Strategies
Shame-Resilient Classrooms
Brene Brown outlines how you can begin to understand how to work towards a Daring Classroom and how shame in the classroom impacts learning.
Informative Articles
Overcoming Shame and Building Resilience in the Classroom
"Shame is hard to talk about. It’s a complex emotion, and many of us don’t know how to verbalize its existence in our lives. Dr. Brené Brown, a New York Times best-selling author on the topic, defines shame as “the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.” Like any emotion, shame has some purpose: It can maintain our moral compass, and it can regulate our social behavior by helping us forgive and accept wrongdoing..."
When Teachers Use Shame as a Disciplinary Tool
"Humiliation and isolation are commonplace as school punishments, often written into policy in teacher handbooks or accepted as reasonable practice in addressing serious misconduct. Even for conscientious folks who are adamantly opposed to behavior charts and public chastisement, the impulse to embarrass the recalcitrant runs deep in the American edu-psyche. The shaming remark often pops out when teachers are frustrated, at their wits' end". This article talks about the results of using shame as a disciplinary tool.
What If Teachers Could Extinguish Shame?
Shame permeates our schools and classrooms. Kids shame their peers and, sometimes, usually unwittingly, teachers shame their students. Read this excerpt to find out how to eliminate shame in your space and design your own compassionate classroom.
We all Have Implicit Biases
In this TEDx talk, Dushaw Hockett talks about the implicit biases that everyone has, and what we can do to address those biases
Informative Articles
Unpacking Authority and Implicit Bias in Schools
The concepts of compliance and authority are firmly rooted in many of our nation’s schools and classrooms. These precepts still ping around our learning institutions, driven by implicit bias and preserving a profound disconnect between students and learning. Teachers hold the key to unpacking authority and bias in classrooms to truly transform the learning experiences of our students. Here’s a look at how to begin this crucial work.
Verna Myers TedTalk: How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly towards them
Our biases can be dangerous, even deadly — as we've seen in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner, in Staten Island, New York. Diversity advocate Verna Myers looks closely at some of the subconscious attitudes we hold toward out-groups. She makes a plea to all people: Acknowledge your biases. Then move toward, not away from, the groups that make you uncomfortable. In a funny, impassioned, important talk, she shows us how.
Informative Articles
20 judgments a teacher makes in 1 minute and 28 seconds
A researcher says 'micro moments' in the classroom reveal implicit biases, such as subtle racism and sexism
Teacher Bias: The Elephant in the Classroom
When discussing inequality in the classroom, it’s tempting to focus on external factors like socioeconomic status or educational tools like rubrics; it’s more uncomfortable to tackle a topic like teacher bias. After all, no one wants to think they are biased, particularly not people who devote their time, money, and energy to teaching the next generation.
However, even the most dedicated and well-meaning teacher holds stereotypes and beliefs that affect their students. Unfortunately, these beliefs can be as harmful as they are inevitable—at least when not examined.
