Teaching is a Practice. Know better. Do better

In over ten years in the classroom, I've developed a practice of cultural competence and strive to apply cultural humility to everything I do. This is a practice and I don't always succeed.
You may its like riding a bicycle, although in my case that would mean I catastrophically fail from time to time. Back in 1998 I hopped back on a bicycle after probably five years and you know what? It was NOT all muscle memory nirvana. I crashed. Twice. I had trouble mastering stopping a bicycle.
In retrospect this was likely a manifestation of a complete lack of self-confidence but I choose to see it as a reminder that riding a bicycle, just like being cultural competent, requires practice and adjustment.
I recently attended a training for teachers focused on mental health and using digital tools. The presenters were scholars from the United States and I have to admit I started the day with skepticism. I love good professional development. I love new ideas and improving my craft as a teacher. Even in skepticism I keep my mind open that I will learn something new. What I learned was that without an equity lens we can tell a very skewed story.
Our presenter offered a framework for analyzing primary sources and reviewed some interesting ideas to use, but his examples were completely focused on his perspective to the point of promoting a biased view of history.
I walked away from the session not excited about new tools I could apply in my classroom but disappointed that I'd spent an hour of my life digging into the glorification of a confederate soldier and the confederate flag. 
Why, when the United States contains the history of many pioneers, innovators and change makers who overcame diversity did this ambassador of American history education choose these sources? Well, comfort and familiarity.
We must do better for our students. The lesson this day is that we have to ensure the next generation is comfortable learning about people who don't look like them and who have a different perspective. We have to equip students with curiosity and to do that the primary sources they study need to represent the vast diversity of our country and planet.
If I were presenting for 90 minutes about primary sources I would have an equity audit in my mind.
The sources we analyzed focused on: a southern university, a classroom of white students at the turn of the century in the South and the experience of a confederate soldier from a wealthy elite family in the Civil War.
Reflection may be our most powerful tool in education. Teachers are under an immense amount of pressure, including time constraints, but slowing down to think about the messages we are sending about which stories have value must be prioritized.
To stop crashing that bicycle years ago, I had to think about what I was doing wrong and do better. 
Should I have spoken up and called upon my fellow historian to do better. Probably. Next time, I will.