HSESI Conversation: How do we create healing spaces in response to controversial topics?

How do we create healing spaces in response to controversial topics?

We need to dedicate the same amount of time, effort, energy, thought, collaboration, vision, and consistency to the question of how to create healing spaces as we do to the curricular questions of the ‘what’ is to be taught.

Kyle Beckham

Event Description

On March 26th, 2024, the High School Ethnic Studies Initiative (HSESI) hosted the event "How do we create healing spaces in response to controversial topics?" with Kyle Beckham, facilitated by Jason Muñiz. Kyle Beckhan is a lecturer and co-director of the UC Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP). Beckham is also a veteran classroom teacher who helped to co-create SFUSD's Ethnic Studies program.

Participants

Featured Speaker: Kyle Beckham, Co-Director, Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP)
Moderator: Jason Muñiz, Site Director, UC Berkeley History Social-Science Project

There is no space in the school where there isn’t the possibility of human connection and really deep and meaningful lasting learning.

Kyle Beckham

Berkeley Teacher Education Program (BTEP)

BTEP is a fifteen-month Master of Arts and credential program that provides specialized pathways, including the Secondary History/Social Science Pathway and a supplemental Spanish Bilingual Authorization. The program offers an introductory course on ethnic studies pedagogy, which teaches student teachers how to integrate Ethnic Studies into various academic subjects. BTEP aims to equip Berkeley students with the necessary skills to handle complex conversations and situations in and outside the classroom. Learn more

Teaching Controversies Framework

Judy Pace, a professor of teacher education at the University of San Francisco, developed a framework for reflective practice that outlines steps for teaching controversial issues. This framework is summarized in eight elements designed to create powerful curricula and support reflective practice. Kyle Beckham cites Pace’s framework as a valuable resource for Ethnic Studies instructors who are preparing to engage in difficult classroom conversations.

Dr. Farima Pour-Khorshid

Dr. Pour-Khorshid is an Assistant Professor of Education at The University of San Francisco. Dr. Pour-Khorshid is one of the organizers, editors, and contributing authors of the book, Lessons in Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for K-12 Educators, a collaboration between the Education for Liberation Network, Critical Resistance, and several other grassroots abolitionist and justice-centered collectives.

Dr. Pour-Khorshid and her work are a valuable resource for Ethnic Studies instructors who are looking to learn more about how to integrate restorative justice frameworks into their classrooms.

The Future of Healing by Dr. Shawn Ginwright

This piece focuses on the potential and limitations of trauma-informed care in school settings. In the article, Dr. Ginwright explores the promise of healing-centered engagement and the ways that it differs from the dominant understanding of trauma-informed care.

Dr. Ginwrights' groundbreaking work on trauma, healing, and the empowerment of African American youth has earned him a reputation as an innovator, provocateur, and thought leader in the field of education. Kyle Beckham shared his work as a valuable resource for Ethnic Studies educators seeking to learn more about how to create healing spaces.

Beyond Ethnic Studies: Engaging the Entire School Community in Creating Healing Spaces

The task of creating healing spaces should not be limited to Ethnic Studies classrooms and instructors alone. The entire school community must engage in supporting students by including them in conversations and ensuring their voices are heard. Restricting these important discussions to just Ethnic Studies does a disservice to the discipline.

(Around 16:42) Questions must "be asked to the entire school community, to the entire district itself. Ethnic Studies becomes the kind of, catchall social justice class that allows other teachers to abdicate doing the more difficult work of engaging with these kinds of questions.”
(Around 17:42) “We have to really push back against this notion that, the difficult stuff is only in Ethnic Studies or the hard stuff or the dark stuff only lives in Ethnic Studies. I think that is an injustice to the work. And it also causes Ethnic Studies to kind of lose its focus on what it really is, which is primarily a class where we need to make sense about race, racialization, and racism.”
(Around 19:05) “School should be de-prioritizing the march through content and thinking about content as the thing that is driving the work that we’re doing.”
(Around 20:41) We need to think of community building as something that is “constantly integrated into the way that we plan, the way that we collaborate, and the way that we envision long-term what we want schools to be.”
(Around 42:09) One of the best ways to counter bad-faith ideological attacks is proceeding the evidence of success, of careful planning, and of consideration that goes into teaching controversial topics.

Navigating Classroom Conflicts: Tools for Preparing for Difficult Conversations

While difficult conversations and classroom conflicts can catch instructors off guard, instructors can prepare for these challenges by employing various strategies. It is critical to be clear about your learning objectives and maintain a vision for a healthy classroom environment, continuously engaging your students in dialogue.

(Around 22:27) Instead of immediately reacting to conflict, try adopting an understanding-by-design approach. Start by defining what success looks like, identify key milestones, and then plan how to achieve these goals.
(Around 24:30) Just like any lesson plan, instructors can prepare to work on specific skills with their students to manage the emotions that come with difficult conversations.
(Around 25:36) “A big marker of a healthy classroom, one that has the capacity to be a healing space is, do all the kids know each other's names? Because it means to me that the teacher has really made it a point that you will know everyone in this room, you may not have to like them, but you will know their name.”
(Around 26:45) Engage your students throughout the process by encouraging them to articulate what they believe their peers’ definitions of respect might be.

Resolving Classroom Discord: Strategies for Progress

Maintaining clarity and creating open dialogues through the learning process is vital for addressing moments of discord thoroughly and honestly. Teachers should consistently check in with students, and often, assuring them that you want them to feel heard can help move the process forward.

(Around 31:11) Take a step back and slow down. It's important to establish clear boundaries and understand that temporarily excluding someone may be necessary if they have done something to harm the learning environment.
(Around 32:28) “With transparency, clarity and then, a sense of asking the offender to reflect on the ‘why’ of what they were doing, and then giving them a space to maybe articulate the ‘why’.”
(Around 36:40) Be prepared to continually revisit discussions and check in with students, ensuring they understand “I'm going to make sure that you feel heard because I want to do my best to bridge that gap," reminding them "we're going to have to be in this space together.”

Empowering Students through Choice: Navigating Opt-In or Opt-Out Dynamics

Given the personal nature of discussions in Ethnic Studies courses, it should be expected that students might not always want to share. It is important to differentiate between legitimate and disingenuous reasons for opting out of classroom activities. Despite Ethnic Studies becoming a mandatory subject, instructors can emphasize opting-in as a crucial part of the learning process by consistently linking it to the educational goals of a class.

(Around 46:47) “We don’t want to force kids to share some things that they don’t want to share that are highly personal. I think that there should be an expectation that you don’t necessarily have to share everything with your classmates. But I would like for you to share it with me.”
(Around 47:49) “The expectation is that we come to share, but also really thinking about what it is that we're asking students to share, why and towards what goals does that sharing help us accomplish?”
(Around 50:46) This is also an opportunity to redefine what a mandatory class can look like. We can meet students with a level of clarity, transparency, and organization that doesn’t exist in other mandatory spaces.
(Around 52:23) “Expect and accept a little bit of non-closure is the mantra that I have adopted in education because you never can close the door in the conversation gracefully.”

Enhancing Ever-Evolving Ethnic Studies Classrooms: Conversations for Curriculum Development and Support

As Ethnic Studies curricula continue to evolve in high schools, instructors should consider how to take ownership of their courses, tailor their teaching methods to their specific classes, and support one another throughout the process. Reflecting on key questions can prepare instructors to create and sustain healing spaces within their classrooms effectively.

(Around 52:49) “Articulating what does success look like at the end of the unit at the end of the course? And how do we consistently assess kids and help them meet these goals that we have for them?”
(Around 53:26) Ask ourselves, “What does it mean for us as Ethnic Studies educators to be data-driven? What does Ethnic Studies data look like that helps guide our practice?”