Learning and Teaching While White

We need to name whiteness, in order to move toward antiracism. For too long, white educators have relied on people of color to make change to a relentlessly racist school system. Racial equity will not come until white educators recognize their role in supporting racist policies and practices, and take responsibility for dismantling them. Learning and Teaching While White is an accessible guide to help white educators, leaders, students, and parents develop an explicit, skills-based antiracist practice. Through their own experiences working with school communities, and the strategies and tools they have developed, Jenna Chandler-Ward and Elizabeth Denevi share how white educators can gain greater consciousness of their own white racial identity; analyze the role of whiteness in their school systems; rethink pedagogical approaches and curricular topics; address the role of white parents in the pursuit of racial literacy and equity; and much more. Their book will empower white educators to be part of creating a more equitable educational system for all students.

Elizabeth Denevi is an educator, diversity consultant, and cofounder of the popular professional development site Teaching While White. As Director of the Eastern Educational Resource Collaborative, Dr. Denevi has worked with educational institutions across the country to promote equity and diversity pedagogy. She is also an Assistant Professor at the Lewis and Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling. She lives in Portland, Oregon. Jenna Chandler-Ward is an educator, diversity consultant, and cofounder of the popular professional development site Teaching While White. With over two decades of experience, she has been an educator in non-profits, schools, and colleges working with students from kindergarten to adult learners. Jenna was also a founder and co-director of the Multicultural Teaching Institute, which produces workshops and a conference for educators on issues of equity and inclusion. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Foreword by Howard C. Stevenson Acknowledgments Introduction Part I Preparing for Action-Reflection, Reframing, and New Understandings 1 Foggy Mirrors 2 Talking About Race Means Talking About Whiteness 3 Analyzing How Whiteness Operates as a System in Our Schools Part II Steps for Action-Antiracist Strategies for Educational Communities 4 Locating Ourselves Within Whiteness 5 Rooting and Shifting: Rethinking Pedagogical Approaches and Curricular Topics 6 Assessment and Feedback 7 Developing an Antiracist Leadership Practice 8 The Role of White Parents in the Pursuit of Racial Literacy and Equity Afterword Appendix A: The Costs of Racism to White People Appendix B: White Antiracist Activists Appendix C: Cycle of Oppression