July 18, 2018

Professor Dyan Watson co-edits Teaching for Black Lives

“Teaching for Black Lives is a Handbook for all educators, students, and families who truly care about Blackness and the intersections of learning, teaching, and race.” - Dyan Watson

Dyan Watson, social studies coordinator for the secondary MAT program, is one of three editors of an influential new book, “Teaching for Black Lives.” This book is a collection of writings meant to aid educators and humanize Black people in curriculum, teaching, and policy, while also connecting lessons to young people’s lives.

“I have two Black sons. For me, this collection is about their survival, and the survival of children like them throughout the United States,” says Watson. “Teaching for Black Lives is a Handbook for all educators, students, and families who truly care about Blackness and the intersections of learning, teaching, and race.”

“Teaching for Black Lives” was just added to the Teaching for Change’s 2018 list of top books about social justice. This book arose from the Black Lives Matter at School movement which, in February 2018, witnessed thousands of teachers focus lessons on conversations surrounding Black history and identity, restorative justice, and institutional racism.

Watson is also an editor at Rethinking Schools, a national publisher of educational materials. In 2015, she served as co-editor, alongside the Oregon Writing Project’s director Linda Christensen, of “Rhythm and Resistance: Teaching Poetry for Social Justice.”

Click here to read the full story and selections from the book.