I’m reading “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi. This blog post is a thread I posted on Twitter. Clicking on any of the tweets will open the thread in Twitter where you can more easily follow links, react, and respond.
1/ I’m a third of the way through “How to be an antiracist” @DrIbram. I see connections to #HigherEd on every page.
Something on page 101 broke my brain. By page 103, I think I fixed it.
I’m going to try to explain. I may get this wrong. I keep learning, though.
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
2/ “Getting Under the Hood: How and for Whom Does Increased Course Structure Work?” by Sarah Eddy and @DrMrsKellyHogan is one of my fav papers.https://t.co/d5nx4aemwD
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
3/ Eddy and @DrMrsKellyHogan look at the impact of increased structure in active learning (like using worksheets and clickers) by comparing exam performance after traditional lecture vs structured activities by White / Black and by First / Continuing Gen students.
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
4/ Compare grey to black bars in this Fig: *everyone* is more successful in the structured class! #HighFive
Now compare diff in gray bars to diff in black: the Black-White *achievement gap* is halved. The First-Continuing gap is reduced, too. #HighFiveAgain pic.twitter.com/qMtNu5E43O
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
5/ Here’s why I like this paper so much: It demonstrates the facilitating effective, active learning is #InclusiveTeaching. You needn’t artificially “diversify” your course materials or add some tokens to try to be inclusive. Just do good active learning!
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
6/ My trust in the result is broken, though, when @DrIbram states the achievement gap is a construction built to reinforce “the oldest racist idea: Black intellectual inferiority.” (p 101)
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
7/ Wait, what?!? How can I continue to advocate for evidence-based active learning strategies like worksheets and #PeerInstruction when the evidence is racist?
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
8/ So what’s happening in Fig A? Black students have lower scores than White students. Is there something about Black minds or ability?
NO, absolutely not! It’s because they’ve been unfairly under-supported in their learning because they’re Black.
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
9/ “In other words,” writes @DrIbram, “the racial problem is the opportunity gap, as antiracist reformers call it, not the achievement gap.” (p103)
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
10/ The “opportunity gap”!
*broken brain re-assembles itself*
Words matter and today, those words are changing for the better. Going forward, I’ll continue to advocate for active learning and #InclusiveTeaching because it reduces the opportunity gap.
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
11/ Thank-you, @DrIbram, for forcing me to question my educational development principles. I know my journey to antiracist is ongoing. I’m grateful to have taken a step forward today.
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
12/ And thank-you, @DrMrsKellyHogan, for inviting conversations like this one and helping me work through it, even late on a Friday afternoon 🙂
— Peter Newbury (@polarisdotca) May 8, 2021
I’m looking forward to the next 200 pages of “How to Be an Antiracist” and the insights that emerge.