In an edition of “Conversations with Tim,” WIDA Founder and Director Tim Boals and Chief of Staff Merideth Trahan sat down (virtually) for a discussion with Carl Grant, a professor in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. They talked about multicultural and anti-racist education, and how to support underserved and undervalued students.
The conversation took place in May 2021 and is now available on WIDA’s website.
During their discussion, Boals asks Grant why using the term “anti-racist education” is important given the context we are living in. In his response, Grant stresses the importance of being deliberate in our use of language.
“Education in this country, as it relates to people of color, has always been anti-racist. It has always said let’s deal more with we the people, this union. And within that context to push back on one way of seeing things just only centering one group of people. So, anti-racist education is deliberate in its language, especially in this time, when (there) is such a push back and we have not as a country embraced the ‘we the people.’ That we’re all together as one,” he says.
Boals also asks Grant to speak about his new book, “James Baldwin and the American Schoolhouse,” which was published by Routledge in April 2021.
“In the book I use the word radical, not radical in a negative sense, but radical in the sense that we have to, to use Baldwin’s term, go for broke in our teaching,” Grant says. “We have to go all out. High expectations for the students. Work at learning how to teach the students that are seated before us.”
“Conversations with Tim” is a WIDA news article series that features a conversation between WIDA Founder and Director Tim Boals and a colleague or two in the field of multilingual learner education. Together, they discuss the important innovation, research, and collaboration taking place today.
WIDA is an educational services organization within UW–Madison’s School of Education. It advances academic language development and academic achievement for multilingual children by providing resources that ensure an equitable and quality education.