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Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
Teaching about Race and Racism in the College Classroom: Notes from a White Professor
Teaching about race and racism can be a difficult business. Students and instructors alike often struggle with strong emotions, and many people have robust preexisting beliefs about race. At the same time, this is a moment that demands a clear understanding of racism. It is important for students to learn how we got here and how racism is more than just individual acts of meanness. Students also need to understand that colorblindness is not an effective anti-racism strategy. In this book, Cyndi Kernahan argues that you can be honest and unflinching in your teaching about racism while also providing a compassionate learning environment that allows for mistakes and avoids shaming students. She provides evidence for how learning works with respect to race and racism along with practical teaching strategies rooted in that evidence to help instructors feel more confident. She also differentiates between how white students and students of color are likely to experience the classroom, helping instructors provide a more effective learning experience for all students.
250 pages, Paperback
Published December 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 1, 2020
I read this book for work and I am so glad. As a first year Professor, it helped me bring racism into my classroom conversations.
Also, I was able to meet the author.
"Teaching about race and racism can be a difficult business. Students and instructors alike often struggle with strong emotions, and many people have robust preexisting beliefs about race. At the same time, this is a moment that demands a clear understanding of racism. It is important for students to learn how we got here and how racism is more than just individual acts of meanness. Students also need to understand that colorblindness is not an effective anti-racism strategy.
In this book, Cyndi Kernahan argues that you can be honest and unflinching in your teaching about racism while also providing a compassionate learning environment that allows for mistakes and avoids shaming students. She provides evidence for how learning works with respect to race and racism along with practical teaching strategies rooted in that evidence to help instructors feel more confident. She also differentiates between how white students and students of color are likely to experience the classroom, helping instructors provide a more effective learning experience for all students."
Also, I was able to meet the author.
"Teaching about race and racism can be a difficult business. Students and instructors alike often struggle with strong emotions, and many people have robust preexisting beliefs about race. At the same time, this is a moment that demands a clear understanding of racism. It is important for students to learn how we got here and how racism is more than just individual acts of meanness. Students also need to understand that colorblindness is not an effective anti-racism strategy.
In this book, Cyndi Kernahan argues that you can be honest and unflinching in your teaching about racism while also providing a compassionate learning environment that allows for mistakes and avoids shaming students. She provides evidence for how learning works with respect to race and racism along with practical teaching strategies rooted in that evidence to help instructors feel more confident. She also differentiates between how white students and students of color are likely to experience the classroom, helping instructors provide a more effective learning experience for all students."
August 30, 2020
Now having read several books about race, racism, and teaching, I was so happy that Kernahan's book brought incredibly practical, evidence-based, thoughtful advice and examples to this tricky content and historical moment. I cannot say enough positive things about how reading this book during the first week of a fall semester influenced -- and dramatically improved -- the way I launched my students into a semester of productive and thoughtful discussions. I'm enormously grateful for this fantastic resource!! ❤️
August 8, 2020
If, like me, you teach writing, Kernahan's frequent use of incomplete sentences in an otherwise formal tone will annoy you, but the content of this book is fabulous and necessary. I'm ashamed to say that much of what she relays about general teaching and racism in this country was new to me -- perhaps it would not be to every experiences college professor -- but it is synthesized very well. My reading list has just expanded significantly based on her recommendations, not because she left things unsaid but because she whet my appetite for more information and more action.
February 22, 2020
I loved this book, it is a great part of the conversation about teaching about race. This book makes a great comparison that teaching about race is a subject, not just something that people know about because they live in the United States. Dr. Kernahan brings her experience teaching about race in the classroom into this well written, well researched, and accessible book. She does a great job identifying common issues that instructors face in the classroom and provides solutions and ways to better promote discussion and learning. While this book is primarily aimed at college educators, I think that the insights and discussion would be applicable outside of the classroom as well.
March 19, 2020
This book is absolutely fantastic! I recommend it for any educator, not just those who teach about race and racism. Full disclosure, I'm mentioned in the acknowledgments, but it is terrific and will prove to be a very important book!
October 8, 2020
Cyndi presents a balance of practical tips and theory that applies to not only teaching race in the classroom but having conversations about race outside the classroom. The book is approachable and well researched. I would highly recommend for faculty and faculty developers.
July 11, 2021
I found this extraordinarily helpful, particularly in thinking about teaching these issues as both a new instructor and as a white instructor. The only thing I would have liked was a bit more guidance on classroom activities, which are sometimes difficult to come by.
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March 14, 2021One of the most boring books I have ever finished.
October 5, 2023
An excellent and practical resource for effective and engaging teaching about a subject that affects us all. Great job by Professor Kernahan. And also a shout out to West Virginia University Press.
November 23, 2020
I grabbed this book because I thought it was about addressing race issues in the classroom when the opportunity arises, but it’s actually focused on classes specifically about race and racism. That said, there were still many excellent take-aways that can apply to any type of classroom setting. Kernahan’s book is fairly academic with lots of supporting research to back up her ideas/suggestions. It’s a pretty quick read (only about 120 pages or so), but much of that is filled with repetition. Each chapter ends with a lengthy summary of the chapter and the final chapter is a summary of everything in the book, so those 120 pages contain two summaries of the book. I bit of over-kill, but hard to complain when the content is so important and the ideas so strong.
Recommended for anyone who teaches...period.
Recommended for anyone who teaches...period.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews