Today I was taken on a journey at the Deeper Learning Conference-an emotional and intellectual pursuit to better understand the context in which I exist…as an educator, parent and human being.

Our dive into this vulnerable and reflective space began with our personal stories-stories of our first realization that race matters in school. For some participants it was their first day of school, for others it wasn’t until adulthood when they took on the role of a teacher or a grandparent. Through a micro lab protocol we moved into expanding on the impact our first experiences with race had on us today and the work in which we choose to engage.

Our dive quickly descended as we were then asked  to articulate our equity stance. It is presumed that most participants had likely previously developed a stance in their equity work, and the title of the session is what drew them in; however, this exercise pushed us to identify with one of five stances presented to us. These stances ranged from “Equity as an Initial Opportunity” to “Equity as Equal Results”. Being confined to pre-existing definitions with questionable semantics proved to be difficult for many (myself included), as evidenced by several participants who opted to claim multiple stances or oscillate between them.

Another drop below the surface came after lunch when we experienced the divisions of privilege in our society. Inspired by the well-known work of Peggy McIntosh, we were asked to take a step forward every time we acknowledged our own privileges while reading her work. From a quick glance around the room it was easy to see  a disparity in privilege based on skin color-within our own group, while also recognizing that what we were seeing in the room was reflective of our society, at large. By this point many participants were living the norms proposed to us in the morning: staying engaged and welcoming discomfort.

Before touching the bottom surface of our dive we were asked to read an excerpt from Delpit’s work and then participate in a Socratic Seminar. The following 3 questions were posed:

1. Is Deeper Learning a new iteration of white progressive education?

2. What is the relationship between skill building and Deeper Learning?

3. In what ways has Deeper Learning “come to terms with the concerns of poor and minority communities” (Delpit).

As I have taken the last five hours to ascend from this deep dive, here is where I have landed:

I am a firm believer in Deeper Learning…Deeper Learning for ALL kids. However, much like any type of learning it cannot look the same for each and every child. In my opinion, the power of engagement and deeper learning is in personalization, and the teacher taking on the role of ‘meaning maker’. As many of my colleagues spoke to today, this requires teachers to be culturally competent and therefore pedagogically responsive-taking on a new depth of differentiation. A teacher must know a student well enough to know when and how to push, while also providing them with the necessary support-all the while maintaining high expectations.

Delpit’s critique of white educators doing what I have just described for children of color is not lost on me. I fully recognize that to do what I have suggested is not an easy task, especially for white educators. Eight years after reading Delpit’s work, serving as an educator, various life experiences and several equity trainings… I still don’t know what to say about that. This work requires teachers who can acknowledge the constructs in which students of color are situated-in and out of school. One of these constructs being, for now, a white progressive power structure.

As I come up for air from this Deep Dive I am left wondering…

Do we focus on creating educational experiences for our students that will provide them with tools to succeed in this system  of College and Career Readiness-driven by a white agenda? Or do we give them the tools to disrupt it? what is a help and what is a hinderance to them and their future, now and long-term?

Can teachers live in a “both/and” world of skills and contextual learning? What does that look like and mean for kids-is this Deeper Learning?

Is Agency the answer, if at the end of the day we are still asking students to have grit in a white power structure? How can we acknowledge the perseverance students have outside of school, as well?

In what way can I have the most impact? As a white educator? As a School Development Coach? What is realistic? At what point am I selling myself or others short? What can I be OK with, for myself???