Drawing on practitioner-research and case study methods, including interview protocols, this study aimed to explore the insights and experiences, as described by four teachers, of developing and teaching racial-justice curriculum for predominantly White 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in their course: Sparking Courageous Conversations: Discussing Race and Racism. This study was framed in critical literacy theories that are grounded in the work of Freire (2000) but draw on the work of contemporary critical scholars and practitioners with the knowledge that critical literacy pedagogy can provide a powerful means for interrogating how larger structures, texts, individuals, and groups are constructed. Data collection took place in four phases across three months. Primary data sources included analysis of: curriculum and emerging curricular artifacts, in-depth interviews, surveys, teacher journals, researcher journal, and memos. The findings of this study emerged from the curriculum development that occurred the summer prior to the 2017-2018 academic school year as well as the teaching that occurred that year. The reflections of each of the teachers about their development and teaching of the racial-justice curriculum demonstrated the breakthroughs and boundaries of teaching about race and racism with predominantly White middle-school students. Further, their reflections illustrated the ongoing, internal work required to facilitate conversations about race with students more effectively. Such work included monitoring for how race affected their lives as well as the lives of others, and how race as one of their identities affected the ways in which they developed and taught curriculum. Finally, the teachers discovered that facilitating courses on race required moving from a content-based approach to a consciousness-based approach where they each, alongside of their students, assumed a researching-the-world stance to learn about race and confront and challenge racism.

In an attempt to tackle issues of racism in the U.S. public education system, school districts throughout the country are paying particular attention to how teachers and educational leaders are trained and supported to address issues of racial disparities. As a result of this, there has been a diffusion of various anti-bias and racial literacy-based trainings in some of the largest school systems. This dissertation explored a case study of a unique racial literacy and healing professional development (PD) workshop series within the New York City Department of Education, which was offered to a group composed predominantly of educators of Color. This inquiry was primarily concerned with how the educator of the PD workshop series designed and enacted a healing-centered pedagogy and what were the affordances of such an approach. A number of qualitative research methods—including contemplative inquiry—worked together to understand how this professional learning experience enabled participants to engage in a healing praxis. The PD curriculum structured opportunities for participants to deploy a two-pronged healing praxis, which combined racial literacy and critical consciousness on one side, and healing and self-care on the other. Through the combination of a transformative activist stance, a healing-centered engagement, and an indigenist stance, this study drew on a unique conceptual framework to examine how the PD series enabled participants to: (a) surface feelings of racialized stress and trauma; (b) potentiate their own healing journey; (c) articulate gratitude and cultivate empathy; and (d) explore conflict and cultural fault lines. This work finds a home in the coming wave of scholarship and a canon that considers healing within the context of education as an urgent matter.

This dissertation study documented and analyzed the key curricular and pedagogical features of three secondary social studies teachers who center issues of race and racism in their classrooms by examining their decision-making processes and the impact of relevant lived experiences on their practice. I utilized portraiture methodology, which included ethnographic field notes, document analysis, interviews, and impressionistic records to document and analyze the key curricular and pedagogical features of each teacher. Data were collected during the 2016-2017 school year across three racially diverse social studies classrooms located in southern New England. My findings were that each teacher treated race and racism as central objects of historical inquiry and enacted a set of curricular and pedagogical moves that were guided by a combination of what they know (technical pedagogy) and who they are (relational pedagogy). I refer to the relevant lived experiences that give shape and form to each teacher’s practice as their pedagogical origin stories. This study has implications for teacher education and underscores the importance of focusing on technical and relational curricular and pedagogical development in novice and veteran social studies teachers. Teacher education programs need to focus on preparing preservice teachers to recognize and, at times, reconcile the relationships between our respective origin stories and the curricular and pedagogical decisions and moves that we make in classrooms when we teach about issues of race and racism.

Racial literacy is vital in a contemporary American society that professes meritocracy and post-racialism yet where racial tensions continue to give rise to fear, violence, and inequity. This is especially important in educational institutions, which have the potential to either inspire social progress or maintain inequitable hierarchies. This dissertation explores how college students talk about race in the composition classroom; how those language practices contribute to the practice of racial literacy; and how these racial literacy practices contribute to student engagement and achievement in academic writing. Through a qualitative two-year teacher research project, I explored two distinct curricula for racial literacy in the college First Year Composition (FYC) composition classroom. The first study, conducted at an urban, public two-year college, explored the use of what I have come to term Narrative Song Lyrics (NSL) texts to encourage race talk and student engagement in the classroom. The second study, conducted in an urban, private residential university, explored the potential of an explicit racial literacy curriculum to improve students’ critical writing skills. To highlight classroom culture, I drew upon the ethnographic and discourse analysis methods of data collection and analysis. In student writing, thematic categories were examined for their parallels with foundational rhetorical and writing skills, including authorial voice, audience awareness, language choice, and critical textual interpretation. The purpose of this research was to examine the ways in which racial literacy might transfer to academic writing and to more broadly consider what the racial literacy framework may offer scholars, researchers, instructors and students of First Year Composition. As there are no best practices yet associated with racial literacy development, the dual studies represented in this dissertation serve to illuminate the many possibilities for racial literacy curricula in the college classroom. While two distinct studies, each with their own lines of inquiry, were conducted, I synthesize the findings of these studies to identify the ways in which racial literacy might be practiced and embodied, as well as to proffer a vision of what racial literacy could mean for the college composition classroom.

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Ons bevind ons in 'n nuwe Suid-Afrika waar die klem baie sterk op die uitwissing van die spore van die apartheidsera gele word. Die oopstelling van skole het nie daartoe bygedra dat kinders hulle vooroordele oorboord gooi en mekaar spontaan aanvaar nie. Die verandering in wetgewing wat 'n eksterne verandering is, het nie noodwendig tot verandering van gesindhede gelei nie. Daar kan derhalwe tereg gevra word hoe versoening tussen mense van verskillende kulture tot stand kan kom. In hierdie studie is gepoog om vas te stel of 'n verrykingsprogram in groepverband interpersoonlike vaardighede en verhoudinge van persone van uiteenlopende kulturele agtergronde kan bevorder. Die program is onder gekontroleerde omstandighede aangebied en die idiografiese navorsingsmetode is gebruik. Daar is bepaal watter faktore die aard en die kwaliteit van verhoudinge tussen persone van verskillende kulturele herkoms be'invloed. Riglyne is gestruktrueer en kriteria is ge'identifiseer waarvolgens die program saamgestel is. Die ouderdomme van die leertinge het tussen 15 en 21 jaar gewissel. Tydens die multikulturele groepsbelewing het die leertinge die geleentheid gehad om persoonlike en interpersoonlike vaardighede te ontwikkel sodat daar 'n openheid en 'n beg rip vir mekaar ontstaan het. Die interaksie met persone afkomstig van 'n verskeidenheid oriemtasies het daartoe gelei dat raakpunte in die diversiteit ontdek is en hulle het mekaar as individue begin erken en verstaan. Nuutgestigte verhoudings was gekenmerk deur vertroue, warmte en empatie. Deur middel van verbeterde selfbegrip en interpersoonlike vaardighede het die verhoudings tussen groeplede in verskeie dimensies beduidend verbeter. Hierdie navorsing het aangetoon dat mense van uiteenlopende kulturele orientasies soos in Suid-Afrika die geval is, deur middel van ervaringsleer in groepverband, tot grater eenheid en verdraagsaamheid saamgesnoer kan word. / Psychology of Education / D.Ed. (Psychology of Education)

"November 2003". / Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, School of Education, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 243-267. / Introduction -- Literature review -- Meanings and perspectives of Reconciliation in the Australian socio-political context -- An explanation of the research method -- Meanings of Reconciliation in the school context -- Survey results -- The role of education in the Reconciliation process -- Obstacles and barriers to Reconciliation -- Teaching for Reconciliation: best practice in teaching resources -- Conclusion. / The research detailed in this thesis investigated how schools in NSW responded to the social and political project of Reconciliation at the end of the 1990s. -- The research used a multi-method research approach which included a survey instrument, focus group interviews and key informants interviews with Aboriginal and non Aboriginal teachers, elders and educators, to gather qualitative as well as quantitative data. Differing research methodologies, including Indigenous research paradigms, are presented and discussed within the context of this research. From the initial research questions a number of sub-questions emerged which included: -The exploration of meanings and perspectives of Reconciliation evident in both the school and wider communities contexts and the extent to which these meanings and perspectives were transposed from the community to the school sector. -The perceived level of support for Reconciliation in school communities and what factors impacted on this level of support. -Responses of school communities to Reconciliation in terms of school programs and teaching strategies including factors which enhanced the teaching of Reconciliation issues in the classroom and factors which acted as barriers. -- Firstly in order to provide the context for the research study, the thesis provides a brief historical overview of the creation of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. It then builds a framework through which the discourses of Reconciliation are presented and deconstructed. These various meanings and perspectives of Reconciliation are placed within a linear spectrum of typologies, from 'hard', 'genuine' or 'substantive' Reconciliation advocated by the Left, comprising a strong social justice agenda, first nation rights and compensation for past injustices, to the assimiliationist typologies desired by members of the Right which suggest that Reconciliation is best achieved through the total integration of Aboriginal people into the mainstream community, with Aboriginal people accepting the reality of their dispossession. -- In between these two extremes lie degrees of interpretations of what constitutes Reconciliation, including John Howard's current Federal Government interpretation of 'practical' Reconciliation. In this context "Left" and "Right" are defined less by political ideological lines of the Labor and Liberal parties than by attitudes to human rights and social justice. Secondly, and within the socio-political context presented above, the thesis reports on research conducted with Indigenous and non Indigenous educators, students and elders in the context of the NSW school system to decipher meanings and perspectives on Reconciliation as reflected in that sector. It then makes comparisons with research conducted on behalf of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation during the 1990s on attitudes to Reconciliation in the community. Perceived differences are analysed and discussed. / The research further explores how schools approached the teaching of Reconciliation through a series of survey questions designed to document the types of activities undertaken by the schools with Reconciliation as the main aim. -- Research findings indicated that while both the community at large and the education community are overwhelmingly supportive of Reconciliation, both as a concept and as a government policy, when questioned further as to the depth and details of this commitment to Reconciliation and the extent to which they may be supportive of the 'hard' issues of Reconciliation, their views and level of support were more wide ranging and deflective. -- Findings indicated that, in general, educators have a more multi-layered understanding of the issues related to Reconciliation than the general community, and a proportion of them do articulate more clearly those harder, more controversial aspects of the Reconciliation process (eg just compensation, land and sea rights, customary laws). However, they are in the main, unsure of its meaning beyond the 'soft' symbolic acts and gatherings which occur in schools. In the late 1990s, when Reconciliation was at the forefront of the national agenda, research findings indicate that while schools were organising cultural and curriculum activities in their teaching of Indigenous history or Aboriginal studies - they did not specifically focus on Reconciliation in their teaching programs as an issue in the community. Teachers did not have a clearly defined view of what Reconciliation entailed and schools were not teaching about Reconciliation directly within their curriculum programs. -- The research also sought to identify facotrs which acted as enhancers of a Reconciliation program in schools and factors which were seen as barriers. Research findings clearly pointed to community and parental attitudes as important barriers with time and an overcrowded curriculum as further barriers to the implementation of teaching programs. Factors which promoted Reconciliation in schools often related to human agency and human relationships such as supportive executive leadership, the work of committed teachers and a responsive staff and community. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xvi, 286 leaves ill

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / Ons bevind ons in 'n nuwe Suid-Afrika waar die klem baie sterk op die uitwissing van die spore van die apartheidsera gele word. Die oopstelling van skole het nie daartoe bygedra dat kinders hulle vooroordele oorboord gooi en mekaar spontaan aanvaar nie. Die verandering in wetgewing wat 'n eksterne verandering is, het nie noodwendig tot verandering van gesindhede gelei nie. Daar kan derhalwe tereg gevra word hoe versoening tussen mense van verskillende kulture tot stand kan kom. In hierdie studie is gepoog om vas te stel of 'n verrykingsprogram in groepverband interpersoonlike vaardighede en verhoudinge van persone van uiteenlopende kulturele agtergronde kan bevorder. Die program is onder gekontroleerde omstandighede aangebied en die idiografiese navorsingsmetode is gebruik. Daar is bepaal watter faktore die aard en die kwaliteit van verhoudinge tussen persone van verskillende kulturele herkoms be'invloed. Riglyne is gestruktrueer en kriteria is ge'identifiseer waarvolgens die program saamgestel is. Die ouderdomme van die leertinge het tussen 15 en 21 jaar gewissel. Tydens die multikulturele groepsbelewing het die leertinge die geleentheid gehad om persoonlike en interpersoonlike vaardighede te ontwikkel sodat daar 'n openheid en 'n beg rip vir mekaar ontstaan het. Die interaksie met persone afkomstig van 'n verskeidenheid oriemtasies het daartoe gelei dat raakpunte in die diversiteit ontdek is en hulle het mekaar as individue begin erken en verstaan. Nuutgestigte verhoudings was gekenmerk deur vertroue, warmte en empatie. Deur middel van verbeterde selfbegrip en interpersoonlike vaardighede het die verhoudings tussen groeplede in verskeie dimensies beduidend verbeter. Hierdie navorsing het aangetoon dat mense van uiteenlopende kulturele orientasies soos in Suid-Afrika die geval is, deur middel van ervaringsleer in groepverband, tot grater eenheid en verdraagsaamheid saamgesnoer kan word. / Psychology of Education / D.Ed. (Psychology of Education)