Today I was taken on a journey at the Deeper Learning Conference-an emotional and intellectual pursuit to better understand the context in which I exist…as an educator, parent and human being.

Our dive into this vulnerable and reflective space began with our personal stories-stories of our first realization that race matters in school. For some participants it was their first day of school, for others it wasn’t until adulthood when they took on the role of a teacher or a grandparent. Through a micro lab protocol we moved into expanding on the impact our first experiences with race had on us today and the work in which we choose to engage.

Our dive quickly descended as we were then asked  to articulate our equity stance. It is presumed that most participants had likely previously developed a stance in their equity work, and the title of the session is what drew them in; however, this exercise pushed us to identify with one of five stances presented to us. These stances ranged from “Equity as an Initial Opportunity” to “Equity as Equal Results”. Being confined to pre-existing definitions with questionable semantics proved to be difficult for many (myself included), as evidenced by several participants who opted to claim multiple stances or oscillate between them.

Read the complete post on Jenny Pieratt ‘s blog “Re-Imagining Education”