Reimagining the Classroom
Selectively overlooking parts of human history and culture limits both our individual and collective potential. Brian Williams of Georgia State University shares his powerful story of how disenfranchisement in the classroom motivated his journey to become an equity-centered educator. He sees education as a political act and teachers as the people who are growing the next generation of leaders and critical thinkers and artists and dreamers and actors and builders. His attention and insight into the craft of teaching is rooted in personal experiences where his culture and identity were erased from the classroom.
Reimagining the Classroom is an animated short where Mr. Williams, in his own words, makes connections and asks questions about the role and power of teachers in creating culturally responsive, sustaining learning environments for each and every child.
Reimagining the Classroom was produced and directed by Autumn Blanchard and the Southern Education Foundation with animation by Pisano Films, music by DJ Thermos, and audio editing by Techidesigned.
Resources:
- Forward Promise is an active partner with the Southern Education Foundation. They suggest “Hearing the Lion’s Story” from Teaching Tolerance magazine as a powerful complement to the video.
- This NPR report introduces research done by the Yale Child Study Center on Implicit Bias in Preschool.
- The Coalition for Education Justice in New York is advancing a policy platform focused on Culturally Responsive Education. Here’s the platform, along with a fact sheet and a guide to address questions being confronted in advancing their efforts.
- EdWeek posted this interview with Django Paris and H. Samy Alim about their new book Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies: Teaching and Learning for Justice in a Changing World.
Tweet it: Brian Williams remembers being a student and feeling the shame of “being cut out of world history” on his way to becoming an educator himself. Watch: https://futureforlearning.org/reimagining-the-classroom #CulturallyResponsive #FutureforLearning