When was the last time you took time to recharge? Are you so dedicated to students, governance, or service that you’ve neglected you? Consider taking an hour or so today to meditate, do some yoga, take a bubble bath, pray, spend time with pets, take a walk — whatever increases your sense of sanity and peace. Self-care can mean you have room or “bandwidth” to be your most effective professional.

Spend an hour or so exploring the website of BC’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion   https://www.bellevuecollege.edu/diversity/ 

We all engage in “ist” behavior, including racist behavior, whether it be microaggression or simply benefitting from a place of privilege.  Chances are, you have triggered someone, whether you intended to or not.  We also all have been the target of “ist” behavior because we all belong to multiple groups — some dominant, some oppressed. 

While we can’t be perfect allies, we can do our best to advocate.  Aim continuously for anti-racism, knowing it is not a destination you can ever reach.  Be mindful of your own privileges, educate yourself about others’ history, inquire about others’ experience, speak up when you observe “ist” behavior—but treat others as part of the anti-racism team rather than as targets of criticism.  If you can’t intervene, bear witness.  Protest (safely).  Discuss race and sex and gender and body size and abilities and neurodiversity, especially with your students and the children in your life.  (“Black” and “disabled” are not bad words.)  Race, by definition, is an observable, perceived attribute.  Fat is observable.  Breasts are observable.  Many physical disabilities are observable.  Your students and children see it whether you address it or not.    

Below are a few (of many, many) valuable resources.  Spend some time exploring.

Web resources:  

Under Our Skin  https://projects.seattletimes.com/2016/under-our-skin/# 

Even Babies Discriminate  https://www.newsweek.com/even-babies-discriminate-nurtureshock-excerpt-79233 

How microaggressions are like mosquito bites (1:57)  How microaggressions are like mosqito bites • Same Difference 

Stereotype Threat: A Conversation With Claude Steele (8:18)  Stereotype Threat: A Conversation with Claude Steele            

The People vs. The School System (6:00)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzhXScBIt_Q  

The Urgency of Intersectionality (18:49)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akOe5-UsQ2o

Debunking the Most Common Myths White People Tell About Race (3:47)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjHg65JORi8

To Equalize Power Among Us: Tools for Change  https://toolsforchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/to-equalize-power.pdf (Links to an external site.) 

Why Everything You Know About Autism is Wrong (13:21) https://www.ted.com/talks/jac_den_houting_why_everything_you_know_about_autism_is_wrong?language=en 

Netflix: 

Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette” (1:09:45) 

  *Thanks to Tina Young for making better and better-equipped people 

 Have you ever taken a virtual tour of the campus?! Today’s the day!

https://www.youvisit.com/tour/bellevuecollege

Watch some previous professional development offerings and offerings from other venues.

Don’t worry if you get a screen that says “Hmm…looks like this file doesn’t have a preview we can show you”. Just click the blue “OPEN” button. 

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Mastery Grading (1:19:28)

What is the purpose of grades? Is assigning grades based on weighted averages of exams a fair measurement of student learning? How can we change our grading/assessments to support antiracist practices, make our classes more equitable, and promote a growth mindset? Come join us in discussing these questions and learning how Mastery Grading can help. This presentation will be interactive, include breakout room activities, and will also go through some implementations of Mastery Grading in BC mathematics classes over the last two quarters. It’s important to note that the umbrella term “Mastery Grading” has recently been replaced by “Alternative Grading” due to the historical relationship of the racist connotations of the word “mastery.” The first Mastery Grading conference was in June, 2020. After the second year, it was renamed as “The Grading” conference. The cool thing about this conference is that it’s fully online, and all the sessions are recorded, with videos available for free for any of the previous years.

Here you can find information about the previous and upcoming conferences, including previous video recordings: https://thegradingconference.com/.

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STEM Education: Racism’s canary in the coal mine (5:19)

Racial Equity and Justice in the Classroom: Lessons Learned from STEM Education (50:49)

Racial Equity and Justice in the Classroom. Lessons Learned from STEM Education by Dr. Niral Shah, University of Washington.url

Dr. Niral Shah, University of Washington

In the last year, conversations about “anti-racism” have gone mainstream, due in large part to sustained activism over the past decade in support of Black Lives. As college instructors, we feel a commitment to organize our classrooms in ways that attenuate racial inequity and racial injustice. Still, it can be challenging to think about how the broad structures and histories of White supremacy in the U.S. interface with everyday moments of teaching and learning.

In this talk, I offer the following to support this work: 1) a framework for understanding how various forms of racism circulate at the classroom level and the impact they can have on BIPOC students; 2) a tool called EQUIP (https://www.equip.ninja/), which was designed for collecting and analyzing data on equity patterns in classrooms; and 3) an invitation to consider the limits of classroom-level reform as a means toward racial justice for BIPOC communities. In offering my perspective, I draw on insights from two decades of work in STEM education, as a researcher, teacher, and teacher educator. 

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Jazz Speaks to Life (28:03)

Jazz Speaks to Life by Matt Jorgensen.url

Matt Jorgensen 

In his address to the 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music.”

In this video, we explore some of the most important jazz compositions related to the civil rights era.

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Centering Black Voices in Architecture & Design (1:05:43)

Centering Black Voices in Architecture & Design by Dan Beert.url

Dan Beert

Blacks are largely underrepresented in architectural practice, and represent the smallest percentage of an otherwise diverse BC Interior Design student population. It’s a systemic issue that these young, rising professionals explore with humor, sensitivity, and insight. They point toward personal and culture-specific responses to the issue, telling stories of how they cope – and succeed – in a field that sorely needs representation in practice, and in designing for underrepresented communities. Their comments are full of universal truths and themes that unite us all. Two of the panelists – Germane Barnes and Margaret Knight – address education in their presentations; Germane as a university professor and Margaret as a member of the Seattle Diversity Roundtable, reaching out to K-12 students. All of the panelists address their unique pathways toward achieving the dream.

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Racism in STEM Education (1:20:16)

Racism in STEM Education by Kim Pollock and Jason Fuller.url

Kim Pollock and Jason Fuller

STEM education fails to meet the needs of students of color, as evidenced by large opportunity gaps in student performance. These gaps exist even when we control for socioeconomic status and education level. Disparities in success are often viewed in a deficit mindset, with educators pointing to poor preparation. We present an alternative explanation, that of educators not acknowledging the dominant academic and scientific culture, nor meaningfully engaging students’ race and culture in our teaching practices and curricula. To combat racism in STEM education we must confront the racist past and present of science, the impact of that legacy on students of color, and design teaching practices and curricula that are culturally relevant to students of color.

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Virtual Tours: Classrooms Without Walls (1:11:55)

Virtual Tours. Classrooms Without Walls.url

PANEL

At Bellevue College, we tend to associate online learning with course delivery platforms like Canvas, or more recently with conferencing applications such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Over the past 2-3 years the eLearning Center along with the XR Lab have been exploring emerging methods for delivering student experiences that can guide them through a variety of cultural or historical locations. 

By offering global connections and alternative perspectives, virtual reality technologies allow a de-centering of the physical classroom to enable worldwide learning spaces. It’s about expanding the range of educational experiences and challenging dominant worldviews.

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Jazz: The Incubator of Diversity in America (1:03:46)

Jazz. The Incubator of Diversity in America by Brian Kirk.url

Brian Kirk

This presentation brings an awareness to the critical role Jazz musicians played in the Civil Rights movement and its importance to American history. We explore the struggle for civil rights through the lens of Jazz musicians, producers, supporters, and the people that stood in the way.

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Engaging Students Through Their Own Interests: Zine-Making as Course Curriculum (1:15:09)

Engaging Students Through Their Own Interests. Zine-Making as Course Curriculum by Cassie Cross and Cara Diaconoff.url

Cassie Cross and Cara Diaconoff

In this panel, presenters give a brief history of zines and then detail how they have used zines in the classroom to engage students and build equity and inclusivity. Presenters show examples of student zines, as well as introduce the resources available on campus to support this high impact practice.