Teaching the Invisible Race: Embodying a Pro-Asian American Lens in Schools - Hardcover

by Tony Delarosa (Author), Liz Kleinrock (Foreword by)

Transform How You Teach Asian American Narratives in your Schools!

In Teaching the Invisible Race, anti-bias and anti-racist educator and researcher Tony DelaRosa (he, siya) delivers an insightful and hands-on treatment of how to embody a pro-Asian American lens in your classroom while combating anti-Asian hate in your school. The author offers stories, case studies, research, and frameworks that will help you build the knowledge, mindset, and skills you need to teach Asian-American history and stories in your curriculum.

You'll learn to embrace Asian American joy and a pro-Asian American lens--as opposed to a deficit lens--that is inclusive of Brown and Southeast Asian American perspectives and disability narratives. You'll also find:

• Self-interrogation exercises regarding major Asian American concepts and social movements
• Ways to center Asian Americans in your classroom and your school
• Information about how white supremacy and anti-Blackness manifest in relation to Asian America, both internally and externally

An essential resource for educators, school administrators, and K-12 school leaders, Teaching the Invisible Race will also earn a place in the hands of parents, families, and community members with an interest in advancing social justice in the Asian American context.

Front Jacket

BUILD YOUR SKILLS IN TEACHING ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH A PRO-ASIAN LENS

Teaching the Invisible Race provides educators with an evergreen resource filled with historical information, stories, case studies, and frameworks for teaching Asian American history. You'll examine your own awareness and beliefs, develop a proactively pro-Asian point of view, and discover ways that you can stand up for Asian American communities to combat racism today.

After reading this remarkable book, you will also be able to:

• Examine yourself in relation to the key Asian American social movements
• Build knowledge of critical Asian American concepts throughout history
• Develop skills in how to center Asian Americans in your classroom and school
• Understand how pitfalls in the current PK-12 education system affect Asian Americans
• Understand how white supremacy and anti-Blackness show up in relation to Asian America

Despite increased media attention to anti-Asian policies and incidents across the country, America still renders Asian Americans invisible by gaslighting their oppression, excluding them from social justice education and conversations, and homogenizing their experience. Educators, administrators, and K-12 school leaders need Teaching the Invisible Race to turn this situation around, once and for all.

"DelaRosa's book, Teaching the Invisible Race, offers genuine ways for Asian Americans to be seen and heard. DelaRosa puts the teachings of our ancestors in conversation with current and future educators by weaving together spoken word, stories, historical evidence, and what I believe is most compelling--pauses in the text--where we ask ourselves questions about what we are learning and what it does to us. It is here, where we ALL become visible."
--Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, Professor of Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University

"Tony DelaRosa is a voice of a generation. His bravery and expertise makes him a voice we all must take note and learn from. In the face of censorship, Teaching the Invisible Race is an urgent read and resource for anyone who cares about the fate of future generations."
--Tonya Mosley, Journalist, co-host of NPR's Fresh Air

Back Jacket

Praise for TEACHING THE INVISIBLE RACE

"In a critical time of building multiracial, multiethnic, and multigenerational solidarity across the world, Asian American education is needed for current and future leaders everywhere. This book provides the resources, stories, and validation to build resilient and beautiful connections to Asian American history and belongs in every classroom in Wisconsin and beyond."
--Francesca Hong, Wisconsin State Senator

"This is the right book, at the right time, by an inspired author. DelaRosa puts art, care, and solidarity at the center of interdisciplinary Asian American studies to prepare the next generation of primary and secondary educators to explore the truth about the Asian American experience where they live, work, and teach. In the rush to meet this moment of reckoning with Asian American invisibility, many feel inspired to offer their passion, but DelaRosa offers tested experience in the classroom, rigorous research, and deep community engagement grounded in interracial solidarity. This is the book teachers have been waiting for because he weaves together diagnostics, frameworks, historical content, poetry, art, and models of empathic inquiry into Asian American lives."
--Dr. Jason Oliver Chang, Professor of History and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut

"We do a lot of book studies in K-12 education professional development that never lead to changes in our classroom practices. However, DelaRosa's book is simply not just a book to be studied but a book of action as it has research and theory-based curriculum that educators can immediately implement and transform their teaching and classrooms to be more reflective of Asian American identities and histories."
--Dr. Anjalé Welton, Rupple-Bascom Professor of Education and Chair of Education Leadership and Policy Analysis at UW-Madison and co-author of Anti-Racist Educational Leadership and Policy: Addressing Racism in Public Education

"A book that is absolutely necessary and crucial in the fight for liberatory educational justice. Every educator needs to read, Teaching the Invisible Race. Tony DelaRosa blends the personal with the political, historical with the now, a halo-halo, hybrid that is truly Fil-Am, Asian American. What an accessible book that all educators, regardless of your background, can learn from and ensure that ALL of their students are seen, heard, and celebrated. Maraming salamat Kuya Tony; kailangan natin itong libro, tunay isang bagsak."
--Ethelyn Tumalad-Granados, Oregon Teacher of the Year 2022 and Founder of (Re)Present: Asian American Pacific Islander Oregon Educators Collective

Author Biography

TONY DELAROSA is a son of Cavite and Pampangan immigrants. He is a Filipino American anti-bias and anti-racist educator, spoken word poet, and a researcher focused on ethnic studies policy and cross-racial solidarity. He co-founded NYC Men Teach Asian American initiative aimed at supporting and retaining Asian American teachers in the NYC Department of Education. Tony won the 2021 Inspire Award sponsored by the National Association of Asian American Professionals and the 2023 Community Trailblazer Heritage Hero award sponsored by The Asian American Foundation. His work has been featured in NPR, CBS News, Harvard Education Magazine, Hulu, and elsewhere.