Chapter 1
What is intersectionality?
Multiple markers of identity
How does the economy reflect on schools?
Schools are funded by local taxes, which renders schools ineffective/unable to provide what their poor students need in low income areas
What is mattering? What does mattering mean to you?
mattering was introduced in Chapter 1, however it is important to note what it means. Mattering is the internal desire we all have for freedom, joy, restorative justice… and to matter to ourselves, our community, our family, and our country
Think about the concept of "homeplace". How can we create classroom environments that incorporate aspects of students' homeplaces?
Discuss!
What is abolitionist teaching?
The practice of working in solidarity with communities of color while working to eradicate injustice in and outside of school (2)
What is white rage?
The lash back that people who do not fit the "established norm" receive
How those outside of the "majority" or white culture are received when wanting to educate based on their own culture, language, etc
Explain FIST and why was it important for the author's educational success?
'Fighting ignorance and spending truth.' FIST was important to the author because it taught her about loving herself and her surrounding community.
How could we advocate for educational justice?
discuss!
What are 3 elements that Love mentions are elements of abolitionist teaching?
Mattering
Surviving
Resisting
Thriving
Healing
Imagining
Freedom
Love
Joy
Describe educational survival complex
where students are left learning to survive, learning how schools mimic the world they live in, and therefore making schools a training site for a life of exhaustion
What is 'the sweetness of the struggle?'
'The sweetness of the struggle' is defined as an anti-racist approach that elicits the understanding that the work of living and learning is about the solidarity created through shared struggle.
Why are youth of color more likely to be committed to a juvenile facility than white youth? What can we, as educators, do about this?
Answers will vary
What idea is fundamental to abolitionist teaching?
To want freedom is to welcome struggle as justice will not happen without it (page 9)
What is spirit murder as described by Bettina Love?
Spirit murder is when the mental health of students is damaged or torn down (pages 38-39)
What are the Black Code laws? How did these laws contribute to the continued criminalization and indebtedness of black people?
The Black Code laws required Black people to obtain a license from a White person in order to open a business, sign yearly labor contracts, and Black women could not testify a white man whom she had a child with. This forces Black people to owe money that is not necessary for White people.
How can Charter school networks such as Success Academy and KIPP change their "no excuses" model to be better help for students of ALL backgrounds?
answers vary, should be a discussion
What does abolitionist teaching include?
Refusing to take part in zero-tolerance and school to prison pipeline
demanding restorative justice schoolwide
insist students need to play
ensuring students feel safe and that schools are not perpetrators of violence toward any students
embracing theories such as critical race theory
What is education NOT? (pages 40-41)
it is not the antecedent of failing schools, poverty, homelessness, police brutality, and/or crime (racism is)
Why didn't Love tell any adults (other than her parents) that she was in FIST?
She was afraid of her power being taken away because she was always told that a child should stay in a child's place, and to not become involved in grown-up business.
In Chapter 3, Love mentions that her mom hated when people changed the way they talked around White people. Should schools need permission from parents to teach students to code switch?
discussion based