Finding Your Blind Spots : 8 Guiding Principles for Overcoming Implicit Bias in Teaching

Build bridges, foster better relationships, and establish a more inclusive school community. In her direct yet conversational style, Hedreich Nichols examines discriminatory classroom practices and offers strategies for eliminating them. You'll acquire the knowledge and skills to identify biases that adversely affect your practice and learn how to move beyond those biases to ensure a more equitable, inclusive campus culture.

K–12 teachers and administrators will:

• Recognize your own personal biases and how they affect the classroom.
• Learn how your language can reinforce discrimination and how to choose inclusive language instead.
• Understand gender and sexuality and how they relate to identity.
• Discover ways to celebrate and foster diversity daily.
• Identify microaggressions and how they create barriers to relationships.

Contents:
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Bias and Belonging
Chapter 2: Bias, Guilt, and Accountability
Chapter 3: Bias, Language, and Labels
Chapter 4: Bias in Curriculum
Chapter 5: Bias and Cultural Expression
Chapter 6: Bias and Gender Equality
Chapter 7: Bias and Representation
Chapter 8: Bias in Action--What Not to Do and Say
Conclusion
References and Resources
Index

Hedreich Nichols is an author, educator, and host of the podcast and YouTube edu-equity series SmallBites. She is one of two district International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme edtech leads and curriculum writers who reimagined COVID-era instruction for hybrid learning. This reimagination features design curriculum, tech standards, and global competencies necessary for 21st century learning success. Hedreich also mentors teachers formally and informally, providing resources, designing a school-based learning hub, and spearheading a student IT team that provides video and student-led programming services to the campus.

As a consultant, Hedreich has designed courses to help educators and librarians move beyond "conversations around race" to strategically improve culturally responsive education on campuses throughout the United States. Hedreich has also authored two trade books for middle school students as part of the Racial Justice in America series. As a content creator, Hedreich has created a vlog and podcast to provide educators a blueprint to help them become more inclusive and reflective practitioners "one small bite at a time."

Hedreich has worked in K-12 and has extensive experience designing and executing adult learning experiences, both in the United States and abroad. Before getting her master's degree in education, Hedreich was a Grammy-nominated artist who traveled extensively conducting music workshops. Her broad-based pedagogical experience in both well- and under-resourced settings gives Hedreich a unique perspective and a keen eye toward helping educators build a cache of strategies that lead to better academic and social-emotional learning outcomes.

In addition to working as an author, educator, and consultant, Hedreich serves as director of equity and inclusion (DEI) at Teach Better and on the board of Sleeping Bear Press. Hedreich received her master of education in educational technology from Texas A&M University.