Oct-Nov 2019 Advisor

DIVERSIFYING

10 CEA ADVISOR OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2019

NEA-DANBURY HOSTS SOCIAL TO CELEBRATE AND PROMOTE DIVERSITY Lessons learned and shared regarding racial, ethnic bias

“We are here to let teachers of color see that they are not alone,” said NEA-Danbury EMAC Chair Luanelly Iglesias. “We are here to support and hear each other, learn from each other, collaborate, improve our jobs, and get stronger as a community of educators.” Nearly 50 educators met and mingled at a social gathering hosted and organized by CEA and NEA- Danbury’s Ethnic & Minority Affairs Commission (EMAC), a group committed to increasing the number of ethnic minority teachers, strengthening their involvement in association activities, and addressing issues of particular significance to students and teachers of color. The event welcomed teachers from Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, New Milford, New Fairfield,

Redding, Ridgefield, and Sherman. “Teachers of color are woefully underrepresented in Connecticut schools,” said CEA Vice President Tom Nicholas, who secured an NEA grant earlier this year to bring more students of color into the profession. His grant program provides stipends for those who wish to form future educator clubs at their schools as a way of helping underrepresented students explore teaching careers. “We have a huge influx of English learners into Danbury schools, and at the high school especially,” said foreign language and literature teacher Teresa Morais. “They come from many places, including Central America, Guatemala, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Cambodia, and Vietnam. As a department head for the middle school, I’m hoping that we can work on ways to best support our English learners, with a big focus on equity and core instruction, which for many of our students starts with ESL instruction.”

Standing (L-R) are NEA-Danbury President Erin Daly, CEA Vice President Tom Nicholas, Annie Riddle, Luanelly Iglesias, Teresa Morais, NEA-Danbury Vice President Tom Ross, Lammia Agoora, and CEA’s Herman Whitter.

Morais noted a chronic shortage of ESL instructors across the state. Math teacher Lammia Agoora also described a strong population of EL students, adding that she has English learners in all of her classes. “This is good for us to understand other cultures,” she said. CEA Regional Organizer Herman encouraging teachers to discuss the impacts of everything from skin color to gender identity on the way students and adults see the world and are seen in it. Many participants shared personal stories of their own encounters with unconscious bias as well as cultural myths and Whitter gave an interactive presentation on implicit bias,

misperceptions. ESL teacher Myung Ha Lee, who is Korean-American, explained, “It’s common for people to assume I’m Chinese. When I tell them I’m Korean, many respond, ‘But you speak Chinese, right?’” Dozens of teachers shared similar stories about how aspects of their appearance and other attributes have led students, parents, and others to make false assumptions about their heritage, language, and more—and how those lessons can serve as important reminders for educators to be mindful of their own beliefs and attitudes toward others. The group’s next meeting is scheduled for January 23.

Danbury High School English language arts teacher Melissa Teel (left) says, of EMAC socials, “It’s nice to connect with people in different districts and at different grade levels.” NEA-Danbury EMAC Chair Luanelly Iglesias presents Teel with a local bookstore gift card.

Measure your own implicit bias at implicit.harvard.edu/implicit.

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