Educating the Masses

Welcome back, everyone! Last week in the YESS room at ACHS was a pivotal one, as we wrapped up the Race lesson we had been learning about over the past few weeks and dove into the beginning of Unit 2.

In effort to come full circle with our Race lesson, we recapped what really struck us to be the most interesting, important, or shocking throughout breaking down discrimination, stereotyping, structural racism, and implicit bias in our class. The mentee/mentor pairs in each class came up with PSA signs to hang around the school (still to be approved!). I expressed that I only have the privilege of teaching 80 students, I told them that I wish I could get this message of equality to every single student in the school but that just isn't the reality. So the next best move on our part was to use what we have learned to educate other people who do not have the fortune of being a part of our enlightening class discussions. We did this using PSA's!

For the PSA anti-racism posters the students had to meet 3 criteria: a clear message, an image, and a statistic. Once they were approved they worked together to finish them with vibrant color and interesting composition, while using their chrome books to inspire ideas. They came up with some of the most amazing visuals and messages to help inspire change in our school, because as we learned in an Ellen video we saw, one small ripple can create waves in the process of making the world a better place.

I was the only one to participate on onsie day at school and this chaotic picture was taken right when the bell rung, so it isn't the most easily understood photo... but that is what I love about it. This is team Chicken Nuggets and they have a special place in my heart.

This is a student I am very close to who has had her own negative experience with racial bullying both this year and last year. This lesson was both eye opening and therapeutic for her, and at times, she admitted feeling uncomfortable. But a success I will never forget is her explaining that she was really glad that our class was tackling this issue because people don't often take the time to have honest discussions about discrimination, learn the history of it, and have an opportunity to look at a situation through another person's perspective or hear them out. She used her voice in these discussions to express how racism has changed her view of the world, and how she wants to be a part of the fight against it. It was a huge growing moment to see her step out of her comfort zone to express these feelings and because of this it brought our class closer.

Please join us next week as we hit the ground running while exploring the beginning of Unit 2 where we will be further dissecting our sphere of influence and discussing effective communication!

Until next time,
Ms. Castro