Equity Education Learning Guides
As part of Macalester’s ongoing commitment to equity and inclusion, these self-paced learning guides have been created for our campus community to serve as an introduction, deepen your current knowledge base, or strengthen your equity work.
We recognize and value opportunities for ongoing and reflective learning, particularly in doing equity and social justice work. We also understand that we each have different learning styles, navigate multiple demands on our time, and need varying entry points. These learning guides include resources such as books, articles, reels, videos, podcasts, and learning activities. We have attempted to make these resources as accessible as possible, if you are unable to access any resource please feel free to reach out to equity@macalester.edu for assistance.
Moving through the learning guides, you will see the language usage of “we” and “us”. This language is intentional and refers to all members of the Macalester community and our relationships with Macalester, our local neighborhoods, and with each other. We use this language to emphasize our shared responsibility to work together to advance equity and our collective liberation. Each guide moves through a learning process that leads into action, to build and implement equitable policies and practices at Macalester College and beyond in our neighborhoods and communities.
These learning guides are intentionally designed to change and grow alongside our Macalester community. We continuously welcome your feedback and suggestions: Feedback Form.
How to use the Learning Guides:
In learning about social justice and equity there is no “one size fits all” approach since we come into this work with multiple identities and life experiences. Using Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy by Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl, materials and resources have been categorized into three scaffolded sections.
- Remembering and Understanding (Principles and Concepts): Learning here focuses on introducing vocabulary and definitions, core principles, and foundational concepts.
- Applying and Analyzing (Application): Once becoming familiar with what has been previously introduced, learners will apply core concepts and foundational concepts to themselves and the work they are part of.
- Evaluating and Creating (Action): After analysis, learners will be able to build and integrate their action plans into their work and engage in critical thinking about the subject.
We hope the learning guides can be an introduction or deepen your learning process and equity action work. These learning guides are not intended to be comprehensive or limiting; rather, they are designed to move learners from a place of knowing to action. We encourage you to engage with people, organizations, resources, and materials beyond the ones shared here.
Foundations for Learning and Self-Care in Equity Work
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When engaging with these learning guides, self-accountability is critical. Self-accountability can look like committing 30 minutes to your learning guides and reflection prompts. We have anticipated each learning guide to take 15-20 hours to complete over the course of a semester. Develop strategies to make social justice education part of your daily or weekly practice, recognizing that grace and patience will also be needed.
Another aspect of self-accountability is becoming aware of our unconscious biases, recognizing our learning edges, and taking action to confront them. Honesty, humility, and vulnerability will also be required. As you move through the learning guides and realize that some foundational and core concepts are still unfamiliar to you, return to the previous section. We encourage you to broaden your learning by searching for your resources on your own to supplement and augment those provided in the learning guides.
You may find it helpful to form a learning circle or move through the learning guides with a trusted friend or colleague. As our liberation is collectively tied, community learning and open dialogue are pillars of social justice and equity.
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While moving through these learning guides, please set aside a journal or place to collect your thoughts, answer prompts, or complete activities in each section. Each prompt and activity is a tool to deepen your knowledge base, build self-awareness, and hone critical analysis skills. We encourage you to be honest, especially if it is uncomfortable. Your responses are yours to share or keep private. Upon completing a learning guide, please return and review each reflection or activity. Ultimately, the reflective journaling will give you personal insight into your learning and growth.
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Learning is an emotional and vulnerable process. Taking care of yourself is an important part of building a sustainable learning pace. Social justice work invites us into deep inquiry, and we may become more critical of the systems and social environments that surround us. it can be mentally and emotionally taxing to process the information, and to revisit our own experiences and stories.
We ask you to think of self-care as a sustainability practice to help you grow through the tension, tenderness, frustration, and other emotions that may arise for you. Self-care looks, feels, sounds, smells, and tastes different for everyone. Please make intentional time to think about your self-care practices and how you will use them during your learning process.
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Though these learning guides can be individually completed, we recommend partnering with someone or creating a small learning cohort to engage more deeply with the learning resources and shared conversation.
Moments of discomfort may arise and we ask you to stay in this discomfort to continue growing your capacity and ability to stay in critical dialogue. These conversations are an anchoring part of social justice and moving equity work forward. Following are resources to support your partnered or cohort learning.
- Strategies to Facilitate Dialogue and Challenging Conversations in the Classroom by Teaching Commons at York University
- How to Stay in Tough Conversations by Smart in Seconds
- Establishing Brave Spaces: The Roles of Safety and Comfort in Dialogue
If you are interested in paired or cohort learning but are unsure of where you begin, you may begin asking within your division, department, staff and faculty affinity groups, or the “Unlearning White Supremacy” group (unlearningwsmac@macalester.edu).
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As you begin these learning guides, it is important to set your intentions to ground you in your learning process.
- Why is learning about social justice and equity important to you?
- Why is it important for you as a Macalester community member to engage in this work?
- What are you hoping to gain from your learning? How will you use and apply what you will learn?
- When learning about social justice and equity what feelings arise for you?
- Learning about social justice is challenging, vulnerable, and emotional, to grow through the tension what does self-care …
- Look like for you? Feel like for you? Sound like for you? Smell like for you? Taste like for you?
- When learning about social justice and equity what limiting beliefs do you have and need to let go of?
- Examples of limiting beliefs: “I don’t know enough to speak up,” “The problem is too big to overcome,” “It’s not my place to be involved,” etc.
- What does social justice …
- Look like for you? Feel like for you? Sound like for you? Smell like for you? Taste like for you?
Read: DEI Deconstructed: Your No-Nonsense Guide to Doing the World and Doing it Right by Lily Zheng
- Book | Chapter 1 – Intentions Aren’t Enough (pg. 13 – 34)
- Available at DeWitt Library local libraries (WorldCat)
Lastly, these learning guides are intentionally designed to change and grow alongside our Macalester community. We welcome your feedback and suggestions: Feedback Form.