Since 2020, the Zinn Education Project has hosted hundreds of Teaching for Black Lives study groups. Teachers study how to teach for Black lives and gain the collective strength to face right-wing attacks. There is power in numbers.
We’re sharing some of the readings, prompts, and videos that study groups have centered in their meetings.
Nicole Seymore, group co-coordinator, said,
After having our first official meeting to develop norms, discuss the proposed structure of our time together, and what we hope to accomplish as a team, our Teaching for Black Lives study group began by reading the poem, “Lift Off” by Donovan Livingston. At our next meeting, we introduced the Racial Autobiography and spent a good portion of the meeting sharing our first memories and awareness of race, which was truly eye-opening both as a facilitator and a participant. This meeting solidified that our team is working together in a safe, trusting space where we know we can share our thoughts and feelings, even if they may initially make us uncomfortable.
Paulette Smith, alumni group coordinator and elementary school principal, said,
Section 5: “Teaching Blackness, Loving Blackness, and Exploring Identity” of Teaching for Black Lives has sparked dynamic and thought-provoking conversations among our team, centering on themes of racial justice, identity affirmation, and culturally sustaining pedagogy. Rich discussions have emerged around the importance of creating affirming spaces for Black students to see themselves as powerful, brilliant, and capable of shaping their futures. Key questions include:
Action plans have begun to take shape, focusing on embedding counter-narratives into lessons, building community partnerships, and developing student-led initiatives that promote equity.
Haileigh Mejia, group coordinator and middle school special education teacher, said,
At the very beginning of our book study we read Donovan Livingston’s Lift Off poem. A lot of the group members highlighted the line: “For some, the only difference between a classroom and a plantation is time.” This caused quite a few people in our group to become emotional. People started to think about their own spaces in education and how they may be contributing or perpetuating the system so students do not feel like school is a liberating place.
“Space for Young Black Women” sparked a lot of interest. Teachers engaged with this because they learned or reaffirmed the idea that many of our students just need to see and have space for their identities to be valued.
“Presidents and the Enslaved: Helping Students Find the Truth” led teachers to think about ways they can add or adapt their lessons to actually teach for Black lives. In small groups of two to four with similar content, educators brainstormed ideas they took from sections in Teaching for Black Lives.
“Beyond Just a Cells Unit: What my science students learned from the story of Henrietta Lacks” and “Claiming and Teaching the 1963 March on Washington” allowed our group members to consider what has been intentionally left out of textbooks and lessons.
Brianna Jackson, group coordinator and elementary counselor, had each member complete a racial autobiography. She said,
This was a shock to some members about how much bias they hold but were blind to. I was very intentional about how to start the study itself because if people couldn’t sit in their own biases and discomfort, then they wouldn’t be receptive to what we were talking about with the book study or being willing and able to implement change. From this first discussion, we revamped the district’s Racial and Social Justice Committee and created subcommittees to address the main things that kept coming up in discussion: inclusive policy/procedures, awareness in the curriculum, and staff/ student belonging.
We really enjoyed the winter issue of Rethinking Schools, specifically we focused on “Superachievers” vs. “Super Predators” and “Table Talk: An IEP Meeting — from the Other Side.” Both of these are issues that we struggle addressing as a district. I challenged the group to read these articles and consider the role they have played in upholding these systems within their individual schools. It was a great discussion about how we have been complicit in this and what changes we can make individually and what changes we can suggest as a union.
The alumni Portland study group read “Black is Beautiful” and “Brown Kids Can’t Be in our Club.” Julia Smith, group co-coordinator and elementary teacher, said,
The readings inspired particularly meaningful conversation in that they describe specific teaching anecdotes that allowed us to reflect on our practice. “Two Sets of Notes” by MK Asante was incredibly powerful in helping people (especially white people) reflect on the lived reality of our Black and students of color, students with marginalized identities. “The Most Gentrified City of the Century” brought us into a deep discussion about the role of our private institution.
The Winnipeg study group read the winter issue of Rethinking Schools. Fortunato Lim, group coordinator, said,
I found the “‘Superachievers’ vs. ‘Super Predators’: How the Racist Love of the Model Minority Is Weaponized Against Black and Asian American Students” article particularly compelling, as it directly aligned with a workshop I recently facilitated for educators in our division on this very topic. The insights provided in the article added depth to the conversation and reinforced the importance of addressing this narrative in our educational practices. Covering current issues and perspectives like in Palestine and Israel provides teachers the courage and the know-how to be able to support students in connecting with the world.
Kushya Surgarman, group coordinator and 4th-grade teacher, said,
We have spoken at length about “Baby Steps Toward Restorative Justice.” This article was especially meaningful to the teachers in our group because we all hope to overcome carceral practices in our classrooms, but find ourselves reinforcing those same practices. We found the contradictions at play in the author’s article to be very relatable and important for the creation of more liberatory schools. A theme that emerged was what happens when a removal from the classroom is beyond our control, how can we sustain community practices beyond physical presence if needed. We also loved the focus on joy in the classroom, especially with the boys who had been fighting being an opportunity to make it up to the rest of the class in the manner of their choosing. This reminded us about the fact that conflict will inevitably happen in the classroom, but it is about what you do with that harm that determines the type of classroom that you have.
We also enjoyed reading the article, “Defenders of Israel Attempt to Silence Anti-Racist Educators in Philadelphia” in the Rethinking Schools winter issue. Actually, we decided that a better word was we were captivated by it, because it was very scary to read about the lengths to which rich people will use their money to create divisions within the anti-racist movement.
An alumni New York study group is reading the Zinn Education Project national report, Erasing the Black Freedom Struggle: How State Standards Fail to Teach the Truth About Reconstruction. Ina Pannell-SaintSurin, group co-coordinator and Prentiss Charney Fellow, said,
We are focusing on W.E.B. Du Bois’ work, the importance of teaching Reconstruction in school curricula and also sharing curriculum about positive historical accomplishment for Black lives during Reconstruction. Our meeting discussions have centered around:
At our next meeting, we will compile our learning and deeper exploration of most of these questions.
The San Juan group has been engaging with Section 4: “Discipline, the Schools-to-Prison Pipeline, and Mass Incarceration.” Margarita Marichal, group coordinator and university director, said,
One of the members had a project in the state prison and we invited the inmates to present their illustrated stories at the university and to exchange ideas with students. We also developed a panel on masculinity and gender related crimes to understand the criminalization of individuals and stated the benefits of restorative justice. In addition, we are working on a collaborative agreement with the Guaynabo Detention Center, which is the only federal detention center in the Caribbean, to place student teachers to offer a monthly workshop to empower detainees with knowledge prior to their deportation or placement in federal prisons in the United States.
The alumni Providence study group read and discussed “Baby Steps Toward Restorative Justice.” Lindsay Paiva, group coordinator and 3rd-grade ESL teacher, said,
There is a significant amount of variability around restorative justice practices across Providence schools, and it really depends on the principals, support staff, and teachers in any given school. We shared some ideas for restorative practices at the classroom level that can take place regardless of larger systems within the school or district that are overly punitive. It was a very empowering conversation and helped spark hope among study group members by providing practical strategies they could use the very next day.
Educators in the Columbia study group read “How One Elementary School Sparked a Citywide Movement to Make Black Students’ Lives Matter.” Willis Ware, group coordinator and DEIB director, said,
The discussion brought up several comments and questions, including:
Every meeting for the Seattle study group starts with breath work “to cultivate an environment of regulated bodies and minds before we do the intellectual and heart work required to open up to our readings,” said Mary Louise, group coordinator and program coordinator at an elementary school. In December, after their grounding exercise, the group watched Dyan Watson read her poem, “A Letter from a Black Mom to Her Son” and reflected on what stood out for them. One participant said,
Watching this video reinforced for me the importance of creating affinity spaces for students of color. After we watched this as a group I was grateful to hear from one of our teachers that this is something kids are asking her to do again, and I felt energized to figure out how to find the right time in the schedule.
Nina Weisling, group coordinator and associate professor of education, said,
We select a shared chapter from each section, a ‘pick one’ that each person can select and share out on their own, and then one member of the group picks a supplemental reading based on the Black Lives Matter at School Year of Purpose. I personally have found the latter to be a really powerful supplement because it allows folks to select and share topics of intersectionality that are important to them.
For example, in October we read, “Restorative Justice and the School-to-Prison Pipeline: A Review of Existing Literature” by Hani Morgan. This article touches on many of the big ideas (and specific practices) that we as faculty try to incorporate into our daily teaching practices with future teachers — and it reinforces the why.
