-JoyAnn Boudreau Dr. Erica Buchanan-Rivera is the Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer for Hamilton Southeastern Schools. She has also served as an elementary teacher, an assistant principal, a principal, and a director of curriculum prior to this role. During her doctoral program, she specialized in culturally responsive, inclusive environments and identity validation. She has penned multiple published articles including these two that I will reference in some of the questions: Shifting Toward Equity: The Educator’s Role and Identity-Affirming Schools Need Race Conscious Educators. On Twitter she is @ericabrivera.
conditioned to process differences and the idea of inclusion in various ways. It is important to reflect on that conditioning process, how it has impacted our decision-making and social contexts, and the ways it has shaped our beliefs.
Equity is the concept of giving individuals what is needed for their success and survival, which requires us to understand identities of those we serve as well as the barriers that hinder achievement. However, before we can delve deep into unpacking the needs of others, we have to learn how to decenter ourselves. Equity work involves an ongoing examination of self. I believe in the power of critical questions which guide steps toward educational excellence. For teacher librarians, it may be helpful to ponder some of the following questions:
It’s difficult to counter the biases of others if we do not recognize the biases we harbor within ourselves. Therefore, I continuously tell educators to start with self-work in efforts to avoid action steps that involve doing things to people without fully understanding the needs that exist. I had the privilege to hear you talk at ISLA about what identify safe spaces look like in a classroom with having cultural connectivity, identity affirmations, intentional spaces, personal touches, and authenticity and examples of those. How do you see that translating in the space of a library? What might stay the same or change in that environment? |
AboutThe purpose of the ISTE Librarians Network is to promote librarians as leaders and champions of educational technology and digital literacy. The key mission is to provide a professional learning community where librarians can leverage technology knowledge and expertise to improve school library programs, increase access to information, and foster strong teaching and learning environments in a connected world. Archives
April 2020
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