From “Teaching for Racial Equity” by Tonya B. Perry, Steven Zemelman and Katy Smith, © 2022, reproduced with permission of Stenhouse Publishers. www.stenhouse.com. No reproduction without written permission from the publisher.
Inquiring into racial inequity may seem easy enough in a social studies or English language arts classroom. But how do we do this for other content areas? Sure, there may be times when a teacher and class can pause from the regular curriculum to address a pressing issue that has arisen in the school or community, but we believe it is essential to incorporate racial criticality within the curriculum itself. Why? First, racism affects every aspect of American life and endeavor, so we must help students understand that. Second, developing criticality calls for knowledge and skills that are particular to each subject area. Planning a project to build criticality requires a series of key steps. An educator will need to:
Understand the racial issues in the school and..