Part of my (Mr. Fritz's) racial autobiography today in class was about my experiences with one of my best friends in life, Ryan. Here we are in 2007! Can't believe this was 10 years ago!
Hi everyone,
Welcome back to another interesting (hopefully!) week of Diversity and Social Justice! Here's what happened in class today:
Learning Targets Addressed:
I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place, or region.
Soundtrack: "Runnin' Down a Dream" by Tom Petty. Selected for today because of Mr. Petty passing away yesterday at the age of 66. Lyrics here.
AGENDA 10/3/17:
Check In/Review Agreements
News Updates
Racial Autobiographies
Homework: Read the blog! Racial autobiography assignment (PRINTED) due at the start of class on Monday, October 9.
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Check In/Review Agreements: At the beginning of class, we went over the Courageous Conversations Agreements, as always, to begin our work together for the day.
News Updates: Plenty to talk about at the start of class! First off, we moved the position of the "front" of the room to be Ms. Lee's side, due to the class next door to us. We checked in about the weekend and what students were up to. Next, we discussed the shooting in Las Vegas and discussed what we knew about what happened. Related to that, I showed this visual of mass shootings in the last 5 years, via Axios on Twitter:
I also showed the video clip that the district made about our time with Jordan Thierry last week! Here it is:
Along with that, we showed students that your work has been highlighted in multiple emails to all staff, both here at Westview and across the entire Beaverton School District. Not bad, right?
Next, I showed a news story that Ben B. sent me about his dad, who works for the Portland Police, and implicit bias in a traffic stop with a man of color:
Super powerful and interesting! We have asked Ben if his dad and/or Mr. Jones might be willing to come talk with our class about this experience.
Finally, we talked about the Dia Nelson Scholarship fund. Details of that can be found here:
It is with great joy--amid our shared grief--that we can announce that the Dia Nelson Memorial Scholarship is up and ready to start honoring a wonderful and dearly missed colleague.
Option #1: Online contributions (VISA only) can be made by going to the "Online Payment System" page of the BSD website. Once there, please follow these steps (you do not need to create an account in order to donate):
Click the big blue button, "CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION";
Fill in personal donor information;
Under the "School" drop down menu, choose "BEAVERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT";
Under the "Item"drop down menu, choose "DIA NELSON MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP";
Both "Memo" and "Amount" are optional.
Option #2: Lenee Gower is able to take cash or check contributions directly in her office here (or mailed to her at Westview). Checks need to be made out to the "Beaverton School District" with a note indicating it is for the "Dia Nelson Memorial Scholarship".
Please contribute if you are able. Dia was a close friend of both Natalie and I. We would love to have her impact on the Westview community memorialized in this way!
Racial Autobiographies: After this opening section, we moved on to our next major assignment of the semester, which is called a Racial Autobiography. Both Ms. Labossiere and I have done this activity ourselves with colleagues on the Beaverton School District Equity Leadership Team, but I have never before read mine before students, and I don't think Ms. Labossiere had, either! Thank you for your patience as we introduced this assignment. Here it is for students who want an electronic copy or who missed class:
This will be due at the start of class on Monday, October 9th. Please bring a paper copy. Writing a racial autobiography forces us to consider all of the ways that race has impacted our lives. We asked students to identify major themes from our shared autobiographies, and then we asked students to start working on the assignment for the rest of class.
Next class, we will start looking into another racial autobiography of sorts, as Ms. Labossiere will be out and I will introduce a chapter of a book for us to read.
See you on Thursday, everyone!
Sorry I was gone last class. Asher Bailon
ReplyDeleteIt's okay! Thanks for catching up on what we did by reading the blog! :-)
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