Ms. Yorke's
On March 20, 2017, all of the spring 2017 student teachers gathered in the North Dining Hall for a civil rights training. Brandon Baldwin from the Maine Civil Rights Team Project (CRTP) delivered a compelling three hour presentation on bias-motivated behaviors and harassment in schools.
He began his presentation with a Dr. Seuss video in which we were asked to identify examples of bias between regular "sneetches" and star-bellied "sneetches." This activity got us in the mindset of recognizing certain behaviors and identifying the motivation for them, setting the stage for the rest of the presentation. The next part of the training required us to imagine our own schools and decide how safe it is to be different in that environment. This encouraged me to think about what types of bias-motivated behaviors are evident in my school and how often they occur. It also made me think about the diversity (or lack thereof) of the school population and how that may contribute to the use of specific bias language.
From there, we moved into small groups where we discussed specific evidence of harassment and bias-motivated behaviors in our school that are specific to the issues identified by the CRTP. I found this to be the most helpful part of the presentation as I was able to see what other middle school teachers are experiencing and what they do to correct or prevent these behaviors. This encouraged me to think more about what I say and how I communicate expectations in my classroom.
The morning concluded with suggestions on how to address bias-motivated behaviors and how powerful the presence of a teacher can be in preventing them. Brandon also gave specific suggestions for dealing with common behaviors which was very helpful. He showed us projects that civil rights teams throughout Maine have been working on and how they have been communicating positive messages throughout their schools.
Overall, I found the training to be very beneficial in the sense that it encouraged reflective thinking regarding my practices and how I address bias. While this is true, I felt that it covered much of what we already knew and only scratched the surface of these issues. In the future I would like to see a more in-depth presentation that introduces new ideas or unfamiliar topics regarding civil rights issues.