Dr. Peter Hessling, a professor in the North Carolina State University College of Education, Created an Antiracist Module for a course they teach. This course is online and asynchronous and has received QM approval. Along with Elizabeth Uzzell (a graduate student in education with experience teaching), Hessling created a presentation entitled “Antiracist Education in Asynchronous Class” for the 2021 NCSU Office of Faculty Development Teaching and Learning Symposium today.
They drew information from several books and scholarly sources to provide helpful suggestions and define important terms for the presentation. The session started with the ProPublica Miseducation website to visualize discrepancies in our school districts and information about diversity in classrooms in the US. The presenters defined racism and called on teachers to be antiracist and find appropriate ways of incorporating modules such as theirs in their courses. In their presentation, they highlighted five strategies of antiracist education (focusing on K-12 education):
- teacher expectations
- school disciplinary policies
- assessment measures
- parental engagement
- pedagogical methods
The presenters also emphasized that culturally relevant pedagogy involves:
- a community of learners
- a collaborative learning environment
- using multifaceted assessment and moving away from tests
- promoting everyone achieving academic excellence
Uzzell reminded us of ways of using varied forms of instruction and mentioned the following approaches to consider on a slide:
- storytelling
- cooperative learning
- autobiography
- motion and movement
- music
- frequent variability in tasks and formats
- novelty
- dramatic elements in teaching
For their module, Hessling created an online Moodle Book module for educating (education students!) on the considerations for integrating meaningful antiracist discussions in their courses that align with their instructional objectives. Hessling presents a recorded lecture, followed by three required readings, the TED video of Mellody Hobson’s talk, a discussion post (weekly assignments), and a journal entry. After presenting their Module format, Hessling and Uzzell posed the following discussion questions:
- How does racism and white supremacy show up in your field? How can you respond with antiracism?
- What antiracist practices would you like to implement in your professional life?
- What actions can our university take to be an antiracist?
Some of the group’s questions included how to promote teamwork and protect marginalized students from being tokenized, used as “resources”, or reliving their trauma. These are important considerations for how we approach antiracist education. The session and discussion made me think about whether I would feel comfortable including a similar module or how to acknowledge systemic bias in the courses I teach. The emphasis on culturally responsive teaching and providing choice and options is important. I, however, still struggle with how to do it!
