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FOCUS STARTING STRONG
To thrive, students need
a ‘homeplace’ at school
BY SHATERA WEAVER
“Next stop: Vaaaalhalla; Where the It meant I was only two stops away softball, figure skating, theater, dance
I
Vikings go to die.” from home: White Plains, New York. team, and more. I earned awards, learned
Valhalla may have been where Vikings Latin, and had access to a middle school
can still hear each additional went to die, but it was also the train education for which my classmates were
“a” the train conductor used to stop I awaited to resume living fully. paying college tuition prices, all with the
embellish his pronunciation of I had the privilege of attending support of a needs-based scholarship I
Valhalla. I remember not only a renowned private middle school in worked tirelessly to lose.
because it made passengers chuckle upper Westchester, New York. On the From 6th to 8th grade, I got
each time, but also because his melodic other end of that 35-minute Metro into fights, broke dress code, even
announcement was music to my ears. North train ride, I was able to dabble in purposefully dropped my grades,
40 The Learning Professional | www.learningforward.org August 2021 | Vol. 42 No. 4STUDENT FEEDBACK
Here are student responses on a
survey given to gather feedback in
because amid all the standards-based empathy for others, establish and
February 2021.
critical thinking skills I learned there, maintain positive relationships, and
I also learned that I didn’t belong. make responsible decisions.
Anything you'd like to say or ask
Ostracized as a result of otherness, I I began cultivating a homeplace for
about BAM!?
never felt at home. Black students with an affinity group,
When we pulled off from l i love it, and i will continue to and that work has grown to include
Valhalla, it seemed that both the be consistent and keep joining affinity spaces for other student groups,
train and I let out a sigh of relief. My every friday ;3 alongside professional learning for staff
shoulders relaxed and the clench in l It's pretty valid, more or less that is laying the foundation for other
my jaw loosened. That lighthearted like an escape for me. important work to come.
announcement meant my heart could
lighten. l Can I plz be a co leader for THE BAM! AFFINITY GROUP
A couple of decades and educational the Club!!! It would be a great Inspired by the work of Love and
degrees later, I know now that it wasn’t experience. hooks, I created an affinity group for
home I was looking — and sometimes l Well I hope I become a leader, Black students as a homeplace and
fighting — for at school. It was a if only this is the one time I piloted it over the past school year.
homeplace. In her essay Homeplace, have stepped forward yo lead Research reinforces the importance of
social activist and author bell hooks something because I believe in belonging in a learning community
defines a homeplace as a space where it. (Allen, 2021), and this affinity
Black people are able to “recover our group is my way of offering a “small
l This Group is great
wholeness” and “where we can be private reality where Black [students]
affirmed in our minds and hearts … l This group is really chill and can renew their spirits and recover
where we could restore ourselves the I actually look forward to themselves” (hooks, 1990).
dignity denied us on the outside in the coming here every week :D Unfortunately, the research on
public world” (hooks, 1990). school-aged racial affinity groups
In her book We Want to Do More is limited. Yet I find that the most
Than Survive, Bettina Love references important facilitation move I make is
hooks’s idea of a homeplace as a “space students, particularly Black students. I to simply be myself and allow students
where black folx truly matter ... where have made it my mission to tend to the to do the same. With that foundation,
souls are nurtured, comforted and fed” souls of our Black students because I this homeplace that students and I
(Love, 2019, p. 63). My middle school want them to do more than just survive continue to curate with one another is a
experience leaves me wondering how and bide their time until they begin mutually gratifying space where we can
many minds schools are feeding, but living again when they head home. learn, support one another, and nurture
souls they are starving. Creating a homeplace is central growth.
As dean of culture at the because SEL is a process that begins The Black at MELS (BAM!) affinity
Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning with creating safe and equitable spaces group formed at the onset of the 2020-
School in New York, my approach to for students to first be their whole 21 school year. We meet every Friday
social and emotional learning (SEL) is selves. This is the foundation on which after school and have four core portions
not just about building skills. It’s about they can develop effective knowledge to our time together.
making school a homeplace for all and skills to be able to feel and show First, we check in with a reflection
August 2021 | Vol. 42 No. 4 www.learningforward.org | The Learning Professional 41FOCUS STARTING STRONG
of the week we’re bringing to a close.
Black joy is fortified through games, STAFF REFLECTIONS
then we move on to the day’s topic of 6th grade
learning and discussion. It might be In Cities expedition students are investigating who has access to green spaces
learning about the life and legacy of and who doesn’t. They are learning the historical factors and systemic racism
the late Cicely Tyson, co-designing our that created these conditions today. They are designing plans to address this
BAM! uniform T-shirts, or mourning inequity. There is also opportunity to connect this local example to what’s
the murder of Daunte Wright. happening in the country and world.
To close, we provide space for In Decision 2020, we also studied voting rights as a part of the case study,
students to share anything they want to specifically addressing racism historically and today.
be heard. The center of our circle is there
to hold whatever it is that students may 7th grade
wish to put down or uplift. 7th Grade Science brought in experts for our PANDEMIC case study. We
Students describe BAM! as the had doctors who worked on the frontlines come to speak with and answer
highlight of their schooling experience. questions about their experiences. Students were amazing and so engaged.
In a survey given during one of our Favorite Moment: X asked Dr. Pean, a Haitian/Mexican American, if he felt
Friday afternoon meetings in February a sense of belonging when going through school/work. He then shared his
2021, one student even asserted that experience and encouraged all students to pursue their goals regardless of the
BAM! was an escape for him. “norm.” It was beautiful and amazing.To thrive, students need a ‘homeplace’ at school
racism and violence. Others created Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together
curricula that presented students with TO LEARN MORE in the Cafeteria? (Tatum, 1997) over
the opportunity to explore the Black the summer. In the fall, we established
Lives Matter at School 13 Principles, • www.dcareaeducators4 racial affinity groups composed of four
socialjustice.org/black-lives-
including a six-part series of lessons to six staff members to debrief and
matter-week-action
that asked students to reflect on discuss the text within.
personal experiences, engage in freedom • www.blacklivesmatteratschool. It was important that, alongside
dreaming, and ultimately take action com/ all the courageous conversations we
toward a vision for how the 13 BLM • www.dcareaeducators4 were facilitating as a whole staff or on
principles can and should live within socialjustice.org/black-lives- teaching teams, we also provide safe
the school community. matter/13-guiding-principles spaces for discussion to happen among
A couple of colleagues shared • www.nycoutwardbound.org/ those with shared identity. I see this as
homework assignments and class select-strategies/crew/ the base for eventually piloting racial
journal entries that their students wrote affinity groups with students.
• www.edutopia.org/video/
featuring their thoughts and experiences addressing-anti-asian-racism-
about participating in BAM!. students WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
As the final year of that three-year
COLLABORATIVE LEARNING • www.blacklivesmatteratschool. plan comes to a close, we’re discussing
com/13-guiding-principles.
ABOUT ANTIRACIST PEDAGOGY where to go from here, as the work is
html
To support students’ sense far from done. In fact, we acknowledge
of belonging and their social and • eleducation.org/who-we-are/ there is no such thing as being “done”
emotional development, educators our-approach with this work.
have to continually listen, reflect, and For true social and emotional
learn about race and culture. This work learning to take place, it must be
cannot happen in isolation. intersected with antiracist social justice
Fortunately, in my first year at the education. Dena Simmons finds that
school, I met an educator, now friend, around them, while faculty participates “educators often teach SEL absent
who was hired at the same time. I had in similar work through thoughtful and of the larger sociopolitical context,
never met a white woman who not continuous professional development. which is fraught with injustice and
only spoke openly about antiracism, To meet that mission, our team inequity and affects our students’ lives”
but acted on it both in and out of the created a three-year trajectory for staff (Simmons, 2019).
classroom. in the form of long-term learning She asks, “Why teach relationship
After I spent an entire school year targets. skills if the lessons do not reflect on
scoping out her intent and determining Year One: I can engage in the interpersonal conflicts that result
it wasn’t purely performative, she and I courageous conversations about from racism? Why discuss self and
started a brown bag learning circle that identity. social awareness without considering
a handful of our colleagues opted into • Who we are as individuals, power and privilege, even if that means
focused on antiracist pedagogy. including, but not limited to: examining controversial topics like
In that group, we developed a race, class, gender and sexuality, white supremacy?” (Simmons, 2019).
shared language to discuss topics privilege, ability, etc. I find that to be a powerful inquiry
regarding race and racism as a school. Year Two: I can explain how my that educators should continue to
Once we had the language, we leaned identities affect the way I see and grapple with as we equip students with
into inquiry cycles about antibias interact with the world. the tools to create positive change
education and how we can implement • For example, my students, within themselves and the world.
those practices in our classrooms. We my classroom, coworkers, the While we plan where the next
also read literature with one another to curriculum I create, how I teach three years take us, we have much
inform our discussions and inquiry. that curriculum, etc. to appreciate about the strides our
That informal brown bag has since Year Three: I can implement school is making toward becoming
evolved into our school’s equity team. antibias practices in my curriculum. a more actively antiracist institution
Established in 2018, the equity team’s • Underpinning our work with — a school where all our students
mission is to ensure that students have the four goals of antibias can find their homeplace. During our
opportunities in classrooms to reflect on education: identity, diversity, spring 2021 whole-staff professional
how their own identities and [hi]stories justice, and activism. development day, we reflected on the
impact their understanding of the world The first year, the staff read Why changes we had made in our school
August 2021 | Vol. 42 No. 4 www.learningforward.org | The Learning Professional 43FOCUS STARTING STRONG
because it’s always appropriate to BELONGING AND JOY Love, B.L. (2019). We want to do
celebrate your progress before mapping Teaching in the midst of this more than survive: Abolitionist teaching
out next steps. simultaneous pandemic and racial and the pursuit of educational freedom.
In addition, we recorded reflections reckoning, I find myself bringing to Beacon Press.
from teachers, paraprofessionals, and mind the quote often attributed to Simmons, D. (2019). Why
administrators on each grade team’s Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that we can’t afford whitewashed
successes throughout the first half of people will forget what you said, people social-emotional learning. ASCD
the school year. (See p. 42.) These will forget what you did, but people Education Update, 61(4). www.
demonstrate some of the ways we were will never forget how you made them ascd.org/publications/newsletters/
able to turnkey our efforts into practices feel.” education_update/apr19/vol61/
for equity with and for our students. What I want my students to feel num04/Why_We_Can’t_Afford_
These reflections illustrate the is both belonging and joy. My work is Whitewashed_Social-Emotional_
positive impacts our focus on antiracist guided by Bettina Love: “Black joy is Learning.aspx
and culturally responsive pedagogy had finding your homeplace and creating Tatum, B. (1997). Why are all the
on our curriculum and our students. homeplaces for others” (Love, 2019). Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?
That curriculum is collaboratively I’ve found mine and am purposed with BasicBooks.
built in interdisciplinary learning units creating it for others. •
called expeditions and case studies. Shatera Weaver (sweaver@
The reflections refer to a number of REFERENCES metropolitanels.com) is dean
those thoughtfully planned curriculas Allen, K.-A. (2021). The psychology of culture at the Metropolitan
(e.g. We’re Biased expedition and of belonging. Routledge. Expeditionary Learning School in
PANDEMIC case study) as inspiring hooks, b. (1990). Yearning: Race, Forest Hills, New York. ■
meaningful learning experiences for gender, and cultural politics. South End
students. Press.
Coaching with SEL in mind
Continued from p. 39 to connect? drive.google.com/file/d/15WVD_
learner? What learning styles do Finally, ask yourself the following e0lDOyur6zZUglxNZ8IAYhvWpVC/
I learn best from? to determine your next steps: view
• Am I coachable? Am I flexible? • What ways do I reflect best? Taplin, A., Kmieciak, R.,
What are my strengths, and • What are my takeaways from Edmond, C., & Mane, R. (2020,
how can I continue to grow? my reflection? November 21). Explicit dialogue for
• How do I see myself as a leader? In the spirit of collaboration, social emotional learning. www.canva.
Am I willing to be open to please reach out to us if we can be com/design/DAEZgN2GjcM/Jj3P_
feedback? Do I consider the your thought partners or answer any g7ivFCwfQH_jpqFDQ/view?utm_
viewpoints of others? questions. content=DAEZgN2GjcM&utm_
Your responses from these three campaign=designshare&utm_
questions will help your self-awareness REFERENCES medium=link&utm_
before building relationships or entering CASEL. (2019a). SEL 3 signature source=sharebutton
into a coaching cycle. The next three practices playbook. schoolguide.casel.org/ •
questions focus on social awareness resource/three-signature-sel-practices- Carrie Edmond (cedmon1@neisd.
as you work your way through the for-adult-learning/ net) is assistant director, student
collaborative coaching model. Each of CASEL. (2019b). Explicit SEL leadership & well-being, Rebekah
your responses can be used to guide instruction. schoolguide.casel.org/ Kmieciak (rkmiec@neisd.net) is a
your own professional learning on focus-area-3/classroom/explicit-sel- social emotional learning coach, and
coaching and social emotional learning. instruction/ Rachel Mane (rmane@neisd.net)
• How do I provide support and Taplin, A. (2021, April 8). How and Ashley Taplin (atapli@neisd.
advice? to embed SEL into your instruction. net) are math instructional specialists
• What does collaboration look Edutopia. www.edutopia.org/article/ in North East Independent School
like and feel like to me? how-embed-sel-your-instruction District in San Antonio, Texas. ■
• How do I connect with others? Taplin, A. (2019, November
How do I create opportunities 20). 3 signature practices play card.
44 The Learning Professional | www.learningforward.org August 2021 | Vol. 42 No. 4You can also read
