{"id":36729,"date":"2024-03-15T04:39:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T11:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=36729"},"modified":"2024-03-15T04:39:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T11:39:30","slug":"digging-up-roots-to-love-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/digging-up-roots-to-love-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Digging Up Roots to Love Better"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the last three years, our district has done a deep dive into helping staff across the district unravel implicit and explicit biases as author Pragya Agarwal, of the book <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sway: Unraveling unconscious bias, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">proposes.\u00a0 Our district has strongly encouraged staff to become a part of the Justice Leaders Collaborative, a platform for social justice education, training, and coaching for individuals, organizations, schools, and universities. [1]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Following a recent training, a few actionable implementation items were offered for staff to work on in the coming weeks leading up to Part 2 of the follow-up training.\u00a0 Here are the actionable items:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>ACTIONABLE IMPLEMENTATION<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Model using pronouns<span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> as a common practice and explain the complexity of inclusion\/equity<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Utilize the <\/span>social identities<span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> list to <\/span>audit<span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> your own practices (and the practices at your school) for equity<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Spend more time learning about and reflecting on your social identities that are <\/span>privileged in systems of oppression and excavate your implicit\/unconscious bias<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Learn more about the social identities of your students <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and their families so you <\/span>can accurately provide windows and mirrors for all children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">One actionable item that I chose to focus on was \u201clearn more about the social identities of the students and their families so you can accurately provide windows and mirrors for all children.\u201d\u00a0 In my work as an instructional coach, I also work with students to support with Tier 2 instructional needs in the area of literacy.\u00a0 The majority of the students I have the privilege to work with are multilingual students and students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.\u00a0 When we access materials to support their instructional needs, I am looking for nonfiction to engage with their interests and build vocabulary acquisition but also books that are windows and mirrors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The notion that classroom curriculum should serve as windows and mirrors for students was first coined by educator Emily Styles in 1988. It was in 1990 when children\u2019s literature researcher, Rudine Sims Bishop, wrote about \u201cwindows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors\u201d as it relates specifically to children\u2019s books. [2] <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sims Bishop suggests that books should serve as windows into the experiences of others, rather than solely presenting imaginary worlds. Additionally, she emphasizes that books can function as mirrors, reflecting the lives and experiences of readers themselves. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8220;Sliding glass doors&#8221; represents the concept of readers stepping into a story and seamlessly integrating themselves into the world crafted by the author. This immersion allows readers to fully engage with and experience another reality.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Research on children&#8217;s books reveals overrepresentation of white characters, comprising anywhere from half to 90 percent of the illustrations, while characters from Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC &#8211; pronounced \u201cbye-pock\u201d) communities are depicted in only about 10 percent of illustrations or less, with certain ethnic and racial groups appearing as little as 1 percent. Similarly, analyses of textbooks show that European White Americans are prominently featured in over half of pictorials and illustrations, often exceeding 80 percent, whereas representation of BIPOC communities is notably lower, sometimes as low as 1 percent. Not to mention that differently abled children, or referred to by some as children with physical challenges or disabilities, are also underrepresented from many children\u2019s books and curriculum materials.\u00a0 [3]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Approaching children\u2019s stories through the lens of windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors, helps educators get an understanding into the diversity and cultures represented in literature.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This approach to evaluating the content of children\u2019s literature is not new, however in recent years it has been a controversial topic, especially around CRT &#8211; Culturally Responsive Teaching (included in Critical Race Theory).\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In our reading this week, Pragya <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Agarwal delves into the intricacies of unconscious bias and its profound impact on decision-making, relationships, and society as a whole. Through engaging research findings and personal experiences, Agarwal navigates through the subtle ways in which biases shape our perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors.\u00a0 I was particularly interested in educator Jane Elliot\u2019s social experiment in her third grade class, noting how environmental cues can shape biases and reinforce in-group memberships.\u00a0 [4]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The book explores various forms of bias, including racial, gender, age, and cognitive biases, shedding light on how they operate beneath our awareness, influencing our judgments and actions. Agarwal elucidates the psychological mechanisms behind biases, revealing how they are often rooted in social conditioning, stereotypes, and cultural norms.\u00a0 As I read, I found it beneficial to uncover where possible roots of unconscious biases have been formed in me.\u00a0 Then considering my own biases, pause and reflect on them.\u00a0 I also thought about narratives in the scriptures where unconscious biases were revealed (either by cultural norms expressed by the Pharisees, disciples and people in the narrative) and Jesus\u2019 response to them. . . Jesus heals the man with leprosy (Matthew 9:1-4), the Samaritan woman (John 4), Jesus and Nicodemus (John 2:23-3:21), the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), Jesus anointed by a sinful woman (Luke 7:37-50).\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 example is another window (primary window) into uncovering the roots of my own biases so that I can love people better, which is the most important actionable implementation step for me to take.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Early in the book Agarwal states, \u201cEach of us form and carry unconscious bias of some sort. . . . so really the answer is to go to the roots, to understand the processes that shape us, to be aware, to acknowledge that we are all biased to a certain degree.\u201d [5]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[1] Justice Leaders Collaborative, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justiceleaderscollaborative.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.justiceleaderscollaborative.com\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[2] Rudine Sims Bishop, originally appeared in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Perspectives:\u00a0 Choosing and Using Books in the Classroom. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vo. 6, no. 3. Summer 1990, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/scenicregional.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/scenicregional.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[3] Amanda Armstrong<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u201cA Troubling Lack of Diversity in Educational Materials\u201d, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Edutopia; March 9, 2022, accessed March 14, 2024,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edutopia.org\/article\/troubling-lack-diversity-educational-materials\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.edutopia.org\/article\/troubling-lack-diversity-educational-materials\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[4]<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Pragya Agarwal, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias. 1st ed, (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020), 39.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[5] Ibid, 22.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the last three years, our district has done a deep dive into helping staff across the district unravel implicit and explicit biases as author Pragya Agarwal, of the book Sway: Unraveling unconscious bias, proposes.\u00a0 Our district has strongly encouraged staff to become a part of the Justice Leaders Collaborative, a platform for social justice [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,2244],"class_list":["post-36729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-agarwal","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36730,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36729\/revisions\/36730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}