S1E6 - Groundwork: Middle School Principal Joe Truss Tackles White Supremacy

Table of Contents: Who Joe Truss is & why we're talking to him (0:37) White Supremacy Culture, defined (1:02) White Fragility, defined (1:44) Growing up in the Tenderloin (2:24) Why Joe was academically successful when most of his friends weren't (3:57) Tracked classes and White Supremacy Culture (5:52) How writing is taught and White Supremacy Culture (6:29) Reading: For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood... and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education by Chris Emdin, and We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina Love (8:16) Joe's initial approach to teaching: "social justice wrapped in white supremacy culture" (9:41) Joe's journey to transform his school's practice begins (14:00) Reading: Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond (14:31)0 The year of tackling White Supremacy Culture begins with "Brave Norms" (14:54) Joe describes the staff's first day back from summer break (15:28) Reading: “Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces: A New Way to Frame Dialogue Around Diversity and Social Justice” by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens, from "The Art of Effective Facilitation: Reflections from Social Justice Educators" (16:02) How Joe would prompt first-day discussion differently if he did it today (21:52) What happened after that first day back, for Joe and for the school (25:17) Joe's mentors and how he found them (27:19) Reading: Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun (29:59) Joe introduces "White Supremacy Culture" and "White Fragility" to the staff in December (32:36) Getting into the risks to Joe's own position of tackling this (37:16) What happened next: January (47:35) Connecting White Supremacy Culture to School Discipline (49:42) What Joe's doing with his staff this year to build on last year (52:01) Joe's long term goals for the school (55:30) More about Joe Truss Check out Joe’s website, and follow him on Twitter here: @TrussLeadership. Joe is leading a full day workshop on Dismantling White Supremacy Culture coming up on Saturday, November 2nd. Details can be found on the site. And one final shout-out... The English headteacher who told me the line about “what happens on a wet Wednesday afternoon” is Andy Raymer, now-retired headteacher at Matthew Moss high school in Rochdale. This podcast is powered by Pinecast.