Lois Beardslee: Why a Children’s Game Led a Veteran Teacher to Leave the Profession

H_NGM_N: What one says, or doesn’t say, to white educators is an informative and unforgettable essay by award-winning, author, illustrator, and veteran teacher Lois Beardslee.

Beardslee describes her experience as a Native American teacher while navigating a profession that discriminated against her, sometimes with violence. And she provides insights into the pitfalls of teaching as a person of color, cultural norms in education, and the disconnect between educators and their students.  And why her suggestion to re-imagine a new way of teaching letters led her to leave her job.

I was speaking submissively, hoping not to offend. It’s the sort of language used by victims afraid of angering their overseers, a way of talking that is, like the game of hangman, a legacy of racial violence in America. ”  — Lois Beardslee

The essay is a disturbing inside look at the structural racism confronted by Beardslee. And underscores a system that decided as an educator of color, Lois Beardslee had no civil rights.

Source

Kappanonline.org: https://kappanonline.org/what-one-says-doesnt-say-to-white-educators-beardslee

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