WAHS Wisdom

  Understanding   my   white   privilege:  10   lessons   learned   I am a white male who explores racial issues from an intellectual perspective. For me understanding racism and whiteness is often something I examine for a period of time--when discussing anti-racism, for example--and then I move on. It is not central to my day-to-day life or my survival. My whiteness is often invisible. To grow up and exist as a white person, race is usually about somebody else. Each us is always a member of a race or races and we are often granted or denied opportunities because we belong to one of the favored groups. My whiteness has come--and will continue to afford--me advantages that are not shared by many people of color. For most of my life--and I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood--I did not see race; I saw racism as an individual act by one person or group against another person or group. I was blind to the invisible systems that ensure racial domina...

Questioning the Author Questioning the Author (QtA) was developed by Beck and her associates in 1997 and is a means of engaging students in reading text. It is a comprehension strategy that helps students become critical thinkers who question what is written and the author’s motive.  Using this strategy will help your students read with a critical eye, think for themselves and learn to examine what is advertised and explore the information to create deeper meaning.   Here are the steps: Decide what text you want the students to read. Identify what you want students to learn. What are the major concepts, or ideas, or areas of knowledge you want students to learn? Identify areas in the text where students might have difficulty understanding vocabulary or meaning. These become your stop points. At each stop point, develop higher-order questions to help students find meaning and think critically. Ask questions such as: What do you think the author is saying? Do you think the autho...