Christina deVidal from Lake Washington School District, is an educator and a member of the PSESD ELA Fellows network. Christina will be presenting to the WA Senate Committee on Early Learning & K–12 Education on November 30 about her journey as a culturally-responsive and antiracist educator. In this interview, Christina talks about her journey as a teacher, her “why” for teaching, and what it means to be antiracist educator.  

Please tell us about yourself and your “why” for teaching?

I was twenty-eight when I went back to school. I was very fortunate and had the support of my parents, and my now-husband and I fell in love with learning. That is what brought me to teaching. I had a really naïve idea that because I loved reading and books so much that if I became a teacher, I would be able to talk about books all day long and get paid for it. While that is great, and I think all English teachers need to have a love of books and learning, it is super naïve if you don’t love the kids that you teach. I volunteered at an elementary and middle school and realized that it wasn’t for me. I then volunteered at a high school, and there was something about that age that was fun to work with. They are at that age where they are finally deciding who they are going to be and what kinds of values they are going to stand on. I find that it is really important to watch, support and listen to their conversations. So that is where my passion is — with those high school students.

My “why” has changed over the years as I became more comfortable in myself as an educator. The most powerful moments for me in the last three to four years of teaching were when students came back to me and told me what was meaningful to them. Those were the moments we talked about issues that were real to them and had real-life consequences. The students are so full of hope, sorrow and care about the world they are getting ready to step into. Right now, in our current times there is so much fear, divisiveness and unknown that when I step into that unknown, those are the conversations that the students have valued the most.

What does “antiracist” teaching/leading mean to you?

When I think about antiracist teaching or antiracist pedagogy, it is really about trying to recognize and trying to interrupt anytime we see racism. I think it’s important to not just think about it in terms of confronting the grading practices of our school or curriculum at our school but also confront it in ourselves. Learning more about systemic racism in society and in our schools and interrupting the narrative of white supremacy in our curriculum. Doing this by highlighting diverse authors and hearing the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color. If we don’t make a choice to do that, the default of that curriculum is all white. And if many of my students don’t see themselves in that reading and writing, they don’t connect as well since they don’t see their own voices and experiences in the curriculum. Other students need to see the value and contributions of people of color.

I make a separation for myself between culturally-responsive teaching and antiracist pedagogy. With culturally-responsive teaching, I focus more on teaching practices such as collaborative learning and inviting families and parents into the classroom, with the core belief that all my students can achieve something. When I think of antiracist pedagogy, that is, thinking about the text that I use, what is the story they are telling? And who gets to tell that story? Does it address the systemic racism and oppression in our nation and the impact of that? Does it also address the contributions, and the brilliant artistry of people of color. We have to have both in order for it to really interrupt the narrative of white supremacy.

What advice would you give to other teachers and/or educational leaders about antiracist and/or culturally responsive teaching practices?

• Step into it and try. Do not feel like you’re not good enough or you’re not aware enough, because we all grew up in the system and we all bring with us a lot of baggage and bias.
• Seek it out in your buildings. Seek out those people who are doing the work. Are there other educators you know that are further along than you and you can learn from?
• Join and form a book study.
• Ask how you can support the work.
• Find a core group of people who you feel safe with and hold each other accountable.

Who/what inspires and sustains you during these times? 

I have a team of teachers I work with, and we committed at the very beginning of the year that we were going to relearn everything and interrupt our old curriculum. We decided to view our curriculum through culturally-responsive and antiracist lenses. Thinking about the texts that we use and how we use them, do they interrupt the common narrative of white supremacy? We started our year off with the opening essay from The New York Times 1619 Project. It gives a view of American history through an antiracist lens. This helps set up the contrasting idea that we have to talk about the history of our nation, the deliberate legal policies, and the impact they have on people of color.

Can you tell us about your presentation to the WA Senate Committee on Early Learning & K–12 Education on November 30? 

I will be presenting on my journey as a culturally-responsive and antiracist educator. I started work with PSESD fellows and helped my personal growth to be a more culturally-responsive educator. It gave me practical strategies to take into the classroom so I can create a safer place to have difficult conversations with my students. It also helped to confront myself and hold myself accountable and helped to make my classroom a safe space for everyone in the room. The goal is to make sure that every student in my classroom feels valued, that they can learn and grow, and that their voice matters.

Through that program I became involved in the ELA collaborative to come up with an antiracist curriculum that we could share out with the Washington State community. It was led by Becca Horowitz at PSESD. Becca, to me, is the gold standard of this amazing work. Every time I leave a session, I am inspired to do something better or different. In this collaborative, I helped design a lesson with a group of seven educators throughout our region. We really thought about how we could create lessons that are collaborative, engaging and accessible and highlight voices of people of color. I then shared this work with other teachers in my team and building.

One thing I hope to communicate in my presentations is that there is so much momentum to do more and better, so how do we harness this momentum? To make change that is not just of this moment but that is long-term and sustainable. We need support and commitment at all levels to make it sustainable.

Any resources for educators you would recommend?

Some of the resources that have been most impactful for me:
 
Books:

• Courageous Conversations by Glen Singleton – setting norms in the classroom or in professional meetings to create safe spaces to have difficult conversations about race and gender.
• So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo – digging deeper into hard conversations about race.
• Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain by Zaretta Hammond – practices in the classroom. I think this is essential reading. 
• Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram Kendi A great resources to unlearn and relearn American history and confront our own biases.  

Websites:

• National Museum of African American History and Culture – tons of resources for educators. There are so many resources for professional growth as well as lesson plans.
• Teaching Tolerance – lesson plans, structure and ideas, and the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards Learning standards around 4 strands: identity, diversity, justice, action.  

 
The people who have inspired me:
 

• Becca Horrowitz, PSESD Fellows program
• Rachelle Horner and Alicia Egashira – they are teachers in my building that lead the staff equity team at my school and have been structuring and organizing staff professional development about equity at my school for years. 

What questions(s) should I be asking District Superintendents & Teaching and Learning leads?

• How many POC are in the room when you’re making decisions?
• How are you supporting the work of your educator to grow?
• How are you focusing on equity and social justice in professional learning?
• How are you holding all educators accountable making sure that they adopt equitable teaching practices?

Anything else you would like to share? 

We all need to do the work.