Discussing Racial Oppression - Self-Assessment Checklists and Contract Template

This resource provides a set of tools to support teachers who wish to bring discussions surrounding oppression, racial inequality, criminal injustice, and discrimination into the classroom.

Educators may feel discomfort discussing sensitive topics in the classroom, as they may be concerned about their vulnerability in sharing experiences or expressing personal opinions on delicate subjects. Furthermore, educators cannot control the comments or opinions expressed by other members of the conversation, and may want to avoid the potential for offensive opinions or comments.

Responding appropriately to diverse opinions and accommodating reactive emotions and responses are intimidating tasks for educators; however, opportunities to share about the experiences of those who are impacted by racial inequality and discrimination are an important part of education.

It is necessary to acknowledge that everyone approaches life from a unique perspective, shaped by their experiences, their influences, and their own identity. With adequate preparation, a classroom can be an effective environment to explore these perspectives, even if this environment sometimes becomes uncomfortable.

The Code of Conduct Template included within this resource will support your classroom in collaborating on a set of rules that will establish boundaries and expectations for the conversation. Some examples you may want to consider are encouraging students to refrain from asking personal questions to other students, and advise that they avoid using hypothetical situations or anecdotes that do not belong to them. Other examples could be to require that students use proper terminology (ie. "ableism," "anti-immigration bias," "privilege" etc.) that have been pre-taught in class.

This resource also includes two Self-Assessment Checklists: one for you, and one for your students. These checklists include ten questions each, and are designed to ensure that you and your students have evaluated their expectations, their strategies entering the conversation, and the possible outcomes that may arise. While these checklists are a starting point to facilitating conversations about racial inequality in the classroom, it is best practice to take time to research and become familiar with some of the many resources offered by different organizations that can support educators in supporting diverse perspectives in the classroom.

For classrooms utilizing Google Classroom®, a digital version of this resource is also available. Simply follow the instructions provided within the resource to copy these files directly to your personal Google Drive®.

You might also be interested in Mondays Made Easy's Digital Resources.

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Mondays Made Easy is committed to the continual improvement of resources to meet the current needs of teachers. This product was last updated on October 19, 2023.