Chapter 4 and 5

Chapter 4
In chapter 4, the title is "White Educators and the River of Change", throughout this chapter the author uses the metaphor of the Colorado river to describe the river of change in our world and in education. Basically, the Colorado river is not made up of one river, but of many rivers all flowing into one eventual river. Each tributary, brings with it a new type of water, different in color, consistency, and substance. What the water looks like shows back to where the water came from and the area that it came from. This is a metaphor for the river of diversity and how many waters from different areas flow together to form a river of diversity and a changing river in our nation.

Throughout the chapter the author talks about a number of healing responses that white teachers must use in the classroom and in their lives. These responses are honesty, empathy, advocacy, and action. White teachers must work through these responses in order to help heal the divides between ethnic and racial groups and to heal past relationships. The author also goes into a section titled from social dominance to social justice in which he talks about the need or a change in the dynamic of white interactions with other people groups. The author hopes that teachers can take part in the gradual change from oppression to greater inclusion and justice.

Chapter 5
Chapter 5 is titled "Mapping the Journey of White Identity Development", this chapter basically goes through some of the different theories of racial identity development and what that looks like. The chapter then compares the stages of black racial identity development with the stages of white racial identity development. The stages of the white racial identity development are broken down into two phases. Phase I includes: Contact, Disintegration, and Reintegration. Phase II includes: Pseudo-Independence, Immersion-Emersion, and Autonomy.

I think that both of these chapters brought up a lot of good insights to think about and that are very valuable for self-reflection and looking back at how we view the world in general. I really liked the metaphor in chapter 4 about the Colorado river, I think that it really showed what diversity looks like in a way and how it is related. The metaphor also talked about how the areas where the areas meet are often the areas where the river is the roughest and I think that this is true as well for humans. Lots of times when inclusion is happening and when diversity happens the time of transition can be very difficult. I think that as teachers we need to make sure that the time of transition for new students and diverse students is not rough, but that they are accepted into the classroom and school community. We need to do all that we can to make sure that this happens. As far as Chapter 5, I think that some of the stages were well thought out, but I also thought that the stages were proposed for a person with very specific beliefs about the world, not only in the areas of diversity and equality. Because of this, I don't think that all of the stages really applied to me and how I see the world around myself. So I think that some of the stages were too individualized, but that's almost always the case with stages of development as well I think.