Learning to Listen and Act: Middle Grades Anti-Racist Curriculum
Each of NCE’s M.A.T. Teacher Preparation programs are continually refining their curriculum, text, and learning outcomes to educate on and instill the importance of culturally responsive pedagogy and social and racial equity in their candidates to then model in their future classrooms.
The M.A.T. Middle Grades (MGE) program is no exception and serves as a model for this work by embedding it intentionally, explicitly, and systematically throughout the program. The program, conceptualized by Hannah Graham, Program Chair and Assistant Professor, along with a stellar team of adjunct and full-time faculty, strive to develop educators who view themselves as learners and are invested in teaching their 5th-8th grade students through civically minded, culturally responsive, and student-driven curriculum. At the core is an intersectional, anti-racist approach to teacher preparation and PK-12 education, and a goal of ensuring that candidates can identify and embrace the various identities of their students while also recognizing and pushing back on the historical undercurrent of racism that permeates US school systems.
How do candidates begin in this work? By (re)learning how to listen deeply.
MGE pre-service teachers start by diving into their personal identities (e.g. gender, religion, disability, language) and contemplating how those may help or hinder their ability to connect with others. They are assigned to look into first-person accounts of an identity that differs from them in some way (e.g. someone who identifies as a cis-gender person might watch The Trans List (2016) to hear directly about trans experiences) as well as read about a group’s historically lived experiences in the United States. The candidate is directed to simply listen to the other person’s experience, acknowledge it, and then respond with what they heard as articulated needs - not to question or argue. Candidates are honing these imperative skills that they’ll use to connect with future students, including during student teaching. These projects have profound learning impacts on MGE candidates by meeting them where they are and pushing them to examine how they respond to others. After looking deeply into the history of LGBTQ peoples and watching several interviews with young LGBTQ activists, one candidate wrote:
“This process has impacted my understanding to see and process things from another person’s perspective As I reflect on my own identity and assumptions toward the LGBTQ community. I, too, was blinded with homophobia and stereotypes towards this community. I understand what it feels like being denied the right to be seated and have a voice at the bargaining table…to the LGBTQ community, I am so sorry for being so disconnected and insensitive. What I have learned moving forward in my life is first to reflect [and] trust [others] experiences.”
Another key element is a focus on embracing and recognizing the voices and expertise of organizations and students alike – in particular listening to minoritized young people’s interests and their opinions. To practice this, MGE faculty invites local students (recently from Chicago Freedom School and youth-led high school advocacy group Chi-Rads) to share their views on challenging racism in schools and creating inclusive spaces. From these sessions, MGE candidates consider possible solutions, interventions, and disruptions of inequity in schools to which the youth and professionals from nonprofits (like Umoja) provide feedback on said ideas. From these experiences, the MGE pre-service teachers create “personal syllabi” with focus questions and tailored texts for them to read to continue growing personally in their varied understandings and interests regarding race, racism, and racial inequity. These syllabi are candidate-derived, with questions including: How can I design an anti-racist Science classroom? ; How does my whiteness shape how I see other people? ; What is the histories of Latino peoples in Chicago, and what would it mean to design relevant curriculum for this population?
However, even with this intellectual foundation, once candidates are placed full-time in a classroom setting outside the university, the realities of learners and school systems can potentially pose challenges and disillusionment as not all learning spaces reflect the ideologies and framework of university coursework. NCE faculty support student teachers in creating a zone of influence: a plan to create change for one single student, recognizing that student teachers don’t have much power comparatively to voice issues or challenge systems. They then bring in alumni and outside speakers, including principals, to advise on how to effect and advocate for change as full-time, certified teachers in a school building.
With these tools, candidates can become educators that are future agents of change, as MGE faculty member Brian Morris explains:
“MGE teacher candidates work tirelessly to do the work of understanding self and the impact that our identity intersections have on all decisions, especially those that influence instruction. While coursework prepares students well for the cycle of teaching and learning with the lens of identifying windows and mirrors and single stories, the opportunity to share real teaching experiences during practice sessions has yielded the most impactful collaborative results for many candidates. With a guiding principle of be quick to observe and slow to judge, candidates work with others in their cohort to share experiences, strategies and resources with facilitation and guidance from MGE instructors. This marriage of theory and practice in a brave, supportive space allows candidates to make the mistakes, be vulnerable, and refine their practice, all while becoming better humans.”
The evidence of the MGE approach’s effectiveness is clear in student work and commitment to equity. As a ’22 graduate notes: “The program has the most supportive professors I have ever had. Not only do they create a safe and welcoming environment (virtually and in-person), but their passion for educational equity with strategy is apparent. They aid in our ability to fine-tune our own teaching philosophies while simultaneously scaffolding content to make our instructional planning more intentional.”
