Anti-racist Pedagogy: Healing from Racism Program

Summary

This program is one step in a lifetime commitment to anti-racist work as an educator. Organized into four parts, you will be immersed in an intimate platform of self-research, growth and your ongoing practices as an anti-racist educator with a select cohort community.

Description 

Healing from Racism Journey is a synchronous online cohort program designed to facilitate the journey of 12 SFU faculty and instructors through anti-racist pedagogies. The cohort is immersed in an intimate platform for self-research, growth, and work on their ongoing teaching practices while reading and discussing Dr. Anneliese Singh's The Racial Healing Handbook accompanied by activities on Canvas. Based on the explored antiracism frameworks and pedagogies, participants will develop a final project that might include a revised syllabus, an instructional plan of action, or the implementation of other teaching strategies. All related materials provided.

Learning outcomes

You will: 

• Explore, discuss and consolidate anti-racist frameworks and pedagogies
• Develop a plan of action to implement anti-racist strategies in your teaching practices and spaces of leadership within the teaching and learning community
• Identify and communicate your personal and professional experience of allyship

What to expect 

You will participate in six weekly 90-minute virtual reading circles, which include diverse materials to help you engage with anti-racist pedagogy frameworks as well as activities. In addition, this program provides one-on-one consultation as needed and voluntary opportunities to connect and build a community of practice around anti-racist teaching with current and past cohorts. You will also work through five Canvas modules (~five hours of work) at your own pace. The asynchronous, self-paced work encourages you to develop a plan of action to embed your learning experiences from the virtual reading circles into your future teaching practices. Support is provided through Canvas and consultation with CEE and SFU Library facilitators.

Typically offered in October and November.

Application Process 

Please email cee_event@sfu.ca to submit an expression of interest. and we will be in touch with more information about upcoming an cohort soon as it is available.

Completion Requirements

Completion of HRJ requires attendance at five of the six synchronous sessions, submission of one project proposal and a presentation at the end meeting (note that there is flexibility in the format of this presentation and modality of sharing).

Facilitators

Bee Brigidi, CEE
Sarah Ford, CEE
Ashley Edwards, SFU Library

Quotes From Past Participants

"The HRJ series offered an opportunity to bring together scholars with diverse backgrounds from a variety of disciplines to learn more about integrating anti-racist pedagogies in our classrooms. The thoughtfully chosen texts shared themes that challenged us in our roles as academics, instructors and administrators, and continue to transform how we view the world around us. The program has built a community of practice with like-minded people, something we don’t always get in our home units. I am confident that all HRJ participants would send heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Sarah, Ashley, and especially Bee, each of whom brought their whole selves to our deep and meaningful conversations in support of our evolving understanding of “how to be an anti-racist”. This series has led to profound personal and professional growth." 

Dr. Sheri Fabian, Criminology at SFU

“The HRJ workshop has helped me develop my pedagogical practice in ways that I could not have predicted! The things I learned from the workshop and adapted to my teaching and research are simple yet effective, as demonstrated by student feedback I have received. For instance, in the workshop we were asked to think about how to value and amplify the diverse lived experiences of people (both students and lecturers). I used this in my class discussions to ask students to reflect on how their lived experiences and positionality changed the way they read and approached texts. Just the act of reflecting on this out loud allowed the entire class to hear how, even in the same space, when reflecting on the same text people can have vastly different experiences based on what they have experienced and how they have been socialized. Much like in our HRJ workshop, the learners became teachers. These discussions do not always go as planned, but they have brought so much depth to my classroom, and would have been impossible if it had not been for the way we were taught in the HRJ workshop to get learners to think about their positionality and the structures of power that may be invisible, but still affect how they assign value to things in the world. Thank you, lovely people at CEE, for organizing this!”

Dr. Anushay Malik, Department of Labour Studies and Department of History Simon Fraser University