E DUCACIÓN EN TIEMPOS DE LAS REDES SOCIALES

major aspects of structure that participants utilized to increase effectiveness in engaging White students in conversations focused on race: course structure and activity structure.

Course structure. The majority of participants reported structuring their diversity-

focused course in ways to make conversations about race more effective for student learning and growth. Seven of the eight participants noted that because race was often such a sensitive and challenging topic for White preservice teachers to talk about, the structure of the course was significant. Several participants reported structuring their course through a progression of course material in order to help students interact incrementally with race content. Additionally,

participants reported the need to strategically scaffold the progression of course content due to White preservice teachers’ inexperience in thinking and talking about issues related to race.

Ron noted that because the vast majority of his students had not thought or talked about issues related to race, he structured his course content from “book theory” to in-person

interactions with racial diversity. The theoretical portion of Ron’s class included readings, discussions, a choice board activity, which helped students to “engage with very difficult material through their own lens,” and multicultural specialization strands (including culturally responsive pedagogy, critical pedagogy, or social justice pedagogy). Ron then progressed his students from theory into practice by requiring students to engage in racially diverse settings. While he stated that his course was “a work in progress,” Ron believed this type of structure was more effective because it “maximizes theory with practice.” Sybill, on the other hand, reported that she structured her course like a sandwich.

[They] start with race and do kind of several sessions on race in the beginning of the semester. And then [they] . . . switch it up a little bit. And then [they] come back to race again at the end of the semester . . . [she gives them] a little break in between.

Sybill mentioned that race was the hardest diversity topic for White preservice teachers to talk about. However, because White students typically enjoyed talking about other aspects of

diversity such as exceptionalities and socioeconomic status, she used this as a break in between the content focused on race. Sybill believed this structure was effective because it allowed students a break from the difficult material and gave them the entire semester to interact with new and difficult material.

One of Molly’s diversity-focused courses was structured based on Boal’s (1979) Theater

of the Oppressed, in which students created and worked through scenes related to inequity and

oppression. During the course, groups created sculptures that reflected their personal

experiences with oppression and inequity. Students then chose one sculpture to follow through the semester as the real scenario. Through the progression of the class, students moved from the real scenario to the ideal scenario and discussed ways in which the real situation could

realistically be altered to an ideal situation. Throughout the semester, students worked through and discussed oppression and inequity. Molly believed this strategy was effective because it gave White preservice teachers the opportunity to listen to real situations of inequity and then participate in discussing potential solutions for similar situations that might occur in reality.

Activity structure. Beyond structuring the scaffolding of race content courses, the

majority of participants reported structuring activities or the progression of activities as a strategy for engaging White preservice teachers in discussions about race.

Several participants reported organizing activities according to scaffolding student knowledge and ability to discuss concepts related to race. Participants discussed both the need to understand White students’ previous experiences with race as well as to constantly evaluate students’ engagement during class. Some participants structured activities in order to give students understanding and language around concepts needed for conversations on race. For example, because most of her White preservice teachers misunderstood the concept of privilege,

Sybill used PBS’s (2003) series “Race - The Power of an Illusion,” chapter three “The House We Live In,” to help students understand the difference between wealth and income. Following this, she used her own family experience in buying a house in a predominantly White neighborhood, which was then worth several times the amount it was bought for. She “find[s] this to be really effective because from there [she] can talk about White privilege, and then they understand.” Likewise, Lily structured activities in order to introduce conversations about race. Lily said,

[I use Dr. Seuss’ (1984)] Butter Battle Book first and then . . . a couple of sessions later . . . [a] White privilege kind of segue . . . so that when we get to that White privilege,

they’re more open. At that point, they’ve already talked about some of these things. Other participants structured activities by how risky an activity was in order to effectively move students from safer conversations into more sensitive conversations about race. For

instance, Ginny said,

I always classify [activities] by risk. Basically, low risk, medium risk, or high risk. And I . . . make decisions all the time about that, every semester, and that determines whether they work or not; if I hit that zone. You know, because you can’t always stay low-risk because then they think it’s fun. It’s all fun . . . when I hit medium to high risk, the tone changes in the classroom. Sometimes it gets more contemplative and reflective,

sometimes I worry that kids have left feeling badly and they’re never ever gonna say. Molly also discussed the importance of structuring activities to give students the opportunity to more easily talk about race. She noted the importance of having students engage in fun and playful activities, which balance the challenging and uncomfortable discussions. Molly

[their] guard down . . . and [they’ve] also shown up.” Structuring activities in this way was reported to help White students feel more comfortable and involved while talking about race.

Theme 5: The importance of interactions. All participants reported using interactions