Online Strengthen your ability to help students recognize and resist racism by teaching them how to adopt a stance of critical consciousness.
Overview
What role should educators and schools play in supporting young people’s understanding of racism and engagement in collective action challenging racism?
“Critical consciousness” is the ability to recognize and resist oppressive social forces such as racism. It is a critical tool for young people of color – often acting as a form of “psychological armor” that can act as a buffer against the harmful effects of racism. In helping your students of color cultivate critical consciousness, you can increase the likelihood that they will experience more positive outcomes, including resilience, self-esteem, mental health, academic achievement, and political engagement.
Schooling for Critical Consciousness of Racism and Racial Injustice is an online workshop that explores why critical consciousness is an important developmental asset for youth of color. Through a combination of research-based study and practical application, this program will enable you to discover practices for supporting the development of critical consciousness among learners and reflect upon the implications of this scholarship and featured practices for your own work with students.
Program Details
Schooling for Critical Consciousness of Racism and Racial Injustice is a self-paced, asynchronous online workshop that takes place over a two-week period. Program content is based on new research from Professors Darren Graves and Scott Seider. Their four-year study of youth critical consciousness in five high schools is believed to be the largest school-related study on the topic.
Specific program activities include the following:
- Readings from Schooling for Critical Consciousness, a book co-authored by Professors Graves and Seider, based on their study
- Video lectures from Professors Graves and Seider
- Case studies related to fostering youth critical consciousness
- Small group discussions
- Self-assessment and reflection prompts
- Consideration of materials, such as student work, photographs, video clips, etc.
- Creation or modification of a lesson/unit on critical consciousness for your individual school context
- Access to a community of practice that enables you to engage with fellow program participants once the workshop is completed
The program requires 8-10 hours total in conjunction with program content. If you complete all individual assessments and contribute to group discussions prior to the end of the course period, you will receive your certificate and clock hours indicating completion.
Objectives
- Learn about the concept of critical consciousness and why it represents an important developmental asset for youth of color
- Explore promising practices for supporting youth critical consciousness development
- Reflect upon the implications of this scholarship and featured practices for your own work with students
