.
“Our students deserve it,” said Erin White, an instructional coach in the western region of the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services education program. “Many of my students’ cultures, races and backgrounds are not easily found in the curriculum. Taking the time to reflect on and make a conscious effort in selecting texts and resources can develop more invested and engaged learners.”
Learning from each other and from Carlin Borsheim-Black and Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides’ “Letting Go of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction for White Students” and Gholdy Muhammad’s “Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy,” participants gained new strategies for developing student-focused curriculums that center identity, intellect, criticality and joy, as well as traditional skills and knowledge.
“Through the course’s readings and sessions, I felt like I had tangible tools to use in the classroom and a better understanding about antiracist teaching,” White said.
Some of the teachers were undertaking this work in the context of local and national backlash against “critical race theory” or other content that addresses racism and might make white students uncomfortable. Some of the discussions focused on finding rhetorical approaches to convince resistant community members that fostering equity and inclusion in the classroom is not a zero-sum game. Everyone benefits.
The culminating activity in the course was the participants’ presentations of individual curriculum projects. Some used antiracist practices to redesign existing units on canonical writers and texts such as Shakespeare and “To Kill a Mockingbird.” One completely revamped her AP independent reading program. Others created professional development offerings for their colleagues.
“It was exciting to learn from teachers from different educational systems who were all keenly aware of the inequities in our society and schools,” said my colleague Jane Baer-Leighton, WMWP’s professional development coordinator. “It was a chance to share and respond … with the goal of supporting and challenging each other to examine and change literature curriculum to reflect and honor the races, cultures, and learning pedagogies of all of our students.”
It was indeed. Teachers are great, and teachers who collaborate are the best.
Bruce M. Penniman, Ed.D,, is coordinator of the WMWP Graduate Certificate in the Teaching of Writing program. A retired English teacher, department chair, and newspaper adviser at Amherst Regional High School, he stays involved there as co-adviser of the Sene-Gambian Scholars exchange program, and is currently in West Africa with a group of ARHS students. He can be reached at penniman@english.umass.edu.