For educators
Thanks to a grant from the Oregon Community Foundation, this course is FREE to K-12 educators!
This professional and personal development opportunity was created for white folks because they are often difficult to talk to about how white supremacy culture impacts the ways they show up. This educator-specific course adds additional context about how this behavior actualizes in educational settings, both in classrooms and administrative offices.
You will be guided in this training to do deep introspective work that will heighten your emotional resiliency, helping you move beyond the discomfort that makes conversations about racism and whiteness so hard. This work is foundational for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging efforts to truly take root.
In the context of this course, emotional resilience means being accountable for the collective, familial, and personal legacy of whiteness—carrying that weight with humble dignity. It means repeated willingness to ride the rapids of emotions, with care of the collective as our priority.
SOLO SELF-PACED PORTION: Self-paced and online, for self-reflection (approximately 30 minutes for each module)
- Module 1: Taking inventory of our personal nervous system tendencies
- Module 2: Leaning into the truth on how whiteness shows up in us
- Module 3: Slowing down
- Module 4: Communication in connection (Part 1 and Part 2)
->Throughout this training there will be regular pauses for embodiment practices and time to process emotions that emerge.
COMMUNITY-BUILDING LIVE PORTION: Every participant will be asked to sign up for at least one live educator discussion group. These 90-minute Zoom discussion groups, facilitated by Ronin, offer a confidential community space with other educators for self-reflection on the independent self-paced portion. These are an opportunity to connect with other educators who are embarking on this same journey. (There will be various days and times offered on a regular basis to make sure everyone gets a chance to join at least one group.)
Including the self-paced and live portions, there is the potential to earn three-and-a-half (3.5) to eight (8) professional development credit hours, depending on now many discussion groups you attend. You will need to attend at least one.
Registrants can access the course for as long as YouTube and the internet exist.
THANK YOU… to culture-change teachers/healers such as Rev angel Kyodo williams, Langston Kahn, Thomas Hübl, and ALOK, to our Apokalypsis Advisory Team, and especially to other folks of color in Eugene who have been willing to share some of their experiences being in community with white folks.
Meet the instructor
Robin “Ronin” Quirke (they/them/elle)
Ronin has a research background in the field of social psychology, and although they have previously worked on important topics such as climate change mitigation and political reform, they have come to realize real change requires ditching the patterns of separation and hierarchy, and moving towards connection and humility. They feel the most alive while teaching– whether in a workshop capacity or teaching dance fitness at the University of Oregon, helping people connect with their bodies, true selves, and with each other is Ronin’s jam. You can connect with them directly at ronin@apok-ccrf.org