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https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/?fbclid=IwAR3NNBHcpqD1MNSALbdJ-YwzJAYTZyADTccoY8kbjtTQQgatDEBbZVPKCQs

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Responding to Anti-Asian Violence and Georgia Shootings

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Responding to Anti-Asian Violence and Georgia Shootings

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https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/responding-to-antiasian-violence-and-georgia-shootings

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The Inaction of the Capitol Police Was by Design

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The Inaction of the Capitol Police Was by Design

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According to the Associated Press, the Capitol Police knew about the potential threat of the riot days before it took place, but rejected offers of help from the National Guard and the FBI. Officials said that they wanted to avoid using federal force against Americans, as they had done this summer. The choice to turn down help amid warnings of an insurrection is as revealing as it is disturbing: Why did law enforcement assume that they'd encounter violence from protesters marching for Black lives in June, but think that a largely white crowd of pro-Trump extremists and conspiracy theorists would remain peaceful? The difference in the Capitol Police's response shocked many who bemoaned the double standard. But police brutality against Black Americans and police inaction toward white Americans is not some surprising anomaly; it is the status quo.
Read: The Capitol riot was an attack on multiracial democracy
The genesis of modern American policing can be traced in part to the institution of chattel slavery and its white-supremacist orthodoxy. It started with the slave patrols of the early 1700s and continued with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a federal statute strengthening laws that prevented the enslaved from fleeing bondage and left free Black people vulnerable to kidnapping. White citizens were employed as slave catchers to return the "stolen property" of southern planters by any means necessary. In his 1903 text The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that the "police system was arranged to deal with blacks alone, and tacitly assumed that every white man was ipso facto a member of that police." The ideologies of that earliest iteration of American policing-designed to prevent the freedom and enfranchisement of Black people and to protect the interests of white people-still persist in today's policing system.
Read: The double standard of the American riot
In December, a 111-page investigative report about the New York Police Department revealed that last year's Black Lives Matter protests had been grossly mishandled by officers. The report, conducted by a city oversight agency, confirmed what millions of Americans had seen after the killing of George Floyd on May 25: Police responses during peaceful protests were characterized by "excessive enforcement" and the violation of First Amendment rights. Yet one month before Floyd's death, on April 30, the country had watched as white protesters, some of them heavily armed, swarmed the Michigan state capitol to object to stay-at-home orders, resulting in little incident from Michigan State Police troopers and only two arrests. Du Bois characterized occurrences such as this one as part of the "double system of justice, which erred on the white side by undue leniency and ... practical immunity." After an insurrection by hundreds, which resulted in the resignation of the chief of the Capitol Police, just 82 arrests have been made so far. These facts give credence to the idea that with regard to American policing, consequences are split down color lines.

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ideologies of that earliest iteration of american policing

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The Inaction of Capitol Police Was by Design

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According to the Associated Press, the Capitol Police knew about the potential threat of the riot days before it took place, but rejected offers of help from the National Guard and the FBI. Officials said that they wanted to avoid using federal force against Americans, as they had done this summer.

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The Police's Tepid Response to the Response to the Capitol Breach Wasn't an Aberration

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The Police's Tepid Response to the Response to the Capitol Breach Wasn't an Aberration

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As images from Wednesday's riot by pro-Trump extremists at the U.S. Capitol filled our TV screens and social media feeds, one thing was notably absent: the kind of confrontation between police and protesters that we saw during the Black Lives Matter protests last summer. Even though the Capitol mob was far more violent - and seditious - than the largely peaceful BLM demonstrators, police responded far less aggressively toward them than toward BLM protesters across the country. Researchers who track this sort of thing for a living say that fits a pattern.

What Trumpism has cost the GOP and the nation | FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast

Instead of National Guard troops being posted en masse around landmarks before a protest even began, we saw the Defense Department initially deny a request to send in troops - and that was after the Capitol had been breached. Instead of peaceful protesters being doused in tear gas, we saw a mob posing for selfies with police and being allowed to wander the corridors of power like they couldn't decide whether they were invading the Capitol or touring it. Instead of President Trump calling these violent supporters "thugs," as he called racial justice protesters, and advocating for more violent police crackdowns, we saw him remind his followers that they were loved before asking them nicely to go home.
[Related: Storming The U.S. Capitol Was About Maintaining White Power In America]
"It feels really unbelievable," said Roudabeh Kishi, director of research and innovation with the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. But, she said, it's also totally unsurprising.

That's because the discrepancies we saw Wednesday are just another example of a trend Kishi's team has been tracking for months as they collect data on protester and law enforcement interactions across America. " We see a different response to the right wing," she said.

While protesters themselves have long perceived that police tend to crack down on left-wing protesters and align with those on the right wing, there hasn't really been data to demonstrate that effect before, said Ed Maguire, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Arizona State University and an expert on police and protester interactions.

But in 2020, Kishi's ACLED - a data-reporting project that began documenting armed conflicts and protests in African nations - extended its work into the United States. Using information gathered from local media, NGOs, individual journalists and partner organizations, ACLED researchers have catalogued months of detailed information about protests, including when clashes with law enforcement have happened and the type of force used by police. "We don't necessarily have information on the number of Black vs. white protesters ... but we do have a larger view," Kishi said. "How is law enforcement responding to demonstrations associated with the Black Lives Matter movement versus demonstrations by the right wing ... in support of [a] president that may or may not involve organized armed illegal groups?"

What they have found is striking.

What Trump revealed about America | FiveThirtyEight

Between May 1 and November 28, 2020, authorities were more than twice as likely to attempt to break up and disperse a left-wing protest than a right-wing one. And in those situations when law enforcement chose to intervene, they were more likely to use force - 34 percent of the time with right-wing protests compared with 51 percent of the time for the left. Given when this data was collected, it predominantly reflects a difference in how police respond to Black Lives Matter, compared with how they respond to anti-mask demonstrations, pro-Trump extremists, QAnon rallies, and militia groups.
[Related: QAnon Isn't Going To Take Over Congress In 2020. But It's Found A Home In The GOP.]
The differences in intervention weren't because BLM protests were particularly violent. ACLED found that 93 percent of the protests associated with BLM were entirely peaceful. "Even if we were to put those [7] percent of demonstrations aside and look purely at peaceful [BLM protests], we are seeing a more heavy handed response [compared with right-wing protests]," Kishi said.

This data is new and limited, but it is in keeping with long-documented biases in how police think about and treat Black people compared with white people, and with research that shows police and military personnel overlapping significantly with the same far-right groups they treat preferentially.

It is also in keeping with how different groups of protesters perceive the situation themselves, Maguire said. In his years spent traveling to protests and embedding in crowds to observe and document police and protester interactions, he has interviewed protesters extensively. "Protesters on the left virtually universally believe that police are rougher on them. And protesters on the right almost universally believe police are on their side," Maguire said. Some of that sentiment was evident yesterday:

"This is not America," a woman said to a small group, her voice shaking. "They're shooting at us. They're supposed to shoot BLM, but they're shooting the patriots." https://t.co/XN2pSct54i

- The Nation (@thenation) January 7, 2021

Even absent statistical evidence, those beliefs have consequences, Maguire told me. "I think protesters on the right, because they view the police as in their corner, they feel a sense of tacit permission," he said. This is only exacerbated when police live up to those expectations. But, while it is true that law enforcement responded with far less force to Wednesday's storming of the Capitol than to Black Lives Matter protests, there was some force, which resulted in one woman being shot and killed by police.

And Maguire says this represents a jarring breach between the treatment right-wing extremists expect and the reality. The consequences of that worry him. He's been watching this year as those extremists' beliefs about themselves and their relationship with police grew increasingly religious and apocalyptic. "[They told me] that leftists are godless and they hate god and hate America. That's what I heard from folks on the right. [But] they were god fearing moral people and police would always back them for that reason," he said. Now, you have a situation where police are giving these people more leeway and, at the same time, right-wing groups may perceive their relationship with police being undermined. "I can ... see the possibility that people who feel the police have broken some type of implicit or imagined pact may try to outmaneuver police and behave destructively," he said.

The police, meanwhile, he worries, are likely to see criticism of a lack of force in D.C. and respond with more force elsewhere - whether that be against right-wing or left-wing groups. "Every other police department facing an angry crowd will be concerned about being overrun, and overcorrecting in response to that concern may lead to overly forceful, unconstitutional responses."

Violence, as they say, begets violence. And disparities in police force may well beget more disparities.

Why many Republicans are still attempting to overturn the election

What do 1,200 books about Trump really tell us? | FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast

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The Police's Tepid Response To The Capitol Breach Wasn't An Aberration

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As images from Wednesday's riot by pro-Trump extremists at the U.S. Capitol filled our TV screens and social media feeds, one thing was notably absent: the kind of confrontation between police and protesters that we saw during the Black Lives Matter protests last summer.

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Black Lives Matter at Schools Week of Action Resources

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Black Lives Matter at Schools Week of Action Resources

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Resources - Black Lives Matter Week of Action In Schools - D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice

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Links to suggested lessons, films, books, readings, and general teaching guides.

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Kids Pay the Price for Adult's Failure to Act Against Racism

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Kids Pay the Price for Adult's Failure to Act Against Racism

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opinion: kids pay the price for adults' failures to act against racism - cnn

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Opinion: Kids pay the price for adults' failures to act against racism

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The story of Mimi Groves, Jimmy Galligan and their Loudoun County community is a cautionary tale, says Devorah Heitner, for what can happen when teens are left to fend for themselves after the adults around them fail to act -- and how pointing fingers allows people to avoid looking at themselves.

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Diversing Your Classroom Book Collection? Avoid these Pitfalls

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Diversing Your Classroom Book Collection? Avoid these Pitfalls

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Surface-level Diversity

by Debbi Michiko Florence, Middle grade: The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert, Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano

Ignoring Intersectionality

Three decades ago, legal scholar and civil rights activist Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw coined the term " intersectionality " as a way of examining how courts failed to account for the overlapping forms of discrimination faced by Black women. Today, the term is used more broadly to refer to the way race, class, gender, sexuality and other characteristics overlap and shape individuals' experiences. "We like to think about people being one thing or the other when you can be Asian and queer and an immigrant," said Martin, the University of Washington professor. While a decade ago it may have been hard to find books by and about people whose identities sit at those types of intersections, that's increasingly less true, Martin said. "You can find those books if you are looking."

Sidekick Syndrome

: Picture books Maybe Something Beautiful by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell, illustrated by Rafael López, The Patchwork Bike by Maxine Beneba Clarke and illustrated by Van T. Rudd, Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales

Middle grade: Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia, Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older

Treating Groups as Monoliths

by Jewell Parker Rhodes, Young adult: Black Brother, Black Brother The Henna Wars by Adiba Jaigirdar, Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America edited by Ibi Zoboi

Excluding #OwnVoices

by Traci Sorell and illustrated by Frané Lessac, Picture books: by Matthew A. Cherry and illustrated by Vashti Harrison, We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga Saturday by Oge Mora

Stopping at the Text

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Diversifying Your Classroom Book Collections? Avoid these 7 Pitfalls | KQED

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Keeping your book selection relevant means making sure it includes meaningful experiences of different kinds of people, especially from marginalized communities. Here are some strategies and book titles that can help students grow from what they read.

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Based on "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism." Updated in 2013.*
Children's books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, and disability). The visual and verbal messages young children absorb from books (and other media) heavily influence their ideas about themselves and others. Depending on the quality of the book, they can reinforce (or undermine) children's affirmative self-concept, teach accurate (or misleading) information about people of various identities, and foster positive (or negative) attitudes about diversity. Children's books teach children about who is important, who matters, who is even visible. Consequently, carefully choosing quality children's books is an indispensable educational and child-rearing task.

It is important to offer young children a range of books about people like them and their family - as well as about people who are different from them and their family. All of the books should be accurate and appealing to young children. Fortunately, there are some good anti-bias children's books, which are available as a result of the ongoing activism of many individuals and groups over many years. However, while choices have improved over past decades, the lack of quality multicultural kid's books currently being published has frustrated many communities. The number of children of color in the United States continues to rise, but the number of books published by or about people of color stays the same or even decreases.

Check the Illustrations

Look for Stereotypes: A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a particular identity group (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, ability/disability), which usually carries derogatory, inaccurate messages and applies them to ALL people in the group. Stereotypes dehumanize people. So, too, does misinformation. ( See Box 1 below for a list of common, harmful stereotypes).

Unfortunately, all of us absorb socially prevailing stereotypes about a range of people, even if we do not consciously subscribe to them. To alert you to stereotypes in children's books, as well as other media, it is useful to list all the stereotypes you know about various groups of people as precondition for critically reviewing children's books. The books you choose should depict people compassionately and as real human beings. Also consider if images depict all people as genuine individuals with distinctive (rather than stereotypical) features. Books containing stereotypes require you to engage children in critical thinking, but should probably be eliminated from your collection.

BOX 1: Common Harmful/Undermining Stereotypes

Strong, independent girls and women are "manlike"

Book-loving or nonathletic boys and men are "effeminate"

Latino men talk funny, are lazy, gang members, or wear oversize sombreros

Latina women are earth mothers or subservient

African American men are gang members, oversexed, or underemployed

African American women are too independent, oversexed, or "welfare moms"

Arab and/or Muslim men are terrorists

Arab and/or Muslim women are voiceless and passive

All Muslims are Arab / All Arabs are Muslim

American Indians live in teepees, carry bows and arrows, or are half-naked in winter

American Indians were only significant in the past (read)

Disabled people are not independent or are to be pitied

Disabled people must "overcome" their disabilities rather than just live with their disabilities

LGBTQ+ people are invisible

Poor people are invisible

Poor people are depicted as passively needing help from others

AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) are depicted as the "model minority"

AAPI are exotic or their food is exotic/abnormal

All AAPI know martial arts or are meek and compliant

AAPI are portrayed with slanted eyes or just lines to represent eyes

Jewish people are all Zionists (read)

Jewish people are wealthy and yield undue influence in the financial and political world

Look for Tokenism: This is the "one only" message. Regularly seeing only "one" person of any group in a book teaches young children about who is more or less important. Examples of tokenism include books with only one African American child among many white children or having only one book about children with disabilities among many other books. Tokenism also becomes stereotypical. It only allows children to see one view of a group of people, rather than the diversity that exists among all groups.

Look for Invisibility: What children do not see in their books also teaches them about who matters and who doesn't in our society. Invisibility in their storybooks - as well as in textbooks as they get older - undermines children's affirmative sense of themselves and reinforces prejudiced ideas about people who are not seen (See Box 2 for examples of groups who tend to be invisible). The booklists on this website include a great variety of books with groups who are often excluded. (The titles are vetted by Teaching for Change.)

BOX 2: Examples of Groups of People Who Are Often Invisible in Children's Books or Mainstream Media

Families who live in rural areas

Blue-collar workers

Musicians, artists, and writers

Families with two dads or two moms

Single mothers or fathers

Homeless families

Families with an incarcerated parent

People of Middle Eastern descent

Families who practice Islam

Transgender adults and children

Check the Story Line and the Relationships Between People

Even if a book shows visual diversity, the story line may carry biases related to how it handles power relationships among people of various identities. Are whites or male characters the central figures with people of color or female characters in essentially supporting roles? To gain acceptance and/or approval does a child of color, a girl, or child with a disability have to exhibit extraordinary qualities or be the one to understand, forgive, or change? Are the achievements of girls and women based on their own initiative and intelligence, or are they due to their looks or relationship with boys/men?

Are people of color, women, low-income families, or people with disabilities depicted as needing help or in passive roles, while whites, men, and "able-bodied" people are in leadership and action roles? How are problems presented, conceived, and resolved? Who typically causes a problem and who resolves it? Your book collection needs a balance of different people in "doer" roles.

Look at Messages About Different Lifestyles

Do the lives of people of color or people living in poverty in the story contrast unfavorably with the norm of white, middle-class suburban life? Are negative value judgments implied about ways of life that differ from the dominant culture or economic class (e.g., people are to be pitied, or the story is about one person who "gets out" of the less desirable way of life)? Do images and information go beyond oversimplification and offer genuine insights into the lifestyle of the characters in the story? Does the setting reflect current life - or past assumptions about life? Does your book collection depict diversity among people within a specific racial/ethnic group, such as a range of family structures, living environments, socioeconomic conditions and types of work, and male/female roles within the family? (Remember that every racial/ethnic group has diversity, including people who self-identify as white).

Consider the Effects on Children's Self and Social Identities

In addition to specific books, also examine your book collection. Do your books reinforce or counteract messages that teach children to feel inferior or superior because of their skin color, gender, family income, able-bodiedness, or type of family structure? At school, will all of the children you serve see themselves and their family's way of life reflected in your book collection? Will all children of color, including those with mixed heritage, girls, and children from the many types of family structures, children living in poverty, and children with disabilities see one or more characters with whom they can readily and positively identify? If they are visible in your book collection, are the illustrations and information accurate and respectful? Does your overall collection balance the backgrounds of all the children in your program? Does it also show diversity within the social indentity groups to which the children belong (e.g., a range of ways to be female and male, families reflecting different kinds of jobs within a racial/ethnic group). Does your book collection also include a balance between diversity within your classroom and beyond your classroom?

At home, does your book collection reflect diversity among the groups to which your family belongs? Does it have stories about people like you who have contributed to creating a more just world? Does it also include a range of books showing diversity beyond your family and neighborhood?

Look for Books About Children and Adults Engaging in Actions for Change

To fully develop a strong sense of self and a disposition toward cooperation and fairness, children need to know how to stand up for themselves and others when faced with unfairness. They also need to know about people from all social identity groups who have - and are currently - working for justice for all. In addition to previous criteria, here are more items to consider: The story line should be about children and adults working together, rather than perpetrating the myth that change happens because of special, individual people who do it by themselves. Does your book collection include a balance of people who have made important and honored contributions to American life as well as the world community - and not just the traditional white, male "heroes?" Do some of your books about important people include struggles for justice? Do they show people who were/are poor or from racial/ethnic groups of color? Are people with disabilities engaged in these struggles for justice?

Consider the Author's or Illustrator's Background and Perspective

All authors write from a cultural as well as from a personal context. In the past, most children's books were by authors and illustrators who were white and members of the middle class. As a result, a single cultural and class perspective dominated children's literature. There are now excellent books by people of color from a range of backgrounds - although not nearly enough. Consider the biographical material on the jacket flap or back of the book. What qualifies the author or illustrator to deal with the subject? If the book is not about people or events similar to the author or illustrator's background, what specifically recommends them as creators of the book? What is the author's attitude toward her/his story characters? Are the images accurate and do the illustrators respectfully render the people in the story? Do you have books reflecting a balanced range of author and illustrator identities and experiences?

Watch for Loaded Words

A word is loaded when it in any way demeans or makes people invisible because of any of their identities. One example is the generic use of the word "man" to stand for women as well as men (although the opposite never occurs). This traditional terminology is now questioned by many because of its sexist implications. Here are some examples of ways to avoid sexist language: community instead of brotherhood; firefighters inserted of firemen; human family instead of family of man; ancestors instead of forefathers; chairperson instead of chairman. Examples of adjectives applied to people of color that carry racist messages include: "savage," "primitive," "superstitious," "backward," "inscrutable" and "treacherous." Always consider the context in which a word is used and to whom it applies.

Look at the Copyright Date

Copyright dates indicate the publication year, not the time of its writing, which might be two to three years before the copyright date. Although a recent copyright date is no guarantee of a book's relevance or sensitivity, copyright dates are useful information. More children's books began to reflect the reality of a pluralistic society and nonsexist and non-ableist perspectives in the 1970s. Since then, the range of accurate, respectful, and caring books reflecting diversity has increased significantly (unfortunately the diversity of books published in the United States still does not accurately reflect the actual diversity of the people living here). When considering new books for your collection, begin with most recently published ones and then continue with descending copyright dates.

Assess the Appeal of the Story and Illustrations to Young Children

Although these guidelines focus on the messages about diversity and equality reflected in children's books, it is also important to take quality into account. Be sure the book is a "good read." If children find the story or illustrations boring, a book will not hold their attention, even if the book adds a specific kind of diversity you need. Check for active, interesting story lines where different kinds of people are integral to the people in the story, not the main topic. For example, in A Chair for My Mother, a young child tries to save money to get a comfortable chair for her waitress mother. Although the book shows a single parent, working-class family, and a resourceful girl, it is not didactic. Also look for illustrations that are colorful and recognizable to young children. Although they enjoy a range of styles, illustrations that are too subdued or abstract may not hold their attention.

Check for age appropriateness. Most booksellers list any picture book as appropriate for early childhood even if the story line is really for primary grade children. Sometimes a book for older children will work if you simplify the story or "tell" the story rather than read it. In some cases, this is the only way to get books that present specific groups of children (e.g., stories with Cambodian children or children with learning disabilities). Some additional issues to consider:

Many children's books use animal characters instead of people and there are some excellent books that explore diversity with animal characters (e.g., And Tango Makes Three or A Coyote Solstice Tale). Children enjoy these. However, such books are not a substitute for exploring issues of diversity and anti-bias fairness with people as the main characters.

Some early childhood teachers wonder if it is necessary for every book in their collection to show diversity. Every book needs to be accurate, caring, and respectful. However, you will want individual books about specific kinds of people (e.g., a biracial family or a family with adopted children). Diversity becomes essential in the balance of your book collection, where you want to avoid invisibility or tokenism of any group.

Folk and fairy tales have long been a mainstay of children's literature. In the cultures from which they come, folk and fairy tales were used to teach important lessons and values related to their culture of origin. Children love them in their original versions - not their commercially sanitized adaptations. However, folk and fairy tales also carry messages that convey sexism, classism, and racism and must be used thoughtfully as part of introducing young children to diversity and anti-bias values of quality and fairness.

Overuse of folk tales to "teach" about a specific ethnic/cultural group leads to misinformation and confusion. They are about animals and occasionally people from a mythical past and are designed to teach core values and beliefs in their culture of origin. They are not about how people actually live in contemporary society - and that is what young children need to understand. Information and images about how people really live now is what enables young children to build connections to people who are from different cultures while countering stereotypes that children have already absorbed (e.g., how American Indians really live).

Finally there is the somewhat sensitive issue of what to do about "classic" or "well-beloved" children's books. Many of these are wonderful as children's literature, but unfortunately they often convey values of sexism, racism, ableism, or even colonialism. People who love the books that pose this dilemma argue that it is OK to use them because they "reflect their times," which they imply somehow excuses their biased messages. For example, I adored the Babar series of books as a young child and was unpleasantly shocked to realize as an adult how much the images and story lines reflected messages of European colonialism in Africa. I chose not to use them with my own children, wanting them to learn accurate information about how people in Africa really live. Not sharing childhood favorites may sadden some, but it is far better than the harm caused by reinforcing messages of racism and colonialism.
In a nutshell - as you choose books or critically examine your current book selection, always keep in mind the power of books - their words and their images - to nurture or, conversely, to undermine a child's sense of self, positive attitude toward others, and motivation to act for fairness.
Additional Resources

Louise Derman-Sparks is an internationally respected anti-bias educator and author (along with Julie Olsen Edwards) of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. She has co-authored several additional books with Dr. Carol Brunson Day (Teaching/Learning Anti-Racism), the ABC Task Force ( Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children), Dr. Patricia Ramsey (What If All the Kids Are White?), and Dr. John Nimmo and Debbie Leekeenan ( Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs: A Guide for Change). She speaks throughout the United States and abroad, and served on the NAEYC Governing Board from 1998 to 2001. Louise has a lifelong commitment to building a more just society for all people. Her children Douglass and Holly, now grown, were her inspiration. A Pacific Oaks College faculty member for 33 years - when its mission and pedagogy reflected anti-bias education principles - Louise is now retired.
*In 1980, the Council on Interracial Books for Children published the book Guidelines for Selecting Bias-Free Textbooks and Storybooks. A shorter version of the book in pamphlet form, "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism," followed. One of the first guides written for teachers and families, it became an invaluable tool for hundreds of thousands of people. Both the book and pamphlet have been out of print for several years. Rethinking Schools published their adaptation of the original Guidelines in 1994.

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Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books - Social Justice Books

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By Louise Derman-Sparks Based on "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism." Updated in 2013.* Children's books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, [...]

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7 Engaging Picture Books about Voting and Elections

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7 Engaging Picture Books about Voting and Elections

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7 Engaging Picture Books about Voting and Elections

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A round-up of picture books for elementary students about voting, elections and the power of democracy.

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Schools and the Pandemic

By the editors of Rethinking Schools

Illustrator: Adolfo Valle

This has been a year like no other. Fear. Illness and death. Trauma for our students, their families, their communities - and for us, as educators.

We are becoming new teachers, new teacher educators, new parents - the pandemic has demanded so much. We moved our curriculum online - no doubt imperfectly and inadequately; schools don't belong online. We tried to do this work equitably, despite a crisis that is objectively deepening inequality - inequality that schools are not responsible for, and by themselves cannot address. There has been educational accomplishment and creativity, and there has been failure and loss.

As articles in this special issue attest, educators have been nothing short of heroic. Working to connect with their most vulnerable students. Demanding that schools be shut when they became unsafe. Creating and sharing imaginative curriculum. Critiquing wealthy elites' efforts to exploit this crisis for their own benefit. So this special "Teaching and Learning in the Pandemic" issue of Rethinking Schools is a lamentation, but it is also a celebration - and a call to action.

This special "Teaching and Learning in the Pandemic" issue of Rethinking Schools is a lamentation, but it is also a celebration - and a call to action.

It is hard to imagine that school buildings can reopen in the fall, but when they do reopen, they will need to look drastically different. All sorts of past practices will need to be reassessed. Those who have spent decades attacking public schools and pushing corporate reforms understand this and are ready to swoop in and offer their advice - which often leaves them richer and our schools and communities poorer. A disturbing sign of the potential future came in early May, when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that he would partner with billionaires, including Bill Gates and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, to "reimagine education."

Although imaginative educational work occurred after schools shut down, for most teachers and students, remote learning has meant more stress, more anxiety, and more failure. We reject the push by tech billionaires to make online schools the future of public education. Schools are in-person communities: communal; conversation- and relationship-rich. Schools are where students receive health care and, for many, two meals a day. (When schools first shut down, the immediate question was not "How will children learn?" It was "How will children eat?") Schools are where students with special needs find community and essential services. None of this can happen in the online "schools of the future."

It is crucial that in this moment, students, parents, and teachers organize to make our voices heard over corporate executives and Betsy DeVos and her cronies. Therefore, it's vital that we take the summer to digest and learn the lessons the pandemic teaches.

Since the 1980s, but especially after 2001's No Child Left Behind Act, the neoliberal project in education has sought to starve public schools of resources and privatize them through vouchers and charters, increase testing and tracking to sort students and measure educational "quality," and dramatically centralize power over school systems in order to better impose these unpopular initiatives. As billionaires push to double down on these failed policies - and spice them up with not-so-new digital dystopian fantasies - it's clearer than ever that these plans make it more difficult for public schools to meet students' needs.

The centralization of power and decision-making in school districts across the country meant that there were few mechanisms, and little desire, to solicit information from students, families, and teachers so schools could prepare to shut down buildings and adequately address the inequitable challenges faced by families whose living spaces had suddenly become workplaces, childcare centers, and classrooms. Instead of schools coordinating and collaborating with families, in most places teachers, parents, and students waited for directives from on high and quickly tried to organize against the worst policies school administrators tried to implement.

One of the most egregious examples was in New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, where Mayor Bill de Blasio initially refused to shut schools as COVID-19 spread throughout the city. Teachers threatened sick-outs to force the city to close down school buildings. At several schools where staff had tested positive for COVID-19, the Department of Education kept schools open. This negligence no doubt played a role in spreading the virus and led to the deaths of dozens of school employees by late April. Mirroring the racial and class inequities baked into our society, paraprofessionals, poorly paid and often people of color, made up nearly 40 percent of confirmed cases despite representing only 17 percent of the New York City public school workforce.

But the main argument made for not closing public schools earlier was also revealing. Both Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo argued that as one of the last public services available to the poor, schools were too important to shut down - families depend on schools for childcare, students rely on the meals they receive, and the more than 114,000 homeless students in New York City rely on schools for showers, laundry, and much more.

Although this argument was echoed across the country, it was amazing to watch the breathtaking speed with which some politicians pivoted from touting the importance of public schools to slashing their budgets. Gov. Cuomo announced in early April that school funding would be drastically cut throughout the state, and New York City proposed cuts to schools and other public services in response to a projected $7.4 billion loss in tax revenue. Indeed, without federal intervention, U.S. school districts are bracing for massive cuts. In his article in this issue [see p. 48 in the print edition], Stan Karp cites an Education Week analysis: "America's public schools will need $70 billion for three consecutive years in the next round of federal stimulus spending to avoid painful cuts such as teacher layoffs."

While the economic crisis encourages political elites to ramp up demands for austerity, the public health crisis requires the exact opposite. To reopen amidst a pandemic, schools will need to drastically cut class sizes to maintain social distancing, hire more counselors and nurses to support students' mental and physical health, give teachers more time to collaborate and give meaningful feedback to make learning relevant in new circumstances, and reduce workloads to give school workers time to reassess past practices and implement new ones. This will require an unprecedented investment in public education. As the $500 billion corporate slush fund passed as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act revealed, the money is there, it's just in the hands of the wrong people.

It is up to us - and to our unions - to demand safety and funding. There will be increasing pressure to return to in-person school in the fall.

It is up to us - and to our unions - to demand safety and funding. There will be increasing pressure to return to in-person school in the fall. Although we know that our students and families deserve in-person learning and community, before this can happen schools need to establish rules, expectations, and parameters for returning safely. We can't leave this up to district officials and corporate consultants. Teachers and our unions need to articulate the precise conditions under which it is safe for workers, students, and families - especially the most vulnerable - to return, and refuse to go back if those conditions aren't met.

One silver lining to the pandemic is how quickly states canceled high-stakes standardized tests, revealing to those of us who have fought against these tests how easily they can be eliminated if the political will is there. But at the same time, the inequity that the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated requires an even deeper rethinking of the system that has ranked and sorted students for decades. The San Francisco Unified School District made national headlines when school leaders debated giving all middle and high school students A's before ultimately settling on a Credit/No Credit grading policy. In Los Angeles, students and teachers organized to ensure no student could fail. What many recognized in this debate that played out in districts across the country is that grades, like standardized tests, have often been indicators of racial and class inequality, and of a student's willingness to comply with school rules rather than meaningful assessments of achievement.

During the last decade, politicians and corporate executives have vigorously argued that education is the ticket out of poverty, while attacking wages, gutting services, and drastically lowering students' and families' standard of living. They have emphasized poverty and lack of success at school as a personal, rather than societal, failure. Many in the school system have internalized this argument and continue to make the case that the best way to teach students about the consequences of their actions and prepare them for the "real world" is to fail them if they do not meet institutional expectations. But as the public health and economic crises deepen inequality, and increase trauma, stress, and anxiety for all of us, it becomes more and more difficult to blame failures on individuals. Every moment of the pandemic teaches all of us - including our students - that the economy values profit over our lives and health. The job of schools in this moment should not be to reinforce this lesson by preparing students to be "good workers," or obsessing over deficit models like "learning loss," but instead should help foster compassionate citizens who can strengthen our democracy and make the world more just. Although it seems likely that most districts will return to ranking and sorting through grades and high-stakes testing in the fall, we should heed this lesson and push for a rethinking of assessment as schools navigate this crisis.

The public health crisis demands that we rethink and fight for a different vision of public schools: a less discipline-based, more integrated curriculum; a focus on students' emotional and physical well-being instead of high-stakes standardized tests; smaller class sizes and workloads where teachers have the capacity to work collaboratively and give meaningful feedback; curriculum that probes inequities and social problems, and inspires curiosity and creativity; democratic decision-making at every level of school governance. The pandemic is likely to reshape the landscape of public education. It is up to us whether that landscape is shaped by billionaires and corporate politicians or by students, parents, and teachers.

Subscribe to Rethinking Schools magazine at rethinkingschools.org/subscribe.

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By the editors of Rethinking Schools Illustrator: Adolfo Valle This has been a year like no other. Fear. Illness and death. Trauma for our students, their families, their communities - and for us, as educators. We are becoming new teachers, new teacher educators, new parents - the pandemic has demanded so much.

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Anti-Racist Teaching During the Pandemic: Lessons from The New Teacher Book

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Freedom Reads Anti-bias Book Talks

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Freedom Reads: Introduction to the Series

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The impressionistic novel from Christian Cooper features a Black teenager who looks at birds through binoculars and instead sees the faces of Black people who have been killed by the police.

Credit... DC

Christian Cooper became one of the nation's most famous bird watchers when a video he filmed of his confrontation with a white woman in Central Park went viral. After Mr. Cooper asked her to leash her dog, she had warned him that she would falsely tell a 911 operator that "an African-American man is threatening my life."

But before that Memorial Day encounter, Mr. Cooper was well-known in a different realm: as a pioneering comic book writer. Now, Mr. Cooper is using his experience in Central Park as the inspiration for a graphic novel, "It's a Bird," published by DC Comics.

In the graphic novel, which is digital only, he connects racism's daily humiliations and deadly police brutality. The same day that he faced the woman, Amy Cooper - who is not related to Mr. Cooper - George Floyd would die in Minneapolis under a police officer's knee.

Image

Christian Cooper in Central Park. Credit... Brittainy Newman/The New York Times

The slim, 10-page story is impressionistic, without a real plot. It is the first in a series called "Represent!" that features works of writers "traditionally underrepresented in the mainstream comic book medium," including people of color or those who are LGBTQ, Marie Javins, an executive editor at DC, said in a statement. It will be available online for free starting Wednesday, at several digital book and comic book retailers.

The main character of "It's a Bird" is a teenage birder named Jules, who is Black. When Jules tries to peer through his binoculars at birds, he instead sees the faces of Black people who have been killed by the police.

After a white man shoos Jules off his lawn, the illustrator, Alitha E. Martinez, has drawn Jules envisioning Mr. Floyd's face in place of a warbler in a tree.

In later pages, the teenager confronts a white woman in the park with her dog off leash - here the woman is named Beth and is depicted as heavyset, though Ms. Cooper is not. When Jules faces her, he is backed by the images of several Black people killed in interactions with police. When he turns his back on her, he sees them winged and flying free.

In an interview, Mr. Cooper said the graphic novel "shouldn't be looked at as any one experience, because it's not. It's drawn from a whole bunch of experiences and woven together from that - my own and the ones we keep hearing from news reports."

"What happened to me is minor compared to the fatal consequences for George Floyd later that same day, but it all comes from the same place of racial bias," he added. "I am not trying to equate these things. What I am trying to say is: 'See the pattern.'"

Mr. Cooper said the graphic novel was deliberately not an exact recounting of his May 25 interaction with Ms. Cooper.

"I think that is the beauty of comics, it lets you reach that place visually and viscerally," he said. "And that's what this comic is meant to do: Take all these real things that are out there and, by treating them in a magical realist way, get to the heart of the matter."

In the days after the incident, Ms. Cooper was fired from her job, and pilloried on social media. The Manhattan district attorney charged her with filing a false police report.

Mr. Cooper refused to cooperate in the investigation, and publicly expressed compassion for Ms. Cooper in the face of the consequences that she has suffered.

He has still not heard from her, he said, and does not want to.

"It has never stopped being about the birds for me," Mr. Cooper said. "From the beginning that confrontation had nothing to do with race. It became about race when she made it about race."

Mr. Cooper said the Beth character is intended to be a pastiche, not a depiction of Ms. Cooper. (Ms. Cooper could not be reached for comment.)

In the final pages, as Jules and Beth verbally spar, in Ms. Martinez's images the woman's words physically diminish.

"You see her words become smaller and smaller, and less important," Mr. Cooper said. "Because it's not about her, it's about the ones we've lost and how we keep from losing any more."

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Central Park Birder Turns Clash Into Graphic Novel About Racism

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The impressionistic novel from Christian Cooper features a Black teenager who looks at birds through binoculars and instead sees the faces of Black people who have been killed by the police. Christian Cooper became one of the nation's most famous bird watchers when a video he filmed of his confrontation with a white woman in Central Park went viral.

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Conversations with children about racism and social justice

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Conversations with children about racism and social justice

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Software/Apps | Clothing/Apparel | Books/Video | Miscellaneous | Suggest a Pick

Resources to discuss Racism

Arthur on Racism

Arthur, Buster, and Mrs. MacGrady talk about ways we can all fight racism and stand up for what's right.

Children's Media Association

Resources About Racism and Bias for the Children's Media Community

ACT.TV Animated Explainers

Animated videos that explain difficult topics

Kevin and Jamal

Systemic racism explained by Kevin and Jamal animated video

Racism and Police Violence

Racist roots of police violence against Black people explained in animated video

Common Sense Media Videos

Parents: It's Time to Talk about Race

NMAAHC: Let's Talk About Race

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture online portal designed to help individuals, families, and communities talk about racism, racial identity and the way these forces shape every aspect of society, from the economy and politics to the broader American culture.

Social Justice Books.org

Carefully selected lists of books for children and educators, book reviews, and articles on social justice, multicultural children's literature.

Software/Apps

Ubongo Kids

Africa's leading producer of edutainment content for children ages 3 - 14 on holistic early childhood education to STEM skills.

Smart Buddies

Teaches coding by featuring a diverse set of characters on self-balancing, programmable scooters.

NMAAHC Stories

The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) mobile app features highlighted objects from collections, multimedia, and augmented reality.

Quackenworth

Quackenworth is an educational media company that specializes in mobile games and educational web products.

Genii Games

Genii Games is a collection of interactive mobile apps and web videos for kids to learn about African Culture through games, animation, languages, folktales, and digital storytelling.

Science Underground

Science Underground is a two-minute podcast hosted by TED speaker and scientist Ainissa Ramirez. The show explores a range of topics-some that are pulled right from the headlines, others are topics you've been wanting to know.

Crazy Aunt Lindsey's Fab Lab

This site is all about connecting the dots between the magic of everyday life to the scientific process. The videos, projects, and resources you find here brings science to life through beautiful, useful DIY projects.

Clothing/Apparel

Blended Designs

Backpacks, apparel, and gear designed to inspire children of color.

Hero Heads

Hero Heads is a clothing brand with unique, hand-drawn designs of inspirational people, allowing you to 'wear your heart on your tee'. We contribute 10% of profits to a charity related to the hero's cause. In order to create high quality clothing with artistic designs that last, we screen print with the best inks on high-end fabric that is super comfortable, resilient, and produced responsibly.

African American Heritage Store

Celebrate the history, influence, and accomplishments of the African American community through our carefully selected products.

Books/Video

Cocoa Girl Magazine

United Kingdom's first magazine for girls of color ages 6-13.

Sometimes We Do (MathTalk)

Picture book featuring early math concepts.

Look, Listen, and Learn

Early learning educational program that showcases Black and Indigenous people and people of color learning, teaching, and exploring.

Bino and Fino

Made in Nigeria, The Bino and Fino Show is about a brother and sister who live in a modern day African city.

Lee & Low Multicultural Books

LEE & LOW BOOKS is the largest multicultural children's book publisher in the country; publishing books about everyone for everyone. They are also one of the few minority-owned publishing companies in the United States, with books for children from pre-K to 12th grade.

Coretta Scott King Award Winners

Books by outstanding African American authors and illustrators that focus on the African American experience for youth audiences.

Sweet Blackberry

The mission of Sweet Blackberry is to bring little known stories of African American achievement to children everywhere.

The HistoryMakers

The HistoryMakers is the single largest archival collection of its kind in the world designed to promote and celebrate the successes and to document movements, events and organizations that are important to the African American community and to American society.

Miscellaneous

Puzzle Huddle

Puzzles and products that affirm and inspire diverse children.

Black Illustrations

Series of FREE digital designs of black people for your next online project. Free for commercial and personal use.

Natural Hair Girls

Natural Hair Girls is an online store that sells ethnic dolls with customized hairstyles.

Literary Safari

Literary Safari develops, produces, and publishes inclusive children's media rooted in an understanding of learning science, educational standards, narrative design, and good, old-fashioned fun!

WideOpen School

Powered by Common Sense Media, free resources from leading education organizations to help students learn.

African Ancestry.com

African Ancestry is the world leader in tracing maternal and paternal lineages of African descent. With the industry's largest and most comprehensive database of over 25,000 indigenous African samples, African Ancestry determines specific countries, and more often than not, specific ethnic groups of origin with the highest level of detail, accuracy and confidence.
Suggest a Pick

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Software/Apps | Clothing/Apparel | Books/Video | Miscellaneous | Suggest a Pick Arthur, Buster, and Mrs. MacGrady talk about ways we can all fight racism and stand up for what's right.

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A Preschool series. Bookmarks is a live-action series of twelve five-minute episodes featuring prominent Black celebrities and artists reading children's books from Black authors that highlight the Black experience.

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Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices is a live-action collection of twelve five minute episodes featuring prominent Black celebrities and artists reading children's books from Black authors that highlight the Black experience.

The books featured in the series were chosen using a social justice education framework that focused on concepts of Identity, Respect, Justice, and Action.

In addition to the series selections, here are recommendations for additional books, questions, and activities for children of different ages.

The book recommendations, educator guides, videos and information found on this site were developed in partnership with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, an ALA Affiliate, and the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the ALA.

In order to share these amazing stories more broadly, Netflix has partnered with First Book, a nonprofit who believes that education is the best path out of poverty, to donate and distribute copies of each of the books featured in the collection to educators serving kids in need across the country, and in select international countries.

The Black Caucus of the American Library Association serves as an advocate for the development, promotion, and improvement of library services and resources to the nation's African American community; and provides leadership for the recruitment and professional development of African American librarians. BCALA has partnered with Netflix to provide age-appropriate book suggestions, topics for discussion, video resources and activities to further conversations among families.

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) is the world's largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. From creative programming and best practices to continuing education and professional connections-ALSC members are innovators in the field of children's library service. ALSC has provided Netflix with a comprehensive list of books related to social justice along with resources for serving diverse communities.

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Additional resources for families and their young kids as they start conversations about difficult topics.

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Reading list by Ryan Rideau
Bettina Love writes, "Antiracist teaching is not just about acknowledging that racism exists, but consciously committing to the struggle of fighting for racial justice" (p. 54, 2019). This is a lifetime commitment. Antiracist teaching is about fighting for more equitable and just institutions, and policies that support the thriving of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color). Below is a list of resources to support you as you begin this work. While not exclusively, this lists intentionally centers the knowledge and voices of BIPOC, most prominently women of color. It does not include many popularly referenced titles featured on many recent anti-racism reading lists in attempt to provide different voices and perspectives. These readings may be difficult for some. To quote, Lori Patton Davis and Chayla Haynes Davison (2020), "If you experience resistance, acknowledge it and keep reading." The list begins with readings about whiteness, before offering resources on teaching practices.

Examining and Interrogating Whiteness

For White faculty members, the first phase to fulfilling the promise of anti-racist teachings in your course is through the examining whiteness, White identity and White supremacy and the way it impacts your everyday life.

Anderson, C. (2016). White rage: The unspoken truth of our racial divide. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

Estrada, F., & Matthews, G. (2016). Perceived culpability in critical multicultural education: Understanding and responding to race informed guilt and shame to further learning outcomes among White American college students. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 28(3), 314-325.

Haynes, C & Bazner, K.J. (2019). A message for faculty from the present-day movement for black lives. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education,32:9,1146-1161.

Leonardo, Z. (2004). The color of supremacy: Beyond the discourse of 'white privilege'. Educational philosophy and theory, 36(2), 137-152.

Matias, C. E. (2016). Feeling white: Whiteness, emotionality, and education. Brill Sense.

Patton, L.D. & Haynes, C. (2020). Dear White People: Reimagining Whiteness In the Struggle for Racial Equity, Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 52:2, 41-45.

Young, D. (2020, July 10). Yeah, let's not talk about race. The New York Times.

Teaching Practices

The sources here serve as an introductory guide about practices to create an anti-racist classroom. This begins with decolonizing your curriculum, disrupting white supremacy, and centering BIPOC in your courses. These resources discuss ways to do this.

DeChavez, Y. (2018, October 8). It's time to decolonize that syllabus. The Los Angeles Times

Haynes, C. (2017). Dismantling the White supremacy embedded in our classrooms: White faculty in pursuit of more equitable educational outcomes. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 29(1), 87-107.

Hooks, B. (2003). Teaching community: A pedagogy of hope (Vol. 36). Psychology Press.

Hooks, B. (2014). Teaching to transgress. Routledge.

Jett, C.C. (2013). Culturally responsive collegiate mathematics education: Implications for African-American students. Interdisciplinary Journal of Teaching and Learning, 3, 102-116.

Kishimoto, K. (2018) Anti-racist pedagogy: from faculty's self-reflection to organizing within and beyond the classroom, Race Ethnicity and Education, 21:4, 540-554.

Kleinrock, E. (2020, June 30). Anti-racist work in schools: Are you in it for the long haul? Teaching Tolerance

Laboiron, M. (2019, August 10). Decolonizing your syllabus? You might have missed some steps

Love, B. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.

McKamey, P. (2020, June 17). What anti-racist teachers do differently. The Atlantic

McMurtrie, B. (2020, July 2). Interrogating your discipline, and other ways into anti-racist teaching. The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Warren-Grace, A. (2019, August). Show don't tell: Decolonize your classroom, syllabus, rules, and practices. Liberated Genius Blog.

Other Resources

SEE ALSO
Integrating Anti-Racist Teaching Practices into Your Course

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Reading list by Ryan Rideau Bettina Love writes, "Antiracist teaching is not just about acknowledging that racism exists, but consciously committing to the struggle of fighting for racial justice" (p. 54, 2019). This is a lifetime commitment. Antiracist teaching is about fighting for more equitable and just institutions, and policies that support the thriving of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color).

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Student Voices on COVID and Black Lives Matter

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Student Voices on COVID and Black Lives Matter

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Objectives

This lesson will explore students' voices from multiple perspectives around Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter. The foundation of the activity is excerpts from statements that elementary students have shared during listening circles we have facilitated. It will also create an opportunity for your students to reflect on their own experiences and share them. (See our related lesson for students grades 6-12.)

You might consider these guidelines for discussing difficult issues before you facilitate this session.

New York BLM Protest by Carla Ann Cote

Gathering: Mindfulness Moment

Ask students to close their eyes and take four deep breaths in and out to prepare for the content of the lesson.

Introduction & Community Agreements

Share a community agreement or practice that is important to consider while discussing difficult issues. (This might be listening carefully while others are speaking or not sharing what is said here with others, etc.)

Share with students:

We have gone through a lot together, from the impact of Covid-19 on our community to the protests against police brutality and racial injustice. After the death of George Floyd, an African American man who was killed while in police custody, people were tired of seeing this type of injustice happen too many times. As a response they have gone into the streets to demand justice.

In this lesson we will explore what we know about what's happening, the feelings that have come up in each one of us, and what we can do about it.

We are going to use the circle process to give you a chance to listen to other students' voices around Covid-19, police brutality, and racial injustice. We will talk about how we have been affected by these events and how to help each other as we put the world back together.

Community agreements for listening circles include:

Before you open up the topic, review your community agreements or "community practices" (that is, ways that we want to treat each other in this and other gatherings). These might include:

It's okay to pass if you need more time to think or would rather not respond.

Speak from your own point of view.

Be your own barometer - share as much as you feel comfortable sharing.

Confidentiality is important. We need to agree that what we share among ourselves will stay private.

Listening

Invite each person in turn to share what they are thinking and feeling right now about what is going on in the world.

Listening to Student Voices

We will now hear the voices of students taking part in conversations and listening circles at elementary school P.S. 6X Bronx and P.S. 224 Brooklyn. We thank them for the depth of the conversation and their wisdom.

You, or the student will read the questions and excerpts below and then use the reflection questions to process the excerpts.

1. I am scared, I haven't got Covid-19 yet, but I live in a building with lots of people and I am fearful that I might get the virus.

2. With all of the things going on the world now from Covid-19 to the police brutality protests, people on the frontline are trying to work towards more justice in our world, but at the same time there is the risk of Covid-19. We all need to find ways to support one another and fight against injustice, providing people with food who need it, or to be showing up to protests.

3. There was this guy named George Floyd and as everyone has heard he has died because the police put his knee on his neck and he shouldn't have, and everyone said he can't breathe, he can't breathe and then the police officer still did not take his knee off George Floyd. Next thing you know he has died." Now the police officers are in jail.

4. It is a constitutional right and they are exercising their right because they are angry about the inequality because the cops aren't being equal, and they are treating Black people wrong.

Reflection Questions

When it comes to Covid-19, the police brutality protests, or George Floyd, what have you heard?

What questions do you have, or want to learn more about?

1. I want to be able to be outside with my friends, I miss seeing my friends.

2. I really miss my grandmother; I haven't seen her for a long time.

3. I feel scared that I might be killed for the color of my skin, this world is unfair, I hope we can live equally to white people.

4. I wish to live in a world where everyone is treated equally, and where police don't hurt our people.

5. My family is stressed because my dad is an essential worker because every day we are scared that he might come home with something. He has to be out there in the public working.

Reflection Questions

Considering the quotes above and all that is going in the world today, describe how these students are feeling.
Reflection Questions

Have the students look at the quotes. Then ask them to name some of the strategies that these students used to feel better.

Now ask the students to name some strategies they themselves use to feel better when they are worried, scared, or angry.

Reflection Questions

Have the students look at quotes, and then name some of the strategies that these students used to stay strong during time.

Then ask students to share what they themselves do to stay positive and strong during challenging times?

1. There was a poor lady across the street, and she wasn't able to go out, so me and mom bought food in order for her to have food to eat. It felt really good to do that for her.

2. I called an old friend from school to see how he was doing and it turns out it was his birthday a couple of days ago and since his family was spending money on food, they couldn't get him a present, so me and my family sent him some birthday presents over. When I delivered it, he texted me back. He was like OMG thanks so much. I felt really good about it because he didn't get any presents and he deserves that.

Reflection Questions

What do you think about the ideas of these students?

What have you done, or seen other people doing during these times to make things even better?

Name some things that you can do during these times, to make your community an even better place?

Do you you think that the students gave good advice to adults on how to deal with these challenging times? Why or not?

Is there any additional advice you would give to an adult about how to deal with these challenging times?

Reflect for a moment on the hopes and dreams of these students. What are your hopes and dreams?

Evaluation

What did it feel like to listen to other students' voices about what is happening in the world?

What is one step that you can take toward making that hope or dream a reality?

Additional Activities

Provide students with the opportunity to use different modalities to share their own story about their experience during the Covid-19 quarantine, or their response to police brutality, racial injustice, or the protests. For example, students could make a video, write a poem, make a piece of art, or create a song. Then invite students to share their creations with classmates.

Listening Circle
Facilitate a listening circle with your students about Covid-19 and the protests against racism and for racial justice.

Here are some relevant prompts:

When it comes to Covid-19, the protests, or George Floyd, what is happening? What have you heard, or what have you seen? What do you know?

How does it make you feel?

When you have these strong feelings, what are some things you can do at your age to make yourself feel better? What else can you do to make yourself feel better when these feelings come up?

How do you stay strong during these challenging times?

What have you, or other people been doing to make it even better?

What is one piece of advice that the adults would give the students and one piece of advice that the students would give to adults about how to deal with these challenging times?

What are your hopes and dreams around these issues, and what actions can you take to contribute to making them a reality?

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Student Voices on Covid and Black Lives Matter

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This lesson will explore students' voices from multiple perspectives around Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter. The foundation of the activity is excerpts from statements that elementary students have shared during listening circles we have facilitated. It will also create an opportunity for your students to reflect on their own experiences and share them.

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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I have seen some of these very same students walk into another teacher's classroom, go to the last row of desks, and put their head down. I have seen them sit frozen in their seat, staring at an assignment-when earlier I had heard them make jokes, talk excitedly about the content of their history class, celebrate solving a vexing algebra equation, or shake a test tube with authority, waiting for a result. Their report cards often reveal this disparity in classroom experiences: A's and B's in classes where they feel valued and C's, D's, or even F's in classes where they don't.

When black students' academic strengths are overlooked, black students are marginalized. They are kept out of advanced courses, given bad grades, and sent to the dean's office. Over the years, the power that they initially bring to school is siphoned off by educators at every level of the educational system who do not respect, and in some cases do not wish to respect, the intellectual contributions of black students.

Anti-racist teachers take black students seriously. They create a curriculum with black students in mind, and they carefully read students' work to understand what they are expressing. This might sound fairly standard, but making black students feel valued goes beyond general "good teaching." It requires educators to view the success of black students as central to the success of their own teaching. This is a paradigm shift: Instead of only asking black students who are not doing well in class to start identifying with school, we also ask teachers whose black students are not doing well in their classes to start identifying with those students.

I spent the majority of my career in the classroom, and I loved it because-to do it well-it required that I call on all aspects of my humanity. Standing in front of my black students, I knew that it was my responsibility to invite them into the classroom and then to see, push, and protect them once they were there. Over the years, collaborating with other anti-racist educators, I co-developed an approach that was successful-and it showed in the students' attendance, grades, and quality of work.

We read articles and books, and we attend workshops centered around black pedagogy. That helps us examine cultural differences in discourse styles, so we can better understand black students' analytical approaches in essays. We learn how to integrate oral language into our curriculum, such as adding a debate unit or a poetry-recitation assignment, and to provide ample opportunities for students to work together. And we learn that nothing goes without saying and that praise and direction should be plentiful. In essence, we do what works for black students, which also works for all students.

Educators who are committed to black students use evidence in their own classrooms to find ways to improve. They analyze the assignments handed in, identifying ways in which their teaching reached-and didn't reach-all of their students. They recognize the brilliance of a black student's contribution to a class discussion and seize on it. They disaggregate data such as grades and attendance by ethnicity, look for patterns, and problematize their own practice-rather than assume that their students weren't motivated or sufficiently prepared to engage with challenging material. They ask themselves: Why did Taylor get a C on the final when he earned an A or a B on all of his other assignments, many of them equally demanding? Why is Vince silent in his group? What inspired Hile to write multiple drafts of her essay, each time asking for more detailed feedback? They seek support from colleagues who are effective teachers for all of their students, including black students, because they know that the changes they make to their teaching practice will have an impact on their students' achievement. All of this makes them better educators.

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What Anti-racist Teachers Do Differently

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I have seen some of these very same students walk into another teacher's classroom, go to the last row of desks, and put their head down. I have seen them sit frozen in their seat, staring at an assignment-when earlier I had heard them make jokes, talk excitedly about the content of their history class, celebrate solving a vexing algebra equation, or shake a test tube with authority, waiting for a result.

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When SEL  Is Used as Another Form of Punishment

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When SEL  Is Used as Another Form of Punishment

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https://medium.com/@justschools/when-sel-is-used-as-another-form-of-policing-fa53cf85dce4

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Schools across the country are adopting social-emotional learning (SEL) standards as an approach to creating school communities that are safe and positive climates for learning, as well as a foundation to set students up for success in school and in life. In theory, this is a step in the right direction - we want schooling spaces where students, families, educators, school staff, and all those who come into contact with the school building feel safe, affirmed, and supported. We want schools that foster emotional support between students, staff, and communities, where there's a trust-building approach rather than school hardening, and we want restorative justice, rather than the policing, punishment, and criminalization of Black and Brown students.

However, these SEL conversations, practices, and curricula are too often based on white, cisgender, patriarchal norms and values which further enact emotional and psychological violence onto Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ youth of color, in particular. The current narrative around SEL is that students must manage and regulate themselves and their emotions, conform and constrict their identities, and not express their fullest, most authentic selves. As school districts begin to devise plans for back-to-school, we must re-examine how we talk about and teach SEL.

While visiting classrooms in a middle school this year, I perused how every classroom had the same print-out displayed on the wall. The poster detailed the five core competencies of SEL, as defined by CASEL - self awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. As an example of social awareness, the signs read, "Keep your hands to yourself and don't take other people's property." While social awareness should be about unpacking bias, having critical dialogue about social issues, and collectively crafting justice-oriented solutions, this white-washed version, as Dr. Dena Simmons reminds us, made me wonder: whose social norms are we abiding by and adhering to?

In Dr. Monique Morris's newest book, Sing a Rhythm, Dance A Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls, Morris tells the story of Esperanza, who as part of the EMERGE program in Oakland, California, was scheduled to speak at a national conference on Chicana/Latina girls in the...

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When SEL is Used as Another Form of Policing

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Schools across the country are adopting social-emotional learning (SEL) standards as an approach to creating school communities that are safe and positive climates for learning, as well as a...

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Black Student Voices: Reflection on Race and Racism in Schools

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Black Student Voices: Reflection on Race and Racism in Schools

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https://youtu.be/-Ke3TURO2Q8Include playlist

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5 Ways to Show Care for Your Black Students

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5 Ways to Show Care for Your Black Students

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One question that many school leaders and practitioners are grappling with is how they can best support Black students. A litany of data has highlighted disparate outcomes for them at the K-12 level. We must do better. Teachers can and must be part of efforts to improve classrooms for Black students. Teachers who make a difference are able to move beyond traditional classroom practices to ensure that they feel comfortable and safe in classrooms.

As a former classroom teacher and student, I can attest to the need for extra attention and care to help Black students feel comfortable in historically excluded spaces. Schools explicitly exclude them by way of suspensions and implicitly exclude them through curriculum, culture, and policy. Black students are not the only ones who suffer racial discrimination in school, but in light of the recent protest for Black liberation across the country, it is imperative that Black students receive particular emphasis and focus. School practices must account for their experiences and needs. When we find ways to demonstrate care for Black students, our empathic actions benefit all students.

Here are five suggestions for how we can show care for our Black students:

1. Make sure curricular materials are inclusive and positively represent all Black folks.

We must consider Black students when creating curriculum to ensure instructional materials are inclusive of all Black life. By "all," I mean men, women, LGBTQ+, mixed-raced folks, and those with disabilities. It is not enough to discuss Black people briefly during thematic units on marginalized groups. Their historical exclusion in instructional materials contributes to the lack of care Black students experience in school. Without curricular representation, the contributions of Black innovators, the examples of Black excellence, the struggle for Black liberation, and the diversity within Blackness are absent from curricular materials. Black people must be equally represented across all disciplines to ensure that Black students feel included in the learning environment. As educators, we should ask ourselves:

*Are any of my books written by Black authors?
*Do my books and curriculum materials illustrate the diversity that exists within the Black community?

2. Seek feedback from Black students.

It is impossible for any teacher, regardless of race, to understand the experiences of Black students in our classes, unless they ask their Black students directly. As teachers, we rarely seek feedback from our students, and this prevents us from understanding how Black students may be experiencing our class. Black people experience this country in unique ways based on structural disadvantages and systemic racism. Unfortunately, the experiences in classrooms are no different. It is important to listen to the voices of Black students because they are often those who suffer most in the learning environment.

To show care for them we must seek answers to questions such as:

*What does it feel like to be a Black student in my classroom or in this school?
*Do Black students feel safe in my classroom?
*How can I help Black students experience success in my classroom?

3. Educate ourselves and our students on the nature of racism.

It is difficult for anyone to combat racism, if they do not understand it. Racism is a complex, multifaceted issue that has permeated American society for centuries. Racism is so deeply embedded in American culture that it often goes ignored by those not directly affected. To psychologically and emotionally protect Black students in the classroom, we must develop our understanding of racism and the many ways it presents itself.

As teachers, we can learn more about racism by watching lectures on combating anti-Blackness, attending anti-racist workshops, and reading anti-racist literature. As we educate ourselves about racism, we must find ways to educate our students as well. We must engage in difficult conversations with our students that support the elimination of anti-Blackness in our classroom and school. And we should ask ourselves:

*Do my students understand the racial context of the text, lesson, and/or unit?
*Do my students see me discuss race- related issues?
*Do my students know how to interrupt racism by my example and by examples they've learned in class?

4. Believe Black students.

Many Black students go through school simply not being believed or constantly trying to prove their innocence. Blackness in school is often seen as a sign of guilt, which means that Black children are not often viewed as innocent in the same ways that other children are viewed. Far too often when Black students express themselves in school, they are ignored or not given the same attentiveness as their peers. Black students need teachers to believe them when they speak about how they experience schooling. The information students share should inform future policy around issues such as curriculum, discipline, and overall school climate. Black students need allies who will support them in times of turmoil and back them in conflicts with other adults on campus. Not only must we support them through conflicts, but we need to celebrate all of their successes and progress as well. Black students need to feel trusted, and teachers must show them that their thoughts, opinions, and experiences matter.

5. Build relationships with caregivers.

One of the best ways to show care for Black students is by building relationships with their families. As teachers, we must get to know Black caregivers in efforts to demonstrate our commitments to their children's success. In the book I recently co-authored, No More Teaching Without Positive Relationships, I wrote about the benefits that come along with teachers finding ways to build relationships and collaborate with caregivers. Caring for Black students requires an understanding of the way care is demonstrated in their home lives. It is important that Black students view their teachers and caregivers as members of the same team working hand in hand to ensure their success.

It is not enough for schools to release a formal statement about how they are supporting Black students. Black students should not have to wait until the murder of another unarmed Black person in order to feel like their educators care about Black life. As educators, we have a responsibility to take consistent actions and create environments that are safe for all Black students. What are we waiting for?

Jaleel R. Howard is a former classroom teacher and current doctoral student in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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5 Ways to Show You Care for Your Black Students

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One question that many school leaders and practitioners are grappling with is how they can best support Black students. A litany of data has highlighted disparate outcomes for them at the K-12 level. We must do better. Teachers can and must be part of efforts to improve classrooms for Black students.

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The voice on the other end informed me that two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center. Parents were storming the school building and wanted to take their children home. I was told to keep the students focused and not tell them that anything was happening. One student in my class, scared by the sirens and the confusion, asked if she could call her mother. I said no.

In the weeks that followed, words like terrorist and bomber became common language. On more than one occasion, I heard those words hurled at the three Muslim students in my classroom, but I just told the students who had wielded them to watch their language and kept on teaching.

I taught through violence against Muslim students and used the permission I tacitly received from the school to justify my inaction. I ignored the chaos of the world beyond the classroom because I believed that it was my job to just keep on teaching. Looking back now, I realize I was not actually teaching at all.

Almost 20 years after September 11, 2001, the coronavirus pandemic has emerged as another siren, tearing through our collective sense of normal. We are responding to this virus and adjusting our methods for remote learning. But institutional racism is also deadly, and it's even more widespread. Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd, had a symptomatic case of the racism virus. But teachers place metaphorical knees on the necks of young people in classrooms all the time-and their symptoms aren't always as obvious. I know this because I had the virus, too.

The best teachers don't just keep teaching. Instead, they use their pedagogy as protest: They disrupt teaching norms that harm vulnerable students. In my years in the classroom since 2001, I've learned something about how to do this. I call it reality pedagogy, because it's about reaching students where they really are, making sure that their lives and backgrounds are reflected in the curriculum and in classroom conversations.

Reality pedagogy interrupts the notion that teaching is about managing students and their behavior. Instead, I've learned to see them as co-teachers, and I create space for dialogue-in small groups outside of class-about how they experience the classroom and the world beyond it. It's a space for connection, but also for any critiques they have of my teaching. These conversations are generative for everyone involved. Teachers need feedback from their students, who can see what teachers have been trained to ignore in their blind pursuit of a calm, quiet classroom. And students need a sense of agency, which they are often denied.

Co-teaching requires that teachers be humble enough to become students of their students-especially the students who have been most harmed, and will benefit most from a teacher listening to their experiences. In my first years of teaching, I never asked to hear my students' thoughts about having to sit and learn while the world around them was going crazy. I didn't make space for my Muslim students to heal from being targeted. But if I had started that dialogue, I would have learned a lot from them about how I could have been a better teacher.

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The voice on the other end informed me that two airplanes had crashed into the World Trade Center. Parents were storming the school building and wanted to take their children home. I was told to keep the students focused and not tell them that anything was happening.

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Jane Elliott on Her "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes Exercise" and Fighting Racism

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Zaretta Hammonds' Equity Distinctions Chart

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Zaretta Hammonds' Equity Distinctions Chart

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If You Really Want to Make a Difference in Black Lives, Change How You Teach White Kids

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If You Really Want to Make a Difference in Black Lives, Change How You Teach White Kids

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The latest episodes of police murdering Black people have my chest burning like a building set ablaze. My heart is hot, my stomach churns. My head filled with black smoke. I am exhausted.

My body is weak from seeing, hearing, reading and crying over people who look like my father and brothers getting choked out on video ... again. My body hurts not seeing anything happen when people who look like my mother or me are killed by violent White men. The silence when Black trans- men and women are killed by police violently bangs in my eardrum. I'm sore from the hashtags marking yet another Black death gone viral. Physically, emotionally, mentally, I'm hurt. Professionally I'm tired.

I work in education advocacy and I focus on the protection, advancement and dignity of Black children and Black life. Black death is a threat to everything I work and live for, so when it happens I can't help but relate what I see, experience and feel to my work. When anything goes down with Black people I think about education and schools and whether I am a part of something that is preserving Black life or failing it.

As I saw the system choke the life out of George Floyd I became enraged because I knew the focus would be on the systems that produced this end result and not the ones that groomed both George Floyd and the cop who killed him for that moment. That the conversations would be about prosecution and police training, but not changing the places that socialize Americans for White violence and Black death.

The system that killed George Floyd and the system that raised and educated the cop who killed him are the same. And in the same way that folks are tired of the viral Black death-protest-fake trial-acquittal-rinse and repeat cycle, I am tired of folks acting like there's no direct connection between the schools where White children sit and the street corners where they choke out Black life.

There's a George Floyd in every school where Black children learn. Black children are screamed at, berated, surveilled and searched in schools. Black children are slammed and dragged, kicked and prodded in classrooms. Black children are denied an education and disrespected because of their culture. Black children are groomed for containment. We've got children walking on tape with hands over their mouths like prisoners in training.

Black children are suspended, detained, "demerited" and isolated in schools for trivial things every day. And there's a killer cop sitting in every school where White children learn. They hear the litany of bad statistics and stereotypes about "scary" Black people in their classes and on the news. They gleefully soak in their White-washed history that downplays the holocaust of Indigenous, Native peoples and Africans in the Americas. They happily believe their all-White spaces exist as a matter of personal effort and willingly use violence against Black bodies to keep those spaces white.

Yet whenever we talk about what's wrong with the systems that train and socialize young minds to become violent and depraved adults who, say choose to choke people out as part of their jobs, all we ever hear is that Black children, Black families, Black communities, Black-NESS are "behind" and stuck in gaps. Conservatives, liberals and progressives alike grow their careers and feed their families off of myths about Black deficiency.

If you let them tell it, Black kids are in terrible shape while White children are doing gloriously. But how can White kids be doing okay when they're growing up to be police officers, district attorneys, mayors, judges, media, mothers, fathers and presidents who take away Black life and call it justified? As Black bodies drop like flies around us from physical, medical, economic, and material deprivation and violence at White hands, how can we in any of our minds or metrics conclude that the Whites are alright? What kind of warped standards are these?

Because let me tell you something ...

And any school or culture that produces children to grow up like this is failing.

White children are left unchecked and unbothered in their schools, homes and communities to join, advance and protect systems that take away Black life. We never talk about this moral and human failing in White culture as something that needs to get fixed now. Instead, we pour millions of dollars into discussions, conferences, professional development, curriculum and consultancies that talk about fixing Black people. And I'm tired.

I'm tired of White people reveling in their state-sanctioned depravity, snuffing out Black life with no consequences and then having the nerve to tell Black children that they are "behind" and need to work harder.

I'm tired of White people telling Black kids that they need to be held "accountable," yet killer cops go free when they take Black life and White teachers go free when they miseducate Black kids.

I'm tired of White people taking their violent culture, standards and metrics into Black spaces and telling Black children that they don't measure up. Because who is really failing here?

Where's the urgency for school reform for White kids being indoctrinated in Black death and protected from the consequences?

Where are the government-sponsored reports looking into how White mothers are raising culturally deprived children who think Black death is okay?

Where are the national conferences, white papers and policy positions on the pathology of Whiteness in schools and how it leaves White children behind as adults?

Why isn't Bill Gates throwing billions into school programs teaching White kids how not to grow up racist and choke out Black life?

The federal government needs to commission studies on White neighborhoods that produce and insulate anti-Black physical, economic and political violence. City councils and state legislatures should redline those places and determine them to be "high risk" and unfit for life. School reformers need to lobby, plot and plan on how to disrupt school systems that produce, protect and reward White violence.

Go get Walmart and the Koch brothers to fund tens of thousands of recent White college graduates trained in anti-racism and dispatch them to the disadvantaged all-White school districts across the country full of future killer cops. Take your six weeks of training and be an anti-racist teacher in classrooms full of families that hoard resources, separate their school districts and fund the police to keep their knees on Black necks.

Simply, this time after you take off your Black Lives Matter t-shirt and recycle your protest signs, don't go back into Black spaces with your usual bullshit. This time if you really want to make a difference in Black lives-and not have to protest this shit again -go reform white kids.

Because that's where the problem is-with White children being raised from infancy to violate Black bodies with no remorse or accountability. That cop didn't just learn how to snuff out George Floyd's life in a police training or on the job. He spent a lifetime preparing for that moment with his parents and family, teachers, coaches, neighborhoods and churches.

Eventually, the fires will burn out and the aftermath of the latest uprisings will clear. The heat in my chest may subside a little, but the grief will still be there for the next time. And unfortunately, there will be a next time because I've seen this episode before. We all have. Today we scream for justice but on Monday we'll call for better police training and a guilty verdict that will only leave the system-all the systems-intact. And we'll feel better about ourselves as we return to business as usual, preparing children for White violence and Black death, again.

I'm tired.

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If You Really Want to Make a Difference in Black Lives, Change How You Teach White Kids

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The latest episodes of police murdering Black people have my chest burning like a building set ablaze. My heart is hot, my stomach churns. My head filled w

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Building Student Understanding Across Racial Differences

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Building Student Understanding Across Racial Differences

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Culturally Responsive Teaching

A partnership between an all-black class in Memphis, Tennessee, and an all-white class in rural New Jersey has helped students bridge racial and cultural divides.

Scott Laumann / The iSpot

Can you imagine a friendship that developed between Emma, a black second-grade student who attended a large urban school in Memphis, Tennessee, and Cassidy, a white third-grade student in a rural school in New Jersey? These two girls came from different backgrounds and lived in communities where they had little to no interactions with any other races or cultures. Based on a project I helped organize, they were paired as buddies and were provided opportunities to communicate one-on-one, becoming fast friends. Without knowing it, the friendship they developed-and still maintain-helped chip away at the racial and cultural barriers that continue to divide our society.
Courtesy of Melissa Collins
For many years, I grappled with how to create racially diverse classroom experiences for my students. I want my students to experience what I did during my childhood living in the very same neighborhood. My father chose this community for our family because of its access to the best schools, teachers, and resources in Memphis. But when I was young, my community looked very different than it does today-I did not have many neighbors who looked like me; nearly everyone was white. Because of the area's changing demographics, my students now have the opposite experience: They typically have little to no interactions with people of other races-especially people who are white. Recognizing how limited exposure to people of different races can contribute to racism and bias, I've sought ways to bridge the distance so that students like Emma and Cassidy learn to understand and appreciate others.

With the protests raging around the country right now, it is more apparent than ever that there needs to be a better understanding of racism and what it means in America. This starts in our classrooms and in our homes when children are young. As teachers, we need to work harder to ensure that our students make connections with people of other races. I believe that teaching our children about differences will help empower the next generation of dreamers and doers, and they will be the cure to end racism. I've tried to bridge those gaps in my classroom by connecting my students with the local community and leveraging technology to connect them with the world at large.

Fostering Cross-Cultural Connections
Courtesy of Melissa Collins
Though technology can be isolating, teachers can also use tech tools to connect classrooms and foster relationships between students. For the past three years, I have used a free online platform called Empatico to partner my second-grade class with another class in a different state. The platform also features lessons that help students develop social and emotional skills like communication and empathy.

After realizing that two New Jersey co-teachers, Michael Dunlea and Stacey Delaney, taught a class of all white students (and my Tennessee class had all black students), we recognized that we had an amazing opportunity to partner and provide our classes with a safe space to ask questions, show their creativity, and demonstrate understanding toward others.

Early on, we spent some time discussing the definitions of compassion, empathy, and respect, and students took time exhibiting these traits in discussions with their peers as practice. Then, we organized dual-class lessons through FaceTime; our students also exchanged letters and gifts; and simultaneously, they read the same books-like biographies of famous black leaders and one on Ruby Bridges-to compare insights. The positive relationship that developed between our classes was so strong that I decided to visit New Jersey in person several times, and Michael and Stacey surprised us once at the Civil Rights Museum.

Connecting With the Local Community

Taking the classroom experiences with our partner class as a foundation, I sought out field experiences and community speakers to help my students connect classroom lessons to larger issues and concepts. Every summer, I go to Little Rock Central High School (the first integrated high school in Arkansas, where the Little Rock Nine attended) to reaffirm to myself why I teach. During one visit, I befriended park ranger Toni and asked her to speak to my class and our partner class in New Jersey. On a Zoom video call, Toni discussed the Little Rock Nine, the civil rights movement, and segregation. Through this, the students developed a deeper understanding of the injustices and inequalities that the black race has experienced.

Broadening World Views

To encourage students to expand their understanding of race and difference even further, I collaborated with educator Jennifer Williams, a global educator and author of Teach Boldly, to connect with other educators from other countries such as China, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Through these connections, I'm able to broaden my classroom lessons with a global context and give my students more knowledge of how they can contribute to building a better world.
Courtesy of Melissa Collins
My class and our New Jersey partner class did a unit together on festivals around the world, where they identified commonalities and differences. My students also joined other students in the first-ever global "Peace Sign Project." Students around the globe created signs, read books and articles about peace, and led a peace march at their schools or communities. Then my students led the first-ever children's march at the National Civil Rights Museum on what would have been Dr. King's 90th birthday. With the relationship with their New Jersey friends as a foundation, my students learned to impact change in the world by taking a stand on issues that matter.

It's now been three years since Michael, Stacey, and I first partnered together, and we've continued the relationship with each new class. Through these impactful experiences we've had together, my students have shown both academic and social and emotional growth. They want to engage in more positive discourse-with each other and with people who are different. They ask probing questions to seek understanding from peers, and they aren't afraid to talk about race and build friendships across racial differences. I've heard the same from Michael and Stacey.

I will never forget the day when one of my students asked me if racism had ended. I asked her why she thought racism had ended. She said, "I have white friends in New Jersey. They love and care about me." I wanted her to have hope, so I responded, "Racism has not ended, but it can end with you."

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Building Student Understanding Across Racial Differences

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Culturally Responsive Teaching A partnership between an all-black class in Memphis, Tennessee, and an all-white class in rural New Jersey has helped students bridge racial and cultural divides. Scott Laumann / The iSpot Can you imagine a friendship that developed between Emma, a black second-grade student who attended a large urban school in Memphis, Tennessee, and Cassidy, a white third-grade student in a rural school in New Jersey?

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Why Teachers of Color Matter to Students of Color

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Why Teachers of Color Matter to Students of Color

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When it comes to improving outcomes for students-especially Black students-teachers of color make a powerful difference. But according to a 2014 study, not only are they underrepresented in the workforce, they also leave the profession at a higher rate than their White peers, citing isolation and a lack of support as primary reasons for leaving.

How are they effective? Teachers of color force classrooms to break down negative stereotypes, help students understand-and confront-racism, and prepare students to live in a multicultural society, studies from 2010, 2016, and 2018 show.

And for many students of color, a teacher's impact can be life-changing. A 2018 study found that Black students who had a single Black teacher were 13% more likely to enroll in college. With two Black teachers, that number jumped to 32%. For Black boys, the impact is even more powerful. Having a Black teacher cut high school dropout rates by 39% for Black boys from low-income families, the study found.

It's not just because they're seeing a role model who looks like them-though the research says that does matter. Compared to their White counterparts, Black teachers have higher expectations for Black students. They're also less likely to perceive Black students as disruptive, inattentive, or unable to do homework, research shows.

So there's a gap in representation-and it's holding all of our students back.

The demographic data reveals the scope of the problem: Although nearly 80% of U.S. teachers are White, a majority of students are children of color.

We must do the hard work of addressing the diversity problem in our teaching workforce. Students need to see their own cultures reflected in the adults responsible for their learning.

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Why Teachers of Color Matter for Students of Color to Succeed

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When it comes to improving outcomes for students-especially Black students-teachers of color make a powerful difference. But according to a 2014 study, not only are they underrepresented in the workforce, they also leave the profession at a higher rate than their White peers, citing isolation and a lack of support as primary reasons for leaving.

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Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books

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Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children’s Books

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SocialJusticeBooks.org is a project of Teaching for Change.

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Based on "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism." Updated in 2013.*
Children's books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, economic class, sexual orientation, and disability). The visual and verbal messages young children absorb from books (and other media) heavily influence their ideas about themselves and others. Depending on the quality of the book, they can reinforce (or undermine) children's affirmative self-concept, teach accurate (or misleading) information about people of various identities, and foster positive (or negative) attitudes about diversity. Children's books teach children about who is important, who matters, who is even visible. Consequently, carefully choosing quality children's books is an indispensable educational and child-rearing task.

It is important to offer young children a range of books about people like them and their family-as well as about people who are different from them and their family. All of the books should be accurate and appealing to young children. Fortunately, there are some good anti-bias children's books, which are available as a result of the ongoing activism of many individuals and groups over many years. However, while choices have improved over past decades, the lack of quality multicultural kid's books currently being published has frustrated many communities. The number of children of color in the United States continues to rise, but the number of books published by or about people of color stays the same or even decreases.

Check the Illustrations

Look for Stereotypes: A stereotype is an oversimplified generalization about a particular identity group (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, ability/disability), which usually carries derogatory, inaccurate messages and applies them to ALL people in the group. Stereotypes dehumanize people. So, too, does misinformation. ( See Box 1 below for a list of common, harmful stereotypes).

Unfortunately, all of us absorb socially prevailing stereotypes about a range of people, even if we do not consciously subscribe to them. To alert you to stereotypes in children's books, as well as other media, it is useful to list all the stereotypes you know about various groups of people as precondition for critically reviewing children's books. The books you choose should depict people compassionately and as real human beings. Also consider if images depict all people as genuine individuals with distinctive (rather than stereotypical) features. Books containing stereotypes require you to engage children in critical thinking, but should probably be eliminated from your collection.

BOX 1: Common Harmful/Undermining Stereotypes

Strong, independent girls and women are "manlike"

Book-loving or nonathletic boys and men are "effeminate"

Latino men talk funny, are lazy, gang members, or wear oversize sombreros,

Latina women are earth mothers or subservient

African American men are gang members, oversexed, or underemployed

African American women are too independent, oversexed, or "welfare moms"

Arab and/or Muslim men are terrorists

Arab and/or Muslim women are voiceless and passive

All Muslims are Arab / All Arabs are Muslim

American Indians live in teepees, carry bows and arrows, or are half-naked in winter

Disabled people are not independent or are to be pitied

Disabled people must "overcome" their disabilities rather than just live with their disabilities

LGBTQ+ people are invisible

Poor people are invisible

Poor people are depicted as passively needing help from others

AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islanders) are depicted as the "model minority"

AAPI are exotic or their food is exotic/abnormal

All AAPI know martial arts or are meek and compliant

AAPI are portrayed with slanted eyes or just lines to represent eyes

Look for Tokenism: This is the "one only" message. Regularly seeing only "one" person of any group in a book teaches young children about who is more or less important. Examples of tokenism include books with only one African American child among many white children or having only one book about children with disabilities among many other books. Tokenism also becomes stereotypical. It only allows children to see one view of a group of people, rather than the diversity that exists among all groups.

Look for Invisibility: What children do not see in their books also teaches them about who matters and who doesn't in our society. Invisibility in their storybooks-as well as in textbooks as they get older-undermines children's affirmative sense of themselves and reinforces prejudiced ideas about people who are not seen (See Box 2 for examples of groups who tend to be invisible). The booklists on this website include a great variety of books with groups who are often excluded. (The titles are vetted by Teaching for Change.)

BOX 2: Examples of Groups of People Who Are Often Invisible in Children's Books or Mainstream Media

Families who live in rural areas

Blue-collar workers

Musicians, artists, and writers

Families with two dads or two moms

Single mothers or fathers

Homeless families

Families with an incarcerated parent

People of Middle Eastern descent

Families who practice Islam

Transgender adults and children

Check the Story Line and the Relationships Between People

Even if a book shows visual diversity, the story line may carry biases related to how it handles power relationships among people of various identities. Are whites or male characters the central figures with people of color or female characters in essentially supporting roles? To gain acceptance and/or approval does a child of color, a girl, or child with a disability have to exhibit extraordinary qualities or be the one to understand, forgive, or change? Are the achievements of girls and women based on their own initiative and intelligence, or are they due to their looks or relationship with boys/men?

Are people of color, women, low-income families, or people with disabilities depicted as needing help or in passive roles, while whites, men, and "able-bodied" people are in leadership and action roles? How are problems presented, conceived, and resolved? Who typically causes a problem and who resolves it? Your book collection needs a balance of different people in "doer" roles.

Look at Messages About Different Lifestyles

Do the lives of people of color or people living in poverty in the story contrast unfavorably with the norm of white, middle-class suburban life? Are negative value judgments implied about ways of life that differ from the dominant culture or economic class (e.g., people are to be pitied, or the story is about one person who "gets out" of the less desirable way of life)? Do images and information go beyond oversimplification and offer genuine insights into the lifestyle of the characters in the story? Does the setting reflect current life-or past assumptions about life? Does your book collection depict diversity among people within a specific racial/ethnic group, such as a range of family structures, living environments, socioeconomic conditions and types of work, and male/female roles within the family? (Remember that every racial/ethnic group has diversity, including people who self-identify as white).

Consider the Effects on Children's Self and Social Identities

In addition to specific books, also examine your book collection. Do your books reinforce or counteract messages that teach children to feel inferior or superior because of their skin color, gender, family income, able-bodiedness, or type of family structure? At school, will all of the children you serve see themselves and their family's way of life reflected in your book collection? Will all children of color, including those with mixed heritage, girls, and children from the many types of family structures, children living in poverty, and children with disabilities see one or more characters with whom they can readily and positively identify? If they are visible in your book collection, are the illustrations and information accurate and respectful? Does your overall collection balance the backgrounds of all the children in your program? Does it also show diversity within the social indentity groups to which the children belong (e.g., a range of ways to be female and male, families reflecting different kinds of jobs within a racial/ethnic group). Does your book collection also include a balance between diversity within your classroom and beyond your classroom?

At home, does your book collection reflect diversity among the groups to which your family belongs? Does it have stories about people like you who have contributed to creating a more just world? Does it also include a range of books showing diversity beyond your family and neighborhood?

Look for Books About Children and Adults Engaging in Actions for Change

To fully develop a strong sense of self and a disposition toward cooperation and fairness, children need to know how to stand up for themselves and others when faced with unfairness. They also need to know about people from all social identity groups who have-and are currently-working for justice for all. In addition to previous criteria, here are more items to consider: The story line should be about children and adults working together, rather than perpetrating the myth that change happens because of special, individual people who do it by themselves. Does your book collection include a balance of people who have made important and honored contributions to American life as well as the world community-and not just the traditional white, male "heroes?" Do some of your books about important people include struggles for justice? Do they show people who were/are poor or from racial/ethnic groups of color? Are people with disabilities engaged in these struggles for justice?

Consider the Author's or Illustrator's Background and Perspective

All authors write from a cultural as well as from a personal context. In the past, most children's books were by authors and illustrators who were white and members of the middle class. As a result, a single cultural and class perspective dominated children's literature. There are now excellent books by people of color from a range of backgrounds-although not nearly enough. Consider the biographical material on the jacket flap or back of the book. What qualifies the author or illustrator to deal with the subject? If the book is not about people or events similar to the author or illustrator's background, what specifically recommends them as creators of the book? What is the author's attitude toward her/his story characters? Are the images accurate and do the illustrators respectfully render the people in the story? Do you have books reflecting a balanced range of author and illustrator identities and experiences?

Watch for Loaded Words

A word is loaded when it in any way demeans or makes people invisible because of any of their identities. One example is the generic use of the word "man" to stand for women as well as men (although the opposite never occurs). This traditional terminology is now questioned by many because of its sexist implications. Here are some examples of ways to avoid sexist language: community instead of brotherhood; firefighters inserted of firemen; human family instead of family of man; ancestors instead of forefathers; chairperson instead of chairman. Examples of adjectives applied to people of color that carry racist messages include: "savage," "primitive," "superstitious," "backward," "inscrutable" and "treacherous." Always consider the context in which a word is used and to whom it applies.

Look at the Copyright Date

Copyright dates indicate the publication year, not the time of its writing, which might be two to three years before the copyright date. Although a recent copyright date is no guarantee of a book's relevance or sensitivity, copyright dates are useful information. More children's books began to reflect the reality of a pluralistic society and nonsexist and non-ableist perspectives in the 1970s. Since then, the range of accurate, respectful, and caring books reflecting diversity has increased significantly (unfortunately the diversity of books published in the United States still does not accurately reflect the actual diversity of the people living here). When considering new books for your collection, begin with most recently published ones and then continue with descending copyright dates.

Assess the Appeal of the Story and Illustrations to Young Children

Although these guidelines focus on the messages about diversity and equality reflected in children's books, it is also important to take quality into account. Be sure the book is a "good read." If children find the story or illustrations boring, a book will not hold their attention, even if the book adds a specific kind of diversity you need. Check for active, interesting story lines where different kinds of people are integral to the people in the story, not the main topic. For example, in A Chair for My Mother, a young child tries to save money to get a comfortable chair for her waitress mother. Although the book shows a single parent, working-class family, and a resourceful girl, it is not didactic. Also look for illustrations that are colorful and recognizable to young children. Although they enjoy a range of styles, illustrations that are too subdued or abstract may not hold their attention.

Check for age appropriateness. Most booksellers list any picture book as appropriate for early childhood even if the story line is really for primary grade children. Sometimes a book for older children will work if you simplify the story or "tell" the story rather than read it. In some cases, this is the only way to get books that present specific groups of children (e.g., stories with Cambodian children or children with learning disabilities). Some additional issues to consider:

Many children's books use animal characters instead of people and there are some excellent books that explore diversity with animal characters (e.g., And Tango Makes Three or A Coyote Solstice Tale). Children enjoy these. However, such books are not a substitute for exploring issues of diversity and anti-bias fairness with people as the main characters.

Some early childhood teachers wonder if it is necessary for every book in their collection to show diversity. Every book needs to be accurate, caring, and respectful. However, you will want individual books about specific kinds of people (e.g., a biracial family or a family with adopted children). Diversity becomes essential in the balance of your book collection, where you want to avoid invisibility or tokenism of any group.

Folk and fairy tales have long been a mainstay of children's literature. In the cultures from which they come, folk and fairy tales were used to teach important lessons and values related to their culture of origin. Children love them in their original versions-not their commercially sanitized adaptations. However, folk and fairy tales also carry messages that convey sexism, classism, and racism and must be used thoughtfully as part of introducing young children to diversity and anti-bias values of quality and fairness.

Overuse of folk tales to "teach" about a specific ethnic/cultural group leads to misinformation and confusion. They are about animals and occasionally people from a mythical past and are designed to teach core values and beliefs in their culture of origin. They are not about how people actually live in contemporary society-and that is what young children need to understand. Information and images about how people really live now is what enables young children to build connections to people who are from different cultures while countering stereotypes that children have already absorbed (e.g., how American Indians really live).

Finally there is the somewhat sensitive issue of what to do about "classic" or "well-beloved" children's books. Many of these are wonderful as children's literature, but unfortunately they often convey values of sexism, racism, ableism, or even colonialism. People who love the books that pose this dilemma argue that it is OK to use them because they "reflect their times," which they imply somehow excuses their biased messages. For example, I adored the Babar series of books as a young child and was unpleasantly shocked to realize as an adult how much the images and story lines reflected messages of European colonialism in Africa. I chose not to use them with my own children, wanting them to learn accurate information about how people in Africa really live. Not sharing childhood favorites may sadden some, but it is far better than the harm caused by reinforcing messages of racism and colonialism.
In a nutshell-as you choose books or critically examine your current book selection, always keep in mind the power of books-their words and their images-to nurture or, conversely, to undermine a child's sense of self, positive attitude toward others, and motivation to act for fairness.
Additional Resources

Louise Derman-Sparks is an internationally respected anti-bias educator and author (along with Julie Olsen Edwards) of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. She has co-authored several additional books with Dr. Carol Brunson Day (Teaching/Learning Anti-Racism), the ABC Task Force ( Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children), Dr. Patricia Ramsey (What If All the Kids Are White?), and Dr. John Nimmo and Debbie Leekeenan ( Leading Anti-Bias Early Childhood Programs: A Guide for Change). She speaks throughout the United States and abroad, and served on the NAEYC Governing Board from 1998 to 2001. Louise has a lifelong commitment to building a more just society for all people. Her children Douglass and Holly, now grown, were her inspiration. A Pacific Oaks College faculty member for 33 years-when its mission and pedagogy reflected anti-bias education principles-Louise is now retired.
*In 1980, the Council on Interracial Books for Children published the book Guidelines for Selecting Bias-Free Textbooks and Storybooks. A shorter version of the book in pamphlet form, "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism," followed. One of the first guides written for teachers and families, it became an invaluable tool for hundreds of thousands of people. Both the book and pamphlet have been out of print for several years. Rethinking Schools published their adaptation of the original Guidelines in 1994.

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Guide for Selecting Anti-Bias Children's Books - Social Justice Books

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By Louise Derman-Sparks Based on "Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children's Books for Racism and Sexism." Updated in 2013.* Children's books continue to be an invaluable source of information and values. They reflect the attitudes in our society about diversity, power relationships among different groups of people, and various social identities (e.g., racial, ethnic, gender, [...]

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The Difference Between Us

Everyone can tell a Nubian from a Norwegian, so why not divide people into different races? That's the question explored in "The Difference Between Us," the first hour of the series. This episode shows that despite what we've always believed, the world's peoples simply don't come bundled into distinct biological groups. We begin by following a dozen students, including Black athletes and Asian string players, who sequence and compare their own DNA to see who is more genetically similar. The results surprise the students and the viewer, when they discover their closest genetic matches are as likely to be with people from other "races" as their own.

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The Difference Between Us Everyone can tell a Nubian from a Norwegian, so why not divide people into different races? That's the question explored in "The Difference Between Us," the first hour of the series. This episode shows that despite what we've always believed, the world's peoples simply don't come bundled into distinct biological groups.

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Parade: Entertainment, Recipes, Health, Life, Holidays

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So you want to be an ally but don't know where to start? First of all, thank you and welcome. This is an ever growing community of people who refuse to accept Black death and institutionalized racism as the norm. This community takes measurable steps, is intentional about their day-to-day interactions, and is committed to self- education. Where to begin? Look no further than the below starter pack of TV shows, documentaries, films, TED talks, and books that can ground your activism and ensure you're offering this movement more than lip service. Grab an accountability partner (or start a group!) as a way of debriefing what you learn and ensuring you stick with it.

There's no better day than today! Here's your anti-racist starter pack.

TV Series

1. Ava DuVernay's When They See Us stopped the world when she told the stories of the (now) Exonerated Five. This is a cautionary tale for some on the dangers of making the narrative match a racist agenda and insight into the fear of Black families across the country, and world.

2. OWN's Queen Sugar: Queen Sugar shares the beauty and complexity in family, legacy, and justice through the warmth of a Black family. Over the course of the seasons, we become even more exposed to Black rural advocacy and the power in land ownership.

3. FX's (available on Netflix): The Black LGBTQ+ community is no stranger to over-policing and brutal violence and Pose gives us a front row seat to the resilience and ingenuity of Ballroom culture and the fight for autonomy and safety.

4. Netflix's Seven Seconds: Before the hashtags and media, what is it like for a Black family learning they've lost a loved one and for a police officer realizing he took a life. How do these stories intertwine and what insight can we glean about repairing harm?

5. Dear White People (available on Netflix):Dear White People has drawn controversy from many who have been afraid to push past the title, but it's great insight to the inner workings of Black student activists and their campus experiences.

Related: 40 Ways White Women Can Help Fight Racism
Documentaries

Netflix's 13th by Ava DuVernay: Many cite The New Jim Crow (book by Michelle Alexander) as what woke them up to the extreme injustice in our criminal justice system and arguably 13th would be the documentary version of that, exposing how deep-rooted institutionalized racism is.
Related: Self-Care for Black Women Activists Right Now

1. The Children's March: Youth-led activism has been on the rise since the fearless survivors of Parkland sparked a 21st century gun violence movement. To understand the shoulders on which we stand, learn about the children of Alabama that brought a racist police chief and segregation to its knees.

2. The Kalief Browder Story (available on Netflix): For many of us, protesting is a right we take for granted. For those in the belly of our criminal justice system, advocating for yourself can be deadly. We must honor Kalief's sacrifice by knowing his story and ending cash bail.

3. The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975: The Black Liberation movement of the late 20th century is riddled with stereotypes and propaganda causing many to believe that the movement died following the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. This documentary sets the record straight from the source with powerful interviews and recollections.

4. LA92 (available on Netflix): It's important that we never lose sight of the legacy of police violence. To understand the righteous anger of the Black community, learn more about the LA riots following the Rodney King trial.

Related: Beyoncé, LeBron James, Viola Davis, Taylor Swift and More Celebs Demand Justice for George Floyd
Movies and Short Films

1. Fruitvale Station (directed by Ryan Coogler): When advocating around police brutality, we often lose touch with the humanity of those we fight for. In this masterful film, we see a glimpse of what is stolen from us each time police use excessive force.

2. Higher Learning (directed by John Singleton): Since 2016, many have become hyper-aware of the deep rifts that exist in American society and others have always known that we have very different experiences of this country. Higher Learning will surprise you in how relevant it is to today and showing some of the hurdles to achieving a "post-racial" society.

3. Do The Right Thing (directed by Spike Lee): Eric Garner and George Floyd have both drawn connections to a fiction character who preceded them both: Radio Raheem of Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing. The film masterfully highlights where unrest stems from and what leads to the rage felt in uprisings and rebellions.

4. If Beale Street Could Talk (directed by Barry Jenkins): Activism can be very glorified by those privileged to be advocating from the abstract. This film-part love story, part drama-gives us a look into what is truly at stake for those facing wrongful incarceration head on.

5. I Am Not Your Negro (directed by Raoul Peck): James Baldwin has provided novels, personal essays, and prose to last many lifetimes! The film adaptation explores the extended history of racism through Baldwin's recollections and personal observations.

Related: 18 New Artists, Songs and Albums to Add to Your Playlists in Honor of Black Music Month

TED Talks

1. Bryan Stevenson's We Need To Talk About An Injustice:Bryan Stevenson is one of the leading racial justice advocates, working with people incarcerated on death row. If anyone can diagnose recent injustices and understand the steps forward it would be him.

2. Kimberle Crenshaw on The Urgency of Intersectionality: Following 2016, 'intersectionality' became quite the buzzword, yet gets used out of context often by both the Right and Left alike. Hear from the black woman who coined the term in the '80s as to how we use intersectionality to defend Black women.

3. Baratunde Thurston on How To Deconstruct Racism, One Headline At A Time: Racism isn't funny, but in this TED talk you'll learn about the pervasive nature of racism and laugh out loud way more times than you'll be able to count.

4. T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison on The Trauma of Systemic Racism is Killing Black Women:Racism is traumatic. Oftentimes we are focused so much on legislative changes and urgent calls to action, that we neglect the emotional well being of Black people everywhere facing PTSD from this cyclical violence. Dive more into self-care as radical preservation with this joint TED talk.

5. Verna Meyers on How To Overcome Our Biases? Walk Towards Them: #AllLivesMatter is the new color blind and both terms are proof that people fear being accused of biases more than they feel committed to addressing them. Let's lose the shame and take bold steps deeper into your allyship.

6. Heather McGhee's Racism Has A Cost for Everyone:My liberation is bound in yours. This is not a feel good statement but a reality when it comes to how racism impacts policy, budgets, and prevents us from achieving a society that works for us all

7. The Human Stories Beyond Mass Incarceration:We can never lose sight of the people behind the statistics and in this powerful TED talk, you'll be reminded of why we fight this fight.

8. Marlon Peterson's : Marlon Peterson is formerly incarcerated and one of the leading national experts on alternatives to incarceration. Learn about why we desperately need more empathy when it comes to addressing harm.

9. Emma Harrison's From Reform to Abolition: The Future of the U.S. Prison System: More than ever before, people are Googling abolition and exploring what a society without prisons looks like. Have questions about why we can't reform these systems or what this looks like in reality? Listen up!

10. Rayna Gordon's Don't Be A Savior, Be An Ally:Sometimes with the best intentions we still fall short. Hear from Rayna about thoughtful allyship that seeks to uplift and support not take over or "save."

Related: 25 Anti-Racist Instagram Accounts to Follow for Listening, Learning and Action-Taking
Books

1. by Bryan Stevenson: You've likely heard the story of someone who served decades in prison for a crime they didn't commit. How does that happen and how do we ensure people don't disappear behind the bars and into bureaucratic systems that value process more than justice?

2. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward: America often equates Black to mean urban America when more of us live in "middle America" and the deep South than anywhere else. Ward is a literary artist who spins the stories of Black men in Mississippi with so much love and a deep desire to protect those she loves.

3. Free Cyntoia by Cyntoia Brown-Long: Everyone from Rihanna to Kim Kardashian was tweeting about Cyntoia Brown-Long, the young woman incarcerated for defending herself against her abuser and a sexual predator. Cyntoia's story is one that many women share-and this book sheds light on how systems set up to protect us, fail us time and time again.

4. by Trevor Noah: Noah's book reads like an episode of his late night show which is to say it's informative, compelling, and well researched. This is a must read for those looking to understand race and class.

5. Unafraid of the Darkby Rosemary L Bray: Racism feels like this big scary monster which can make some of us feel like we don't know where to begin in dismantling it and others feel it's not relevant to them at all. Bray sets the record straight with these vignettes and anecdotes about what racism looks like in practice but also how police interventions can work to alleviate the pressures.

6. How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor: "Listen to Black women!" Want to learn what Black women from movements past have to say about justice and freedom? Look no further than this foundational manifesto.

7. Children of Blood and Bones by Tomi Adeyemi: Science fiction is a powerful tool for exploring problems from the distance we normally aren't afforded with day-to-day life. This first part of the electric new trilogy explores issues of fear, revenge, and what it takes to build a new future.

8. When They Call You A Terrorist by Patrisse Khan Cullors: Cullors co-founded Black Lives Matter over five years ago alongside two other Black women organizers. Years later, she reflected on her own journey to that moment and what it means to be labeled a terrorist by the government that has sought to erase you and those you love.

9. Let's Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice by Paul Butler: This Harvard Law grad turned prosecutor went from high-powered attorney to wrongfully accused Black man in one day. What that experience taught him is cemented through this book and will tell you all you need to know about this rigged system.

10. Pushout by Monique Morris: Black girls and women are often left out of the conversation when it comes to criminal justice reform but Morris reiterates exactly how Black girls are oversexualized, more likely to be described as aggressive, and more frequently suspended or expelled, leading to this school-to-prison pipeline we hear so much about.

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The Anti-Racist Starter Pack: 40 TV Series, Documentaries, Movies, TED Talks, and Books to Add to Your List

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So you want to be an ally but don't know where to start? First of all, thank you and welcome. This is an ever growing community of people who refuse to accept Black death and institutionalized racism as the norm. This community takes measurable steps, is intentional about their day-to-day interactions, and is committed to self- education.

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Understanding Race and Equity in Schools

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Understanding Race and Equity in Schools

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19 Essential Books to Understand Race and Equity in School

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In honor of Juneteenth, I compiled a list of 19 essential books that can help educators not only better understand the elusive, pervasive, and persistence impact of race on schools, but also provide them with skills to challenge and mitigate its influence and provide marginalized students, especiall…

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Abolitionist Teaching and the Future of Our Schools

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11 Ways to Keep Current on Anti-Bias Education This Summer

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For most educators, summer is a time for reflection, relaxation and rejuvenation. The summer also provides the time and space to learn something new, read articles and review...

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Elementary and Middle | High School | Adult | Teachers

Below are books for students and teachers on the Reconstruction era in the United States. We also recommend the lesson, Reconstructing the South: A Role Play, the free downloadable booklet from the National Park Service called The Era of Reconstruction: 1861-1900, and The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy.

The Zinn Education Project Teach Reconstruction Campaign offers more lessons for middle and high school, a student campaign to make Reconstruction history visible in their communities, and an annotated list of recommended teaching guides, student-friendly books, primary document collections, and films.

Most of the books on this website are linked for more information or purchase to Powells, an independent, union labor bookstore. Titles with reviews are noted with an asterisk(*). Feedback on this list and suggestions for additional titles are welcome.

See more recommended titles on these lists: Civil Rights Teaching, Black History, Slavery, Resistance, and Reparations

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Elementary and Middle | High School | Adult | Teachers Below are books for students and teachers on the Reconstruction era in the United States. We also recommend the lesson, Reconstructing the South: A Role Play, the free downloadable booklet from the National Park Service called The Era of Reconstruction: 1861-1900 , and The Reconstruction Era and the Fragility of Democracy.

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As educators we (sometimes unknowingly) step into roles of advocate, caretaker, guide, and even mother or father to students. Students pay attention to everything we say and do. They particularly pay attention to our silence.

We may be uncomfortable talking about race, but we can no longer afford to be silent. We have chosen a profession, which-like parenting-requires that our comforts come second to those of children.

Many black and brown students are educated in school systems and classrooms where they, despite making up the racial majority, are taught how to understand a world by a staff comprised of a powerful minority. When their teachers choose to remain silent about moments of racial tension or violence-violence that may well touch students' own communities or families-these children are overtly reminded of their inferior place in society.

Even as a black teacher, I have to set a tone for my students that signals that it's safe to talk about race. Even with me, students of color are afraid to say the word white or to name the blatant racism of slavery and Jim Crow. If that's the case, imagine how much more difficult it is for them to engage in dialogue about mass incarceration rates; the militarism of police; the killing of innocent black men and women; cycles of poverty; the destruction of our bodies, minds and souls; the lack of access to healthy food and quality schools; and gentrification. These are all symptoms of a type of racism that remains deadly to this day because, despite bodies lying in the street, we refuse to talk about it.

White teachers must also broach these topics with white children attending white schools. These students need to learn about the destructive power of racism and brutality that have plagued our country for centuries. They should also understand that Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and Trayvon Martin were preceded in death by Emmett Till, Jimmie Lee Jackson and countless others whose stories and deaths we must also teach. Our lack of instruction becomes deadly when we allow fear and discomfort to indirectly allow white students to labor under false, privileged assumptions.

Moreover, the silence on the part of white teachers who teach black and brown children is insulting. Imagine seeing white people, the perceived dominant race, loving and appreciating black culture when it is pretty-enjoying the music, food, culture and beauty of our people-but remaining silent about our oppression and refusing to see how the beauty of our culture was largely born out of necessity. It hurts students when their teachers only acknowledge what black people have done for this country and not what this country has done to them.

But how encouraging is it to know that we stand in a powerful and political position where we can directly influence and break this silence?

Begin by confronting your own biases-about yourself, your students, your fellow educators, the world. This process is essential; if educators don't do this, think about how much damage we could do to the open, vulnerable minds of our students. In particular, examine your feelings about the police. And, regardless of your personal feelings about law enforcement, it is critical to understand that many black and brown students have incredibly negative perceptions about the police. This difficult understanding on the part of teachers can hopefully lead to dialogue and healing in schools.

Once you've done the inner work of evaluating your own comfort levels and examining your biases, start the conversation. You might begin by admitting to students that-like them-you are scared, frustrated, angry, confused, hurt or uncomfortable. Students at any age understand these feelings and will appreciate your humility, compassion and vulnerability, especially black and brown students. This is how you lay the foundation.

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Clint Smith: How to raise a Black son in America

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As kids, we all get advice from parents and teachers that seems strange, even confusing. This was crystallized one night for a young Clint Smith, who was playing with water guns in a dark parking lot with his white friends. In a heartfelt piece, the poet paints the scene of his father's furious and fearful response.

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The United States has a racism problem. The idea of tackling such complicated and hurtful topics in our homes and classrooms is daunting, but we can't look away. We MUST face it. Fortunately, we live in a time when technology provides resources, such as the anti-racism videos below, designed to support us as we navigate these difficult and painful conversations.

For Parents and Educators

It's crucial that you feel confident and prepared to lead important discussions about what it means to be not only "not racist," but resolutely anti-racist. Here are some resources to help you get ready.

Be Boldly Anti-Racist

Elementary school educator, Naomi O'Brien, asks: "How did I become boldly anti-racist? By following my mom's example. How can you be bold and set an example for your kids and students?"

How to Talk to Kids About Race

In a new episode of Home School, The Atlantic's animated series about parenting, author Jeremy Tisby offers advice on how to have a conversation with children about race, from experiential learning to watching classic animated films.

How I Teach Kids About Racism (Kindergarten and 1st Grade)

This video is about elementary school teachers sharing the lessons they teach each year to introduce the topic of racism to their kindergarten and first grade students.

How Parents Can Help Kids Understand the Protests and Fight Racism

Dr. Janet Taylor shares advice with parents who may be struggling to talk about racism and the unrest that has erupted after the death of George Floyd.

For Kids and Students

Whether you're curled up with your kids at home or leading a group of students, here are some educational anti-racism videos to help get the conversation started.

Let's Talk About Race

The Tutu Teacher made this video for kindergarten students. In the video, she discusses what racism is and how it's impacted the lives of Black and Brown people. She also reads aloud the story Let's Talk about Race.

Sesame Street: Color of Me Song

Sesame Street explores: "What is the color of 'you?' Is your skin color tan, light brown, milky white, or dark dark brown? Whatever color you are, be proud and sing along."

Sesame Street: Song: I Love My Hair

Sesame Street invites children to "...sing along and make the world aware that YOU love your hair!"

Systemic Racism Explained

Systemic racism affects every area of life in the U.S., from incarceration rates to predatory loans, and trying to solve these problems requires changes in major parts of our system. This video offers a closer look at what systemic racism is, and how we can solve it.

Discrimination Explained for Kids

In this video, Pop'n'Olly discover what discrimination means and provide a few examples. They also talk about discrimination and the law.

Sesame Street Explains Racism and Protesting

Sesame Street and CNN worked together to create the "Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism" town hall for kids and families.

Woke Read Alouds: Wings

In this video, Ki reads the story Wings by author/illustrator Christopher Myers. They take readers on a fun, animated, and thoughtful journey through the book, leaving time for think alouds and responses from kids. They also include reading strategies, resources, and tips for parents throughout. This resource serves as a full academic read aloud.

Kids Talk About Segregation

It's been 62 years since Brown v. Board of Education, but the percentage of racially segregated schools in the United States has been growing steadily over the past 15 years. New York has the most segregated schools in the country. This video talks to Bronx 5th graders about what segregation looks like today.

A Kids Book About Racism

This read aloud is, as the title suggests, a kids' book about racism. Inside, you'll find a clear description of what racism is, how it makes people feel when they experience it, and how to spot it when it happens.

A Kids Book About Belonging

This read aloud tackles what it's like when you feel like you belong to a group or family or team and what it's like when you don't. It addresses what it feels like when you don't fit in, or when others don't want you around. This book teaches kids how to belong to themselves and how that helps them belong anywhere.

SAY SOMETHING Read Aloud

This read aloud of SAY SOMETHING helps explain race to kids as well as the importance of speaking up.

Students Learn A Powerful Lesson About Privilege

Using a recycling bin and some scrap paper, this video showcases a powerful exercise about privilege. Do all students have the same opportunities?

Black Parents Explain How to Deal with the Police

Brave parents and their curious kids confront some of life's biggest and most uncomfortable lessons.

Film Kits for Classrooms

These classroom-friendly films and user guides will help you bring social justice topics to life. Incredibly, Teaching Tolerance offers these film kits for FREE for use in K-12 schools, public libraries, schools of education, houses of worship, and youth-serving nonprofit organizations.

Designed for in-service programs, this training tool for early grades educators profiles classrooms in which peace, equity, and justice are guiding themes. (Available for order.)

This film takes viewers to the very communities where heinous acts of violence took place, offering a painful look back at lives lost to lynching and a critical look forward. (Available for streaming only.)

The film tells the story of a courageous group of students and teachers who, along with other activists, fought a nonviolent battle to win voting rights for African Americans in the South. (Available for order.)

This special teachers' edition of the Oscar-winning documentary film tells the heroic story of the young people in Birmingham, Alabama, who brought segregation to its knees. (Available for order.)

A Time for Justice, an Oscar-winning documentary, captures the spirit of the civil rights movement through historical footage and the voices of activists who sat, sang, and marched. (Available for order.)
What anti-racism videos do you feel are important to education? Share in the comments below. Also, 19 Black Teachers on Instagram to Listen To and Learn From.

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21 Anti-Racism Videos To Share With Kids

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The United States has a racism problem. The idea of tackling such complicated and hurtful topics in our homes and classrooms is daunting, but we can't look away. We MUST face it. Fortunately, we live in a time when technology provides resources, such as the anti-racism videos below, designed to support us as we navigate these difficult and painful conversations.

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SocialJusticeBooks.org . They havelists of age-appropriate books that you can find that will help parents introduce sensitive subjects."

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Zinn Education Project Movies and Documentaries to Use (and not use) When Teaching Civil Rights

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Zinn Education Project Movies and Documentaries to Use (and not use) When Teaching Civil Rights

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Documentaries and movies are highly effective tools for teaching civil rights history. They make the movement come alive, breathing life into the nameless and faceless masses who mobilized and organized for change. People are generally aware of Rosa Parks's role in the Montgomery bus boycott but are wholly unaware of the thousands of Black domestic workers who made victory possible by refusing to ride the buses for an entire year. Films add depth and dimension to the famous leaders who spearheaded the struggle, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Everyone knows who Dr. King is, but too few know him beyond sound bites from his "I Have a Dream" speech. And films generate empathy by capturing and conveying deep emotion, such as the paralyzing fear brought about by night riders. It is one thing to read about racial terror; it is another thing entirely to see it in high definition.

The pedagogical power of film is strengthened when documentaries and movies are paired with one another. The lessons learned in the former are reinforced in the latter. Pairing films also sharpens critical analysis of popular narratives of the movement. People are conditioned to believe what they see on screen. Pairing films challenges this basic assumption when what appears in a documentary, such as the presence of Black women in leadership positions, fails to show up in a movie.

An explosion of films on civil rights history over the last twenty-five years has created abundant options for using film in the classroom. Scores of documentaries have been produced, touching on subjects ranging from the origins of the movement to its aftermath. Although fewer movies have been produced, and their subject matter has been less varied, the selection is still strong.

Of course, not all films are equal. There are good ones that get the basic history correct and great ones that totally disrupt the Master Narrative. There are also terrible ones that reinforce the Master Narrative, and God-awful ones that simply fabricate history. Yet nearly all of them are useful, with the best ones revealing the truth about the past, and the worst ones exposing entrenched falsehoods. Thus, films about the movement, from the exceptional to the dreadful, that examine a broad cross section of subjects, from the origins of racism to contemporary civil rights struggles, can significantly deepen understanding of civil rights history.

Tedx Talk by Hasah Kwame Jeffries on "Hard History"

This 13-minute talk by Hasan Kwame Jeffries can be a useful companion to this critical list of films about the Civil Rights Movement and institutionalized racism in U.S. history.

Racism has shaped the contours of America from the earliest days of the Republic, fueling the need for a civil rights movement. Race: The Power of an Illusion (2003) is a great primer for discussing the role of racism in American society. The three-hour documentary begins by explaining race as a pseudoscientific invention designed to justify European capitalist exploitation of African labor. It then pivots toward racism, moving quickly beyond personal prejudice to look at the racialization of political structures and economic systems. Finally, it looks specifically at the racialization of the housing market to illustrate the harmful effect racial discrimination has had on contemporary African Americans.

I Am Not Your Negro (2017) explores racism in a completely different way, from the perspective of civil rights-era essayist James Baldwin. But it is equally effective as a springboard for an opening discussion on the need for a civil rights revolution. Using Baldwin's searing words, the documentary draws viewers in, making the pain of the Black past feel present. For some, Baldwin's indictment of white Americans for their commitment to white supremacy will confirm long-held suspicions. For others, it will be a revelation. But for all, it will prompt deep introspection, a necessary ingredient for frank and honest conversation.

Civil rights protest challenged contemporaneous patterns and practices of racial discrimination. For much of the twentieth century, this meant taking on Jim Crow. The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow (2002) provides a thorough overview of Jim Crow and the Black response to it. The four-hour documentary explores the history of segregation from emancipation through World War II, chronicling both its formal and informal manifestations in the South and beyond. The second and third episodes, which examine the Black experience from Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 through the start of the NAACP's school desegregation campaign in the 1930s, is particularly useful for establishing the movement's precursors and preconditions.

Dramatizations of Black life during the era of legal segregation help make clear that Jim Crow was much more than just a bundle of unfair laws. Mudbound (2017) explores personal interactions across and on either side of the color line in the Mississippi Delta during World War II. The film's gaze is intimate, providing a close look at the racialized customs that simultaneously separated and tied together Black tenant farmers and white landowners, showing how Jim Crow linked Black fates to white fortunes. The Great Debaters (2007) chronicles the trials and triumphs of the debate team at Wiley College, a historically Black college in Marshall, Texas, during the Depression. One scene in particular, "The Pig Farmer," effectively re-creates the kind of life-threatening, random encounters that African Americans often had with whites and is worthy of showing on its own. Something the Lord Made (2004), the story of pioneer heart surgeon Vivien Thomas, explores the less dramatic, daily indignities of segregation, rendering unmistakable the ways that Jim Crow customs, as practiced by both individuals and institutions, stifled human potential at great cost to society. The movie parallels the documentary Partners of the Heart (2002) but is far more emotionally engaging.

Two films set in the Jim Crow era that are inspiring tales of persistence and perseverance but are far less useful as overviews of the period are Hidden Figures (2016) and Loving (2016). Although both films treat their subjects thoughtfully and compassionately, and each has the added benefit of revolving around Black women, which too few films do, neither provides a clear enough sense of the scale and scope of segregation to effectively convey the intractable nature of Jim Crow. Another film set in the Jim Crow era that is of no use at all is The Help (2011). The movie fixates on normalizing white privilege and Black subservience and completely marginalizes the Mississippi freedom movement.

Violence was the cornerstone of Jim Crow. Whites resorted to it to regulate Black behavior, control Black labor, and steal Black wealth. The documentary Banished: How Whites Drove Blacks out of Town in America (2006) examines three incidents of early twentieth-century racial violence that resulted in Black landowners losing their lives and property. It also shows how the land grab impeded Black economic upward mobility for generations. An Outrage (2017) takes a personal look at lynching through the eyes of its victims and their descendants. It is a hauntingly moving portrayal of Jim Crow's strange fruit.

The kind of mob violence that led to lynching can be hard to fathom, but Rosewood (1997), which depicts the 1923 racial pogrom in the all-Black town of Rosewood, Florida, reveals the mechanics of lynch mobs, including the rapidity with which they formed, and captures the unspeakable horror of their murderous rampages.

White sheriffs rarely protected the targets of racial violence, and white judges and juries almost never provided justice to victims. Instead, they worked to uphold Jim Crow laws and enforce Jim Crow customs. Few cases illustrate this better than that of the Scottsboro Boys. Scottsboro: An American Tragedy (2000) recounts the conviction of nine innocent Black teenagers accused of raping two white women in Alabama in 1931. Slavery by Another Name (2012) takes a broader look at the justice system under Jim Crow by detailing the ways white southerners used convict leasing to reestablish and maintain white supremacy after Reconstruction. It is a harrowing account of brutal capitalist excess.

A southern prison labor camp, not unlike Mississippi's infamous Parchman Prison Farm, is the backdrop for Life (1999), a comedy featuring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence as two would-be bootleggers sentenced to life in prison for a murder they did not commit. The film touches on many of the themes discussed in Slavery by Another Name, including judicial malfeasance, creating the opportunity for critical analysis of popular representations and misrepresentations of segregation.

Depicting Black suffering during the Jim Crow era makes clear why African Americans were so desperate for change. Highlighting Black organizing during the same period is just as important because it demonstrates African Americans' refusal to accept the status quo. Birth of a Movement: The Battle Against America's First Blockbuster (2017) describes the effort led by William Monroe Trotter, a Boston-based activist and newspaper editor, to ban D. W. Griffith's white supremacist propaganda film Birth of a Nation. Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind (2000) examines the life of the Jamaican-born activist, who through the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and its newspaper, the Negro World, spread the gospel of Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism. Much like these documentaries, 10,000 Black Men Named George (2002), a fictionalized account of civil rights activist A. Philip Randolph's effort to organize the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in the 1920s, introduces viewers to a grassroots campaign that not only challenged Jim Crow but also helped create the organizing infrastructure that enabled the civil rights movement to flourish years later.

World War II looms large in civil rights history. "Deadly Calling," the third episode of The War (2007), provides a useful overview of the Black wartime experience at home and abroad, albeit interspersed between stories of military developments overseas. The Black Press: Sol diers Without Swords (1999) probes much deeper by tracking the unheralded effort of Black journalists to advance democracy for black soldiers on the frontlines and for Black citizens on the home front. In Their Own Words: The Tuskegee Airmen (2012) uses oral history to zero in on the civil rights hardships and military heroism of Black flyers. By contrast, the major motion picture Red Tails (2012) omits the airmen's fight against racial discrimination on U.S. soil before, during, and after their time in the army. An egregious oversight, it nonetheless creates an opportunity to use the film to interrogate the idea that Black military service and sacrifice were enough to rid whites of racial prejudice.

When northern Black servicemen and servicewomen who had been stationed in the South returned home, they were unable to escape racial discrimination. Like the waves of Black southerners who had left the region during the war years, they could not outrun white supremacy. To be sure, a different kind of Jim Crow reigned up north, but it was still Jim Crow. Neither New York nor Cleveland nor Oakland turned out to be the fabled Promised Land.

Goin' to Chicago (1994) demystifies northern Jim Crow by examining the lives of a group of older Black Chicagoans who migrated from the Mississippi Delta. A common experience in nearly all of their personal stories is housing discrimination. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth (2011), which explores the creation and collapse of a massive public housing complex in St. Louis, masterfully unpacks housing discrimination, including the central role played by the state and federal governments. The movie Fences (2016) is the perfect complement to these documentaries. Set in Pittsburgh, it shows how working-class African Americans tried to get the most out of life despite the constant pressure of racial discrimination. Sports animated the protagonist in Fences, Troy Maxson, like nothing else in life. Baseball in particular was his salvation and refuge, and to hear him tell it, he was spectacular. But sports did not unburden him of the weight of racism, just as it did not relieve those in the real world who either toiled in segregated Black leagues or broke into white professional leagues. Their struggle provides a window through which to view not only the intersection of race and sports but also Jim Crow America, especially in the North.

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004) chronicles the first Black heavyweight boxing champion's brazen exploits in and out of the ring during the first part of the twentieth century. Jesse Owens (2012) follows the journey of the 1936 Olympic gold medalist in track and field from Cleveland to Berlin, highlighting the many obstacles Jim Crow placed before him. Olympic Pride-American Prejudice (2016) pushes beyond the Owens narrative to share the experiences of the seventeen Black athletes, including two Black women, who joined Owens on the 1936 U.S. Olympic team. Only the Ball Was White (1980) provides an excellent overview of the Negro Leagues, a key example of a Black parallel institution. "Shadow Ball," the fifth "Inning" of Baseball (1994), also explores the Negro Leagues and its star players but in greater depth. Jackie Robinson (2016) offers a detailed glimpse of the on-the-field achievements and off-the-field civil rights advocacy of the Brooklyn Dodgers' legend. Black Magic (2008) looks at the history of basketball at historically Black colleges and universities and the impact desegregation had on the sport, Black athletes, and Black coaches, while Breaking the Huddle: The Integration of College Football (2008) does the same for football. And Muhammad Ali: Through the Eyes of the World (2001) tells of the far-reaching impact that the boxing great's stand against white supremacy and opposition to the Vietnam War had on people.

Sports movies abound, making it possible to pair nearly all of these documentaries with direct cinematic counterparts. Race (2016), (2013), and Ali (2001) are biopics about Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, and Muhammad Ali, while Glory Road (2006) and Remember the Titans (2000) revolve around the integration of college basketball and high school football. But every one of these films treat civil rights more or less the same - racism is reduced to personal prejudice practiced by a handful of rednecks; it is overcome by Black athletes through nonviolent perseverance; and it is rejected by whites once they witness African American athletes performing at a high level. The usefulness of these films, then, is mainly as prompts for analyzing the shortcomings of normative narratives of the persistence and eventual demise of Jim Crow.

Much like movies on race and sports during the Jim Crow era, movies specifically about the civil rights movement tend to follow the Master Narrative, with storylines revolving around preachers and presidents and a heavy emphasis on nonviolence. Documentaries about the movement, however, are generally much better, shifting the focus away from great men and broadening the range of strategies and tactics beyond nonviolence.

Eyes on the Prize remains the gold standard for documentaries on the civil rights movement. Its fourteen hour-long episodes draw on a rich array of primary source material, including original broadcast news footage and interviews with movement leaders and foot soldiers, to weave together an accessible overview of the movement. It is not, however, without shortcomings. At times it is overly event and leader driven, especially its early episodes, causing the complexity of the movement, including its geographic diversity, to be lost. The pacing is also a bit slow for today's younger viewers, who have grown up watching films with more visual activity. It is best used, then, selectively, in segments, as an introduction to key events and people.

By contrast, Soundtrack for a Revolution (2009), which tells the story of the movement through freedom songs, pulsates with energy. Civil rights music inspired, encouraged, and energized movement participants, who are called on here to explain their purpose and importance. Although contemporary artists, such as John Legend, perform the songs, the arrangements are traditional. Unfortunately, so too is the narrative arc. The film adheres too closely to the Montgomery to Memphis framework, privileging the experiences of Dr. King above all else.

Lee Daniels's The Butler (2013), whose lead character, Cecil Gaines, serves as a valet to eight U.S. presidents, is one of a small handful of movies that attempt to engage the entire history of the civil rights movement. Not surprisingly, its take on the movement is conventional, emphasizing decisions made in the Oval Office over those made at mass meetings. Indeed, the movement does not even seem to exist until Gaines arrives at the White House, and it loses steam completely when Black Power emerges. In this sense, it is a classic depiction of the Master Narrative and should only be shown as such. At the same time, the film re-creates a few pivotal movement moments that are almost always ignored on screen, most notably the nonviolent direct action workshops led by Rev. James Lawson in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1959.

Most treatments of the civil rights movement are far less ambitious than Eyes, Soundtrack, or The Butler. Rather than tackling the subject as a whole, they focus instead on a specific event, historical figure, or both. Beginning with school desegregation, The Road to Brown (1990) traces the history of the NAACP's southern school desegregation campaign, which culminated in the US Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. The film introduces Charles Hamilton Houston, the architect of the NAACP's strategy, and shines a light on the segregated communities involved in the cases. Mr. Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP (2014) recounts the NAACP's long legal battle to desegregate southern schools that Marshall, a protégé of Houston, helped lead. The biopic Marshall (2017) dances around the edges of this history, choosing instead to focus on Marshall's early courtroom activism outside the South. Laurence Fishburne's one-person play, Thurgood (2011), however, fits perfectly with these documentaries. It is unusually comprehensive in its coverage of the courtroom challenge, and Fishburne's performance is masterful. In fact, Thurgood is strong enough historically and theatrically to be shown on its own.

It is well established that the civil rights movement did not begin with Brown, but the Supreme Court ruling, along with the murder of Emmett Till and the start of the Montgomery bus boycott one year later, are critically important to the movement's evolution. Together, they mobilized new constituencies and created new possibilities for pursuing change.

The Murder of Emmett Till (2003) details the events surrounding the lynching of the fourteen-year-old Chicago boy at the hands of two white men in Money, Mississippi, making direct connections to the Great Migration and rabid white resistance to Brown. The filmmaker's interview with Mamie Till, young Emmett's mother, in which she describes the impact of her son's murder, is particularly powerful. "Awakenings, 1954-1956," the first episode of Eyes on the Prize, discusses the death of Till and the emergence of the Montgomery bus boycott, showing how their combined force pushed the movement in a new direction. The movie Boycott (2001), which is based on historian Stewart Burns's edited collection of oral histories with movement participants, stands out as the best film or documentary on the Montgomery protest. It makes clear the mechanics of the movement, depicts the central role of women, and portrays King as he was-a reluctant leader struggling to catch up to his people.

Returning to school desegregation, the crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957 is explained succinctly in "Fighting Back, 1957-1962," the second episode of Eyes on the Prize. This segment nicely sets up Nine from Little Rock: Pioneers of Desegregation (1964). This documentary short, filmed seven years after the highpoint of the conflict, profiles the lives of the nine Black students who desegregated Central High School. Little Rock Central: 50 Years Later (2007) shares the perspectives of students and community members five decades removed from the crisis, creating an opportunity to discuss school segregation and desegregation in a contemporary context.

The Little Rock Nine were the vanguard of southern student protest, which exploded into full public view with unimaginable energy in February 1960 with the lunch counter sit-ins. A Force More Powerful (1999), which examines a half-dozen, nonviolent, direct action campaigns across the globe during the twentieth century, draws on rare archival footage to take viewers inside the Nashville sit-in movement, revealing the practicalities of a nonviolent campaign. Meanwhile, Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker (1981) introduces viewers to veteran activist Ella Baker, the guiding force behind the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Baker infused SNCC with a commitment to grassroots democratic organizing, enabling the organization to catapult the movement forward in the early 1960s.

Some of the tough decisions that SNCC activists had to make are beautifully dramatized in Freedom Song (2000), a fictionalized account of a SNCC direct action and voter registration campaign. Rather than focusing on a single, large-scale, mobilizing event, Freedom Song hones in on the slow, hard work of organizing, making grassroots activism visible, a rarity in movies. Freedom Song also touches directly on the Freedom Rides, making it a terrific companion for Freedom Riders (2011), which tells the story of the more than four hundred African American and white activists who traveled to the South in 1961 to challenge segregation in interstate travel.

Young people remained at the forefront of the struggle in 1963. In Birmingham, Alabama, they forced white elected officials and business leaders to desegregate downtown by taking to the streets and filling the city's jails. Mighty Times: The Children's March (2004) documents their courage and heroism. There was, however, a steep price to be paid, and four young people paid it with their lives when Klansmen bombed Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. 4 Little Girls (1997) revisits that horrible moment, recalling the lives lost and explaining the far-reaching and long-lasting impact of their deaths.

The next year, in St. Augustine, Florida, young people conducted wade-ins at beaches and a swim-in at a hotel pool to desegregate America's oldest city. Often overlooked, the struggle in "Florida's Birmingham" drew national attention to the brutality that undergirded Jim Crow, helping to bring about the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dare Not Walk Alone (2008) places St. Augustine back in the national narrative, connecting the actions of local people with those of Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lyndon B. Johnson. But only the first half of the eighty-minute documentary examines the movement in 1964. The second half looks at local Black life nearly fifty years later, pointing out the underlying reasons for the persistence of poverty, rising incarceration rates, and failing schools. A sobering reminder of the movement's limits, this part of the film creates an opportunity to reflect on the long-term impact of the fight for civil rights.

Whereas St. Augustine has been underemphasized, Freedom Summer has been overemphasized, owing to the participation of large numbers of northern white students who joined the effort to break segregationists' stranglehold on Mississippi. Freedom Summer (2014) chronicles the events of those intense months, from the formation of freedom schools to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party's Atlantic City challenge. Freedom on My Mind (1994) covers the same subject but looks more closely at the years leading up to 1964, providing a much better sense of the Mississippi movement's evolution. The experiences of one white activist are the subject of An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland (2013), creating space for dialogue about the role of whites in the movement.

The flipside of white participation in the freedom struggle - white opposition to it - is covered in Spies of Mississippi (2014), which examines the state of Mississippi's use of intelligence gathering, economic coercion, political intimidation, and murder to thwart the freedom struggle. Neshoba: The Price of Freedom (2011) turns a spotlight on organized racial terror groups by looking at the infamous murder of three civil rights workers by Klansmen at the start of Freedom Summer.

More movies have been made about civil rights in Mississippi than have been made about any other civil rights topic, but with the notable exception of Freedom Song, none are especially good, and a few are just plain bad. Of the latter, Mississippi Burning (1988), possibly the most watched civil rights film of all time, tops the list, having managed to make the movement's success hinge totally on the wit and wisdom of white FBI agents. It is worth showing only to interrogate a fabrication of movement history.

Selma (2015) is everything that Mississippi Burning is not. It centers African Americans - they are the primary shapers of their own destiny, and it portrays the FBI with much greater accuracy, as more adversary than ally. These reasons alone make it worth watching. But as a depiction of the 1965 Selma voting rights campaign, it is not without flaws. Local Alabama activists take a backseat to national leaders, and advocates of self-defense, especially within SNCC, are depicted as overly emotional and irrational. This is not totally unexpected because the movie is actually a biopic, a portrayal of Dr. King revolving around his civil rights leadership and nonviolent approach to change. As such, it works well with the documentaries Citizen King (2005) and King in the Wilderness (2018), which examine the final years of King's life; The March (2013), which goes behind the scenes of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; and At the River I Stand (1993), a chronicle of King's time with striking Memphis sanitation workers shortly before his death. It also pairs nicely with King: A Filmed Record . . . Montgomery to Memphis (1970), which pulls together rare footage of King delivering some of his most important speeches, including "I Have A Dream."

As seen in Selma, King's outsized presence in civil rights narratives obscures key elements of the freedom struggle, chief among these being self-defense. Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power (2004) addresses this oversight by sharing the story of Williams's armed defense of the Black community in Monroe, North Carolina, and full-throated advocacy of self-defense via the radio waves. Deacons for Defense (2003), a fictionalized account of the Deacons for Defense and Justice, the armed self-defense group founded in Jonesboro, Louisiana, in 1964 to protect local movement participants, including nonviolent activists, complements Negroes with Guns perfectly. The story of the Deacons, which is ably captured here, demonstrates the ways armed self-defense could make nonviolent direct action possible and compel reluctant federal officials to act on behalf of African Americans.

But it is neither the Deacons nor Rob Williams who come most immediately to mind when thinking about African Americans and armed self-defense, but rather Malcolm X. Even in Selma, the former spokesperson for the Nation of Islam (NOI) makes a cameo appearance as the foil to King's nonviolence. Malcolm, of course, was much more than a voice of Black rage; he was an astute political thinker with a constantly evolving worldview, which comes across clearly in Malcolm X: Make It Plain (1994), the most comprehensive documentary on his life. Spike Lee's artful Malcolm X (1992) is also a viable option for introducing Malcolm as it cleaves closely to The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

Malcolm lived his entire life in the Midwest and the Northeast. Treatments of his life, therefore, can be used to offer insights into the northern freedom struggle. So too can The Hate That Hate Produced (1959), a news exposé on the NOI. Although the program frames the group as a Black supremacist cult, the interviews with Malcolm, NOI spiritual leader Elijah Muhammad, and NOI members are revelatory in terms of perspectives on racism from Black northerners who rejected integration.

The view of moderate, mainstream Black northerners comes across in two biographies. The first is Adam Clayton Powell (1989), which explores the life and politics of the outspoken civil rights activist who represented Harlem in Congress in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. And the second is The Power Broker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights (2012), which delves into the political machinations of the head of the National Urban League.

The sentiments of everyday Black northerners trapped in declining, deindustrializing, urban centers are discernible through documentaries on the uprisings of the mid- to late 1960s. July '64 (2006) offers insights into the thoughts of ordinary African Americans in Rochester, New York, through its exploration of the causes and consequences of the three-day rebellion that took place there in the summer of 1964. Revolution '67 (2007) does the same for African Americans living in Newark, New Jersey, during that uprising three years later. Both documentaries work with Detroit (2017), a severely flawed dramatization of the murder of three African Americans by police at the Algiers Motel during the 1967 Motor City rebellion. The documentaries make visible what is rendered invisible in Detroit, most notably the local movement and the institutionalized nature of police terror.

Urban uprisings offer a convenient entry point for discussing the transition from civil rights to Black Power, but jumping immediately from one to the other misses Black Power's southern roots. "Out of the Shadows," the first episode of Black America since MLK: And Still I Rise (2016), and "The Time Has Come, 1964-1966," the seventh installment of Eyes on the Prize, explain the genesis of Black Power in SNCC's Lowndes County, Alabama, organizing project. The Black America episode also introduces the Oakland, California, Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP), the most iconic organization of the Black Power era.

The BPP straddles the civil rights and Black Power periods, making it the ideal organization for studying the transition between the eras. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015) offers a rich and engaging overview of the BPP, although it privileges what was happening at the party's headquarters in Oakland over everything else. The documentary short Emory Douglas: The Art of the Black Panthers (2015) provides a succinct, yet revealing, look at the political thinking of party leaders, rank-and-file members, and supporters. And The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971) exposes the government's criminal conspiracy to crush the BPP that led to the assassination of Hampton, the Chicago Panthers' bold, brash, and brilliant leader.

The Black Panthers are generally treated harshly in movies. In For rest Gump (1994), and more recently in The Butler, they are mocked as gun-toting, wannabe revolutionaries who contributed nothing to the movement other than violence. Scenes from both films are worth showing as examples of gross mischaracterizations in popular portrayals of civil rights and post-civil rights Black radicalism. The scene in Forrest Gump is especially worth deconstructing because it is the only exposure most students have to the BPP and Black Power.

A notable exception to these kinds of distorted depictions emanating from Hollywood is Blood Done Sign My Name (2010), an account of white racial violence and Black protest in the small town of Oxford, North Carolina, in 1970. The film casts Black Power protest as an extension of civil rights activism and treats Black Power advocates as serious political thinkers. Both of these points are also well made in Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre, 1968 (2008), which examines Black activism at South Carolina State University and investigates the murder of three students by state troopers. The emphasis on student activism in both films makes pairing them together work for the purpose of discussing the emergence of Black Power.

"Move On Up," the second episode of Black America since MLK, covers the 1970s, providing a good sense of those areas of Black life where civil rights victories had made a substantial difference and those areas where radical change was still needed. The final three episodes of Eyes on the Prize do similar work, but in a bit more detail. Meanwhile, The Black Power Mixtape, 1967-1975 (2011), a compilation of interviews with activists and movement footage shot by Swedish journalists during the period, offers a narrower kind of overview of the era by analyzing Black Power ideology as a response to conditions left unaddressed by the civil rights movement.

Finally, there are several noteworthy documentaries on contemporary topics through which to explore the legacy of the movement. The development of hip-hop, from the streets of the Bronx to the concert stages of Europe, is chronicled in Hip Hop Evolution (2016). Letter to the President (2005) and Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992 (2017) examine the devastating impact that Reaganomics had on the African American community, the former through rap music and the latter through the 1992 Los Angeles uprising. The cultural influence and economic exploitation of Black athletes at predominantly white universities is the subject of The Fab Five (2011). OJ Made in America (2016) ties all of these themes together into a coherent and compelling narrative of Black life from the 1960s through the 1990s by chronicling football legend O. J. Simpson's phenomenal rise and spectacular fall. The destruction wrought in New Orleans by decades of discriminatory housing policy and the federal government's grossly negligent response to Hurricane Katrina is explored in When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006). The House I Live In (2012) and The 13th (2016) offer micro- and macro-level views of mass incarceration. The Central Park Five (2012) and Every Mother's Son (2004) take intimate, deeply personal looks at unconstitutional police practices and their collateral consequences. And Whose Streets? (2017) tells the story of the Ferguson, Missouri, uprising in 2014, from the killing of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown by local police to the birth of the Movement for Black Lives, from the point of view of the activists who led it.

There are very few major motion pictures on contemporary civil rights topics as powerful as Fruitvale Station (2013), a heart-wrenching dramatization of Oscar Grant III's last day alive. The twenty-two-year-old African American was shot and killed by Bay Area transit police on New Year's Day in 2008. The film is the perfect complement to any of the documentaries on contemporary topics, especially the ones on mass incarceration and policing, including Whose Streets?

Documentaries and movies are incredible resources for teaching civil rights history, and never before have so many been available for classroom instruction. The best ones can truly deepen understanding of the movement, but even the worst ones can be used to make clear what the struggle was about. The right documentary, paired with the right movie, can help students wrap their minds around even those aspects of the movement that are the hardest to comprehend.

Hasan Kwame Jeffries is associate professor of History at The Ohio State University where he teaches courses on the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement. Jeffries is the author of Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama's Black Belt (NYU Press, 2009) and the editor of Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement (University of Wisconsin Press, 2019). Jeffries has worked on several public history projects including the renovation of the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. He hosts the podcast Teaching Hard History: American Slavery for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

From Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement edited by Hasan Kwame Jeffries. Reprinted by permission of the University of Wisconsin Press. © 2019 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved.

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Two Thumbs Up: Movies and Documentaries to Use (and Avoid) When Teaching Civil Rights - Zinn Education Project

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Documentaries and movies are highly effective tools for teaching civil rights history. They make the movement come alive, breathing life into the nameless and faceless masses who mobilized and organized for change.

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Resources for educators on race and culturally responsive pedagogy

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Teachers shaken by recent events and wondering how to work for change in our society and schools can start with these lesson plans, videos, and other resources.

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50+ Resources for Talking about Race

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This text set features poems, informational texts, short stories, speeches, and more to help you get started.

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Confronting Bias:Ethics in the Classroom

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Confronting Bias:Ethics in the Classroom

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Version: 3.70.0 Copyright ©2020 a service of WHRO Education. All rights reserved. eMediaVA is made possible in part by the Virginia Department of Education and philanthropic contributions.

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Breyonna Taylor

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Newsela | L.A. woman drawing attention to another black death at police hands: Breonna Taylor

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When it comes to cases of police brutality, the stories of women get little media and political attention.

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17 Books About Racial Inequality for Young Children

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17 Books About Racial Inequality for Young Children

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This multi-award winning historical novel follows three children who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968, during the early days of the Black Panther Party. It is funny and painful and just brilliant, with an engaging cast of characters and an important context and message.
Middle Grade, 10 and up
This truly powerful novel delves deep into issues of colorism. It is often painful to read, as Genesis struggles with self-loathing, internalized racism, poverty and a verbally abusive family. Raw, honest and emotional, older middle-grade readers will fall in love with Genesis as they follow her battles and she finally learns to love herself. This novel follows a young Black girl as she learns to navigate the world around her, investigating issues of race, racism, police brutality and racial injustice. It delves into the Black Lives Matter movement and the importance of protest as its twelve-year-old protagonist grows up and learns to find her voice. Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. Dead, he chronicles the aftermath of this injustice in a haunting, heartbreaking and powerful read.
Teen, Ages 12 and up
This collection of boldly illustrated poems pays tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists insisting that Black Lives Matter. It encompasses a range of styles and includes notes and back matter that details the inspiration and references for the poems. This powerful reimagining of Dr. Ibram X Kendi's National Book Award-winning Stamped From the Beginning is balanced perfectly between the educational and the hopeful as it covers the deep-seated history of racist ideas in America, and also helps readers to identify and eradicate racist thoughts in their daily lives. Beloved award-winner Jason Reynolds brings an energizing narrative to Kendi's work, and also lends his voice to the audiobook (highly recommend a listen, available on Libro.fm). The story of Starr Carter, a 16-year-old who sees her childhood best friend fatally shot by a police officer, has quickly become a staple on book lists like this one, designed to facilitate a conversation with young readers about police brutality and systemic racism in America. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas's gripping debut is an absolute must-read. Justyce McAllister is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend-but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs. This gut-wrenching portrait of a young man reckoning with the persistent violence of social injustice is unapologetic in its spotlighting of historical and present racism in America. The highly anticipated sequel, Dear Justyce, comes out this fall and delivers an unflinching look into the flawed practices and silenced voices in the American juvenile justice system.

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17 Books About Racial Inequality for Young Readers

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This multi-award winning historical novel follows three children who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968, during the early days of the Black Panther Party. It is funny and painful and just brilliant, with an engaging cast of characters and an important context and message. This truly powerful novel delves deep into issues of colorism.

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Smithsonian African American History Museum 

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Smithsonian African American History Museum 

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Talking About Race

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National Museum of African American History and Culture

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Whether you are teaching infants, adults, or any age in between, you are an influential part of your students’ learning and development. Educators too have an important role in communicating of our history and culture. What and how the history of race in America is presented is an opportunity to eng…

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What Teachers Should Learn From the George Floyd Murder, part 1  

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What Teachers Should Learn From the George Floyd Murder, part 1  

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Education Week - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo

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The question is:
What should teachers learn from the murder of George Floyd?
The murder of George Floyd, the community response to it, and the subsequent police violence are shedding some light on racism and its effects-in our country, our communities, and in our institutions-including in schools.

Today, Antoine Germany and Lorie Barber share their thoughts. Several more posts in this series will appear throughout the week.

You might also be interested in numerous past posts appearing here on race and racism in schools and how to combat it: Race & Gender Challenges
The importance of being anti-racist Antoine Germany is a teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif., and chair of its English department:
The tragic murder of George Floyd, a black man, by a white police officer in Minneapolis has obviously struck a nerve in American society. The subsequent protests nationwide are a testament to how individuals in minority communities have been abused, distrusted, marginalized, and dehumanized for many years. The call for justice for the perpetrators of this senseless killing is only one aspect of why so many Americans have taken to the streets and expressed their outrage and frustration to a society that has seen these injuries to black and brown bodies far too often. The issues involved are many; however, what should educators take away from this particular episode in an ongoing saga of the killing of black men by the people sworn to protect them? What hard truths do teachers, administrators, and policymakers have to confront to remedy issues that George Floyd's murder highlight?

Systemic racism is not unique to the criminal-justice system. It is far too easy to point out the martyrs of police killings: Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, and Freddie Gray just to name a few. It is also easy to point out the racial disparities in incarceration rates, bail determinations by judges, and felony disenfranchisement to see that the criminal-justice system works differently for different races. Many have pointed out that the criminal-justice system isn't dysfunctional at all but does exactly what it was designed to do. After the bloody Civil War and the end of slavery, the 13th Amendment freed the slaves but offered the caveat of "involuntary servitude" for duly convicted criminals; shortly thereafter, black men began to be incarcerated at alarming rates for minor offenses such as loitering. The "War on Drugs" which succeeded the "Law and Order" platforms of the '70s began the age of mass incarceration where millions of black and brown people were imprisoned and millions more were relegated to second-class citizens for being a felon. Many would argue that the criminal-justice system offers a window into the American psyche, and what it reveals is a criminalization and fear of black and brown people and a dehumanization of said people.

But what about education? Is it dysfunctional or does it succeed in accomplishing what it was designed to do? The data are clear that black and brown students are suspended more regularly, test more poorly, and drop out more regularly than their white counterparts. The famed "school to prison pipeline" offers a window into the American psyche as well. Public schools in America began as a segregated enterprise, funding for schools was never designed to be equal, and expectations or outcomes were never the same for black students historically.

So if systemic racism is not unique to the penal system and is actually true of the educational system as well, what can we do? What should be done to correct a system that appears colorblind but in fact is anything but?

As Ibram Kendi writes, i t is not enough to not be racist, we must be anti-racist. Many individuals, whether they are teachers, administrators, or teacher aides point to their own efforts working with minority communities and ask themselves what can I do to be part of the solution for their students. There are many things that can be done, from valuing diversity in the workforce, particularly in leadership, to teachers actually living in the community in which they teach. However, the greatest catalyst for change is to realize that we as individuals make up the system.

Teachers, coaches, support staff are the educational system. Each individual might not have personal animus toward any race, but that's not enough. Neutrality is what gives us the system we have today. Silence in the face of systemic racism and oppression is no different from the police officers who stood idly by while Mr. Floyd pleaded for his life. We must be anti-racist, we must confront, name, and actively dismantle a system that benefits some but marginalizes others. That means we don't teach history as a dry collection of facts but as a living, moving, drama that affects our students today. That means we select a curriculum that is not only from diverse editors but also raises issues of oppression. It means schools try to intervene when a student is chronically absent or in the behavior office regularly. It means we actively talk about race and racism in faculty meetings and department meetings instead of assuming "colorblindness."

Unfortunately, the story of George Floyd is an all too familiar one. We have seen this story before; the protests eventually fade, the crowds will soon disperse until the next victim. Let's hope that the legacy of Mr. Floyd this time is to do what we can as individuals to right the wrongs that we see everyday and be the voice to so many students who are voiceless.

A change must come Lorie Barber is a 5th grade teacher and book lover who lives and works in the westurn suburbs of Chicago:
George Floyd.

One in dozens of names that we know off the top of our heads, along with Ahmaud Arbery. Trayvon Martin. Sandra Bland. Philando Castille. Eric Garner. Tamir Rice. Laquan McDonald, Brionna Taylor. Racist actions resulting in the murders of Black people. Some by citizens, some by police. And countless others that have died at the hands of racism, whose names we forget. Why? Part of the reason is systemic racism in education. Seventhy-nine percent of educators are White. Yet 52 percent of our students identify as Black, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, or Native American ( National Center for Education Statistics).

I was asked to write a blog post answering the question, "What should teachers learn from the death of George Floyd?" Honestly, I vacillated as to whether I should comment. I'm not a racism expert, only having begun my anti-racist work two years ago. I'm not Black. I work hard to center and amplify Black voices, yet this seemed counterproductive to that. But, my Black colleagues are tired of their White colleagues asking what they should do in times like this. What they should read. What actions they should take. IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO ASK YOUR BLACK FRIENDS OR COLLEAGUES TO DO THIS WORK FOR YOU. White people made this mess. It's up to us to fix it. In fact, it's way past time. We cannot continue to ignore the systemic racism that results in five times as many Black men than White men being incarcerated ( NAACP.)

So, what SHOULD we learn from George Floyd's murder?

First, we must learn how to be anti-racist, not NOT racist. Dr. Ibram X. Kendi (author of How to Be an Antiracist) says, "I define an antiracist as someone who is expressing an antiracist idea or supporting an antiracist policy with their actions, and I define an antiracist idea as any idea that says the racial groups are equal." To be anti-racist, we should learn about bias and do the lifelong internal work of uncovering, naming, sitting with, and talking about our biases. We ALL have biases. They're part of our socialized brains. I have uncovered many of mine (and have many more) that have changed the way I interact with my Black students and students of color. The internal work is messy. It's hard. You'll get defensive. But keep asking yourself, "What will happen to my Black students if I don't advocate for them?" DiAngelo's White Fragility is PERFECT for this work.

Most important of all, we need to LISTEN to the Black community. We need to pull back the curtain on micro (and not-so-micro) aggressions toward students of color. There are infinite resources that will allow you to listen to the Black community and begin to understand why "reverse racism" and "all lives matter" are not things. Some are listed here, with the knowledge that my anti-racist journey is built on the shoulders of GIANTS, to whom I am immensely grateful.

Books I've used on anti-racism for teachers and students:

How to Be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram Kendi

White Rage by Carol Anderson

Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzl

Stamped by Kendi & Jason Reynolds (great for the younger set if you're looking to do this work with your children at home or your middle or high school students)

This Book is Antiracist by Tiffany Jewell (great for middle grades and up in classrooms and at home)

We Got This: Equity, Access, and the Quest to Be Who Our Students Need Us to Be by Cornelius Minor

Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara K. Ahmed. I use this as the base of my teaching bias and discrimination with my students.

An Indigenous People's History of the United States for Young People, adapted by Jean Mendoza and Dr. Debbie Reese. This is the student version of the original written by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and is a vital component of my social studies curriculum.

There are MANY hashtags, organizations, and people on Twitter (please don't ask them to do anti-racist research for you!). I am @barberchicago; rather than give you a list of a million educators of color, take a look at who I follow.

Finally, we must learn to teach this relevant and current topic to our students, no matter our discomfort. Our discomfort doesn't matter. Again, sit with it. Say you are uncomfortable. Say you are new at being anti-racist. It's OK to be vulnerable with students as you grapple with this work together.

This lifelong work: Uncovering our biases, listening, and teaching anti-racism is the work of teachers, and it is past time that we act on behalf of our kids.

Thanks to Antoine and Lorie for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it's selected or if you'd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It's titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar. All Classroom Q&A Posts on the Coronavirus Crisis This Year's Most Popular Q&A Posts Race & Gender Challenges Classroom-Management Advice Best Ways to Begin the School Year Best Ways to End the School Year Implementing the Common Core Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning Teaching Social Studies Cooperative & Collaborative Learning Using Tech in the Classroom Parent Engagement in Schools Teaching English-Language Learners Reading Instruction Writing Instruction Education Policy Issues Assessment Differentiating Instruction Math Instruction Science Instruction Advice for New Teachers Author Interviews Entering the Teaching Profession The Inclusive Classroom Learning & the Brain Administrator Leadership Teacher Leadership Relationships in Schools Professional Development Instructional Strategies Best of Classroom Q&A Professional Collaboration Classroom Organization Mistakes in Education Project-Based Learning
I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

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What Teachers Should Learn From the Murder of George Floyd

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The question is: What should teachers learn from the murder of George Floyd? The murder of George Floyd, the community response to it, and the subsequent police violence are shedding some light on racism and its effects-in our country, our communities, and in our institutions-including in schools.

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What Teachers Should and Should Not Do - In Response to Georg Floyd's Death, part 2

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What Teachers Should and Should Not Do - In Response to Georg Floyd's Death, part 2

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Education Week - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo

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The question is:
What should teachers learn from the killing of George Floyd?
In Part One, Antoine Germany and Lorie Barber shared their thoughts.

Today, Dr. Tracey A. Benson and Holly Spinelli contribute their commentaries.

Several more posts in this series will appear throughout the week.

You might also be interested in numerous past posts appearing here on race and racism in schools and how to combat it: Race & Gender Challenges
"Educators play a central role in the perpetuation of anti-black racism in our society"
Dr. Tracey A. Benson is an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research explores the vestiges of structural racism in K-12 education that continue to impede the academic success of students of color. His book, Unconscious Bias in Schools: A Developmental Approach to Exploring Race and Racism, was released by Harvard Education Press in August 2019:

The law-enforcement officer who has been charged with murdering George Floyd and the other cops who witnessed it were all once students in someone's classroom. How did the teacher of Derek Chauvin, the officer with his knee on the neck of George Floyd, teach him and his classmates about the civil rights movement and the historical oppression of Black people in the United States? What might have happened differently on that fateful day if the educators who cared for Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, the officers who stood by as George Floyd lay on the ground, had taught their students how to stand up against racism as a part of their socio-emotional development? What would Tou Thao, the officer filmed holding onlookers back as George Floyd cried out for help, have done if his teachers used historical moments such as the murder of Emmitt Till or the beating of Rodney King to help him understand how Black people have been and continue to be the targets of racialized violence?

Educators play a central role in the perpetuation of anti-black racism in our society. All too often, classroom teachers and school leaders subscribe to an ethos of color-mute racism, deliberately suppressing conversations about race and racism, even as the country is in racial peril. Kids want to talk about what they see and how they feel, but educators, especially White educators, sacrifice student learning about racism in society because of their personal discomfort. However, what we often do not realize is that the very color-mute racism we perpetuate as educators is a direct result of the racially illiterate teachers who taught us.

The reason adults are racially illiterate, struggle to talk openly about racism, and have an intense fear of being labeled "racist" is because we don't teach racial literacy in our schools ... we teach racism. We teach interpersonal racism when we act on our biases and treat White students better than students of color. We teach structural racism when we accept the barriers that prevent students of color from enrolling in honors and AP classes. We teach cultural racism when we use a White-centric curriculum that only talks about people of color with relation to times of struggle and ignores vital contributions people of color have made to this country. We teach White liberal racism by treating racist incidents, like the killing of George Floyd, as "bad apple" anomalies, rather than a product of our racist society.

Racism is foundational to the United States and continues to plague our society in innumerable ways. The civil unrest we witness time and time again after yet another killing of an unarmed Black person is, as Martin Luther King said, "... an expression of the unheard." These trends will not be legislated away. It will take a concerted effort from a majority of society to combat the stranglehold racism has on our country.

So, what can educators do?

First, what not to do: 1) Express on social media sentiments of "heartbreak" and "sorrow" and be done with it. Expressions of personal feelings are nice but don't make change. 2) Absolving oneself of responsibility because of lack of know-how. If you are not actively anti-racist, you are directly contributing to racism in society. 3) Reach out to your colleagues or co-workers of color to "check on them" as your sole act, especially if you have not shown up for them before during the litany of previous acts of racism in society. Patronizing for the purpose of self-gratification is irresponsible.

What to do: 1) Pick up literature to get a better understanding about the legacy of racism toward people of color in this country before attempting to enter into conversations or take action. Good intentions are not a substitute for ignorance. It is amazing how folks can Google how to make face masks or homemade bread but never think to Google how to fight racial bias or be an anti-racist. 2) Make a deliberate plan of how you will disrupt racism within your circle of influence. There are plenty of opportunities in our schools and school communities to address vestiges of racism (learn where these areas are by reading literature). 3) Resist the urge to be color mute. After you educate yourself about how the legacy of racism contributes to contemporary racism and anti-black violence, create deliberate spaces for your students to discuss these topics in your classroom.

Our collective discomfort is a direct result of the legacy of color-mute racism in schools, which has left the vast majority of us well-meaning, caring, invested educators racially illiterate. All of the perpetrators who held George Floyd in custody were students once in someone's classroom. It is our responsibility to eradicate racism within our circle of influence. Our actions in our schools, especially in schools without a single student of color, should be guided by our desire to allow our students to build a more racially just society. Silence robs our students of a better future. To all of my fellow educators, please read, learn, do better.
"We must examine our pedagogical practices" Holly Spinelli is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English's Committee Against Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English, who began her career as an English teacher and student-rights' activist in New York City public schools and continues this work in a public high school in the Hudson Valley of New York and as an adjunct instructor at SUNY Orange County Community College:
The death of George Floyd is not the first killing of an unarmed black man at the hands of uniformed white men, but his is the one that, despite a long documented history of violent crimes committed against the black community in this country, seems to have awakened folks, namely white people, from a sleepy, complacent existence to one of questioning and action. So, what should teachers learn? Teachers, especially white teachers, should learn that it is time to educate themselves and the other white folks in their homes, neighborhoods, and school communities about their privilege in this country and then follow up by using that privilege to take action against the unjust systems that target, harm, and in extreme cases, murder black folks and other IBPOCs (Indigenous, Black and People of Color ). White educators need to do this even if, and especially when, it comes at a cost to our personal security and our personal gain.

We must examine our pedagogical practices: the language we use, the texts and materials we present to our students, and the curriculum we build to see how we can change them to be culturally inclusive, responsive, and anti-racist. As educators, we must continuously work toward becoming agents of positive change through self-reflection, education, and allyship with our IBPOC communities. Educators need to familiarize themselves with the history of systemic oppression and institutional racism in this country, but they must do so together and not by asking their IBPOC friends, neighbors, community members, and colleagues to do the work for them. This is a time for white educators to step away from the sidelines, to conduct their own research, and to begin doing the work. The safety and future of our schools, students, and communities depend on it.

George Floyd's death amplifies Angela Davis' message that, "In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be antiracist." Educators need to do the work to become anti-racist and to create anti-racist educational spaces. The outdated tradition of teacher "neutrality" on issues of racism and human-rights violations is complicit with upholding antiquated, racist, sexist, classist, oppressive systems.

We need to speak up. We need to teach ourselves, each other, and our students how to identify, engage, and dismantle racism and oppression within ourselves and among those around us. Educators' silence on issues of racism, bias, and oppression has never been and can no longer be acceptable. Silence aids white supremacy. Silence aids racism. Refusing to acknowledge the black community's centuries-long pain and suffering at the hands of racist and oppressive systems in this country sends a clear message to our students that it is OK to ignore these issues and to continue with life as it is. This is a privilege that can no longer be ignored. It is a privilege that needs to be checked. Not doing so is an injustice to education and an injustice to all.
Steps You Can Take in Your Classrooms and Within Your School Communities:

Amplify and study voices of IBPOC authors and content providers.

Cite IBPOC authors and content providers when you include their work and ideas in your PD sessions or in any other materials you share with others.

Be self-reflective. Ask yourself about any past harms you may have intentionally or unintentionally caused. Recognize these and fix the behaviors so you and your school community can move forward. Ask: Who was harmed? How were they harmed? What can I do to make positive changes moving forward? How can I make sure I do not make the same mistakes?

If you make a public error, make a public apology.

Challenge school or district policies that discriminate/target/police students of color (hair policies, dress codes that include hoodie or hat policies, etc.).

White educators: Talk to each other about anti-racism and educate yourselves and each other on how to take well-informed, actionable steps.

Here are resources to help:

Thanks to Dr. Benson and to Holly for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it's selected or if you'd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It's titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar. All Classroom Q&A Posts on the Coronavirus Crisis This Year's Most Popular Q&A Posts Race & Gender Challenges Classroom-Management Advice Best Ways to Begin the School Year Best Ways to End the School Year Implementing the Common Core Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning Teaching Social Studies Cooperative & Collaborative Learning Using Tech in the Classroom Parent Engagement in Schools Teaching English-Language Learners Reading Instruction Writing Instruction Education Policy Issues Assessment Differentiating Instruction Math Instruction Science Instruction Advice for New Teachers Author Interviews Entering the Teaching Profession The Inclusive Classroom Learning & the Brain Administrator Leadership Teacher Leadership Relationships in Schools Professional Development Instructional Strategies Best of Classroom Q&A Professional Collaboration Classroom Organization Mistakes in Education Project-Based Learning
I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.

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What Educators Should-and Should Not Do-in Response to George Floyd's Death

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The question is: What should teachers learn from the killing of George Floyd? In Part One, Antoine Germany and Lorie Barber shared their thoughts. Today, Dr. Tracey A. Benson and Holly Spinelli contribute their commentaries. Several more posts in this series will appear throughout the week.

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Advice for Newly Woke White Teachers on Teaching Black Children, part 3

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Advice for Newly Woke White Teachers on Teaching Black Children, part 3

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Education Week - Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo

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(This is Part Three in a multipart series on this topic. You can see Part One here and Part Two here.)
The question is:
What should teachers learn from the killing of George Floyd?
In Part One, Antoine Germany and Lorie Barber shared their thoughts.

In Part Two, Dr. Tracey A. Benson and Holly Spinelli contributed their commentaries.

Today, Joe Truss and Janice Wyatt-Ross make their recommendations.

Several more posts in this series will appear throughout the week.

You might also be interested in numerous past posts appearing here on race and racism in schools and how to combat it: Race & Gender Challenges
Advice for the newly 'woke' white teachers on teaching black children
Joe Truss is committed to dismantling white-supremacy culture in schools. He grew up in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood and taught high school Spanish in Oakland, Calif. He has been the principal of Visitacion Valley Middle School in San Francisco for five years. There, he has worked to grow project-based learning, restorative practices, and reading intervention. In 2018, he started his blog CulturallyResponsiveLeadership.com, where he writes about school leadership and anti-racism. He also offers leadership coaching and workshops on racial equity. He is offering an upcoming workshop on Dismantling White Supremacy Culture in Schools, on June 27-28:
I am reflecting on the recent racist events of thousands of brown bodies dying due to COVID-19, the wave of police murders, and all the entitled people violating shelter-in-place orders, trying to create another Emmett Till. As a result, I wanted to share my reflections and advice for teachers. There is one version for teachers of color and one for White teachers.
Teacher of Color Version: I love you. We are in this together. Keep fighting for our babies. You already possess everything you need. You are priceless and part of the global majority. There is nothing minor about you. I am here with you. I love you. We will get through this. We always do. Survival, resistance, and empowerment is in our DNA, in our spirit. I love you.
White Teacher Version: You've got work to do. Today, you're posting about social justice, buying anti-racist books, following brown folks, and temporarily changing your profile pictures. Cool. Here's what I need you to do tomorrow and to keep doing in the future:

Don't look away from the images. Ahmaud Arbery was shot in cold blood. George Floyd was slain in broad daylight. Breonna Taylor was killed in her home. When you find yourself getting overwhelmed, feeling guilty, and wanting to burden a brown person, stop. Find a few White folks to talk to about Whiteness and anti-Blackness. Read about White fragility and push through it. Push others through it and engage in White affinity anti-racist conversations. Continue reading about Black history and exploring narratives of Black people but please make sure they are written by Black people.

On Systemic Racism and Learning

When you are ready to zoom out from thinking about individual events, the racist nature of the system will start to come into clearer view. We are already getting a better picture of institutional racism in health care, employment policy, worker compensation, and the education system as a result of COVID-19. All of these institutions have a profound impact on students' lives. Make an inventory of your previous voting records, including propositions, measures, and elected officials. Look at the results of your voting and determine to what extent your votes supported an agenda of White privilege and anti-Blackness. Apply a critical-race-theory lens to politics and the impact of political decisions on the Black community, and by extension, on Black students. The same can be done with the policies in your school. Vote differently and stop compromising your morals.

At this point, you might have become tired of talking about, thinking about-and if you have been trying harder, working on-racism. If you feel tired, multiply that by a lifetime and you will start to get a picture of what it is to be a Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color. You shouldn't feel so tired. You should get back to work. Refrain from asking People of Color how to continue fighting racism. That's offensive. We have to fight. Instead, get some help from White folks. Not just any White folks. You should look to people who are further along in their conscious development, more humble about their wokeness, and more willing to break White solidarity. Look to them, read their work, and listen to them speak. Go back and discuss these issues with White folks working toward anti-racism.

If you feel like you need to go to a Person of Color to tell them you support them, don't; just support them. If you feel like you need to go to a Person of Color to ask them where to start, don't; go and find a White person who is further along in their consciousness development. Not every book is equal, especially for you. Here's an anti-racist book list to get you started. When you've finished reading books written by White people for White people, read books written by Black people for White people, and finally, read books written by Black people for Black people. There's a difference. Notice the subtleties. You should be able to hear the message in all forms, but if you can't, explore why you can't. When you aren't emotionally triggered or playing devil's advocate, and your White fragility isn't acting up as much as before, you will know you are making progress.

On Interrupting Racism in Schools

There are conversations happening right now in your home, your classroom, and your school that need to be disrupted. Listen in White spaces and in mixed-race spaces for racist remarks, microaggressions, racial-equity myths, White rage, and white-supremacy culture. Pay attention to what other White folks say in staff meetings, small breakouts, and, even more importantly, informal conversations in the staff lounge, the parking lot, or the copy room. But it's not enough to just listen. If you see something, say something and do something. Be ready to go to war with racists and even harder with the "I'm not racist" folks, at a moment's notice. You are going to feel tired. But you aren't. We're tired. Consider what it would take for folks not to feel comfortable around you anymore with their racist and nonracist comments.

On Relationships and Classroom Management

Stop trying to manage us, control us, or trick us into being like you with school bucks and trinkets. The rate of punishment of Black bodies is disproportionately high, so learn more about restorative justice and restorative practices. Stop kicking so many damn kids out of class.

This will give you a different relationship with your Black students. When someone asks, "Why are we doing this again?" remind them of the racial bias Whites have toward people with dark skin. If they need an example, remind them of the killing of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and Oscar Grant. Turn on the news and realize that ain't nothing changed simply because you woke up a little bit more and acknowledged more of what's in your invisible knapsack of privilege. When you are ready, you will find that there's more. Returning to restorative practices, accept that there is a lot more you need to do before taking on any restorative actions-things that have nothing to do with classroom management. Even before the content and pedagogy, it has to begin with you.

On Teaching and Learning

When you return to the classroom, think about how you can elevate and center the Black experience in your curricula, year-round, not just in February. Be careful not to tell only stories of oppression and struggle. In addition, shine light on stories and examples of resistance, affirmation, and empowerment. Take half-if not all-of the adopted textbook and throw it out. Create what will engage and interest your most marginalized and oppressed students. Think about what will empower them. Stop talking so much in class and monopolizing the time. Trust me, the students don't want to hear it. If your kids want to talk, let them learn through talking like we all do. Give them something to talk about that is interesting, challenging, and meaningful to them. Not you. Them. Get your kids moving, active, out of those individual desks, and out of the four walls of confinement. There's a whole world out there to explore-and, spoiler alert-learning can happen there, too. If you do it right, you can even be a part of it.

Continual Learning and Reflection

Pick up another book to read, join another discussion group, sign up for another seminar about your content and pedagogy but, primarily, continue to unpack your privilege. Digging through the cobwebs of colonialism is more powerful in White affinity groups. Now that you have done some reflection and taken some action, I am sure that another atrocity of racism, another incident of anti-Blackness will have happened. You will be more prepared and better versed in the process of awakening and reckoning with anti-racism. You might even be able to bring this into your classroom. You should. You will need help. But because you are more aware, don't excuse yourself from the work. We are all recovering white supremacists, perpetrators of white-supremacy culture (even me, as a Black man). Since you are further along, help other White folks on their path but don't stop moving. Stagnation facilitates the status quo, and your students need you to be working toward transformation and liberation. You might even have some Brown folks to be in solidarity with. Don't ask them. When it's time, they will let you know. It might take your whole life to have an authentic partnership. That's OK. Keep working.

"Stop placing yourselves as their savior" Janice Wyatt-Ross is the program director for a dropout-prevention/re-engagement center in Lexington, Ky. She and her husband of 23 years are the parents of two daughters:
I read a post this past week wherein someone has been praying about what they can do help the Black community in the wake of the death of George Floyd. This person finally settled on the idea that mentoring "at risk" youths or children in foster care is the answer. "There are so many kids who need someone to put them on the right path and lead by example." That person's epiphany did not rest well with me, and I pondered on it for a few days. I was not disturbed by the desire to help. I was unsettled that the person chose to help those in which she felt were underprivileged. She did not choose to advocate for her peers or colleagues but rather she felt the tug to go "down in the trenches" and give of her time to "at risk" youths. Please don't get me wrong, there is a need to support children in the foster-care system but how, better yet who, is considered at risk?

As an educator, I am always thinking like a teacher. As a Black educator, I am intentional to always view the world through the lens of the oppressed. As a parent, I am always trying to gain insight that I will share with my children. First, as an educator, it is very presumptuous of this person to automatically assume that children who they deem "at risk" need to be led. Youths need guidance. They need to be shown various lifestyle choices. As a parent, my own children have been viewed or could be viewed as "at risk" by those who view them out of the context of their home environment. Who is doing the leading, and where are you leading them? How am I to know that you are leading them in the right direction for them?

Second, it is very presumptuous of this person to think that children surrounded by barriers are inevitably destined for failure if they are not led. It is not you who needs to save "these kids." As an educator, my role is to prepare them for the future. My role is to make sure that they have access to opportunities and access to resources. I do not force my ways of being on to them. I create the environment for them to be free to be whomever they want to be. I cannot force them to do things my way. I can only provide them with the tools they will need for the future. It is up to the student to accept what I have to offer.

What can teachers do to stop the cycle of racism? Stop assuming that you are the only one who has the students' best interests at heart. Stop penalizing them because they express themselves in ways that are not pleasing to you. Stop being afraid of them because of their skin color. Stop placing yourselves as their savior. Stop making assumptions that their parents do not care. Stop making assumptions that they misbehave in school because they have not been taught. Consider why they/we act out. What is your role in this behavior? Consider that they may be acting out because you emit vibrations of dislike that they can detect. Instead of pointing a finger at them, examine the three that are pointing back at you.

What we need you to do is advocate for us. We need you to use your power of influence to make sure you and your friends don't fire us when we call you/them on your biases. Stop dismissing the consequences of your actions and replacing them with your intentions. Stop making it about you and your opinion and LISTEN when we tell you the impact of your words, rules, and actions. We need you to LISTEN and understand why we responded the way we responded. Stop thinking you have all the answers. ASK us how you can help. You can make sure that you are not being a barrier to closing the racial divide. Indigenous, Black, Persons of Color (IBPOC) children need opportunities. They need the same resources as other children; such as internet, computers, transportation, business attire, after-school tutors in higher-level classes, after-school jobs. Give them the resources and many of them will take care of the rest. Give them your time. Get to know them. Don't come with predetermined lists of what you think they need. Give them the opportunity to demonstrate their intelligence and creativity. Don't tell them how to be smart. Let them be smart in their own right. These are the things that you can do. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is a start.

Thanks to Joe and Janice for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it's selected or if you'd prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo.

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It's titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching.
Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first eight years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn't include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the "answers" category found in the sidebar. All Classroom Q&A Posts on the Coronavirus Crisis This Year's Most Popular Q&A Posts Race & Gender Challenges Classroom-Management Advice Best Ways to Begin the School Year Best Ways to End the School Year Implementing the Common Core Student Motivation & Social-Emotional Learning Teaching Social Studies Cooperative & Collaborative Learning Using Tech in the Classroom Parent Engagement in Schools Teaching English-Language Learners Reading Instruction Writing Instruction Education Policy Issues Assessment Differentiating Instruction Math Instruction Science Instruction Advice for New Teachers Author Interviews Entering the Teaching Profession The Inclusive Classroom Learning & the Brain Administrator Leadership Teacher Leadership Relationships in Schools Professional Development Instructional Strategies Best of Classroom Q&A Professional Collaboration Classroom Organization Mistakes in Education Project-Based Learning
I am also creating a Twitter list including all contributors to this column.
Correction: A previous version of this essay included an incorrect spelling of Emmett Till's name.

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'Advice for the Newly Woke White Teachers on Teaching Black Children'

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(This is Part Three in a multipart series on this topic. You can see Part One here and Part Two here.) The question is: What should teachers learn from the killing of George Floyd? In Part One, Antoine Germany and Lorie Barber shared their thoughts. In Part Two, Dr. Tracey A.

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Talking About George Floyd with Students

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Talking About George Floyd with Students

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Talking about George Floyd with students

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How Teachers Are Talking with Students About George Floyd, Protests, and Racism From check-ins to special lessons, here's how they're handling it.

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The Tutu Teacher talks about race with her kindergarten students.

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Teacher in love with children's books and advocate for the "other".

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COVID-19 and Racism: A Mother's Call for Action

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COVID-19 and Racism: A Mother's Call for Action

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https://portofharlem.net/snippets20/jun172020-health-disparities.html

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Teaching with Current Events in Your Classroom

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Teaching with Current Events in Your Classroom

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https://www.facinghistory.org/educator-resources/current-events/reflecting-george-floyds-death-police-violence-towards-black-americans

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Daily Video
DOWNLOAD VIDEO Directions: Read the news summary, watch the video and answer the discussion questions. The video has been edited for length and to remove footage of the police officer and George Floyd. To watch the video in its entirety or read the transcript, click here .
Summary: On May 25, George Floyd died while in police custody following arrest. The incident, captured on video, raises questions about the conduct of the specific police officers involved, as well as the department's broader relationship with citizens of color.

Floyd's death has set off widespread protest across the city of Minneapolis, including conflict between protesters and police and destruction of property.

Significant protests have also begun in cities as far away as Los Angeles.

Minneapolis councilwoman Andrea Jenkins describes the killing of George Floyd as symbolic of inequality of legal, environmental and health outcomes. Jenkins calls the incident a sign of the "knee on the neck of black America."

Discussion questions:

1. Essential question : What sparked the protests after the killing of George Floyd and why have they spread to other cities?

2. Floyd's death was captured on video. The widely shared video shows images of a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on Floyd's neck. How do you think the reaction to Floyd's death would be different if the incident hadn't been captured on video?

3. Councilwoman Andrea Jenkins describes the killing of Floyd as symbolic of deeper societal problems. She makes a connection between his death and disproportionate health outcomes due to loosening of environmental regulations as well as the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 on communities of color. What is your response?

4. Stories of violence and police brutality can be upsetting. If you are upset by this story, who is a trusted adult you can speak with? If you are not sure, ask your teacher.

5. Media literacy : The footage of Floyd with a knee on his neck may be difficult for viewers to watch and has been excluded from this video clip. Why do you think that decision was made? Do you think it's important to show viewers violent footage like this? Why or why not?

Extension activity
Watch or read the transcript of this interview from March 2019 featuring Tetrina Blalock discussing the police shooting of her cousin, her own experience with police in her community and her other experiences with racism. In the interview, Blalock says, "You're either going to give me my respect, or I'm going to get my respect." Have students reflect on the experiences Blalock describes and her expectations for respect in her community. What does she mean by respect? For a short NewsHour EXTRA lesson using this video, this video click here.

For monthly updates containing teacher resources on Election 2020, click . Sign up for short education highlights from the PBS NewsHour .

If you are making plans for distance learning, take a look at our list of PBS resources that covers a variety of subjects for middle and high school students.

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Death of George Floyd sets off massive protests | PBS NewsHour Extra

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DOWNLOAD VIDEO Directions: Read the news summary, watch the video and answer the discussion questions. The video has been edited for length and to remove footage of the police officer and George Floyd. To watch the video in its entirety or read the transcript, click here .

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40+ Books for AntiRacist Teachers - summer 2020 update

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40+ Books for AntiRacist Teachers - summer 2020 update

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Source: Culturally Responsive Leadership - Joe Truss website

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Do Conversations About Race Belong in the Classroom?

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Do Conversations About Race Belong in the Classroom?

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Source: The Atlantic

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Two decades ago, Beverly Daniel Tatum published a bestselling book on the psychology of racism. Now, with the release of the book's second edition, she reflects on its relevance to schools today.

In 1997, Beverly Daniel Tatum, one of the country's foremost authorities on the psychology of racism, answered a recurring question that surfaced in her work with teachers, administrators, and parent groups: Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? The result was a critically acclaimed book of the same name that gave readers-numbering in the hundreds of thousands-a starting point to demystify conversations about race, better understand the concept of racial identity, and communicate across racial and ethnic divides.

Now two decades later, the black kids are still sitting together. And Tatum has returned with a revised and updated 20th-anniversary edition of her national bestseller that publishes today. One aspect that has changed dramatically since the original release of Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race are America's demographics. Latinos and Asian Americans are the largest and fastest-growing populations of color, respectively, with children of color for the first time outnumbering white children in public schools. Additionally, the backlash against the election of the first black president, the continuing segregation of schools, and highly visible incidents of police violence seem to belie the claim of a "post-racial society"-making Tatum's perspectives on effective dialogue about race and racism especially relevant.

Tatum recently shared some thoughts with The Atlantic on why conversations about race remain vexing and what can happen when educators and parents avoid those conversations. The interview that follows has been edited for length and clarity.

Melinda D. Anderson: Has your perspective changed on anything you wrote in the original edition of your book?

Beverly Daniel Tatum: In 1997 my goal in writing my book was to help others move beyond fear, anger, and denial to a new understanding of what racism is, how it impacts all of us, and ultimately what we can do about it. ... I still have that goal, but in 1997 we were a nation at peace and the economy was expanding. Today we are a nation at war, suffering from economic anxiety and the combination of "post-racial" rhetoric, simmering racial resentments, and an increasing 140-character culture of communication that has made productive conversation more difficult to have.

That said, it is still the case that in a race-conscious society, we all have a racial identity that develops in predictable ways, shaped largely by the interactions we have with others. I still believe that an understanding of that identity-development process can help all of us begin to build bridges across lines of difference.

Anderson: In the wake of the events in Charlottesville, Virginia-where members of the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists marched through the city last month-many educators are grappling with how to help students understand and contextualize America's history of racism and current racial divides. What would you say to teachers and administrators struggling in this area?

Tatum: I like to begin my conversations with educators by talking about why it's so hard for people to talk about race. I often ask them to think about their own earliest race-related memories, and without exception what I find is that many people have [these] memories-and if you ask how old they were, they'll often tell you 5, 6, 7 years old. Then I usually ask what emotion is associated with that memory. And they'll mention things like embarrassment, fear, anger, sadness, shame, [and] sometimes confusion. Most often it's some uncomfortable feeling.

[Finally] I ask: When that experience happened, did you speak about it to anyone? Did you talk to a parent, or a teacher, a caring adult about this experience? And almost always, the majority of the people in the audience will say they did not. There's often just this understanding that you're not supposed to talk about it. And I start there simply to say ... now you're 35 or whatever age, and you've had a lot of lifetime experiences that have told you, don't talk about this.

You can't solve a problem without talking about it. And certainly if we think about educational environments and experiences, it is in the classroom where you can create the space for a conversation about the meaning of the Confederate flag and [discuss] those statues [and] when they were put up. There are resources that teachers can use-provided by organizations like Facing History and Ourselves-to inform themselves, and then bring that information into classrooms in an age-appropriate way. [Also,] if I were in a classroom talking about what happened [in Charlottesville] I'd want to lift up not only the horrific things that we all know about, but also the solidarity of the people who came out the next day to remember the memory of Heather Heyer [a 32-year-old woman who was killed protesting the white-supremacist rally]. I think that it's important ... in these conversations, to always leave space for hope.

Anderson: You delve deeply into the racial-identity development process for black youth-from their early years through adulthood. One anecdote brings the specific role of black teachers to the forefront. Can you tell me about the role black educators-who make up just 7 percent of the public-school teaching force-play in black children's lives?

Tatum: I often use this analogy: If you and I were in a room together with lots of other people and somebody took a photograph of us, and I handed you that photograph at the end of our time together, and you took a look at it, what would be the first thing you would do? You're going to look for yourself in the picture.

If you think about classrooms or workspaces or conferences, wherever we are, we go into these spaces and we look for ourselves. You want to see yourself represented. In that sense, when young people walk into a classroom, they want to see someone who they identify with, maybe because they're the same race. It doesn't always have to be racial identification. [A student] can identify with a teacher because she likes music [or] identify with [educators] because they are into sports. But to the extent that kids of color walk into classrooms and rarely see someone who looks like themselves in that environment, that's a missing link.

Anderson: Your writing on the development of white identity was a revelatory look into the current cultural and social dynamics in the United States. Please talk about the process of redefining whiteness from "just normal" to a more nuanced conception of what it means to be white.

Tatum: If ... you live in a neighborhood where everybody or most people are white, you grew up in a family where all the members are white, and you go to a school and most people are white, [chances are] you [see your white identity as] the norm. And you probably don't think much about it-that's not the part of your identity that you're focused on. But when you enter into a space, a classroom or a workplace, where you are now in a racially mixed environment, and there's conversation about issues of race in particular, you may start to have a greater awareness. You start to learn what whiteness means, in some ways, because you start to see what racial-group membership means for other people. Or maybe [that awareness comes through] ... reading a book, or taking a class.

However that awareness starts to happen, what I've found is that [white] people start to realize that they've had some advantages. ... They've had some benefits as a result of being white that they'd never really paid attention to, but have taken for granted, or not even noticed. And when they start to notice or when they learn the history, it's upsetting ... There are often feelings of guilt. It's usually at that point where it can be really helpful [to join] an organization like Showing Up for Racial Justice, which helps white people support each other in their growth and learning around how to become anti-racist.

[Figuring out how to turn that guilt into action] is a learning process, and it's not as linear as I'm describing. It often requires re-educating oneself or learning things that you never learned in school, simply because it wasn't [taught]. Talking to people you don't usually talk to. It's not like it happens instantly.

Anderson: Interestingly, you expand on the conversation-shifting beyond black and white-to interrupt the frequent resistance to talking about racism in non-black communities of color. What are some of the complexities surrounding identity development for students who belong to those communities?

Tatum: Well, I think the basic principle goes back to that picture analogy. If we want to affirm the identities of our students, the first thing we have to think about is: Do they see themselves represented? One of the points I talk about is that the representation of Native Americans is always in the past. There's a Native educator I quote who says Native youth, who have a very high suicide rate, need to see themselves as having a future, not just a past. It's thinking about how students will find themselves in the curriculum, not just who's teaching, but [also] how are they being talked about? If you're Native American, do you see yourself represented at all except perhaps as the mascot of the football team?

The common stereotype for Asians is that they're academically successful, particularly in science and math. But what if you are a young Asian person who is interested in journalism? Are you able to express yourself fully or are you being categorized so narrowly that your options are being foreclosed? In the case of Latinos, language is important to identity. Familism [prioritizing family relationships] is an important cultural value; you want to preserve your language so you can speak to [your] grandmother. But if you're in a school where you feel your language is perceived as a liability-not an asset-that has a direct impact on how you feel about being in school.

Regardless of your group membership, the questions of identity are at the heart of the adolescent experience. ... Each group has its own particular social context ... but at the fundamental core of each young person's [identity development] is a desire for affirmation.

Anderson: You admit that you're an optimist at heart, but for some the prevalence of racism in American society can seem all-consuming. What fuels your sense of confidence?

Tatum: Sometimes you have to work at feeling hopeful. Social progress tends to be two steps forward, one step back. I'm old enough to know that change is possible. I was born in September of 1954, several months after the Brown v. Board of Education decision. ... If you think about the sense of urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement, those young people who are out in the streets are asking: Why are we still having this conversation? Why are these things still happening? It's a difficult moment, there's no question. Charlottesville and the President's response have reminded us how difficult it is. But that said, there are a lot of people who want change.

And it's only because I have seen that change is possible that I believe it is again possible. The dialogue is critical. That's why I always put the word "conversations" in my book titles, because you can't move forward without talking to people. Talk isn't something that comes easily [and] talk by itself isn't sufficient; you want to have those conversations because you want to inspire action.

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Do Conversations About Race Belong in the Classroom?

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Two decades ago, Beverly Daniel Tatum published a bestselling book on the psychology of racism. Now, with the release of the book's second edition, she reflects on its relevance to schools today.

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Teaching While White - Blog - Teaching While White

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Courageous Conversation - Providing Training, Coaching and Consulting for Millions of Racial Equity Leaders Around the World

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Founded in 1992 by Glenn E. Singleton, Pacific Educational Group provides services to help you facilitate courageous conversations about race in your organization, community or city.

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Souce: Zaretta Hammond's website

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Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Home - Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain

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Source: Ibram X. Kendi's website

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'Teachers Cannot Be Silent': How Educators Are Showing Up for Black Students Following Protests

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'Teachers Cannot Be Silent': How Educators Are Showing Up for Black Students Following Protests

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Source: EduWeek Blogs

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By Madeline Will and Sarah Schwartz
Protests against police brutality have erupted across the country over the past three days, leading to tough classroom conversations about race, racism, and police violence.

Teachers, already struggling to reach students during the coronavirus pandemic, are now searching for ways to help them work through their feelings about the protests and the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other unarmed black men and women-without being with their students in person. The death of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was shot while jogging by two white men in Georgia earlier this month, has also inflamed national tensions.

It's a daunting conversation to have through a screen, many teachers said. The death of Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis who died last week as a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, has sparked national outrage. Protesters took to the streets in dozens of U.S. cities over the weekend, chanting phrases like "No justice, no peace," and "I can't breathe."

In many cases, peaceful protests turned into violent unrest, with police shooting tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds and protesters setting fires, smashing storefront windows, and looting stores. More than 4,000 protesters were arrested, according to the Associated Press.

Black teachers are facing an additional burden when discussing these events with students, said Evin Shinn, an 11th grade U.S. history and language arts teacher at Cleveland High School in Seattle. He's one of only three black teachers at his school, and he feels called upon to address the protests and police brutality with his students, despite the emotional toll. Ninety percent of students at his school are students of color, and 20 percent are black.

"It's hard because as a teacher, you're not a therapist, you're not a social worker, you're not a doctor or a nurse-but those are all roles we take on when you become a teacher," Shinn said. "Particularly as a black educator, it's so important to show up for students in moments like this."

He messaged his students on the app Remind and told them he wasn't assigning any work this week. Instead, he wrote that students should do something to stop racism-like write a letter to elected officials, make a protest sign, or write a poem reflecting on inequities and the protests.

Then, he messaged his black students individually to see if they were OK and if there's anything he could do for them.

"I was very open," Shinn said, telling students that "I'm feeling definitely sad, and I'm feeling hopeless and angry, and I feel rage. How are you doing? How are you feeling?"

Students told him they felt like this was "one big emotional rollercoaster." One student said they were staying off social media because there's "a lot going on, and it's really sad."

"Usually, I'm there to process with students," Shinn said. "There's something about showing up and being in that space together and trying to figure out what it's going to look like together, and we don't have that space."

On Wednesday, he'll hold a virtual class meeting for any students who want to talk and process their emotions.

Abdul Wright, who teaches 8th grade language arts in North Minneapolis, also dropped his planned lessons last week. As protests filled the streets in his students' neighborhoods, he devoted his virtual classroom to discussing the death of George Floyd, and the response from the community. Right now, in his class, Wright says, "nothing else matters."

"I have to find a way to make meaning of this in a way that creates a better society for them," he said. Still, the idea of creating a lesson around these events drained him. Wright is black, and most of his students are as well.

"When you lived it and endured it, what it means to live unjust experiences, it triggers you. My people and the people in my community, we carry so much trauma," he said.

In a virtual meeting with his students last week, Wright introduced the Martin Luther King Jr. quote about riots: "A riot is the language of the unheard." He gave students space to talk about their feelings toward the protests that have, at times, turned violent, with protesters setting fires and breaking into businesses.

Students disagreed about protest tactics-some said that confrontation and damaging property would make protestors "look bad," Wright said. But another student said that protestors shouldn't be seeking public approval, and that black people have been criticized for protest of all forms. "It doesn't matter," Wright remembers her saying, "we're going to look bad regardless."

For many teachers, however, the school year is over, and they don't have the opportunity to hold complex class discussions.

Patrick Harris, a 6th and 7th grade English and social studies teacher at the Detroit Achievement Academy, had wrapped up his virtual classes last week. This week was meant to be spent preparing for his end-of-year conferences with students and their parents.

But after protests spread throughout Detroit over the weekend, Harris, who is black, asked his students, who are mostly black, to write a reflection. So far, he said, students have commented about how unfair the killing of Floyd-and other unarmed black men and women-was.

"They're confirming that this is something we've always seen-this is not a new image," he said. "They're not shocked by the revelation that black people are being assaulted by police officers, killed and murdered by police."

Right before school buildings shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, Harris had wrapped up a unit about the origins of race, where students learned about DNA and skin color, the history of the racial hierography, and the concept of race as a social construct. He hopes students will be able to draw connections between that foundation and what's happening now.

If school buildings were open, Harris said he would be helping students make those explicit connections, as well as creating space for students to express their feelings and frustrations.

"The one thing that's the hardest with distance learning is that students are not able to be around their peers as often, and they're not able to talk to them and process in kid language," Harris said, adding that while he knows students are likely texting with each other, "there's nothing like the classroom in really guiding a safe space, [with] the teacher being a facilitator who's pushing them to go deeper."
'George Floyd Could Be Me'
In Minneapolis, teachers' first priority is helping their students and their neighborhoods survive, Wright said. Staff at the charter school where he works have gone out into the community to support clean-up efforts during the day, picking up trash, organizing food donations, and checking in on local businesses.

"Our school is closer than any other to the epicenter of the protests and the police violence. Our students are just hugely affected. This is their community," said Corinth Matera, an English teacher and journalism adviser at South High School in Minneapolis. "It's the Target where they work burning down, or the grocery store they were just at with their mom being taken over. And a lot of students saying, 'George Floyd could be me.'"

Many of Matera's students are protesting, or supporting community relief efforts. "I got an email from a student yesterday saying, 'I got shot by a rubber bullet and I can't feel my hands, so I probably can't finish my essay,'" Matera said.

Teachers at South voted on Monday to award all students credit for the 4th quarter, which ends this week. The staff had already discussed the option in weeks prior, in light of the pandemic, but the weekend's events "crystalized" a final decision, she said: "We don't want any student to be worried about or thinking about school work at this point."

For now, teachers at the school are focused on emergency aid, Matera said, like getting food and necessities to families now that many grocery stores in the city have been closed or burned. But the protests have underscored how important it is for white teachers to examine their own practice, said Matera.

"We have too many white teachers in Minnesota. I am a white teacher. And I have been, and other folks have been, calling on our fellow white teachers to really challenge them to see where we are doing damage to our students of color," she said. "We need more teachers of color, but we also need, as white teachers, to examine ways in which we're complicit in the institutions that are perpetrating this violence against our students."

Meanwhile, in Louisville, Ky., Matthew Kaufmann, the state's high school teacher of the year, was arrested on Sunday while participating in a protest over the police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old black woman, in her apartment. Many students and recent graduates were also out there protesting, said Emilie McKiernan Blanton, a high school English teacher.

Kentucky teachers have had experience protesting in the past couple years over changes to their pensions, so they gave their students tips, Blanton said, such as bringing water and an external charger for their phones. She's friends on Facebook with several former students who posted about being tear gassed at the protest. Blanton sent them her phone number and told them to call her if they need a ride, or if they're arrested and need to be bailed out.

"They're doing peaceful assembly, it just happens to be next to something dangerous," she said. "I'm very proud of them. I'm always proud of my students when they stand up for themselves and do what's right."
A 'Teachable Moment'
It's important for teachers to address issues of race and racism with their students, educators say, both in these last few weeks of school and when classes resume in the fall.

Educators. This is a teachable moment. Don't be afraid to teach about the meaning of justice and the murder of George Floyd by the police. Our students are watching.
-- Pedro Noguera (@PedroANoguera) June 1, 2020

Here are some resources from nonprofits and media outlets that can help guide classroom conversations on race:

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture launched an online portal called Talking About Race that's designed to help steer conversations about racism, racial identity, and the way these forces shape every aspect of society.

PBS NewsHour Extra released a lesson plan for grades 6-12 about the death of George Floyd. The plan includes a news video (that omits the footage of Floyd's death) and discussion questions about the protests, police brutality, and media literacy.

The Pulitzer Center partnered with the New York Times to turn the 1619 Project, a collection of essays and literary works observing the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery, into a curriculum for teachers of all grade levels. The curriculum includes reading guides, activities, and other resources about the history of race in America.

Educators also shared book recommendations on Twitter, both for their students and for themselves. And Joe Truss, a middle school principal in San Francisco, tweeted a list of actions for white teachers to take now-including learning about restorative practices and redesigning curriculum to empower and engage students of color.

Think about how you can elevate and center the black experience in your curricula, year around, not just negative stories of oppresssion but lift up stories and examples of resistance, affirmation, and empowerment.
-- Joe Truss - Culturally Responsive Leadership (@trussleadership) June 1, 2020

Harris, the Detroit teacher, said it's the responsibility of all educators to "adopt an anti-racist approach" and amplify the voices of the marginalized in their classrooms. To start the conversation, he said, teachers should ask their students, from kindergarten on up, two basic questions: Is this fair? And how does this make you feel?

"Teachers cannot be silent during this time," Harris said. "Teachers have to take a stand. Students are absorbing this, [and] they're going to ask themselves later on in life or even now, 'What was my teacher doing during this time?'"
Image: Protestors in New York City rally against the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd at the hands of police on May 31. -John Nacion/STAR MAX via AP

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'Teachers Cannot Be Silent': How Educators Are Showing Up for Black Students Following Protests

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By Madeline Will and Sarah Schwartz Protests against police brutality have erupted across the country over the past three days, leading to tough classroom conversations about race, racism, and police violence.

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Source: Teaching Tolerance Newsletter

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Commit to Supporting Students' Mental Health All Year

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During the school closures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, educators are worried about students falling behind. This period of remote learning, technology divides and lowered expectations has stalled progress for almost everyone. But students who are still learning English-a group that's swelled to 5 million nationwide, about three-fourths of them Latino - are losing even more ground .

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Framing Brave Conversations about Race and Ethnicity

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Framing Brave Conversations about Race and Ethnicity

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Source: Leading Equity

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Engaging Young People in Conversations about Race and Racism

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Engaging Young People in Conversations about Race and Racism

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Source: ADL

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Race Talk: Engaging Young People in Conversations about Race and Racism

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As a society, public conversations about race and racism have increased in volume and intensity. Here are some suggestions and strategies for having classroom conversations with young people about these issues.

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10 Children Books About Racism and Activism to Help Parents Educate Their Kids

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10 Children Books About Racism and Activism to Help Parents Educate Their Kids

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Source: Huff Post

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When it comes to raising children who will fight against racial injustice in the United States, it's obvious that silence does not work. "Colorblindness" does not work. And putting off conversations about privilege and racism does not work.

Yet, talking to children about racism and police brutality is never easy. And many parents feel like they should head into those heavy conversations with a perfect script. Thankfully, as Dr. Harold S. Koplewicz, medical director and founding president of the Child Mind Institute, said in a Monday blog post on talking to kids about the current protests, questions are a good thing.

"Encourage questions - and don't worry if you can't answer them," he wrote.

Then, seek out tools that can help you and your kiddo(s) grapple with systemic racism. Over the years, many children's authors have written books that can help spark conversations about racial justice, empathy and what it means to be actively anti-racist - and keep those necessary conversations happening again and again.

2. "Let The Children March"

This beautiful book (a Coretta Scott King Honor Award winner for illustration) tells the story of the 1960s Birmingham Children's Crusade, when kids marched to protest Jim Crow laws. ( Available )

3. "Separate Is Never Equal"

This inspiring book tells the story of Sylvia Mendez, a child with Mexican and Puerto Rican roots, who helped bring about school segregation in California a decade before it was deemed unconstitutional at the national level. ( Available )

Academy-Award winning actor Lupita Nyong'o wrote this book about Sulwe, a girl with skin the color of midnight, which helps children grapple with colorism and question what society teaches them about beauty and value. ( Available here)

5. "Malala's Magic Pencil"

7. "Last Stop On Market Street"

9. "Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness"

This heartbreaking bestseller for teenagers tells the story of a 16-year-old girl whose unarmed childhood best friend is shot and killed by a white police officer. It's unflinching and necessary. (Available )

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racism privilege children's books parenting

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10 Children's Books About Racism And Activism To Help Parents Educate Their Kids

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When it comes to raising children who will fight against racial injustice in the United States, it's obvious that silence does not work. "Colorblindness" does not work. And putting off conversations about privilege and racism does not work. Yet, talking to children about racism and police brutality is never easy.

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Source: Epic

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Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

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online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Start a Conversation About Race Book Collection on Epic

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Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

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Source: Epic

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online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

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Celebrate Black Culture Book Collection on Epic

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Discover new children's books on Epic. With thousands of books and audiobooks there is no limit to what children can learn and explore.

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Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action 2019 Lesson and Activity Plan Links for Elementary School

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Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action 2019 Lesson and Activity Plan Links for Elementary School

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Black Lives Matter at Schools Week Elementary  Lesson and Activity Plan Links_2019

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Middle School Guide: Black Live Matter At School Week of Action

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Middle School Guide: Black Live Matter At School Week of Action

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Black Lives Matter at Schools Week Middle School LESSON PLANS

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BLACK LIVES MATTER: FROM HASHTAG TO MOVEMENT

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BLACK LIVES MATTER: FROM HASHTAG TO MOVEMENT

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Jefferson Houston Black History Read Aloud Book List

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From Teaching Tolerance

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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"Until black people are free, no one is fully free. Because the issues that affect black people the most affect everyone. Everyone." A recent post from the official Black Lives Matter movement website brought this truth home.

Children are not too young to learn about the principles and issues that guide this movement, though what they learn will be different at each age and developmental stage.

That's why teachers across the country are holding a Black Lives Matter Week of Action at School from February 3rd - 7th. As children learn what Black Lives Matter means, educators and students will also be calling on schools to hire more Black teachers, mandate Black history and ethnic studies, and end zero tolerance discipline policies.

In this post, I'm sharing 15 books for children and teens that uplift the beauty and strength of Black children and communities, as well as those that exemplify the principles of the Black Lives Matter movement. All the books in this post are authored or co-authored by Black writers.

Interested in how to share the movement's principles with young kids in ways that are age appropriate? Read this helpful article by teacher Laleña Garcia .

You can find a free curriculum guide for Black Lives Matter Week at School here .

15 books for children and teens for exploring the principles of the Black Lives Matter movement

Disclosure: For your convenience, this post includes affiliate links. If you purchase items through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Hands Up! by Breanna J. McDaniel and Shane W. Evans

When race conscious adults hear the phrase "hands up," we likely also think of the words "don't shoot," chanted at so many Black Lives Matter rallies.

Author Breanna McDaniel thinks of how "hands up" signals activism, but also many daily activities in a young Black girl's life. When she plays peek-a-boo, when she stretches up to the kitchen sink, and when she begs her siblings to choose her in a game, her hands go up.

The final scene of the book shows her declaring "hands up!" at a rally, where marchers hold their signs high, covered in slogans that remind us to raise our hands and voices for justice. (Recommended for ages 4 - 7)

This moving, thoughtful book celebrates and centers Black girls, who too often receive messages from society at young ages that they are not enough. As Black girls are shown playing, learning, and challenging themselves, they remind us of who they are and what they can do.

The range of emotions and experiences that are included in the simple rhyming text is strengthened by beautiful, realistic illustrations. (Recommended for ages 3 - 7)

Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins and Bryan Collier

Useni Eugene Perkins wrote the poem "Hey Black Child" in the 1970s for a children's musical, and it has been recited by countless children since. Bryan Collier's stunning collage illustrations bring the poem to life in a new way.

The poems calls Black children to realize who they really are, and what they can be. When they do this, they can transform their own lives, and also move their nation to become the country they want it to be.

I love the way the illustrations include elements from the civil rights and Black Lives Matter movements to remind children of what they are capable of. (Recommended for ages 4 - 8)

This engaging and important book was written by three child psychologists. It's an excellent resource that helps caregivers talk to children about police shootings. The story follows two children, one white and one Black, who are in the same class at school. All the adults in town have been talking about a police shooting of a Black man. Kids have overheard their conversations, and have questions.

The children's questions prompt responses from their parents that unpack the legacy of racism in the United States, as well as Black resistance to racism. The story has a variety of levels, and children will experience it differently at different ages. The book also includes extensive notes for parents on countering racism, including resources specifically designed for Black families. (Recommended for ages 6 - 10)

I have been eagerly waiting for Sulwe 's publication. Now that the book is in my hands, I can say without a doubt it was worth the wait! Sulwe's skin is "the color of midnight," but she longs to have the light brown skin of her sister Mich. Children at school give Sulwe cruel nicknames, and she does everything she can think of to lighten her skin.

Sulwe's mother tries to convince her of her beauty, but it's not until a star appears in her window that things begin to shift. The star tells her the story of the sisters Day and Night, who were also treated differently because of their colors. After Night runs away, both she and Day discover how needed and beautiful she is. (Recommended for ages 4 - 8)

This short graphic novel explores what protests are, and why people use them. When two children ask their father what the sounds they heard the night before were, he explains the community was protesting.

Drawing on examples from Martin Luther King to the Million Man March, their parents explain that people in the neighborhood are protesting how their community is treated by the police. This is a good first book for talking about why and how groups like Black Lives Matter protest. (Recommended for ages 5 - 9)

The photographs and text in this picture book celebrate the uniqueness of each Black child. Challenging the stereotype that there's only one way to be Black, the children explore their many skin tones, hair textures, and eye colors.

My favorite page is the last, when a group of children declare "I am Black. I am unique. I come from ancient Kings and Queens. When you look at me, what do you see? I am Black. I am proud to be me." (Recommended for ages 3 - 7)

Reading Derrick Barnes' author's note brought tears to my eyes. He writes about the way that the barbershop is a rare place where black and brown boys are affirmed. When they look in the mirror at the barbershop, he says, "they wish that everyone could see what they see: a real life, breathing, compassionate, thoughtful, brilliant, limitless soul that matters - that desperately matters."

The story and illustrations themselves are filled with joy, showing how the barbershop is a place where Black boys are treated like royalty, where they receive their crowns. The child in the chair sees not only all he is, but the majesty of the other people in the shop as well. (Recommended for ages 6 - 10)

The Undefeated is Alexander's tribute to all the Black leaders, everyday people, and the movements who are too often left out of history textbooks. He seamlessly connects the civil rights and Black Lives Matter movements. Each page is dedicated to a different group from "the unflappable" to "the righteous marching ones who sang we shall not be moved because black lives matter."

Because of the way the book is structured, it can be experienced in different ways by different age children. For example, on the page "this is for the unspeakable," children see candles, flowers, and pictures of Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, and others who died at the hands of police officers. For older children who want to talk more, there are extensive notes at the end of the book describing who each person in Nelson's flawless illustrations is. (Recommended for ages 7 - 12)

Lewis Micheaux's National Memorial African Bookstore was legendary in Harlem from the 1930's til it closed in the 1970's. A self-educated man, Micheaux knew that books were the key to both knowledge and liberation. "Don't get took! Read a book!" he often told people when he was still selling books from a pushcart on the street. The bookstore even became a gathering place for activists like Malcolm X, who held a rally in front of the store.

Michaeux's clever, rhyming sayings about books, knowledge, and power are sprinkled throughout the story, which explores the bookstore through the eyes of Micheaux's young son. (Recommended for ages 8 - 12)

This illustrated encyclopedia is a useful resource for any home or classroom. Asim helps older children understand the truth that African American history is American history. The scope of the events, people, and movements that he includes goes far beyond what children are typically taught in school.

The Black Lives Matter movement and the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and other unarmed Black people each have separate entries in the new millennium section of the book.

While the entries in the book are detailed, they're not so long that older elementary children will lose interest. (Recommended for ages 8 - 14)

This middle grades novel completely engrossed me! Twelve year old Shayla is so different from her older sister Hana. Shay can't stand to get in trouble (even thinking about it makes her hands itch), while Hana takes part in bold Black Lives Matter protests.

As a new middle schooler, Shay has to deal with changing friendships and her first big crush. On top of that, she wrestles with how to respond to other kids who say she's not "Black enough" and a teacher who expects her to speak for her entire race.

All the while, her sister and parents are closely watching the trial of a police officer who shot an unarmed Black man. After Shayla sees Hana participate in a moving protest, she decides she wants to show support too. But is she ready for the trouble she could get in for speaking up? (Recommended for ages 10 - 14)

So much is packed into Woodson's free verse memoir about her childhood in the 1960's and 1970's. As she experiences the sorrows and joys of growing up in both South Carolina (during the era of Jim Crow) and Brooklyn, Woodson finds her voice through writing. As she lives through the civil rights and Black power movements, Woodson and her community's bravery and pride grow.

Surrounded by a tight circle of family love, Woodson also grieves being separated from some of her family for most of her life. While the children live with their grandmother in South Carolina, their mother is earning money in Brooklyn. Once she's saved enough for the children to join her in New York, they must leave their grandparents behind.

The inspiration for Marley Dias' #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign , this book is a new American classic that should be required reading in middle school English classes. (Recommended for ages 10 - 14)

In her introduction, Elliott says "I sometimes write poetry, but I'm not a poet." Even though Elliott is best known for her children's novels and picture books, I have to disagree! She clearly has a gift for both poetry and prose.

The collection's name is inspired by the #SayHerName movement of the African American Policy Campaign. It's designed to draw attention to the violence against Black women and femmes that so often receives little media attention. The poems are both a testament to the bravery, resilience, and creativity of Black women, as well as a cry for justice as they struggle to survive the forces of racism, sexism, and homophobia.

Many of the poems are tributes, including dedications to the three co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as famous poets including Gwendolyn Brooks and Phyllis Wheatley.

When so many high school students wonder what poetry has to do with their lives, this volume is an excellent addition to classroom libraries. (Recommended for ages 14+)

Starr Carter is a teen who's an expert at code switching. Each day, she puts forward two different versions of herself. One for her the poor Black neighborhood where she lives, and other for the wealthy white school that she attends. Compartmentalizing her life seems to work until her best friend Khalil is shot by the police while Starr sits in the passenger seat.

Starr's school friends don't realize that she knew Khalil. When her friend Hailey suggests that Khalil was a thug, Starr can no longer ignore Hailey's pattern of racist assumptions. As Starr grapples with her relationships at school, she must also deal with the police and with activists who want her to become part of their cause against police brutality.

I can't recommend this book highly enough for teens and adults alike.

Also, be aware that the movie version, which was adapted by a white screenwriter, distorts key aspects of the book. (Recommended for ages 13+)

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15 books to help kids understand that Black Lives Matter - The Barefoot Mommy

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"Until black people are free, no one is fully free. Because the issues that affect black people the most affect everyone. Everyone." A recent post from the official Black Lives Matter movement website brought this truth home.

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From Teaching Tolerance

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Many educators believe they are offering a balance when it comes to acknowledging holidays, but Christmas continues to receive the greatest emphasis. This excerpt from 'Celebrate!: An Anti-Bias Guide to Enjoying Holidays in Early Childhood Programs' can help you avoid this and other equity pitfalls.

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Many schools enjoy celebrating a non-religious "holiday season" but clearly favor Christmas in their traditions and decor. Moreover, important non-Christian holidays that don't occur in December are often overlooked completely.

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Research Shows Diverse Classrooms Improve Learning For Everyone

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Research Shows Diverse Classrooms Improve Learning For Everyone

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From MindShift

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"Stronger Together" is not the name of the latest social-media fitness app. It's a grant proposed in President Obama's new budget, reviving an idea that hasn't gotten much policy attention in decades: diversity in public schools. If the request is approved, $120 million will go to school districts for programs intended to make their schools more diverse.

As a new pair of reports from the progressive Century Foundation shows, integration policies have seen a resurgence: In 2007, 40 districts pursued integration. Today that number has more than doubled, to 83, plus nine charter schools or networks. That adds up to a total of 4 million students in classrooms that are more diverse than they'd otherwise be.

In a class discussion or on a problem-solving team, bringing together different viewpoints and experiences makes everyone think harder and provide better evidence for their opinions.

This new wave of integration has come with one big difference that sets it apart from the busing battles of the past. These programs rely on family income, not race, as the driver.

To be clear, there's evidence that socially as well as racially integrated schools benefit all students. When a school reaches a stable level of about 30 percent middle-class students, the lower-income students achieve at higher levels and the privileged students do no worse, says Halley Potter, the author of one of the Century Foundation reports. Similarly, the racial achievement gap shrinks in schools that have less than a "supermajority" of 60 percent of any one race.

But the real case for diverse schools is a lot bigger than test scores, says Amy Stuart Wells, who teaches at Teachers College, Columbia University, and is the author of the second report. "The qualitative and quantitative evidence is powerful enough to say, 'We should do this.' "

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Research Shows Diverse Classrooms Improve Learning For Everyone

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"Stronger Together" is not the name of the latest social-media fitness app. It's a grant proposed in President Obama's new budget, reviving an idea that hasn't gotten much policy attention in decades: diversity in public schools. If the request is approved, $120 million will go to school districts for programs intended to make their schools more diverse.

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Oyate's List of Thanksgiving Books to Avoid

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Oyate's List of Thanksgiving Books to Avoid

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American Indians in Children's Literature Council

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A few years ago, Oyate had a list of books about Thanksgiving that they did not recommend. The list was on their website.

Given the number of books that are published every year about that holiday and the ways that Native peoples continue to be misrepresented in children's books, you would be right to guess that their list is long.

That list is not at their website any longer. In a redesign a few years ago they decided to remove it and their Books to Avoid section. They decided that, although a list might seem efficient, it didn't give people the critical thinking skills they need to develop in order to make decisions on their own. I agree--I'd prefer people develop those skills and apply them their selection/deselection activities.

On the other hand, teachers use lists of good books all the time. Generally speaking, they assume that the person who put that list together has the expertise necessary such that their evaluations can be trusted.

I personally have not read all of these books, but I definitely learned a great deal from Oyate's work. I strongly encourage teachers and librarians to get materials published by Oyate.

My guess is that I'd concur with their decision about each of these books, and I'd also guess that any given book on the list got there because it put forth one or more of what Judy Dow and Beverly Slapin called myths in their Deconstructing the Myths of the First Thanksgiving. If one of these books is on your shelf and you're considering weeding it, I recommend you read it and Dow and Slapin's essay and then make a decision.

I've also shared Oyate's list of recommended books here. And, for more books that accurately portray Native people, see my page of Best Books. (Note: the first sentence of his paragraph was not visible enough. Two people submitted comments asking for recommended books. To help it be more visible, I made it a separate paragraph in bold and added the sentence/link to best books to supplement Oyate's list.)

Dow and Slapin's piece on Thanksgiving myths is also in the outstanding resource A Broken Flute: The Native Experience in Books for Children (published in 2005), as are many (all?) of the in-depth critical reviews that were on Oyate's page of Books to Avoid. Get A Broken Flute, and Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children (published in 1987 and again in 2006), too. Both are vitally important for all that they contain. (Note: I added this paragraph soon after hitting the upload button on this post, and I added Slapin's name as a co-author. My apologies to her for the initial omission.)

Own your knowledge. Own your decisions.

Oyate's list of NOT RECOMMENDED books about Thanksgiving

Accorsi, William. Friendship's First Thanksgiving. Holiday House, 1992.

Aliki. Corn is Maize: The Gift of the Indians. Harper & Row, 1976.

Anderson, Laurie Halse. Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving. Simon & Schuster, 2002.

Ansary, Mir Tamim. Thanksgiving Day. Heinemann, 2002.

Apel, Melanie Ann. The Pilgrims. Kidhaven Press, 2003.

Bartlett, Robert Merrill, The Story of Thanksgiving. HarperCollins, 2001.

Barth, Edna. Turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indian Corn: The Story of Thanksgiving Symbols. Clarion, 1975.

Borden, Louise. Thanksgiving Is... Scholastic, 1997.

Brown, Marc. Arthur's Thanksgiving. Little, Brown. 1983.

Bruchac, Joseph. Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving. Harcourt, 2000.

Buckley, Susan Washburn. Famous Americans: 15 Easy to Read Biography Mini-Books. Scholastic, 2000.

Bulla, Clyde Robert. Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims. Scholastic, 1990.

Celsi, Teresa. Squanto and the First Thanksgiving. Steck-Vaughn, 1989.

Clements, Andrew. Look Who's in the Thanksgiving Play! Simon & Shuster, 1999.

Cohen, Barbara. Molly's Pilgrim. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard, 1983.

Conaway, Judith. Happy Thanksgiving! Things to Make and Do. Troll Communications, 1986.

Crane, Carol and Helle Urban. P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet. Sleeping Bear Press, 2003.

Dalgliesh, Alice. The Thanksgiving Story. Scholastic, 1954/1982.

Daugherty, James. The Landing of the Pilgrims. Random House, 1987.

Davis, Kenneth C. Don't Know Much About the Pilgrims. HarperCollins, 2002.

DePaola, Tomie. My First Thanksgiving. Putnam, 1992.

Donnelly, Judy. The Pilgrims and Me. Grosset & Dunlap, 2002.

Dubowski, Cathy East. The Story of Squanto, First Friend to the Pilgrims. Dell, 1990.

Fink, Deborah. It's a Family Thanksgiving! A Celebration of an American Tradition for Children and their Families. Harmony Hearth, 2000.

Flindt, Myron. Pilgrims: A Simulation of the First Year at Plymouth Colony. Interact, 1994.

Fritz, Jean. Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? Putnam & Grossett, 1975.

George, Jean Craighead. The First Thanksgiving. Puffin. 1993.

Gibbons, Gail. Thanksgiving Day. Holiday House, 1985.

Gibbons, Gail. Thanksgiving Is... Holiday House, 2004.

Greene, Rhonda Gowler. The Very First Thanksgiving Day. Atheneum, 2002.

Hale, Anna W. The Mayflower People: Triumphs and Tragedies. Harbinger House, 1995.

Hallinan, P. K. Today is Thanksgiving! Ideals Children's Books, 1993.

Harness, Cheryl. Three Young Pilgrims. Aladdin, 1995.

Hayward, Linda. The First Thanksgiving. Random House, 1990.

Hennessy, B. G. One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims. Viking, 1999.

Jackson, Garnet. The First Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 2000.

Jassem, Kate. Squanto: The Pilgrim Adventure. Troll Communications. 1979.

Kamma, Anne. If You Were At... The First Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 2001.

Kessel, Joyce K. Squanto and the First Thanksgiving. Carolrhoda, 1983.

Kinnealy, Janice. Let's Celebratae Thanksgiving, A Book of Drawing Fun. Watermill, 1988.

Koller, Jackie French. Nickommoh! A Thanksgiving Celebration. Atheneum, 1999.

Marx, David F. Thanksgiving. Children's Press, 2000.

McGovern, Ann. The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 1973.

McMullan, Kate. Fluffy's Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 1997.

Melmed, Laura Krauss. The First Thanksgiving Day: A Counting Story. HarperCollins, 2001.

Metaxas, Eric. Squanto and the First Thanksgiving. Rabbit Ears Books, 1996.

Moncure, Jane Belk. Word Bird's Thanksgiving Words. Child's World, 2002.

Ochoa, Anna. Sticker Stories: The Thanksgiving Play. Grosset & Dunlap, 2002.

Osborne, Mary Pope. Thanksgiving on Thursday. Random House, 2002.

Parker, Margot. What is Thanksgiving Day? Children's Press, 1988.

Peacock, Carol Antoinette. Pilgrim Cat. Whitman, 2004.

Prelutsky, Jack. It's Thanksgiving. Morrow, 1982.

Rader, Laura J. A Child's Story of Thanksgiving. Ideals Children's Books, 1998

Randall, Ronnie. Thanksgiving Fun: Great Things to Make and Do. Kingfisher, 1994.

Raphael, Elaine and Don Bolognese. The Story of the First Thanksgiving. Scholastic, 1991.

Rau, Dana Meachen. Thanksgiving. Children's Press, 2000.

Roberts, Bethany. Thanksgiving Mice! Clarion, 2001.

Rockwell, Anne. Thanksgiving Day. HarperCollins, 1999.

Rogers, Lou. The First Thanksgiving. Modern Curriculum Press. 1962.

Roloff, Nan. The First American Thanksgiving. Current. 1980.

Roop, Connie and Peter. Let's Celebrate Thanksgiving. Millbrook, 1999.

Roop, Connie and Peter. Pilgrim Voices: Our First Year in the New World. Walker, 1995.

Ross, Katherine. Crafts for Thanksgiving. Millbrook, 1995.

Ross, Katherine. The Story of the Pilgrims. Random House, 1995.

Ruelle, Karen Gray. The Thanksgiving Beast Feast. Holiday House, 1999.

San Souci, Robert. N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims. Chronicle, 1991.

Scarry, Richard. Richard Scarry's The First Thanksgiving of Low Leaf Worm. Little Simon, 2003.

Schultz, Charles M. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Simon & Schuster, 2002.

Sewall, Marcia. People of the Breaking Day. Atheneum, 1990.

Sewall, Marica. The People of Plimoth. Aladdin, 1986.

Sewall, Marcia. Thunder from the Clear Sky. Atheneum, 1995.

Siegel, Beatrice. Fur Traders and Traders: The Indians, the Pilgrims, and the Beaver. Walker, 1981.

Siegel, Beatrice, Indians of the Northeast Woodlands. Walker, 1992.

Silver, Donald M. and Patricia J. Wynne. Easy Make and Learn Projects: The Pilgrims, the Mayflower & More. Scholastic, 2001.

Skarmeas, Nancy J. The Story of Thanksgiving. Ideals Publications, 1999.

Sorenson, Lynda. Holidays: Thanksgiving. R ourke, 1994.

Stamper, Judith Bauer. New Friends in a New Land: A Thanksgiving Story. Steck-Vaughn, 1993.

Stamper, Judith Bauer. Thanksgiving Fun Activity Book. Troll, 1993.

Stanley, Diane. Thanksgiving on Plymouth Plantation. HarperCollins, 2004.

Steigemeyer, Julie. Thanksgiving: A Harvest Celebration. Concordia, 2003.

Tryon, Leslie. Albert's Thanksgiving. Aladdin, 19983.

Umnik, Sharon Dunn (Ed.). 175 Easy-to-Do Thanksgiving Crafts. Boyds Mills Press, 1996.

Waters, Kate. Giving Thanks: The 1621 Harvest Feast. Scholastic, 2001.

Waters, Kate. Samuel Eaton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy. Scholastic, 1993.

Waters, Kate. Sarah Morton's Day: A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl. Scholastic, 1989.

Waters, Kate. Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Boy in Pilgrim Times. 1996.

Weisgard, Leonard. The Plymouth Thanksgiving. Doubleday, 1967.

Whitehead, Pat. Best Thanksgiving Book, ABC Adventures. Troll Communications, 1985.

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Oyate's List of Thanksgiving Books to Avoid

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A few years ago, Oyate had a list of books about Thanksgiving that they did not recommend. The list was on their website. Given the number of books that are published every year about that holiday and the ways that Native peoples continue to be misrepresented in children's books, you would be right to guess that their list is long.

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American Indians in Children's Literature Council

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I've had a lot of email of late... People want me to recommend good books about Thanksgiving.

There's only a handful of ones that I'd recommend. Actually---I concur with those recommended by Oyate, and I'll list them below.

Here's the thing. I want teachers, parents, and librarians to consider that a lot of American Indians don't necessarily "celebrate" Thanksgiving as it is celebrated in the mainstream American holiday scheme.

Many of us get together----it IS a major holiday, with almost all offices shut down and stores closing early, etc.----and many of us eat turkey, but there are no Pilgrim and Indian salt shakers on my table...

Think about it this way. Just for a moment. Europeans invaded the homelands of Native peoples and their nations all over the Americas. There were wars. Death. Incarceration. Brutal programs designed to "kill the Indian and save the man." Native peoples and our cultures were attacked. But we persevered, and many of us we have a different view of this holiday. A lot of people tell us "get over it" and the like.

But!

That's like asking the bully and his/her victim to hug without recognizing the harm and the hurt, without having honest conversations with the bully about his actions. I'm a bit reluctant to put forth these analogies, because I don't view myself or Native peoples as victims.

What I'm getting at, in part, is that I don't want to be a player in your story. I don't want to be on your stage. I want you to see me and Pueblo people (in my case) as a people that existed and exists on its own merits---not as minor characters, or colorful ones, in the story that America tells about America.

You want to know about Native people? Do you really want to know about us? Or do you just need/want us so you can 'do your thing' (celebrate Thanksgiving)? You want me to tell you what I do for Thanksgiving. I understand that, but I think it more important that you ask about (in my case) the Pueblo people. Who are we? Where are we? What are OUR celebrations? When are they? What are they about?

And... instead of asking a Native person what they're doing for Thanksgiving, how about asking yourself about what you are doing, and why.

That said, here's some books Oyate recommends. The list is from their page about Thanksgiving. I highly recommend you read it.

Recommended Books about Thanksgiving
Bruchac, Margaret M. (Abenaki), and Catherine Grace O'Neill, 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2001, grades 4-up

Hunter, Sally M. (Ojibwe), Four Seasons of Corn: A Winnebago Tradition. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1997, grades 4-6.

Peters, Russell M. (Wampanoag), Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6.

Regguinti, Gordon (Ojibwe), The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6.

Seale, Doris (Santee/Cree), Beverly Slapin, and Carolyn Silverman (Cherokee), eds., Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective. Berkeley: Oyate, 1998, teacher resource.

Swamp, Jake (Mohawk), Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message. New York: Lee & Low, 1995, all grades.

Wittstock, Laura Waterman (Seneca), Ininatig's Gift of Sugar: Traditional Native Sugarmaking. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1993, grades 4-6

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I've had a lot of email of late... People want me to recommend good books about Thanksgiving. There's only a handful of ones that I'd recommend. Actually---I concur with those recommended by Oyate, and I'll list them below. Here's the thing.

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American Indians In Children's Literature

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November 17, 2015

Dear Teachers,

Each day when young children get home from school, parents ask how their day went and if they have any homework. For some parents, the homework their child brings home can be daunting because it has material on it that they haven't thought about in years. They have to "brush up" on it in order to help their children understand the concepts the child's homework is intended to reinforce. Some parents find homework annoying because it is so repetitive and their children could be doing something more engaging.

Last month on social media, Native parents circulated photos of worksheets and books their children were bringing home. Some of these photos were of cartoon-like images of Indians who greeted Columbus.

November is Native American month. Thanksgiving happens this month, too, so, some of the worksheets parents are sharing on social media are about Indians greeting the Pilgrims. Some just have random images of Indians on them because it is Native American month.

If I asked you, teachers, to look through your file of worksheets, some of you will see what I'm talking about. Smiling Indians handing corn to Pilgrims. Cute Indians sitting cross legged on the ground, tending a fire, next to a tipi. Color-by-number worksheets of Indians... We could go on and on, right?

For Native parents--and for non-Native parents who know these images are stereotypical--the homework itself is more than daunting or annoying. They know those worksheets carry messages of who or what Indians are supposed to be. They know those images are misinforming the children the worksheets are meant to educate. For them, these worksheets put them in a what-do-I-do about this moment. Some will point out the stereotypical image and, if needed, tell their child why it is stereotypical and not ok. Some will arrange to meet with the teacher. Some will express their frustration, with family and friends, in person and on social media. And some will keep silent because they fear that speaking to you, their child's teacher, will put their child in an awkward position.

For Native children, those images are one more silent assault on Native culture. These silent assaults, however, are ones their teachers are handing to them. My guess is that some of you, teachers, don't even notice those images on those worksheets.

I have empathy and respect for teachers. I taught elementary school in the 1980s. I know how hard it was, then, to work with the limited resources I had from the school itself, and from my own pocket. Teaching is even harder, today, than it was then. So I'm not writing this to make you feel bad.

I'm writing to ask you to take a few seconds to look--really look--at the worksheets you're going to use today, or tomorrow, or the next day, or any day. Do they have those images of Indians on them? If they do, set them aside.

A lot of you assume these worksheets and biased children's books don't matter because you believe there aren't any Native kids in your classroom. If you're basing that belief on an idea that Native people have dark skin, dark hair, high cheekbones, and personal names that sound Indian in some way, you're reflecting a stereotype.

I don't say any of this to shame you, or to embarrass you.

We all have a lot of ignorance about people who are unlike ourselves. I have had many moments of being embarrassed! I, for example, loved Five Chinese Brothers. I have very warm memories of reading it--memories that go all the way back to my early childhood years. I carried that book in my heart for decades. Then, in a graduate school course about children's literature, that book was one we looked at, and I realized how racist its depictions are... and I let it go.

I hope you'll read this letter as a virtual hug, of sorts, from a fellow educator who--like you--cares about teaching and what we teach to children. We're all learning, every day, how to do it better. I welcome any questions you have--about worksheets, or books. My entire website is for you. It's all free. For you.

Sincerely,
Debbie Reese
American Indians in Children's Literature

P.S. (added an hour after I hit upload on my letter):

My husband suggested I say a bit more about what teachers can do instead of the usual Thanksgiving activities. So! If you're working with very young children, remember your training. Early childhood education is centered on teaching children in a here-and-now framework. For them, the long-ago (when colonization began) is not best practice. For children at that age, if you want to do something about the holiday, take the what-I'm-thankful approach instead of a usual Pilgrims and Indians ones. Because you're working on their fine motor skills and use craft projects for that purpose, you can do arts activities about turkeys. For older children (3rd grade and up), check out American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving. If you want to take some time to unlearn what you've learned about Thanksgiving, you can start with a fellow teacher's post about Thanksgiving books: Kara Stewart's "Children's Books about Thanksgiving."

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Dear Teachers: An Open Letter about Images of Indians

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November 17, 2015 Dear Teachers, Each day when young children get home from school, parents ask how their day went and if they have any homework. For some parents, the homework their child brings home can be daunting because it has material on it that they haven't thought about in years.

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From Teaching Tolerance

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Why Escaping Poverty Isn't Nearly as Easy as You Think

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Why Escaping Poverty Isn't Nearly as Easy as You Think

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From Everyday Feminism

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I'll never forget the girl in my college sociology class who thought it was the easiest thing in the world.

In a seminar about class, we went around the room to describe which income echelon we thought our families were in.

" Middle class," said most kids.

"I guess upper-middle class?" asked a girl in Coach sneakers.

"Ah, well... Low-income," I stated. I was the only one.

Then, our professor asked us each to explain how we thought people end up in the social class they're in. Coach Sneakers wasn't hesitant this time: "Because some people work hard, and some people don't."

The American Dream is built on the notion that anyone can get ahead - that monetary security, financial comfort, and even the occasional vacation or luxury item are all within reach to any and all citizens.

Holding up this vision is a deeply-rooted belief (which goes back to decades-old ideals of "Social Darwinism" and is often reinforced by our upbringing and education, not to mention the political views of a lot of, um, " leaders ") that the equation for success is quite simple: If we work hard, we will get ahead.

In this framework, the solution to poverty is neatly tied up in a bow made of our own individual bootstraps.
Unfortunately, this is based on one giant, huge, incorrect assumption that the playing field is perfectly leveled - that we live in a society and an economic system that rewards hard work equally.
You probably know that race, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, and any other number of identities may change a person's starting position in the race toward financial and social stability.

But you may not always be able to see the different ways that economic status does, too.

Basically, socioeconomic status exists on an intersectional continuum like so many social systems - and when talking and thinking about poverty, we need to treat it as such.

This is especially crucial for those of us with an interest and investment in social justice. Like many other systemic forms of oppression, the trials and outcomes of people who experience poverty (particularly during childhood) can be invisible and extremely hard to parse out and understand if you haven't experienced them first-hand.

There are a variety of emotional, physical, and even neurological disadvantages that come along with childhood poverty. Pointing them out and examining their impacts can help us begin to redraw the starting line and dismantle the narrative that poverty can be escaped by climbing harder.

So here are some facts to help you recognize the challenges of escaping poverty.

1. Poverty Is a Complex Cycle of Factors

One of the most important aspects of conceptualizing how poverty impacts people is to understand that it is more than just not having money.

We often think of poverty as monetary status - someone doesn't have money right now; thus, they are poor - rather than a cycle.

Put more simply, poor people are just like not-poor people, except they have less money right now. But chronic poverty (the kind that impacts families and entire communities) is not the same as being broke, and it's not the same as being low on funds before your parents deposit your rent money.
What defines poverty isn't just the fact that someone's bank account is overdrawn. Poverty is not a temporary status for most individuals and families.
Instead, it's a cycle that continues to self-perpetuate and worsen over time.

Not everyone who lives in poverty is born poor. Plenty of people experience injuries, changes in their industry, death, divorce, mental illness, chronic illness, medical bills, and any other number of all-too-common bank-breakers that decrease their earnings significantly.

But once you've become poor in the US, you tend to stay there and raise your children there. And if you're born poor, there's only a 30% chance that you'll ascend to the middle class (and this number drops significantly depending on your ethnicity).

In fact, one of the biggest indicators of a child's success isn't how hard they work as an adult, but how much money their parents made. And upper- and middle-class kids, regardless of their grades or performance, are more likely to make it out of college with a degree than those from low-income families.

That's because the trappings of systemic poverty are woven into the fabric of daily life, particularly for individuals and families who live in economically depressed areas, whether starting from a young age or not.

Adults who have recently found themselves living in poverty often struggle with myriad hurdles - like access to transportation and healthcare - which makes it difficult to get on their feet again.
But for those who are born into poor households, the deck is really stacked.
Small (but crucial) pieces of legacy poverty begin impacting a child from day one and create a foundation that is difficult to dismantle as they get older - particularly if they never got the tools to do so.

Here are just a few of the ways that children living in poverty are set back from those in the middle-class when they attempt to better their financial status:

Access to good schools and instruction

Access to nutrition, both early in life and as an adult

Access to future-planning assistance (how do you apply for college if no one in your family has ever done it?)

Access to internships and other jobs that require time, but don't pay enough to pay rent

Career opportunities through parental or familial connections (like alumni networks)

Access to social safety nets (like parents who can help pay a bill or two)

Lack of access, on multiple fronts, all add up to an uphill battle to increase a person's lifetime earnings.

There are also very real physical and psychological barriers created or worsened by childhood poverty. Childhood poverty has been found to actually alter brain chemistry and function.

One 2015 study found that up to 20% of the achievement gap between low-income and middle-income children could be attributed to reduced brain surface.

Low-income individuals and families also suffer from interacting with a financial system that penalizes them and profits off of poverty.

Overdraft fees, payday lenders, and student debt all disproportionately impact low-income folks, making it difficult to save money, make necessary purchases without incurring huge penalties, and require the single, biggest action we tell people to take to get ahead: Go to college.

2. Poverty Is an Intersectional Issue

Often, poverty and income inequality (like other topics in the economic sphere) are set aside from "social" issues (like feminism, systemic racism, immigration, criminal justice reform, and the difficulties of the LGBTQIA+ community).

This is a problem because it creates a siloing effect, both in how we view poverty and income inequality and in how to best help those experiencing these issues.

We don't often look at the ways that poverty intersects with the issues of marginalized groups, and instead, tend to treat it as a separate ailment.
In reality, poverty is caused by much more than just a lack of jobs or expensive housing. For many communities, poverty is a byproduct of other systemic issues.

Mass incarceration is a poverty contributor. Mass deportations are a poverty contributor. And of course, systematic racial and ethnic income gaps in the workplace contribute to poverty.

Everyone has heard the "77 cents to the dollar" figure about the gender wage gap, and perhaps many even know that it's much larger for Black and Brown folks. But few realize that documented wage gaps also exist for folks who are LGBTQIA+, Native American, new Americans, and disabled, just to name a handful.

Most children will never experience poverty. Approximately one in five children lives below the poverty line, though as many as 40% may be considered "low-income," based on the cost of living.

However, unsurprisingly, those numbers don't tell the full story, which is that poverty hits some communities much harder than others.

And though poverty cuts across identities, it demonstrably impacts some identities much more than others.

Black and Latinx kids are more likely to live in poverty than their white peers - and while the number of white children living in poverty has dipped in recent years, the number of children of color has remained steady.

Additionally, Black adults who escape poverty are more likely to backslide at some point in their lives, in large part due to the other oppressions that plague historically Black neighborhoods.

By continuing to divide poverty from other identity intersections, we're permitted to ignore the very real economic consequences of a legacy of racism, misogyny, ableism, anti-queer and -trans discrimination, and so much more.

3. Stereotypes About How to Get Out of Poverty Have Real Consequences

Unfortunately, despite mountains of evidence (not to mention the lived experience of millions of Americans), you may still have a hard time shaking the idea that the only thing standing between poor people and wealthy people is how hard they've worked and how much they wanted to succeed.

And that's unfortunately very common.

Even more unfortunately, this belief - when held by voters and reinforced by lawmakers eager to please their constituents - has led to troubling and even dangerous policies that perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

For example, a huge portion of the funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program - what we typically think of as "welfare" - go toward so-called " welfare to work " programs.

These programs directly tie assistance money to job attainment and retention, and have been demonstrably shown time and again to be ineffective at helping people escape poverty.

Additionally, House Speaker Paul Ryan has doubled down on these programs in his proposal, entitled " A Better Way," despite numerous reports that the method is ineffective.
These programs are hugely popular policies with lawmakers and voters because they sound like the kind of programs that we have been told works. They appear to make poor people responsible for their choices and force them to get back on their feet.
However, these programs don't take into account the challenges of economically distressed areas, nor do they tackle systemic wage gaps, skills gaps, or issues like debt, housing costs, and financial literacy.

Instead, they often leave people trapped in a cycle of poverty with no escape - and then blame them for it.
Stereotypes about poverty are also frequently value judgements about poor people, which are also not based in reality.
Many Americans believe that the bulk of assistance dollars goes to poor people who squander them. This is untrue. The majority of welfare dollars go to other programs that have little to no empirical evidence to support their efficacy.

Since the 1996 welfare reform package, though, people are getting less assistance than they used to - despite evidence which shows that direct cash assistance is one of the most effective uses of public dollars.

There's also a distinct element of racism in how people view those living in poverty and receiving assistance - whether it's " welfare queens " or "Obama phones," many white Americans incorrectly assume that people of color make up the bulk of welfare recipients.

That's also untrue. The majority of food stamp recipients are white.

However, by upholding this racist belief, lawmakers are able to continue to deprive communities of color of what they need while catering to white voters.
***
By perpetuating these stereotypes and failing to address the real, root problems which contribute to poverty, citizens telegraph to lawmakers that ineffective, harmful policies are what will get them reelected, and that they are not interested in tackling issues of marginalization in their communities or the country at large.
However, plenty of people don't realize how deeply they hold these beliefs, or how much these beliefs inform their understanding of the economy.
We tend to believe these ideas implicitly and without criticism - often, because it feels safer to do so.

After all, if hard work doesn't relate directly to success, what does that mean for our own path toward success?

But acknowledging that wealth - or even financial stability - is a privilege doesn't mean that those with means haven't also worked hard.

Benefitting from largely invisible forces - like parents with college degrees or attending well-funded public schools - doesn't mean people don't have to work as hard or that their work means less.

But it does mean that their work tends to go farther and that they're permitted to fail or stumble without catastrophic outcomes.

Hard work is an important component for success - but it's certainly not a guaranteed road out of poverty.
Hanna Brooks Olsen is a Contributing Writer for Everyday Feminism, a small human, and a Millennial. Her interests are politics, podcasts, Pac-12 football, feminism, and Oxford commas. She is curious to a fault. Follow her on Twitter @mshannabrooks.

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Why Escaping Poverty Isn't Nearly as Easy as People Think

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I'll never forget the girl in my college sociology class who thought it was the easiest thing in the world. In a seminar about class, we went around the room to describe which income echelon we thought our families were in. " Middle class," said most kids. "I guess upper-middle class?"

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From Teaching Tolerance

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For far too many students, Thanksgiving stories and celebrations serve as their first introduction to the histories and cultures of American Indians. The resources in this edition of The Moment offer the opportunity to teach a more accurate story about the origins of Thanksgiving.

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Pulitzer Center

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The 1619 Project Curriculum in Lesson Plan Grouping - The 1619 Project, inaugurated with a special issue of The New York Times Magazine, challenges us to reframe U.S. history by marking the year when the first enslaved Africans arrived on Virginia soil as our nation’s foundational date. Here you wil…

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6 Ways You Harm me When You Appropriate Black Culture

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6 Ways You Harm me When You Appropriate Black Culture

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6 Ways You Harm Me When You Appropriate Black Culture

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Self Care - 10 Wellness Strategies for Educators

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Self Care - 10 Wellness Strategies for Educators

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Subscribe To Us: http://bit.ly/QVxqLI Like Us On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JuBaFilms Follow Us Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JuBaFilms The Amazing Little Boy: Justen Beer (Hustle Kidz) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justen-Beer-Official/500919079944861?ref=hl Music Composed and Arranged By: Vincent Lee http://www.youtube.com/vincentleemusic Special Thanks To: Our Friends MirrorzFX http://www.youtube.com/mirrorzfx Special Thanks To: Our Friends From Bboyworld http://www.bboyworld.com/ Thanks to everyone else who helped us so much with this project!

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The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home

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The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home

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From Edutopia

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Calling students' parents or guardians with good news encourages more good behavior and creates strong teacher-student bonds.

When I first started teaching and was overwhelmed by the demands and complexity of the job, my survival strategy was simply to take all the advice that came my way and implement it. So when my wise mentor suggested that after the first day of school I call all of my second graders' parents, I did.

In spite of my exhaustion, I called each family and introduced myself. I asked a few questions about their child. I said that their kid had had a good first day. I said I looked forward to working together.

Positive Phone Calls: Time-Consuming but Worthwhile

Throughout that year, and the years that followed, I continued this practice. I had a feeling that these positive phone calls home were important. After the first few days of a new school year, as soon as I'd identified the kids who might be challenging, I made it a goal to call their homes with positive news every week.

I would share this goal with my students, greeting them at the door with something like: "I'm so excited to see you this morning, Oscar! I'm going to be watching you really closely today to find some good news to share with your mom this evening. I can't wait to call her and tell her what a good day you had!"

When I taught middle school, this strategy made the difference between an unmanageable group of kids and an easy group. You'd be surprised, perhaps, how desperately an eighth-grade boy wants his mom (or dad or grandma or pastor) to get a positive call home.

On the first day of school I'd give students a survey that included this item: "Who would you like me to call when I have good news to share about how you're doing in my class? You're welcome to list up to five people, and please let them know I might call-even tonight or tomorrow!"

First I'd call parents of the kids who I knew would be challenging, those I suspected rarely got positive calls. When an adult answered the phone, I'd say, all in one long breath, "Hi-is this Mrs. _____? I'm calling from _____ middle school with great news about your child, _____. Can I share this news?"

If I didn't immediately blurt out the part about "great news," sometimes they'd hang up on me. or I'd hear a long anxious silence.

Some of these kids were difficult, extremely difficult. However, I was always able to find something sincerely positive about what they had done. As the days passed, I kept calling: "I just wanted to share that today when _____ came into my class, he said 'good morning' to me and opened his notebook right away. I knew we'd have a good day!" Sometimes I'd stop in the middle of class and, in front of all the students, I'd call a parent. The kids loved that. They started begging for me to call their parent too. It was the first choice of reward for good behavior-"Just call my mama and tell her I did good today."

I was saddened when parents would say, "I don't think anyone has ever called me from school with anything positive about my child." I occasionally heard soft sobbing during these calls.

I first used this phone call thing as a strategy for managing behavior and building partnerships, and it worked. However, after 10 years of teaching, I became a parent myself, and my feelings shifted into some other universe. As a parent, I can't think of anything I want a teacher to do more than to recognize what my boy is doing well, when he's trying, when he's learning, when his behavior is shifting, and share those observations with me.

I know how many hours teachers work. And I also know that a phone call can take three minutes. If every teacher allocated 15 minutes a day to calling parents with good news, the impact could be tremendous. In the long list of priorities for teachers, communicating good news is usually not at the top. But try it, just for a week-try calling the parents of a few kids. It doesn't have to be just the challenging ones-they all need and deserve these calls. See what happens. The ripple effects for the kid, the class, and the teacher might be transformational.

Calling students' parents or guardians with good news encourages more good behavior and creates strong teacher-student bonds.

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The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home

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Calling students' parents or guardians with good news encourages more good behavior and creates strong teacher-student bonds. When I first started teaching and was overwhelmed by the demands and complexity of the job, my survival strategy was simply to take all the advice that came my way and implement it.

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Shared on ACPS PD

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From Education Week

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Education Week Spotlight on Equity-Sponsored

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From Teaching Tolerance

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There's a long history of U.S. schools failing Indigenous peoples, cultures and histories. In this story, Native parents and educators share examples of how educators and schools still get it wrong-and the steps they can take to fix their mistakes.

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Indigenous Peoples' Day-still observed as Columbus Day on the federal level-is October 14. These resources can help you celebrate the histories and cultures of Indigenous peoples and Native nations. We hope you'll make space in your classroom for these important lessons this Monday and throughout the year.

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From Teaching Tolerance

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This lesson, adaptable across grades, can help students think critically about the ways Halloween costumes are marketed and how certain costumes perpetuate stereotypes. For school Halloween celebrations, the activity can be used to develop guidelines for acceptable costumes.

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Every year, we hear of students and educators whose Halloween costumes reinforce stereotypes, bolster systems of oppression or even make light of hate. In these cases, a simple conversation might have prevented a lot of harm. We hope you'll take the time to talk with your students about their Halloween costume choices this year-and think carefully about your own.