Portia Boston, Diversity Trainer, uses her platform to educate the community about anti-racist work and introduces weathering as a term we should know and care about. Weathering refers to the increased likelihood of earlier health deterioration of Black people mostly due to mental and physical stressors caused by a lifetime of enduring racism (Boston, 2020; Geronimus et al., 2006). 

Recognizing the Effects of Weathering

The term weathering was coined by Dr. Arline Geronimus, and it is a metaphor for how stress caused by everyday racism shapes or weathers the body (Martinez, 2020). Navigating a racialized reality means persistent high-effort coping with acute and chronic stressors present, which has a profound effect on health, including hypertension, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders, as well as depression and anxiety (Boston, 2020; Geronimus et al., 2006). 

Microaggressions and Weathering

As we make our way towards a more just society, we must understand how racism impacts Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). Racism is not limited to extreme encounters. Racism can be and often is delivered in subtle ways. According to psychologists Dr. Derald Wing Sue and Dr. Lisa Beth Spanierman, microaggressions are delivered daily without the perpetrators’ awareness (Sue & Spanierman, 2020, p. 24). Racism is also institutional, meaning it is hidden in education, healthcare, and other institutions in the form of  systematic policies or laws and practices that provide differential access to goods, services, and opportunities of society by race (Morgan et al., 2018).

The book Microaggressions in Everyday Life (2020) showcases several examples of everyday racism experienced at the micro-level. One example includes store owners following Black customers around the store. The book highlights that the message here is “You are going to steal,” “You are poor,” and “You don’t belong.” At the institutional or macro-level, an example of the effect of racism is hidden in housing and the environment. Redlining laws from the 1930s imposed by our federal government determined risky neighborhoods by the amount of Black and immigrant residents. This segregationist housing policy has modern-day implications because communities impacted by redlining were not invested in in the same way that white communities were. For example, thoughtful greenspace designs include more trees which cool the air and provide shade. Black neighborhoods are now up to 5 degrees hotter due to fewer trees directly linked to housing discrimination that  occurred 90 years ago (Anderson, 2020). 

Weathering in the Time of COVID

During an interview with Portia, she shared that people of color are probably not shocked that experiencing racism day to day takes a physical toll. Portia expresses how weathering may be linked to COVID-19 mortalities as health disparities have highlighted the disproportionate death toll for Black Americans. The health effects of weathering make Black Americans a high-risk population, which only furthers the healthcare disparities that existed before the pandemic. Dr. Arline Geronimus states, “In weathered populations, people and families have multiple morbidities. They can be hypertension or diabetes, depression and anxiety, joint pains, autoimmune disorders, like lupus … and now it’s COVID-19” (Martinez, 2020). 

Why Schools Should Care About Weathering

Educators in schools can introduce self- and community care practices to reduce the stress that BIPOC students experience due to microaggressions, as well as identifying and addressing microaggressions when they occur during the school day.

Portia highlights methods to alleviate the harmful effects of weathering in an Instagram post.

Introducing the term weathering to staff, students, and families is the first step in eliminating the health disparities that Black Americans experience. To learn about other ways of increasing equity in education for Black, Indigenous, and other students of color visit our Equity in Education series.

References

Anderson, M. (2020). Racist housing practices from the 1930s linked to hotter neighborhoods today. NPR. 

Boston, P. (2020). What is “weathering?” And why you should care about it. Instagram.  

Geronimus, A. T., Hicken, M., Keene, D., & Bound, J. (2006, May). “Weathering” and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States. American Journal of Public Health. 

Martinez, J. (2020). The major health ramifications of racial ‘weathering’ on Black people. WELL + GOOD. 

Morgan, J. D., De Marco. A. C., LaForett, D. R., Oh, S., Ayankoya, B., Morgan. W., Franco, X., & FPG’s Race, Culture, and Ethnicity Committee. (2018, May). What racism looks like: An infographic. Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sue, D. W. & Spanierman, L.B. (2020). Microaggressions in everyday life. (second edition). Wiley. 

The post Weathering: The Effects of Everyday Racism appeared first on Center for Educational Improvement.

The effects of historical trauma within the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) communities continues to rise (Tsethlikai et al., 2020). With the COVID-19 outbreak surging globally, the AIAN communities are heavily impacted not only by their community’s past pain, but the uncertainty of the present as well. The United States of America (USA) federally recognizes 574 tribes. AIAN individuals represent 1.7% of the population in the USA, with their communities centered primarily in Alaska, California, Oklahoma, and the Southwest/Upper Midwest (US Commission on Civil Rights, 2018). However, despite the recognition of these tribes, AIAN individuals are provided limited access to needed services for health care and other assistance. The systemic inequity perpetuates further to AIAN youth and children as they navigate under resourced education systems (National Congress of American Indians, 2020). 

Understanding Historical Trauma

Children deserve to know the truth so that they can better improve the future by practicing inclusiveness and sensibility. Content created should be reflective of the lived experiences of AIAN communities without any fabrication or stigma. Decolonizing our approach to history instruction is the first step in promoting awareness in our schools (Ethlers et al., 2013). 

With generations of attempted genocide clouding their history, AIAN communities have undergone years of systemic racism, oppression, verbal and physical violence, police brutality, and inadequate land or resources (Lakota People’s Law Project, 2015; Woodard, 2016). These experiences have led to disproportionate rates of disease and addiction within AIAN communities, leading to the increased risk of infection and possible death due to COVID-19 (Tsethlikai et al., 2020). As AIAN youth and children work on keeping themselves afloat in academics, educators should take time to check in with the social emotional well-being of the students. Generational trauma impacts the performance of students as they endure not only the household pressure but the academic expectations given to them during remote learning (The Learning Network, 2020).

AIAN students bring their culture, language, and experiences to the classroom. The narratives students have to share should be celebrated in the classroom. By giving students a space in the classroom to embrace their identities, the learning atmosphere is more inclusive and welcoming. AIAN youth and children can bring perspectives they’ve learned from their families to contribute to the classroom to form a better understanding of linguistic and cultural diversity for all.

Inclusion in the Classroom for AIAN Children

Here are action steps that can be implemented within the community to support the psychological and physical well-being of AIAN students as they work toward their educational goals:

• Provide more funding to schools to host online family culture nights. 
• Ensure all students have equitable access to the technology and broadband infrastructures needed for virtual instruction.
• Incorporate AIAN language and culture studies into the school curricula to raise awareness and educate youth about the linguistic and cultural diversity of the AIAN community.
• Allow AIAN children to share stories of their families, upbringing, and experiences to form communal dialogue and discussion. 
• Encourage educators and policymakers to be sensible and respectful to AIAN students and their needs during COVID-19.

Support During Distance Learning

Prior to COVID-19, studies had shown that AIAN youth experience more adverse childhood experience than their peers, including physical abuse, witnessing domestic violence, and financial stress endured by their families (Brockie et al., 2015). With virtual schooling, AIAN children are now more at risk than ever before for low levels of school achievement due to their limited access to WiFi connection, technology, nutritious food, and dedicated spaces to study within their homes (Tsethlikai et al., 2020). Educators can orient their instruction to meet the needs of AIAN children in the classroom. Having alternative options available for students to demonstrate their understanding of the content is a great way to provide autonomy, flexibility, and creativity in the classroom (The Learning Network, 2020). 

Take Action

Although we cannot rewrite history, as a collective we can work toward providing the youth and children of today a better experience. By proactively engaging in culturally sustaining practices in content delivery, being sensitive to the needs of AIAN youth and children, and addressing the social-emotional well-being of all students, distance learning during COVID-19 can be tackled one step at a time. 

References 

Brockie, T. N., Dana-Sacco, G., Wallen, G. R., Wilcox, H. C., & Campbell, J. C. (2015). The relationship of adverse childhood experiences to PTSD, depression, poly-drug use and suicide attempt in reservation-based Native American adolescents and young adults. American Journal of Community Psychology, 55(3-4), 411-421. 

Ehlers, C. L., Gizer, I. R., Gilder, D. A., Ellingson, J. M., & Yehuda, R. (2013). Measuring historical trauma in an American Indian community sample: Contributions of substance dependence, affective disorder, conduct disorder and PTSD. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 133(1), 180-187. 

Lakota People’s Law Project. (2015). Native lives matter. 

National Congress of American Indians. (2020). Tribal nations and the United States: An introduction. 

The Learning Network. (2020.) 80 tips for remote learning from seasoned educators. The New York Times.

Tsethlikai, M., Sarche, M., Barnes, J. V., & Fitzgerald, H. (2020). Addressing inequities in education: Considerations for American Indian and Alaska Native children and youth in the era of COVID-19. . 

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. (2018). Broken promises: Continuing federal funding shortfall for Native Americans. 

Woodard, S. (2016). The police killings no one is talking about. In These Times. 

The post Addressing Inequities in Education: Considerations for American Indian and Alaska Native Children and Youth in the Era of COVID-19 appeared first on Center for Educational Improvement.

With one in five children in the United States likely to be diagnosed with a mental health or learning disorder, it is critical to find feasible and effective solutions to provide aid throughout their education and development (Vanderburg et al., 2020). However, there is a chronic lack of treatment and support for these youth. The universal implementation of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) may provide the needed solution to support children as they go through the mental struggles of adolescence. MBIs are rooted in Buddhist psychology and promote the ability to stay present with one’s experiences and to view them without judgement. They can include practices like meditation and yoga, activities that allow the practitioner to focus their attention and be present in the moment (Zenner et al., 2014).

Given the promising potential of MBIs, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has completed a systematic review of the effects of universally implemented mindfulness interventions on mental health outcomes within a school-based setting. The search identified 616 studies but only examined the 21 that met inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis focuses on four domains of mental health: anxiety, well-being, depression, and stress. This review aims to determine the most effective mindfulness programs to target certain outcomes to guide school-based intervention decisions. 

MBI Programs

As mindfulness has become a more popular practice over the past few decades, a number of programs have been developed to address this skill development through a systematic process. The most well known is the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) intervention. This program consists of 8 weekly sessions of 2.5 hours and a full day of mindfulness practices such as yoga and meditation. It focuses on learning how to practice meditation, to cultivate full body awareness, and to incorporate mindfulness into everyday activities such as eating and breathing (Zenner et al., 2014). A number of similar programs have arisen over the years, some putting more emphasis on the psycho-education aspect of MBIs, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Overall, these programs have been connected to general improvements in mental health as well as specific conditions such as PTSD, depression, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).

Where do MBIs show promise?

1.Anxiety

This study examines 10 intervention approaches for the impact on anxiety in adolescents and young adults. While most of the programs in this review did not significantly reduce anxiety, there were some promising programs. The MBSR has the most significant results, followed by Master Mind and Mindfulness Training for Teens.

2. Depression

The eight examined interventions provide a bit more insight on MBIs’ efficacy for addressing depression and  youth mental health challenges. While the completed analysis does not offer many significant conclusions on how MBIs can effectively improve adolescent depression, there is promising data on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. However, the same positive conclusions can not be made for the effect of the MBSR approach on adolescent depression. From this review alone, it suggests that MBSR is not as effective in addressing depression as it is in other mental health struggles.

3. Stress

The results from the analysis of MBIs on stress provide the most encouraging results for the positive effect they can have on stress levels. Following the examination of eight interventions, there is a substantial list of effective approaches. The most significant results are found with the MBSR followed by Learning to BREATHE (L2B), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Youth COMPASS, and Mindfulness Training for Teens (MTT). These programs all share the overall goal of increasing social and emotional learning but differ from MBSR in that L2B, Youth COMPASS, and MTT are specially designed to address the needs of adolescents

However, it is also important to acknowledge all of these results are from short-term studies. More research is needed to determine the long-term impact of MBIs on stress and adolescent mental health.

What Can We Take Away From These Findings?

While the initial results from the systematic review are promising in terms of their potential positive impact on youth mental health, the results are limited in their overall significance. The wide range of timing, evaluation, and program requirements of the MBIs investigated in this review make it difficult to draw strong conclusions about their efficacy in promoting positive youth mental health. Further research and review is needed to better understand how much MBIs contribute to improved mental health. However, many of the programs showed promise, including:

• Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Mindfulness in Schools
• Learning to BREATHE

While these results are preliminary, this meta-analysis shows that there is promise in using MBIs to address anxiety and depression, and that many programs are effective at reducing stress. The most successful programs targeted stress-related outcomes with the greatest support for MBSR interventions. With these encouraging initial findings, further research should be conducted to provide more conclusive and universally applicable results.

References

Bring mindfulness to your school (n.d.). Misp: Mindfulness in Schools Project. 

Dimheff, L., & Lineham, M.M. (2001) Dialectical behavior therapy in a nutshell. The California Psychologist, 34, 10-13.

Kiuru, N. (2017). The effectiveness of the mobile-based Youth COMPASS program to promote adolescent well-being and life-control (YouthCOMPASS). US National Library of Medicine. 

Hayes, S. (n.d.).  Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT). Association for Contextual Behavioral Science. 

What is Learning to BREATHE? (n.d.). Learning to BREATHE. 

Tacker, K. A., & Dobie, S. (2008). MasterMind: Empower Yourself With Mental Health. A program for adolescents. The Journal of school health, 78(1), 54–57. 

Vanderburg, J. L., Marraccini, M. E., & Litwin, S. G. (2020, July). Using mindfulness techniques to bolster mental health in schools. National Association of School Psychologist

What is MBSR?. (n.d.). Mindful Leader. 

Zenner, C., Herrnleben-Kurz, S., & Walach, H. (2014). Mindfulness-based interventions in schools-a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 603. 

The post Using Mindfulness Techniques to Bolster Mental Health in Schools appeared first on Center for Educational Improvement.

Our HeartMind e-News connects the relationship of heart centered learning and mindfulness to current research and circumstances. Our goal is to provide our readers with concrete opportunities to further implementation of heart centered practices in their schools and districts. These opportunities will include suggestions for reflection, journaling, dialoguing, and compassionate classroom activities. These exercises often start with adults, working on our own knowledge and skills, before we turn to students.

“People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills…There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than in his own mind…So constantly give yourself this retreat and renew yourself.”

~ Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic Philosopher.

Your retreat may be your own self-care. While self-care should be a priority in every profession, it is particularly important for those in caregiving careers. Teachers, like nurses, doctors, firefighters, police officers, and other caregiving frontline professionals, often experience stigma surrounding self-care. 

Mindful Self-Care

Self-care includes nearly any activity people use to calm, heal, and preserve themselves in the face of adversity.  Some common forms of self-care include (Spicer, 2019):

• Getting enough sleep
• Eating well
• Getting physical exercise
• Meditating
• Watching a good movie
• Engaging in meaningful, nontoxic connections with others who have been supportive.

Self-care also involves listening to one’s body when one feels something is awry or acknowledging when one is headed toward exhaustion. 

Sometimes our self-care may be minimal. We may not even take the time to contemplate what we could do to improve our own self-care and sense of well-being. We may operate with a sense of “full-speed” ahead, not taking the time for a lunch break, adequate hydration, or even a few minutes to stretch. However, there is something to be said for “intentional” self-care. With mindfulness, we are intentional, in the moment, without judgment (Kabat-Zinn, 1990, 2012). Mindfulness allows one to tune in to the present, in body, emotions, and thoughts.

Increasing Inner Awareness

French philosopher and historian Michel Foucault explored self-care’s ancient Greek origins and how “care of the self is the result of a re-conception of two ancient injunctions: care for oneself and know oneself” (Jaime, 2021). Mindfulness benefits educators by increasing our (inner) awareness. For educators, it may be our awareness of how we are responding to all of the challenges we face—the technology, the distance, our concerns for our students, and our concerns about our own ability to instruct online.

We can cultivate our own sense of well-being through engaging in self-care activities that require awareness of the present moment. It may be particularly helpful to enter into the “newness” of our experiences with openness, curiosity, and non-judgment. Activities such as meditation and contemplative prayer, appreciating nature, yoga, tai chi, dance, sports, photography, and the arts are just a few examples of mind-body self-care practices that can build mindfulness.

Also essential to self-care and responding to our inner awareness is learning to self-soothe or calm physical and emotional distress. Some adults may remember being told as a child to blow directly on an injured knee to soothe the pain of a scrape. Many can recall early lessons in self-soothing. Yet far too many adults haven’t the foggiest notion of how to soothe constructively or nurture themselves when they encounter emotional pain (Richards, 2013).

Exercise #1: Reflect on how your self-caring has increased your knowledge of self.

Is Self-Care Being Indulgent? Or Rather an Act of Resistance?

The poet and activist, Audre Lorde’s definition of self-care, states “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare” (Fernandez, 2019). For Audre Lorde, self-care wasn’t a measure of social equality. It was an insistence that she mattered and was worthy of care. Self-care, as she saw it, was an act of resistance. To care for oneself—to rest, recover, and restore—was essential to doing the hard work of social change (Kozak, 2020).

Unfortunately, in today’s society many are socialized to believe they must care for the needs of others first. A failure to do so, in many minds, is perceived as too self-centered and a threat to the well-being of society. However, the real threat to the well-being of society is the failure to care for the self in uniquely fulfilling ways, so that we have the energy to care for others. With an emphasis on self-care, first, one can actually become a better care giver. There must be balance in taking care of loved ones, communities, and self. No one exists solely to devote all time and energy to the care of others if it means ignoring care for self.  

Dr. Tina Runyan (2019), Clinical Psychologist & Professor at UMass Medical School, has a message for educators: “You can’t be of service to anybody else unless you are taking care of yourself.”

Exercise #2: Who do you sometimes care for before turning to your own self-care?

Sometimes we have responsibilities that require us to rise early in the morning, such as making sure our children have breakfast, or require us to stay up late at night, such as planning a lesson for the next day, knowing that our students will have a better learning experience because of our planning.

Do you consider your own self-care to be self-indulgent? Would you benefit from coming up with a plan for your own self-care? Consider:

• What you will do.
• When you will do it.
• How you anticipate this will increase your sense of well-being.

Mindfulness, Self-Care, and COVID

For many years, mindfulness has been an important instrument of self-care. Particularly right now, at a time when so many appear to be out of control in many aspects of life, self-care provides the challenge and opportunity to take charge of the self every day in whatever ways are possible. 

• Amid physical and social isolation (i.e., COVID-19 pandemic), educators can take this opportunity to become more closely connected to respective sensory experiences and, as a result, to themselves.
• An example would be to nurture the intimate connection between body and mind by taking a few minutes to breathe and pay attention to sensations.
• Many experience mindfulness by taking time each day to sit or lie quietly while slowly scanning their bodies. This scanning process is a whole body experience where one can be more mindful of points of tension from head to toe.

Exercise #3: Lie down. Take a few deep breaths and start a body scan.

Start at the tip of your toes and gradually inch your attention from your toes, to your ankles, to your knees, and on up your body to your head. As you scan, relax and soften any tightness or constriction.

• Be open to the full range of sensations and feelings that emerge. 
• Of particular note are feelings of the heart, whether grief-related on one hand or joy and hopefulness on the other. 
• As you soften any tightness or constriction of the heart, you are likely to feel more centered, grounded, and connected to individual experiences. 

Building Self-Confidence through Mindful Self-Care

Imagine that you are in “a funk”—you might be feeling blue, wondering if “this is all there is/will be to your life?” You may feel that you have failed to live up to your expectations of yourself. Or during COVID, you may be feeling that your life is simply out of your control. In essence, you may not even know where to begin when it comes to expectations for yourself.

Exercise # 4: Let’s now contrast feeling a lack of confidence to feeling successful.

Reflect for a moment on a time when you were really on top of your game. Consider:

• Your physical appearance (your body, your face, your hair, your clothes).
• Your inner thoughts: Were you feeling a sense of success? Excitement? Enthusiasm for what you were doing?
• How did others respond to you?
• What “I messages” did you give yourself?

Continue to contrast your sense of uncertainty to what it feels like to be confident. When you are confident, you have self-knowledge of what’s expected and self-belief that you have what it takes to meet those expectations (Jackson, 2011).

While lack of confidence can be related to simply not knowing, lack of confidence is often caused by a constant stream of negative thoughts, and behind that stream, one’s identification with these thoughts.

• For instance, many will hear an inner voice that suggests personal unworthiness and assume this is true. 
• It might even be feared that if the voice fell silent, personal existence would cease. 
• Many fear it is better to perpetually criticize yourself or others because of feelings of personal inadequacy.
• For some, confidence development can seem like an overwhelming task. 

Removing the Lens of Fear

However, everyone has the ability to build confidence. Self-awareness and self-love are key. Truly, in order to have a feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities, and judgment, one must have the level of “self-awareness” that informs us that there is nothing to fear. Admittedly, this is difficult in times of great uncertainty. However, even in these times, some people have a greater sense of confidence than others.

Imagine feeling uncertain, and then that you might be able to remove your lens of fear. Once the lens is removed, you will likely be able to see more clearly and function at a level of competence that actually facilitates creativity and peak performance. You will find an increase in vitality and energy levels increases the ability to channel that energy to good use. So, confidence can be increased through the mindset we have. If we can imagine better times, that is a good place to start. However, to start there, we may need to back up and simply breathe, simply be, simply stop all thoughts, and let go of our fears. Positive self-care can assist with this.

Don’t Start with Everest

Our confidence will also be increased through practice and proficiency. If we are striving to learn mountain climbing, for example, it may be best to start with a rock wall at a local park, rather than Mt. Everest. As we practice, over time, we dedicate ourselves to our own improvement. As our confidence naturally increases, our inner voice shifts from “I can’t” to “I can, I am, I will!”

Self-care and confidence. Are they perhaps two heads of a coin? When we care enough to care for ourselves, do we naturally become more confident? With confidence, are we perhaps better positioned to care for ourselves and others? To be the best we can be for ourselves and others?

References

Bonner, M. (2020, December 14). Mental health professionals warn of
COVID fatigue as stress from pandemic forces assault of body’s nervous
system. Mass Live.

Fernandez, C. (2019, January 8). 12 Audre Lorde quotes that’ll spark
conversation. Oprah Magazine.

Jackson, Y. (2011). The pedagogy of confidence: Inspiring high intellectual
performance in urban schools. Teachers College Press.

Jaime, A. (2021 January). The new future of self-care. Health Magazine –
Special Edition (Self-Care).

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Mindfulness. Longhorn.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (2012). Mindfulness for beginners: Reclaiming the present
moment and your life. Sounds True.

Kozak, D. (2020, July). Self care day. Globe & Feminist.

Richards, K. (2013, July-August). Self-care is a lifelong journey. Nursing Economics.

Spicer, A. (2019, August 21). Self-care: How a radical feminist idea was stripped of politics for the mass market. The Guardian.

The post Cultivating Mindful Self-Care to Bolster Confidence appeared first on Center for Educational Improvement.

The role of an educator is far from static. On any given day, an educator can take on a number of duties, ranging from teaching in the classroom to having a private conversation with a student or their family. Regardless of these small differences, there is one common thread: Compassion. Educators are often characterized by kindness, patience, and a commitment to the growth and well-being of their students. The level of emotional investment required of an educator can be draining, potentially leading to an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion known as compassion fatigue. If left unaddressed, compassion fatigue can turn into burnout, causing some educators—often the ones who care the most—to leave the field or experience ongoing health issues as a result. What causes these feelings, and what actions can be taken to minimize their effects?

What is Compassion Fatigue?

Generally speaking, compassion fatigue is “a broadly defined concept that can include emotional, physical, and spiritual distress in those providing care to another.” (Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project, 2021). This definition may sound similar to burnout, but the two concepts aren’t exactly the same. The distinction stems from the presence of trauma: Compassion fatigue typically affects people in careers where exposure to others’ trauma is high—including fields such as medicine, social work, and education—while burnout can occur regardless of your career path (Catholic Health Association of the United States, 2011). That being said, these commonalities shouldn’t be ignored; compassion fatigue can be both a contributor and a companion to burnout as a whole. Understanding the causes and consequences of compassion fatigue is key to ensuring a healthier, happier work life.

It’s easy to think of compassion fatigue as a “condition”, but it’s more accurately described as a collection of symptoms (Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project, 2021). Compassion fatigue expresses itself differently in everyone. Some people may experience heightened or diminished emotions, while others might feel physically tired throughout the day. In the end, there isn’t a strict set of symptoms that can be used to recognize compassion fatigue. It’s crucial to check-in with yourself, a loved one, or even a medical professional if you believe that you might be experiencing compassion fatigue.

How Do We Recognize Compassion Fatigue?

One of the easiest ways to recognize compassion fatigue is to assess the situation(s) you experience as a part of your career. Educators have never had an “easy” job, and recent shifts in learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic have only amplified these challenges. The sudden changes in students’ lives—and similar ones in educators’ lives—have the potential to create a collective trauma, requiring educators to be particularly aware and considerate of students’ and colleagues’ needs and concerns. Many educators are now addressing a significantly higher number of trauma-based challenges in their students and in their own personal lives, making them particularly vulnerable to compassion fatigue during this time.

Although compassion fatigue manifests differently for everyone, there are a number of documented symptoms that can be compared to an individual’s personal experience(s). The American Academy of Family Physicians (2000) describes a number of potential symptoms, including both physical (hypertension, disturbed sleep) and mental/emotional (irritability, low self-esteem) manifestations. There are also a number of self-assessments available for public use. One of the most commonly used assessments is the Professional Quality of Life Measure (2012), which uses a series of Likert scales to address the areas of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. This being said, compassion fatigue’s many forms can make it difficult to establish a “true diagnosis.” Ultimately, the best way to recognize compassion fatigue is to acknowledge the feelings that come from your work life, and to take action if you believe that you’re experiencing symptoms

How Do We Address Compassion Fatigue

As might be expected from the varied nature of compassion fatigue’s symptoms, there isn’t a universal solution. The ideal “treatment plan” is largely a matter of personal preference and resources, though there are a few general rules that should be kept in mind. These “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of compassion fatigue include:

• Do take time for yourself, ideally through a substantial break from your work environment and other stressors. Stepping away from the challenges of being an educator should not be a source of guilt. After all, even Mother Theresa encouraged her nuns to take year-long breaks every five years (American Institute of Stress, 2020). Compassion fatigue is best combated by stepping away from the source.
• Don’t wait for the “right time” to take a break. Life is unpredictable, and the perfect moment may never come. If you continue to wait without properly allocating that time, the more likely it is that your mental health and work ethic may suffer. Take the initiative whenever possible.
• Do share your feelings with a close friend or trusted community that understands your work. Compassion fatigue can feel overwhelming and isolating, but you are never alone. Someone who has had a similar experience to yours may be able to offer you some insight; you might even have the opportunity to do the same for someone else. If nothing else, speaking your feelings aloud can assist with understanding the circumstances and developing a solution.
• Don’t use others’ experiences as a model for your own. Everyone experiences and adapts to compassion fatigue differently—the best strategy for a coworker may not be the best strategy for you.
• Do be realistic about your needs and challenges. Whether you’re currently in the workplace or on a much-needed break, take some time every day to check in with yourself. Acknowledge what you’re feeling, what challenges you’re facing, and what hopes and/or concerns are on your mind. If you can recognize when you’re experiencing compassion fatigue—or even just the initial feelings—it will be much easier to take action.
• Don’t be in a rush to return to work. If you’re taking time off, you probably need it, possibly even more than you think you do! It can be tempting to return to your normal routine, and that’s where the daily check-ins are most important. If you feel rested, renewed, and fully confident, then you could be ready to resume your routine. But if those feelings of exhaustion and worry are still in full force, it might be best to relax for a little while longer.

Ultimately, compassion fatigue is a complex problem with a number of possible solutions. Regardless of what options may or may not work for you, it’s important to be patient with yourself throughout the process and know that you are not alone. Compassion fatigue is something that accumulates over time, and reducing those feelings will naturally take time as well. Throughout it all, just remember that taking care of yourself is a prerequisite to caring for others. Minimizing the effects of compassion fatigue puts you in the best position to excel, thrive, and support members of your community.

References

The American Institute of Stress. (2020). Compassion fatigue.

Smith, P. & Smith, D. (2021). Compassion fatigue. Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project.

Pfifferling, J. & Gilley, K. (2000). Overcoming compassion fatigue. American Academy of Family Practical Management, 7(4), 39-44.

Portnoy, D. (2011). Burnout and compassion fatigue: Watch for the signs. Journal of the Catholic Health Association of the United States.

ProQOL. (2012). Professional Quality of Life Measure.

The post Compassion Fatigue: What Is It and What Can We Do About It? appeared first on Center for Educational Improvement.

Protection against compassion fatigue and burnout starts with self-awareness. This is a powerful tool to help you notice your interactions with others, emotions, and reactions to stressful situations that arise. Becoming aware of levels of stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue will allow you to more readily seek out additional support when needed. 

Fostering connection in different areas of your life is key to building resiliency to protect against compassion fatigue and burnout. These include strengthening connections with others, with yourselves, and with your work. 

Connection with Others

Maintaining social connections is crucial to building resilience and emotional balance. While strong relationships with colleagues are helpful, it is also important to make time for friends outside of work. Catching up with a friend or taking a walk together can help destress and distract from work. Beyond creating social bonds, friends and family are also an important support network in times of stress. In addition to being a sounding board and offering words of comfort, they may also be able to help shoulder some responsibilities to lighten our burden. The work of educators can be difficult to put down, but having social and family connections outside of work helps us understand that there is more to life than our job.

Outside of friends and family, it may be helpful to turn to other sources of support. A therapist or counselor can help you process your emotions and develop strategies to create a healthy work-life balance. Support groups such as the Happy Teacher Revolution or the Teaching With Mental Health in Mind Facebook group can also provide a community of peers who understand your unique challenges and share advice on handling difficult situations.

When turning to others for support against compassion fatigue and burnout, it is important to remember that the people who we reach out to should be energizing rather than draining. Self-awareness will help determine who lifts us up when we need it—those are the connections to foster and maintain. 

Connection to Self

Self-compassion and self-care are crucial ways to build resiliency against compassion fatigue and burnout. Having compassion for yourself will allow you to make time for self-care, rather than ignore your needs at the expense of work. Common self-care practices that help cultivate resilience and emotional strength are meditation, breath work, praying, journaling, reading, or taking a bath. If time is an issue, try taking a short break to close your eyes and focus on your breath, or put your hands on your heart and send yourself some compassion (Good Therapy, 2020). 

To help build a stronger self-care practice, create an action plan using SMART goals. That is, goals that are Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, and Time-related. An example goal could be: “I will meditate for 5 minutes before getting out of bed every morning.” Start by setting 2-3 SMART self-care goals at a time to start slow and maintain focus. Once these goals become a part of your routine, add a few more goals to create a robust self-care practice (Erdman et al., 2020).

Another way to maintain self-connection is by honoring your emotional needs and setting boundaries. As educators, being compassionate and supporting others may seem like second nature but it is crucial to maintain some separation between other people’s lives and needs from your own. Similarly, it is also important to understand the limits of what you can do and how you can help. Focus on the task at hand and be fully present for your students without becoming overwhelmed by other issues outside of your control (Lesley University, n.d.). 

Connection at Work

Finally, help overcome compassion fatigue by creating deeper connections at work. This can be done by making time to check-in and catch up with your colleagues or by creating formal workplace strategies to combat compassion fatigue. These workplace strategies can include regular breaks, mental health days, relaxation rooms, meditation classes, support groups, and open discussions about compassion fatigue. Make an effort to suggest these strategies to your employer and utilize them when you need to (Good Therapy, 2020).

School administrators should encourage staff interaction and build in regular time for collaboration and connection. Schedule events to provide opportunities for staff to socialize and have fun together, outside of the work environment. Encourage healthy boundaries amongst staff and keep an open door policy to ensure all staff are feeling supported and engaged. Be on the lookout for any teachers who are isolating themselves and check-in with them as needed (Sizemore, 2016).

With all that is happening today, it is a particularly important time to pay attention to your emotions and levels of stress and compassion fatigue. One way to monitor compassion fatigue is to regularly make notes on your feelings using a 1-10 scale and any significant changes over time. Quantifying your mental and emotional state allows you to track changes over time so you can take action before we are on the brink of burnout (Daily Caring, n.d.). Free, online assessments are also available like this simple Compassion Fatigue Test or the Professional Quality Of Life Measure (ProQOL). There are also mobile apps to help track your mood such as Moodnotes, MindDoc, and Daylio.

Once you recognize the need for self-care, fostering and maintaining connections are crucial protective factors against compassion fatigue and burnout. And while the COVID-19 pandemic may have made connecting more difficult, there are still ways to strengthen your connections to others, yourself, and your work. 

References

Daily Caring. (n.d.). How to cope with compassion fatigue: 8 tips for caregivers.

Erdman, S., Colker, L.J., & Winter, E.C. (2020). Preventing compassion fatigue: Caring for yourself. Young Children, 75(3). 

Good Therapy (2020, March 26). The cost of caring: 10 ways to prevent compassion fatigue.

Lesley University. (n.d.). Six ways for educators to avoid compassion fatigue. 

Sizemore, C.B. (2016). Compassion fatigue: The silent thief in our schools. The Working Lives of Educators, 11(18). 

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The logistical and emotional hoops that COVID-19 has forced us to jump through have left educators and families exhausted. As the U.S. rolls out vaccines, more and more schools are opening up, with many forced to close back down after a coronavirus outbreak. Administrators are acting as principal and substitute teacher. Teachers are juggling online and in-person classes, often simultaneously. Family members are playing the role of at-home educators while working forty plus hours a week on their own laptops right across the kitchen table. Almost everyone is feeling burnt out and wondering when this will all be over. 

The Childhood-Trauma Learning Collaborative (C-TLC) has created spaces for educators, healthcare workers, and families of Pre-K-12 students to connect, learn wellness strategies, and share their experiences navigating mental health challenges during the pandemic through our Compassionate Conversations program.

The Need to Connect in Times of Isolation

COVID-19 brought many of our worlds entirely into our homes. While several areas of the country are re-opening and business is slowly going back to normal, there is a large percentage of us that are still stuck inside for work and school. There are some groups, such as those with compromised immune systems, who will likely be spending most of their time in their homes for several more months. Even after this pandemic is over, there are subsets of the population with chronic illness, severe injuries or mental health challenges that may keep them home for a longer period of time. The sense of isolation this brings can sometimes be as challenging as the physical or emotional ailments that keep us at home or in the hospital.

Connecting with others while quarantining, for whatever reason, can be an inherent challenge. Thankfully, COVID-19 has taught us that connection is not limited to face-to-face interactions. More people than ever are becoming computer literate so they can connect with others, near and far. The C-TLC has been facilitating these types of connective spaces through our Compassionate Conversations program.

What is a Compassionate Conversation?

We developed the Compassionate Conversations model as a way to provide groups of people a holding space for their emotions and experiences around wellness during COVID-19. We recognize that one key component of healing from emotional turmoil is talking about the experience. For many of us, this is the first universal trauma we have experienced. While each of us is experiencing the trauma of this pandemic in a unique way, we can all relate to the ups and downs and challenges it has posed; discussing this rollercoaster we are on with each other helps us feel less out of control.

In each Compassionate Conversation, we:

• Introduce a brief, easy mindfulness technique that can be shared with others and used in participants’ daily lives
• Share strategies and tips on that month’s topic to help educators, healthcare workers, and families gain expertise around positive wellness practices
• Facilitate a discussion about challenges, successes, and questions on that month’s wellness topic

Those who show up to our Compassionate Conversations gain insight from each other, feel heard and understood, and leave with some action steps to help them improve this area of their life. We send each person who shows up to a Compassionate Conversation a tip sheet that summarizes all of the evidence-based advice we’ve compiled, as well as the ideas they shared that have worked for them.

Compassionate Conversation topics include:

• Compassion
• Community Wellness
• Compassion Fatigue and Burnout
• Fostering Connection
• Talking to Youth/Loved Ones About How They Are Doing
• Addressing School-Related Trauma
• Sleep Hygiene
• Holistic Health: Mind, Body, Spirit
• How to Motivate All Teachers to Care About Wellness

Who Are Compassionate Conversations For?

The Compassionate Conversations model can be replicated with any group of people. The size and function of the conversation will vary depending on how well people know each other. We began our Compassionate Conversations project with the C-TLC Fellows, most of whom we have been working with for years. In these intimate conversations of 10-20 people, Fellows share about their own mental health challenges, as well as the successes of staff and students overcoming their mental health difficulties. 

We’ve also begun Compassionate Conversations with a group of healthcare workers and educators who we convened in the Fall of 2020, the Healthcare workers and Educators Addressing and Reducing Trauma (HEART) Collective. When we started this branch of the series, we worried that this group of people with a more tenuous connection might not feel as comfortable sharing about their ups and downs with mental well-being during COVID-19. We are grateful that the HEART Collective Compassionate Conversations have been just as rich, inspiring, and comforting as the ones convened for the C-TLC. In fact, it has deepened connections within the HEART Collective.

We’ve just begun offering Compassionate Conversations to the general public, anyone who identifies as a family member of a Pre-K-12 student. Perfect strangers shared an hour of vulnerability (or observation) and connection. Our next Family Compassionate Conversation is on March 30th at 3:00 p.m. EST. We’ll be talking about compassion fatigue and burnout. All are welcome to join in this conversation!

We believe that anyone can use the Compassionate Conversations model to hold conversations about well-being with groups of people in their community. We encourage you to try holding a Compassionate Conversation with your school community soon!

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Having worked as a mental health provider for over three years, Ali Sumski is no stranger to finding compassion amidst burnout and fatigue. Sumski works at Methuen High School, a public high school located in a gateway city. Here, the student body features a higher than average percentage of students who have experienced trauma, housing insecurity, abuse, and/or neglect at home, resulting in a heavy and mentally taxing workload for school counselors. But despite her initial inexperience in situations of intense trauma, Sumski became “hungry for experiences to do her job better” and joined the Childhood-Trauma Learning Collaborative (C-TLC) to acquire the network and skills necessary to better provide to the students under her care.

Helping Struggling Students Through The Bridge Program

In the past three years, Sumski has accomplished a lot. Most notably, she brought the BRYT Bridge Program to Methuen High School. The Bridge Program helps students return to school after extended absence (typically due to mental or physical health issues) by scaffolding attendance, and working with teachers, families, and outside providers to ensure that students can quickly and efficiently get back on track.

Unfortunately, the Bridge Program, which was “about getting kids into the physical building” has been difficult to maintain at its original scale in the midst of COVID-19 restrictions and remote learning. In past years, Sumski would work intensely with anywhere from 5-15 students in the program, providing intensive counseling, academic support, and family engagement. The unique challenges that the 2020-21 school year presented led Sumski to advocate for a slight pivot in her role in order to serve more students. She now embodies the role of a traditional school counselor for about 80 students (reduced from her colleagues’ ~240-student caseloads) in addition to supporting the Bridge program and meeting with former Bridge students for weekly counseling. Through this reduced caseload and weekly meetings, Sumski has fostered strong relationships with these students and has successfully helped them maintain regular attendance, even during these trying times.

The Importance of Universal Mental Health Screening

In a traditional year at Methuen High, counselors administer universal mental health screening every 3-4 weeks to the entire student body, measuring for symptoms indicating risk for depression, suicidality, anxiety, and trauma. This regular screening practice allows counselors to identify those students who may be struggling with their mental health, and help get them the required support. These screeners are particularly useful, as they provide counselors with multiple data points for every student, and thus allow them to make well-informed and targeted decisions for each student, and for the school as a whole.

While maintaining these screeners has proven difficult over the past year, with even basic education sometimes getting lost amidst pandemic issues, Sumski and her colleagues have managed to ensure that regular screening still continues for students who are most in need. Counselors have strategized to administer screeners in small batches to ensure that the appropriate follow-up and safety plans can be conducted when needed. In addition to these department-wide screenings, Sumski utilizes the same measures biweekly to the students that she sees for counseling each week in order to monitor their progress in targeted symptom presentation. Additionally, Sumski has incorporated a COVID-19 specific screener this year, to catch students who are particularly impacted by the isolating effects of the pandemic.

Methuen High School is fortunate to be in a district that cares deeply about comprehensive mental health support systems and has worked for years to be able to maintain enough mental health staff to universally screen students and follow up with each student identified in those screeners. Read more about our trauma-informed recommendations for mental health screening.

Maintaining Compassion as a Buffer Against Burnout

Though Sumski has (and continues to) accomplish so much, she wants to emphasize that she definitely does not have it all figured out, nor does she know anyone who does. “To be a mental health provider is emotionally exhausting, especially in schools.” But she has managed to maintain her compassion and drive by also prioritizing herself and self-care. Specifically, she mentions going to therapy as an important and vital source of rejuvenation amidst all the trauma that comprises her professional life.

Sumski believes these radical acts of self-care are important for her well-being, and better equip her to serve her students. “I need to be in my best shape to help my students. The work we do is important: we are preventing things. If a kid is in outpatient or seeing a therapist—it’s too late, the crisis has already occurred. But we are the ones who do the prevention work, and we need to be in our best shape to do so.”

Being able to network and connect with other educators in the C-TLC experiencing similarly challenging careers has also helped Sumski keep herself accountable to regularly maintain her self-care practices and share them with others. Building community and connection is an important buffer against compassion fatigue and burnout.

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What might have been the response if you asked a student or teacher a year ago if they imagined having all their classes, interaction with classmates, and school events online? They would probably have been surprised or confused by the idea. Today, online school is reality for a huge population of students all over the world.

Schools and the education sector have been dynamic for a very long time. They are faced with uncertainty and new challenges every academic year. However, the 2020-2021 academic year has seen challenges like none other. In India, the lives of about 253 million students were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (KPMG, 2020). 

The months of March & April every year marks the end of the academic year in most Indian schools. While schools were gearing up to end an academic year, the world was just beginning to understand the spread of the virus. To curb the spread of the virus, schools all over the country were suddenly closed in March. This abrupt lockdown  brought with it a wave of uncertainty, cancellation of final exams, and academic and emotional challenges for students, educators, and leaders of schools. This unanticipated circumstance called for quick, difficult, creative and compassionate decisions by school leaders. Ms. Suman Bolar, the school administrator at Innisfree House School (IHS), Bangalore  and Ms. Indira Jayakrishnan, principal of National Academy For Learning (NAFL), Bangalore shared their insightful experiences of these challenging times.

Struggle, Juggle, and Mettle

Managing the ambiguity, academic, technological,  social-emotional,and safety needs of all stakeholders were challenging for schools. A big challenge was the sudden dependence on technology for fulfilling all these needs. Everything from online classes to staff meetings to inter-school events required technology and a paradigm shift in education delivery.  Instead of the students coming to school, the school had to go to each of the student’s diverse families: caregivers, students, and staff with varied comfort with technology and availability of resources.

The pandemic also brought with it difficult financial decisions, balancing schools’ needs with parents’ and staff’s monetary difficulties. Even if these problems were solved, there was the question of how to keep students and teachers who have been in physical classrooms all their lives engaged and focused during online classes? 

Juggling all these factors at a time of riding on a wave of  unpredictability was initially a struggle. However, NAFL and IHS school leaders took steps that helped them overcome these challenges to ensure continuous, holistic learning for their students. The schools also understood very early the importance of emotional and mental health on learning, especially during these uncertain times. To  ensure the wellbeing of staff and students, the management at these schools also ensured there was a team of wellness experts including counselors, pediatricians, and highly experienced educators addressing concerns of  parents, staff, and students regularly. 

Ms. Suman Bolar eloquently states,  

I think the single most important thing we did was identify a goal. In our case, that was ensuring learning continuity, emotional wellbeing, and safety for our students. Once that goal was clear, we  simply made up our minds that we would achieve it, and did whatever was needed to get there. From putting together a comprehensive training program for staff and reaching out to staff members at all levels to ensure that they were coping and doing ok, to deciding to be fair and stay true to our moral compass when it came to financial decisions, the two most important things were transparency and keeping the lines of communication open—internally, amongst staff members as well as with parents and students.

Lessons from These Schools to Increase Resiliency

• Be Creative,  Accepting and Flexible. The pandemic reminded us that change is the only constant and that life can change very suddenly. Ms. Indira Jayakrishnan believes “Being creative, responsive and flexible is key to managing a successful online schooling system; monitoring the team constantly is crucial, too.”  This creativity and flexibility is required at every step from curriculum development and delivery to assessment of learning in students. Innovative ways to help people connect while managing online fatigue was another crucial factor that requires flexible and creative thinking.

• Build a culture of trust and support. The constant uncertainty of the pandemic can be draining and exhausting. Getting through these hard times can be easier when we know we are not alone. Maintaining an open line of communication between caregivers, students, and staff  can help build a circle of trust. Schools holding virtual assemblies and celebrations is another way of spreading joy and feeling of togetherness. 

• Practice Empathy. Being understood and understanding others not only helps us connect but can also help enhance learning, increase academic achievement, engagement, and help build positive relationships (Jones et al., 2018). 

As Ms. Suman Bolar  beautifully explains

Learning and teaching are more about connection than correction. This holds especially true during times of distress. To my mind, building a sense of connection and trust within the school community can make a huge difference to how you pull together to resolve challenges big or small. The pandemic taught us (the school) that you can achieve the seemingly impossible, as long as you work as a team… and building that team spirit requires you to genuinely care about the wellbeing of the community and empathize with one another.

This academic year hasn’t been easy at all, schools all over the world that help billions of people learn have learned many lessons of their own. They have been faced with innumerable challenges and have shown unimaginable resilience.  Let’s continue to keep growing, teaching and learning creatively, mindfully, kindly, passionately and most importantly TOGETHER! 

References

 Innisfree House School (n.d.)

Jones, S.,  Weissbourd,  R.,  Bouffard, S.,  Kahn,J.,  &   Anderson , T. (2018). How to Build Empathy and Strengthen Your School Community. Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

KPMG. (2020). School Education Response to COVID-19

National Academy for Learning (NAFL). (n.d.).

Ramamoorthy, S. (2020). Teaching in the time of COVID-19

The post How Two Schools in India Are Overcoming the Challenges of the Pandemic appeared first on Center for Educational Improvement.

Note: This blog is part 4 of a series on supporting Black students in schools. Part 1 covered what bias looks like towards Black girls in schools can be found here. Part 2 brought to light what changes can be made on a school-wide level and can be found here. Part 3 brought awareness to implementing empathetic disciplinary intervention can be found here. 

Racism runs deep in American history (Love, 2020). In order to make a change in the dominant narrative as educators, we must take steps in changing our content delivery and altering the way we teach our students to be more inclusive and sensible (Schwartz, 2020). By teaching to all learners, we are working actively to improve ourselves, diminish biases, and be respectful of students from racially marginalized backgrounds (McKamey, 2020). Racially minoritized learners (RMLs) are valuable to the classroom and atmosphere of learning (Curenton et al., 2020). Educators can focus on broadening our own horizons as we begin to sculpt an understanding of what it means to be an Anti-racist Educator. 

Anti-racist Curriculum Resources are Not Enough

Teachers who engage in identity work understand that inclusive education is a process in which they must proactively partake. An EdWeek Research Center nationally representative survey found that 83 percent of teachers said they were somewhat or very willing to teach an anti-racist curriculum (Schwartz, 2020). In light of our current political climate, it is important to expand our lesson plans to address the inequity and inequalities faced by Black students in the classroom (Curenton et al., 2020). 

When presenting historical accounts, events, and narratives, there is a danger of teaching students about “both sides” of a story (Collins, 2017). When an educator works to present one perspective of a story or event, he/she has to decide which details to include or exclude. This process can reveal assumptions and biases as to how the individual came to decide which parts they wanted to share. By having this “both sides” perspective, there is a notion of false equivalence that creates a false comparison between two or more contradicting sides (Gold, 2017).  Here are some tips from Collins (2017) that educators can use to present accurate accounts of major events:

• Address the imbalances of power that exist in our systems 
• Acknowledge how this imbalance has fueled systematic racism and the differential treatment of students of color
• Encourage students to discuss bias and bigotry as it is
• Make content relatable so students can connect their experiences to the lesson

Examine Internalized White Supremacy 

Only 22 percent of nonwhite teachers and 9 percent of white teachers felt they had the training and resources to effectively teach Black students (Scwartz, 2020). Continuing in the era of virtual instruction and distance learning, it is now more important than ever that we equip teachers with the tools they need to be successful. Anti-racist education should be required for teachers as we continue to face challenges in the political conditions of our nation. Anti-racist education is a journey that districts can promote in tandem with the materials that are already available.

White educators must unlearn the stereotypical racial messages they have internalized about their own race and ethnicity and the race and ethnicity of others (Love, 2020). It is important to recognize the wound that racism has created in each person and in students of color. Educators can work to promote discussions and curriculum that address the inequalities faced by racially/ethnically diverse students and take them seriously as learners and important contributors to the classroom.

Communicate Anti-Racist Values to the School Community 

It is not enough to work towards anti-racist practices internally. Teachers can also look at how they are communicating with stakeholders in the school community to ensure that their message is being articulated across the board (McKamey, 2020).

By not discussing racism, we are enabling the cycle of oppression to continue for racially marginalized learners. Through incorporating anti-racist pedagogies in our curricula, educators can collectively:

1. Recognize biases towards racially minoritized learners.
2. Create a dialogue to voice concerns, pains, and opinions regarding differential treatment of these students in our classrooms.
3. As a classroom, brainstorm action steps to alleviate this discrepancy that exists in the education system.

Taking steps towards decolonizing education is important for us to evoke as we continue to nurture the next generation of scholars (McKamey, 2020). Acknowledging our shortcomings and collaborating to address differential treatment of students of color in our classrooms will help create an anti-racist educator pedagogy that is adoptable, employable, and sensitive for all. 

By using inclusive teaching strategies, educators can meet the needs of students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds.  

References

Collins, C. (2019). Why “both sides” of a story aren’t enough. Teaching Tolerance. 

Curenton, S., Iruka, I., Humphries, M., Jensen, B., Durden, T., Rochester, S., Sims, J., Whittaker, M., & Kinzie, M. (2020). Validity for the assessing classroom sociocultural equity scale (ACSES) in early childhood classrooms. Early Education and Development. 

Love, B. (2020). White teachers need anti-racist therapy. Education Week.

Gold, J. (2017). The danger of the story of “both sides”. Teaching Tolerance. 

McKamey, P. (2020). What anti-racist teachers do differently. The Atlantic.  

Schwartz, S. (2020). You have anti-racist curriculum resources. Now what do you do? Education Week.

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