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Recent Newsletter Articles
On the “Flip” Side: A Teacher Educator of Color Unveiling the Dangerous Minds of White Teacher Candidates
Dr. Cheryl Matias teaches urban education courses at the University of Kentucky to prospective teachers, many of whom are White women. She identifies how the "white savior" narrative serves as a motivator for many of her students, and she examines its implications in the classroom. Dr. Matias also discusses the impact that her students’ whiteness ideology has on her as an educator of color, and how she counteracts the psychological harm done to her through the “pedagogy of trauma.” Read More
Understanding Implicit Bias
The Kirwan Research Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity works to raise awareness to the complexity and impact of implicit bias and the ways it acts as a barrier to access. This website provides a concrete definition of implicit bias and the ways it operates to broaden social inequality. You can sign up to receive their newsletter to get updates on their interdisciplinary research. Read More
Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture
This site lists characteristics of white supremacy culture that regularly appear in organizations - such as either/or thinking and fear of open conflict - as well as "antidotes" to combat them. These characteristics are shown as damaging to both people of color and white people because they are "used as norms and standards without being pro-actively named or chosen by the group" and they promote white supremacy thinking. Read More
SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach
The authors explain, "The purpose of this paper is to develop a working concept of trauma and a trauma-informed approach and to develop a shared understanding of these concepts that would be acceptable and appropriate across an array of service systems and stakeholder groups.... The desired goal is to build a framework that helps systems 'talk' to each other, to understand better the connections between trauma and behavioral health issues, and to guide systems to become trauma-informed." Read More
I Didn’t Know It Had a Name: Secondary Stress and Educators
From the article: "Whether you’re a teacher, paraprofessional, counselor, or school resource officer, every staff member cares deeply about students. And that means being exposed to the traumas students bring into school every day, including poverty, grief, family problems, racism, drug abuse. Even if they have not endured trauma themselves, educators can begin exhibiting symptoms similar to those of their students – withdrawal, anxiety, depression, and chronic fatigue." Read More
When Students Are Traumatized, Teachers Are Too
Trauma in students’ lives takes an emotional and physical toll on teachers as well. In this article, experts weigh in on the best ways to cope. Read More
Understanding Refugee Trauma: For School Personnel
Trauma can affect a refugee child on an individual, classroom, school, and family level. The considerations and recommendations in this handout can easily be applied to an ABE perspective. Read More
103 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice
This article from Medium.com provides a list of concrete actionable items that white allies can do each day to support the BIPOC community and build a more equitable society. Read More
ESL Literacy Readers (Bow Valley Readers)
This collection of 40 theme-based readers features adult ESL learners engaging in everyday work and life activities. The learner page provides ESL students with access to seven levels of stories written specifically for adults. Each story focuses on a different learner and has an accompanying listening track so learners can listen as well as read the story. Read More
Blended Learning Guide
From the New Readers Press website: "A valuable resource for instructors, this Blended Learning Guide is for teachers, tutors, and administrators who provide adult basic skills education and who wish to initiate or improve blended learning for their students." Read More