 So, I'm recording, and I am pressing play, and I'd like to ask, Jakob, do you see my slide? Does everybody see my slide? Yes. Okay. Good. Thank you very much. So, today's session, I have the honor of presenting a very important topic, and if you have found your way here, I think you must agree that this is a very important topic. How might we become catalysts for change and embed anti-racism in our classrooms? Question. So, let's just get out of the way, the why, of why we are here. We are, of course, not blind. We don't live in a bubble. We do live in a world where we see things around us, and one thing that has really rocked our worlds beside COVID-19 in recent weeks is the fact that it's been actually quite a lot of police brutality in the States, and racial discrimination in the States, and as we know, many, many people have died. This has brought up, this has caused many people around the world to rise up, so to speak, and to also have similar demonstrations. What should be our reaction as educators? Where are we starting the conversation tonight? So the conversation tonight is not going to be about, oh, is this important for us? Should we be talking about it? We're going to start the conversation from another place because we're going to, I'm going to assume that you have at least thought about this topic in the past few days and weeks and months. And I wanted just to give you this quote from a very, very, very good book that I've read. I've just finished reading White Fragility by Robin D'Angelo. She's a PhD in racial studies, so racist studies. And she said that it is actually not possible to be not racist. She said, actually, everybody, it's quite a bold statement and quite a surprising statement. She said it's actually not possible to grow up and not be racist and not do racist things or not perpetuate racist narratives, so to speak. She goes into a lot of detail in her book on why she says this. So if you are at the beginning of your journey on this topic, I do encourage you to look behind these words, these terms and what they mean because all of these things have very, very important connotations and meanings for everybody, not just black lives, but for white lives as well, or lives in general, of course. If you do try to educate yourself about these terms and about these things and you'll find that it's quite an enriching experience, it's a sobering experience. I have to say that even as a black person, I have learned a lot about what I've studied so far, what I've looked at it so far. So I can only encourage you to look behind the curtain and check out what all of these terms mean and what they can mean for us as well on our personal level but also on a professional level. But I think we can all agree on the fact that racism exists or prejudice, discrimination, bias exists. It does negatively affect lives. So the question is, what can we do to create sustainable change? We don't want just to be just a flash in the pan thing, a fly by night thing. We want this to be sustainable. We want really to bring about lasting change and try to embed the correct practices in our classroom. So I thought about, of course, one of my favorite songs by Michael Jackson and he sings or he sang, if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change. And it does start with us. It starts with us looking at ourselves, looking at our experiences, looking at our own attitudes and what we have done so far. And before we go any further, what I'd like to share with you, Padlet resource. Again, if you haven't seen it before, this is the time now to bookmark this Padlet wall, this Padlet wall I've created as a reference and a resource point. So this is something that we could all use to just to collect everything that we that we love to that we found very valuable or that we would like to use as a springboard to educate others as the same way we have educated ourselves. So you can take the time to either scan the QR code and get to the Padlet wall, or you can use the links that are here. And I'm just going to leave the the shared slide presentation for a minute. And just I'm just going to show you what the Padlet wall looks like. If you are new to Padlet, this is what you will see if you navigate navigate to this wall. Yeah, you will see that this Padlet is like a link collection or collection of resources. And it's formatted in columns. So at the very beginning, we have the first, for example, column called Why Anti-Racism? I have to say this was also a term that was new to me. I didn't know about it before, but now definitely now that I've read up what it means, it's it's definitely a term that I'll be using going forward. The second column has lists, teacher resources. And you can see here, you can just scroll with your with your cursor. And you can see there's lots more resources. It's not just the things are at the top, but at the bottom as well. And while I'm here, I'll just going to show you that you can use the plus button to add a resource. So if you have like an idea, also in another language, I'll show you in a minute how to do that with another language, you can also add your resources. If we just scroll to the right, you can see the here in this column is teaching strategies in this column. I've listed a few books that I'm sorry. Seeing your keynote. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me stop sharing and share again. I understand why. So you see, it's a good thing. Thank you, Jacob. Do you now see my the Padlet wall? Yes, we do. OK, sorry. I hope it's not too disconcerting. I'll just continue where I've left off. Yeah. So as I said, the Padlet wall is arranged in columns. And as you go, if you scroll to the right, you can see that there are different categories. There are books that I've read that I found very valuable. Here are some podcast recommendations. I really recommend the 1619 podcast. It's very sobering. I listen to that podcast. It's only five, five or six episodes. And I thought to myself, it's no, there's no way that you can not remain permanently pissed off at the situation if you if you listen to this podcast. Right. Apart from that, here are some articles and blogs I found some really cool videos, especially older videos for students. So I did use this topic yesterday in my lesson in my English lesson with 14 year olds. And among other things, I did show this video. A young black man posted on TikTok, all the rules that his mother has told him before he goes out. And it really left a very deep impression on the students because they they was completely foreign to them that that a black person at teenager would have to have rules about things he cannot do when he goes out of the house, when he leaves the house. So that was a really very sobering example there. Here's the column for other languages. So here I have a few German resources and one Dutch resource. So please, Dutch friends, please feel free and Danish friends. Please feel free to populate this column with your resources. And here in this column, I've started looking for definitions and how to explain what these things mean. So anti-racism or microaggressions. And here in this column, we have a back channel for today's session. Please feel free to interrupt me at any time. If you have a question, if you'd like to have a qualification or anything, just let me get back to sharing my keynote. Yeah, so a few more things before we go on to the collaboration part. So the question, big question. How might educators kickstart a process that enables sustainable change? And I'm just going to give you three ideas or three inputs and the ideas that we come out of the session where we have an action plan. The outcome should each of us should have an action plan. I want to really underline the fact that I do not think that I'm an expert in any way. I am just somebody who has educated myself about this topic. And I would just like to share what I have learned. So anything anybody does for him or herself is, of course, individual and personal and nobody can say, OK, this is good or bad, right or wrong. Everybody has his or her personal action plan. Of course, you can feel free to look at the padlet wall while I'm speaking. It's not a problem at all. I know you can multitask. Matt did mention before that he's a very perfect multitasker. But still, I hope he has his ear open. I hope you're ready to hear these three ideas. So the idea is number one, we start with educating and evaluating ourselves, of course. For example, what do the terms mean? Does everybody in the room, if we're talking about this topic, is everybody in the room know what we are talking about? Know what our definition is, for example, of racism, anti-racism? Have we thought about why 21st century educators should involve anti-racist measures in our teaching? Have you thought about what journey you have had or what journey your students have had? How has my personal experience educated or formed me or formed my opinion, my background and my experiences? Point number two or idea number two would be or step number two would be see and identify. And this is a very important step because we have to really self-examine ourselves and think about, OK, what have I done? Or how is it possible that we have perpetuated white as normal narratives? That the default is white or that the default is European or the default is from a Western perspective. How do I identify microaggressions? How have people been offended by seemingly small or minor things? What images do I offer my students? Do they see a certain type of person represented visually in my materials? Or do I try and diversify my materials? What single stories have I myself perpetuated? So really open your eyes and see what is there, but also see what is not there. And the third point would be the third idea would be talk and train. Before this, I must really honest, honest, honestly tell you, I was I had never thought I would find it necessary to talk about this topic as a professional. For me, racism or anti-racism or intolerance was something I was just going to accept and tolerate. And I was not going to tell anybody anything, right? But something I have learned in my research about this topic is that it's really important not to be silent because silence can mean we agree with the situation. And it has, unfortunately, led to the fact that things have continued and not stopped. So think about how and when can I start conversations? How can I deal with pushback? And this is, of course, I know it's a very, very bold thing to do, to talk about racism, to talk about prejudice, to talk about discrimination, especially on a personal level. But we need to be bold and to speak out and we need to train our students to do the same and train our students to see things that are there and not there and how they can overcome their problems. So as as promised, it's not just me talking. It's hopefully going to be now a chance for you to join in the discussion, join in the co-creation of an action plan. And what I've done is I have created what I call a back channel. I think the chat function of the WebEx is quite limited, first of all. It's only limited to WebEx, so not everybody who is. We can't keep it for perpetuity, so to speak. And I would really like for you to first to keep a record of our thoughts and what we're co-created in this session. How might we session usually is in a room where we have posted notes and we can get on flipchart paper and get dirty and get brainstorming, right? This is limited, of course, in the virtual setting. This is why I really feel the need we need to join a back channel. Jakob, can I ask you please to post the link to the back channel in the chat? The link to the back channel is also on the main padlet on the on the on the right. And in this back channel, you also see or find also a link to the main to the main padlet. So I'm going to now just going to stop sharing my keynote. I'm going to enter the back channel and just going to we're just going to try to find a few answers for ourselves. And I'm just going to go back and forth from one padlet to the other. I'm just going to share my screen. If I just could ask a bit of feedback so far in the back channel. How are you guys going? Am I speaking to to slow, too fast? Thumbs up, thumbs down. Just let me know how I'm doing so far. If somebody would like to open his microphone, his or her microphone, please feel free, let me know if everything's OK. Everything's brilliant so far. OK, thank you. I don't know who spoke, but I think somebody somebody said the word brilliant. So I'm happy for that. Thank you. Yeah, so what I'd like to do now is to really post this question in the chat, so in the back channel chat. So how what ways in what ways can we educate and evaluate our own situations, educators? I'm going to post this question. Can we as educators educate and evaluate ourselves? I've posted the question now in the back channel and I'd like to welcome some answers, maybe just just like in posted format, just not maybe long sentences, just a few ideas. It can also be single word sentences. So maybe we can. Yeah, if a few people would just post, that would be really cool. Oh, thank you. So thank you, Gerard. So Gerard gets gets a brownie point for for posting the first, right? So I'm going to have to send you some M&M's or something, right? Gerard, because he posted first, very nice. OK, so Gerard posted a very, very important question. I'm just going to read it out in case somebody's not in the in the back channel. But again, I encourage you, please now open the back channel. I think you see my screen. The back channels on my screen, right? Everybody can join it and you can just feel free just to post your thoughts. I don't know if somebody else would like to answer that or shall I answer? I feel I don't mind if somebody else answers. So I'm sorry, I wanted to ask the question. He says, how what do we recommend? He feels his voice is not relevant and he would he's afraid of being accused as being a white saviour. He wants to speak up, but he wants to avoid overstepping. So yeah, any ideas from the from the group or do you want me to? Piping, what about Jacob? What do you think, Jacob? Yeah, I am. I think it's a really good question because I can really relate to that. That dilemma of on the one hand, really wanting to step up, but also being in that role where you yes, feels authentic and honest and and and and. Yeah, I think it's a really a question that we all can relate to. Yes, so you share his you share his hesitation, so to speak. Yeah, this of overstepping some borders or I would love to be able to help and I want to be able to help. But I just feel that sometimes I read about white saviour movies, for example, and how the white person always come to help the people of colour. However, if I lead this change in my school, am I overstepping my boundary? How can I make sure that I allow other people the voice? And I just I I do want to help, but I don't know how. So I'm going to I'm going to because I would like to get to more content. I don't want to rush anybody. I think the discussion is very important. The conversation is important. Short answer is once you start reading a little bit of the literature, you will gain confidence and you will understand that it is important. Your voice is just as valid as a black voice. Yeah, everybody's voice is valid. Everybody has had an experience. You have had your biography. I've had my biography and because you are so sincere, nobody's going to think that you are a white saviour because they're going to know that you're coming from an honest place and you're coming from a humble place. Robin D'Angelo really made the point of saying stressing. She knows that she makes mistakes. She herself makes mistakes. She's been studying racist things for years, decades. And she still makes mistakes. Yeah, but she learns from them. And I think what is really important, Jaar, is that your students see that you're trying or that your colleagues see that you're trying and that you learn together. I'm saying you, but I mean me and being me as well. So that we see that it's a journey and that we're all learning together. And I think that your students will see it as a very brave thing that you have to talk because who talks about this? How often do we talk about this topic? I mean, how often? I mean, and who is supposed to talk about it? I was really thinking about it like in my school. Should the history to talk about it? And what if he doesn't think it's OK? It's OK. You know what I mean? I think we can all own the topic and own the conversation. I just like to move on to the next question. I see that Lindsay is posting in the chat. I'm just going to move on to the next question. So the next question was see and identify. So the question is, do you know what daily situations? Let me put it this way. What daily situations do you know that have the potential to offend people that we might want to avoid? So what what bad? Let's see if we can identify some bad experiences. As as versus good experiences. What what can trigger, for example, somebody is offended or somebody. Yeah, somebody reacts negatively. Maybe I don't know if Laura would like to say something. Or Lindsay would like to say something if your microphone is open. What have you observed? Yeah, I think well, being in an international school, there is so many people of different backgrounds, different experiences. But I think that those clashes, those potential, you know, explosive moments are actually some of the most powerful instigators of learning experiences. So I've taught in classes where I have Saudi Arabian children and I have children from Iran. I'm, you know, been in classes with 10 year olds, 11 year olds. And they come to school and they start the beginning of the year saying, well, I'm Ukrainian. I'm not sitting next to the Russian kids or I'm Russian. I'm not sitting next to the Ukrainian kids. I actually had a Saudi Arabian student who was, I think, 14. Tell me that a map of the world in 1900 was the way it should be because there was no Israel on it. These news reports that have been coming out in the last week. Have been great for just starting conversations. And I mean, I know it's kind of, it does actually feel like it's kind of easier for me because there is that experience in the classroom. Like we have two students who are from India and we have other students from other places. And it was really interesting seeing the two girls from India in my class who were able to say, well, we watched the video about the marches. And then they said, well, who's Martin Luther King? And so we watched the video about Martin Luther King. And then they were saying, well, he's kind of a little bit like Gandhi. And then they were talking about Gandhi and they were talking about, you know, how the English used to be in India. And then the English said, well, we'll leave, but you have to separate into Pakistan and India. So I think in my in my classroom, the most important thing that I can do is give them a space to be able to talk to this about this and give them the opportunity to be able to give possible answers to this. One of the things that I was one of the other teachers heard what was happening in my classroom, and she kind of said, you have to be very careful that you don't get too political because the kids will go home and talk to their parents. And I said, well, I want them to go home and talk to their parents about this because they're going to then open up a conversation for them to learn about it. Half of the kids in the class didn't even know about the protests. And the other half of the class knew, I would say, probably almost too much information about how George Floyd had died. And, you know, that it's it's very hard to find that that point of being age appropriate. So my students are eight, but they can understand that you have to be kind to people. You know, and and relate it, relate it back to, I remember, I actually saw something about a lady from the States. She does the blue eye, brown eye. Yes, Jean Ellis thing. I have that link in the Padlet. Thank you so much. Yeah. And it's it's amazing. It is. And children are are able to understand that. I think we'd get in trouble if we did that to our kids today. But I think that kids are able to to understand this. And even though they're eight, they say things like, you know, my brain is exactly the same as the person next to me. It's just that I have more melanin in my skin than the person next to them. But yeah, yeah, rambling. But just offering a platform to be able to discuss things and giving them giving them prompts for discussion, I think is is probably the best thing that I'm able to do in my classroom. Thank you so much for sharing, Laura. And I think it's actually very valuable seeing that you're you're mainly in primary school. So you made the point that it's never too early to talk about this. Keeping an eye on the clock, I would love to. I mean, you see, as you can see, this discussion could continue for another half an hour. I have provided a few images in the back channel for you. So, for example, you can create your own action plan. I have three images in the back channel. I will also provide to you. I have this keynote. If you want, you can have the entire keynote. I will post the keynote in the back channel, yeah, where you can use it for your for yourself. You can use it for your your staff, for your for your teaching team, however you want to do it. And I also have on the pad, let the other pad at the main one. Also, ideas. I did talk about this topic yesterday in class with my students. And it was a really very good session. My co-teacher, she mentioned again today how thankful she was. She's white, how thankful she was that I really was brave enough to talk about the topic. I mentioned to my students yesterday, I said, listen, before I would, as I said before, I never would have thought I wanted to talk about this topic. But I realized, huh, I'm the only black teacher in your school. And our school has one thousand one hundred students. And then I said, and I'm probably going to be the only black teacher you ever have. And they looked at me with big eyes. They say, yeah, it's true. And think about what that means. We need to speak up if you if you see things, if you know about things, if you're knowledgeable about things, then we need to speak up and it's it is a fine line to navigate. It does require communication skills, but it's something we can learn. Yeah. So I just like to close with just mentioning the fact that I have these these pictures, these images up for you. So I'll just show you again in my in my keynote. And I'm just going to show you. We appear to have lost audio. So we can't hear you. No. Alicia, you're muted. OK, I'm sorry. Can you hear me again? Now we can hear you. Yeah, thank you. Sorry. So again, just briefly to wrap up. I didn't invent the hashtag teach anti-racism. But I think it I think it could be an idea to post things we create or post ideas or post resources under this hashtag as well. So as I said, I did create these three kind of like post-its, virtual post-its, so to speak, where you can either post good practices, bad practices, personal goals, points of reference and ideas for my school or ideas for my subject, how I can really use my platform to highlight an area of anti-racism. And I wanted to end with this quote by Michelle Obama, which I'm not going to read it for you. I know you can read. So it echoes the feeling that no matter how how hard it is to think that what might hinder us from breaching the topic and from talking about it and from teaching about it, it's a reality for many millions of people that they feel that they're that they have barriers in the world that they live in. So the work may be uncomfortable, but we can all contribute to this, to this very important work. And that's what I'm going to end today. And I'd like to thank you for joining this session today. I hope it was OK for you. Thank you very, very much, Alicia. I think the. Lounge room is open again, and maybe it would be fine to continue the conversation in a more informal way. But I think it was really, really. You have started some good thoughts in my head now. Right now, I can have the feeling that I really appreciate that you took your time for preparing this for us, Alicia. Thank you very much. And as I said, as I promised, I have posted now I'm posting in the back channel, but also in the main pad let this keynote, it is a keynote so we can please feel free to adapt it, use it, whatever. Go crazy. OK, thank you very much. And I'm going to end the meeting now. I know Susanna's now come in, Susanna, I hope it's. Hi, Alicia, sorry, I missed all of it. Yes, I know, but it's thank you for joining and we're going to now switch over to the to the lounge where we can either we can talk about this to talk about other things. It would be cool if you can give me a little bit of feedback. Yeah, or if you want to contribute something. So Emma, you see, I got my card soon. I don't have any. See you. OK, see you. Yes, my car is OK. See you. Thank you, Alicia. Thank you. Thank you. I'm just trying to look at the chat before I leave.