Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Day 78 - Race in the Classroom

Protests continue.  Today, police used tear gas on peaceful demonstrators outside the White House so that Trump could have a photo op outside a nearby church while holding a Bible.  These actions are terrifying.

I met with most of my students in conferences on Day 78.  I'm struggling with how to talk with them about the murder of George Floyd and the response.  I had so much to accomplish during our conferences that I didn't really have time to check in with them.  Ordinarily, I like to integrate current events into the classroom, so maybe I will try to do something in my class meeting tomorrow.  The Zoom format does not lend itself well to organic conversations with 25 people, though.

As for my online African American literature class, that is even more difficult.  Students will soon have to write a discussion post about Ida B. Wells-Barnett and how her investigative journalism on documenting and speaking against lynching relates to modern times.  That will definitely be a guided way for them to analyze the situation.  I've put up an open discussion but not many people have participated.  I need to get more creative, but it feels so paralyzing and overwhelming that I'm not sure what to do even though I think having conversations about race right now is so vital.

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