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Social justice activities for elementary students

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Social justice activities for elementary students

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Are you looking for fun and creative ways to engage elementary students in anti-bias learning? This on-demand webinar will feature entertaining and educational activities you can use in your classroom as soon as tomorrow. Help young students learn the meaning and value of Identity, Diversity, Justice and Action-the four domains of the Teaching Tolerance Social Justice Standards. Find out how to implement these activities in your classroom with this exciting webinar!
Earn credit: When you complete 95 percent or more of the webinar, a certificate of completion will be available for you to download and print from within the webinar platform. Please note this certificate will not state how long the webinar was or how long you viewed the webinar. Because Teaching Tolerance is not a credit-granting agency, we encourage you to check with your administration to determine if your participation will count toward continuing education requirements.

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Fun Social Justice Activities for Elementary Students

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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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Being an Anti-Racist Educator Is a Verb - NCTE

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This post was written by NCTE members Keisha Rembert, Patrick Harris, and Felicia Hamilton, members of the NCTE Committee Against Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English. The Committee Against Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English has produced a series of educational videos for teachers in order to motivate us all to anti-racist teaching.

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Dr. Seuss books have long been held up as parables. For years, we've celebrated when Sam-I-Am's persistence pays off and felt our hearts grow three sizes right along with the Grinch. But in February 2019, a groundbreaking study pinpointed in depth what people had been saying for years: White supremacy lurks in the pages of many Seuss books. The foundation of the easy-to-spot morals of the stories were disturbing depictions of people of color and racialized nonhuman characters. The study led a number of educators to wonder, How could these racist ideas exist alongside such valuable lessons? Alongside such kindness?

Educators, particularly elementary educators like me, are good at talking and teaching about kindness. It's at the core of elementary pedagogy, after all: those lessons and teachable moments related to being a good friend, being generous and acting thoughtfully. But when being considerate, nice and friendly is all children learn about how to treat one another, we risk losing something fundamental.

Young children are not only developing a sense of morality; they are developing a sense of who they are. This includes their race, gender, class and more. These identities have never been treated or represented equally in our society, so when we teach about love, acceptance and kindness without addressing this inequity, we gloss over crucial differences in the ways our students experience the world.

The harm done by long-term exposure to injustice-to the kind of imagery found in racist books, microaggressions and discrimination-calls for more than a simple understanding of kindness. It demands that kindness be interwoven with substantial notions of true justice. That's why, in my first-grade classroom, my goal was to guide students' thinking in terms of real justice. I used a set of principles that went beyond kindness and moved toward specific actions students could take to counter bias and stereotypes and work for a more equitable future.

Building a More Just Curriculum

The first step was making space in my curriculum for the difficult realities of systemic injustice.

It's easy, for example, to study the civil rights movement and cherry-pick quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King that focus on everyone getting along. But we can also show students that his famous speech imagining a world where children are judged "by the content of their character" is also the one in which he refuses half-measures toward equity, saying, "No, no, we are not satisfied. And we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Focusing on the dream of an equitable future without teaching the reality of an inequitable present ignores the radical anti-racism work that King and his contemporaries undertook at great risk and greater cost. It paints the false narrative that kindness is all we need to make social progress. And worse, it suggests that kindness has already won.

In my classes, instead of whitewashing these heroes, I wanted to paint a more detailed picture: They were flawed, human, ambitious, organized. Students deserve fuller stories of King, Gandhi, Rigoberta Menchú and others who practiced nonviolence while working for justice. They deserve tales told with nuance and complexities so they can learn what it really means to be an ally rather than a sanitized idol. Allowing students access to a fuller story helps them see that, even with healthy doses of love and compassion, kindness alone rarely brings about change. Change requires a real understanding of what injustice looks like-and a plan to combat it.

But building a just curriculum isn't only about teaching history in a responsible way. It's also about ensuring that all of our students are represented in our studies and that all are respected in our classrooms. Many schools make use of social emotional learning (SEL) curricula. Audits of SEL curricula and practices can make sure that the end result isn't simply a more emotionally literate version of kindness.

I've used a variety of programs that aim to increase emotional intelligence, but they sometimes fall short of truly honoring children's feelings, where they come from and how they're treated. A just SEL curriculum honors differences and recognizes that emotions don't exist in a vacuum. It also accounts for the history of pathologizing emotional expression by women and people of color and corrects for it.

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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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Christina Torres

Although I question the value of social media in my life, I do use it to find feel-good stories that provide a moment of self-care in dark times. So when I saw a video on my feed about a school using meditation instead of detention, I watched the video smiling, eager to take some ideas back to my classroom.

Then, I read a few of the comments on the video. This is generally a risky idea, but the majority were very positive. One comment, however, gave me pause. It said something like, "YES! This is what will FIX OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM!!" The smile left my face, and my brow furrowed.

A Bigger Picture

Mindfulness programs aren't the problem. My concern is with the group of people who look at mindfulness or social-emotional learning (SEL) programs as the be-all-end-all solution to our education system's problems-particularly the challenges that arise in historically oppressed communities. The thing is, students and families in these communities aren't struggling because no one taught them mindfulness; they are struggling because they're fighting generations of oppression in an unjust and unequal system.

Can mindfulness and SEL help communities facing systemic oppression? Absolutely, and particularly because these communities need support processing difficult experiences and emotions (often without affordable resources outside the classroom).

Still, we must look at the bigger picture. Teaching students to meditate will help manage their anger or frustration, but it won't remove a system that mass incarcerates their neighbors and family members. Giving students skills in socioemotional learning can help students better process and express their opinions, but it won't erase a system that was built not only to their disadvantage, but also sometimes actively set up to see them fail. Yoga can help a child feel present in their body, but it won't change the fact that our society places different values on different bodies.

Solving education inequities means looking at the entirety of the problem. It means not just learning about those who are oppressed, but also who is complicit, intentionally or not, in perpetuating injustices-including taking a long, hard look at our own actions as educators. Realizing that, even in small ways, you have been complicit in authoritarian thinking in your classroom doesn't feel good, I know. It makes you question the worth of your work and how to keep going in systems in which you are complicit. Understanding that your existence itself is steeped in colonial history is painful and forces you to reckon with your place in the world.

Beauty and Heartbreak

I'm not advocating for a descent into dark cynicism. I want teachers to be truly mindful: present and aware of what is around us, both beautiful and heartbreaking. In Tricycle, a magazine on Buddhist teachings, thought leaders Akincano Weber and Stephen Batchelor share that being mindful means looking at the things in life that may hurt:

"There is a tendency to isolate mindfulness as either a specific mind function or as a universal panacea that immediately makes us feel good. Mindfulness is presented as creating a safe, happy place where I can savor the world of my senses. That notion has to be challenged. ... Mindfulness is a total embrace of life itself, which includes its richness and the beauty but also opens us up to its tragic and painful dimension-the things that we prefer to forget."

For educators to create classrooms where students can truly practice mindfulness, we must do the work to understand the challenges our students face, the world they inhabit, and our roles in it. We must learn the history of the community where we teach and create assignments where students share their voices, explore their hurts, or question themselves. We must open our classrooms to the full spectrum of human experience, both beauty and heartbreak.

Meditation and yoga are tools my students and I can use to prepare for, or feel restored after, difficult or emotionally charged work on social injustices. For example, when I am in a heavy discussion about race, mindful breathing and acknowledging my emotions helps me move away from feeling defensive or angry and toward a constructive conversation.

Mindfulness is not the solution; it's a tool. Simply because we are using these tools does not mean we can shirk our responsibility to work alongside our students to understand and fight systemic injustice. We must use mindfulness to restore us for the difficult but worthwhile path we walk with our students toward a society that provides them with everything they deserve.

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Mindfulness Won't Save Us. Fixing the System Will.

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Christina Torres Although I question the value of social media in my life, I do use it to find feel-good stories that provide a moment of self-care in dark times. So when I saw a video on my feed about a school using meditation instead of detention, I watched the video smiling, eager to take some ideas back to my classroom.

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"It is our hope that we can write in solidarity about the many ways we define ourselves, our practices, and our lives."

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"Excellent teachers know how to help students to develop the reading, writing, and communication skills they will need to be successful in the world and how to put those skills in service of a more just society."

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Advancing the false idea that teaching through an antiracist lens and developing students' reading and writing skills are mutually exclusive is a gross misinterpretation of the work I see many teachers do-teachers who engage students in deep learning and support them in developing the skills necessary to be active, informed participants in a democracy.
Excellent teachers know how to help students to develop the reading, writing, and communication skills they will need to be successful in the world and how to put those skills in service of a more just society.
These are not mutually exclusive.

We teach more than skills. And furthermore, we teach more than content, too.

After all, currently there are many people in power who have rich content and disciplinary knowledge. But what comprises that content? What types of knowledge (and whose) is deemed valuable? There are also many people currently in power who also have excellent reading, writing, and communication skills. The question is: how are they using those skills? To what ends? For whose benefit? And at whose expense?

Neither content nor skills is neutral.

Full transparency: I am the product of both private and public education. By many measures (i.e. test scores and rankings), I went to excellent schools, even elite ones. In many ways, our educational system worked for me-and for people like me.

In many other ways, however, the system also failed me.

My excellent education failed me when the books I read and the history I learned reinforced the dominant narrative of those in power but marginalized many more others.

It failed me when conversations about racism were relegated to a past we had somehow overcome, slavery, and Civil Rights.

It failed me when I internalized ways of being that devalued the cultural capital of my own heritage and history.

It failed me when I internalized racist ideas about myself and others.

It failed me when I didn't practice the skills necessary to question those ideas and the system that wrought them.

I have no illusions about the type of privilege and power my excellent education afforded me. I can read, write, and think critically. Doors are open to me that would otherwise not be. But I also have no illusions about the deep-personal and interpersonal-wounds that this excellent education also inflicted. The cost of an excellent education should not be our individual or collective humanity.

I am a both/and person. It's a bias I claim. Which is why I believe we can help students become better readers and writers and thinkers-and we can work toward justice and collective liberation. I am fortunate to learn from fellow educators who do both every single day.

As Dr. Lisa Delpit writes in Other People's Children:

Students need technical skills to open doors, but they need to be able to think critically and creatively to participate in meaningful and potentially liberating work inside those doors..."

[E]ven while students are assisted in learning the cultures of power, they must also be helped in learning the arbitrariness of those codes and about the power relationships they represent."

Too often, conversations in education circles get reduced to false binaries which serve no one well, especially our students. Straw man arguments abound. The work of #DisruptTexts and other equity-focused educator collectives is mischaracterized as if all we do is talk about race and everything else, including instruction, is ignored. I would invite those critics to consider how my students this week used their developing critical literacy skills to unpack word choice and syntax in their textbooks. How they researched and presented on several different cognitive biases as part of our larger study of argument: how these biases show up in the way claims, evidence, and warrants are constructed (Toulmin model, anyone?). How these biases lead us to draw false conclusions and make other logical fallacies. How all of this is part of a larger unit of study and inquiry on truth, using a rich text set that includes contemporary and historical readings from Dr. King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" to Orwell's 1984.

The thing is this: it's not enough to teach students the knowledge and skills they need to access traditional levers of power in an unjust system if we don't also support students to use that knowledge and those skills to question-even dismantle-that system and reimagine something better. Otherwise, those levers will simply be pulled in ways that replicate injustice. Instead, we must "teach to transgress," as bell hooks urges, to push against and beyond boundaries, if we have any hope of making education a practice of freedom.

Our role as educators is critical. Again, as Dr. Delpit reminds us, "political work demands that I place myself to influence as many gatekeeping points as possible. And it is there that I agitate for change."

Agitate for change, indeed.

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NOTE: This blog was originally written as this Twitter thread and revised.

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Advancing the false idea that teaching through an antiracist lens and developing students' reading and writing skills are mutually exclusive is a gross misinterpretation of the work I see many teachers do-teachers who engage students in deep learning and support them in developing the skills necessary to be active, informed participants in a democracy.

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If you have ever attended any session where I have presented and the topic of diversity has come up, you know I am quick to tell attendees that I do not give out diverse book lists. Here is my reason why: there are no diverse texts. It is in the transaction (Rosenblatt, 1986) between the reader an

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Vol. 77

No. 6

Abstract

Dismantling Racist Systems

We can't foster student agency without addressing racial oppression.

Abstract

Dismantling Racist Systems

From kindergarten through 8th grade, I prided myself on being a star student. At my Bronx parochial school, I received stellar marks and was always at the top of my class. I even graduated valedictorian in 8th grade. My good grades and behavior earned me a scholarship to attend boarding school in New England.

At my new school, I learned very quickly that my academic stardom had an expiration date. For the first time, schoolwork was difficult. At my Bronx school, being a good student, for the most part, had meant being a good memorizer and information regurgitator. My social studies papers had consisted of whole paragraphs copied from Encyclopedia Britannica. Language arts was listening to my teacher yell at my classmates and me to do the exercises in the textbook. Science meant memorizing the key points at the end of each chapter to ace the tests. Mostly, my classmates and I just sat, taking notes from the board.

At boarding school, however, my classmates and I discussed literature, historical events, and math theorems around a table. I had to analyze and critique what I had read in essays without the help of an encyclopedia. Ill-prepared, I struggled to keep up. I realized that, despite feeling confident at my old school, I was not an empowered student. I had not learned how to question authority, pick apart arguments, take advantage of available resources, ask for help, design my own path for learning, or speak up in class. Instead of being taught how to be empowered, I had learned how to follow rules and honor the opinions and ideas of those in authority at the expense of my own.

Too many young people from disadvantaged communities like the one I grew up in have similar experiences in school. Like me, they go through school as passive learners being told what to do and how to do it. They are forced to eat lunch silently, march in straight lines, fill in worksheets, copy notes from the board, and cram for standardized tests. They are expected to SLANT -sit up, lean forward, ask and answer questions, nod their heads, and track the teacher-to show engagement. In these ways, our students, predominantly youth of color, learn compliance and are deprived of opportunities to develop critical thinking and analytical skills that foster agency.

Though my boarding school provided me with the necessary tools, resources, and experiences to develop academic agency, I was not entirely empowered there, either. To survive, to grasp success, I had to learn and perform the language and culture of whiteness. Anytime my Blackness, my Bronxness, showed up in my behavior, speech, or mannerisms, my classmates would look at me skeptically as if there was something wrong with me, and my teachers would correct me. Interactions in the classroom and on campus routinely conveyed to me that I was viewed as inferior or not trustworthy. Despite the pedigree and academic preparation boarding school offered me, it was clear that I was not empowered-or safe-to be Black.

Later, as an educator, I would come to understand that the world is uniquely disempowering for Black children. Black youth are more likely to get stopped and frisked (New York Civil Liberties Union, ND). If they are in police custody, they are more likely to be mistreated (Jacobs, 2017). When Black youth laugh loudly in public, people often perceive them as grown-ups causing a scene, as they are too often adultified (Epstein, Blake, & González, 2017). And they are suspended and expelled from school at a rate three times higher than their white peers and are punished more harshly for the same infractions (Gregory, Skiba, & Noguera, 2010).

Simply, Black children do not have the privilege of being empowered, not with the way their behavior is regarded as threatening, not with the way they are devalued, not with the limited mind-sets educators sometimes have about what Black students can and cannot do. For Black youth and other students of color in a society fraught with racial bias and inequity, being truly empowered comes with a host of risks.

Dismantling Racist Systems

No instructional paradigm, pedagogical practice, or policy will empower all students if we do not dismantle the racist systems that perpetuate the reality that Black students and youth of color are more likely to do poorly in school, to live in less resourced communities, to have worse academic and life outcomes, and to have their identities erased at school. Our education system was founded on practices that once excluded Black people from attending school and from sitting in the same classrooms as white students. To overcome this history of exclusion, we must acknowledge it and then commit to eradicating not only the racist remnants, but also its present manifestations.

We can begin by engaging in the necessary and uncomfortable work of becoming equity literate and anti-racist. This means understanding how our identity, power, and privilege play out in our instruction, classroom management, and relationships, and ensuring no harm is done. It means unlearning how we have been socialized in harmful, divisive ways. It means calling out inequity and racism when we see it-every single time-and working with colleagues and students to find solutions. It means taking on a stance of inquiry about our students, their families, and communities, and seeing them as equals-not in need of saving. It means creating classroom and school climates where all community members feel safe to be who they are without ridicule or bullying, where they can express themselves freely without being silenced.

Disrupting inequity also means having conversations with and teaching students about race and other forms of oppression. Too often, we shy away from difficult conversations about difference and conflict, fearing that our students are too young and incapable to engage meaningfully. But our students are desperate to make sense of their ever-more complex worlds, and we cannot develop empowered students by hiding from them what is happening around them-the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is a lesson I had to learn for myself after my boarding school years.

If we do not equip our young people to confront inequity, they will grow up to be adults who are unable to identify racism, bias, and their complicity in oppressive structures. They will grow up without the stamina and sensitivity to engage in race conversations with families, friends, strangers, and colleagues. They will grow up without the preparation or empowerment to disrupt the cycle of oppression in which many of us are still toiling.

References

Epstein, R., Blake, J. J., & González, T. (2017). Girlhood interrupted: The erasure of Black girls' childhood. Georgetown University Law Center - Center on Poverty and Inequality, p. 1-19.

Gregory, A., Skiba, R. J., & Noguera, P. A. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39(1), 59-68.

Jacobs, M. S. (2017). The violent state: Black women's invisible struggle against police violence. William and Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice, 24(1), 39-100.

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Confronting Inequity / Who Has the Privilege to Be Empowered?

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We can't foster student agency without addressing racial oppression.

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There is much debate about what kind of role homework should play in schools. Research on the topic is mixed. It has negative impacts on the achievement of younger children, positive impacts at the high school level, and mixed results in the middle. Despite this, homework is routinely given at all levels of school. We've even met preschool teachers who say they must give homework to four-year-olds!

What does homework have to do with equity?

Here is yet another practice that serves to exacerbate inequities faced by students from poverty. As we talk with teachers, it seems to be widely recognized that families have a huge role to play in setting students up for success with homework. Many teachers rely on parents to help students when they get stuck or to make them do it. At the very least, it is expected that parents create space and time in the home for kids to be able to be successful with homework. When viewed through the lens of a middle-class background, this might seem reasonable (though it still ignores the nightly power struggles that often ensue). Comfortable and familiar images surface of setting aside a special table or a space at the counter for kids to do homework with supplies such as pencils, pens, rulers, and other school supplies nearby.

What happens for kids living in homes where adults can't set these things up? How about kids who stay in different homes on different nights and don't have a consistent schedule? What about kids whose parents struggled in school (or didn't even finish school-like one of the authors of this blog post)? and don't know how to be successful with homework? Some parents work multiple jobs and aren't home to be involved in the homework routine. Many children live in temporary housing such as motels, homeless shelters, or campgrounds. Through no fault of their own, many of our students have little, if any chance, of being successful with work sent home. In addition to not completing assigned work, they get another loud and clear message that they can't be successful in school.

What should we do instead?

Of course, there's an obvious solution-stop giving homework entirely. This would benefit many children and families at the preschool, elementary, and middle school levels. If work is worth doing, do it at school. And yes, that means we'd need to be more selective with what we do-we would no longer be able to try and do more than is possible in a school day by passing work beyond the final bell.

If this isn't possible for some reason, there are other options to consider.

Make homework optional. "If you'd like to continue playing around with this science work after school, here are a couple of ways you could do that," we could invite. Then, if students do work outside of class, they can share what they worked on with others-further enriching everyone's understanding. This, too, allows them to benefit from choice. You might be surprised at the investment students might make.

Keep homework light and simple-no projects allowed! If you must assign homework, keep it light in nature. Offer a few simple ways to practice key skills or reinforce content. Don't assign complex work such as long-range projects. These require organizational skills and coaching best left to teachers. Once a big project is sent home, well-meaning and overzealous family members can get involved, and then the disparities between rich and poor are heightened. Again, the parent who is at their second job may be limited in their ability to participate.

Don't allow class time to revolve around homework. Avoid the homework doom-loop, where most of class is spent reviewing homework leaving little time for instruction or actual work in school. Instead, spend class time engaged in dynamic learning and don't waste time reviewing homework.

Don't grade homework. If you're grading work that some kids have a fair shot at doing and others don't, you're building inequity into your grading system. Kids from disadvantaged homes will have a harder time getting good grades, regardless of their understanding of content.

Be wary of flipped learning. The intent of the flipped classroom model is positive, but for kids unable to complete readings or watch videos at home, they come to school unprepared for the deeper learning saved for class time. Their day begins at a disadvantage. These kids are left doing the rote work in the hall or being unsuccessful with higher level learning.

Encourage reading. If there's one kind of "homework" we could all encourage, it's reading for pleasure. Don't track it, manage it, or "hold kids accountable" for it. Encourage it. Make sure all kids have access to books at school that they can take home. If want to foster a love of reading, we need to not make reading a chore.

Miscellaneous Homework. Consider rethinking homework altogether. Consider offering options that encourage connection. How about a family dance party? Maybe students can write a letter to a grandparent, or other relative, telling them about school. Or they might call/write a relative to ask about a family story or tradition. Encourage them to help a neighbor or clean up the trash on their block. (Remember, don't incentivize or reward kids who do these things. Simply allow kids to share their experiences with you and/or the class.)

What are some of your ideas? How might we change homework practices to ensure that all students have a true opportunity to succeed in school?

Read about more inequities common in many schools in our other posts in this series!
Inequities Hidden in Plain Sight (Common School Practices that Disadvantage the Already Disadvantaged)

Mike Anderson has been an educator for more than 25 years. A public school teacher for 15 years, he has also taught preschool, coached swim teams, and taught university graduate level classes. He now works as a consultant providing professional learning for teachers throughout the US and beyond. In 2004, Mike was awarded a national Milken Educator Award, and in 2005 he was a finalist for NH Teacher of the Year. In 2020, he was awarded the Outstanding Educational Leader Award by NHASCD for his work as a consultant. A best-selling author, Mike has written nine books about great teaching and learning. His latest book is Tackling the Motivation Crisis: How to Activate Student Learning Without Behavior Charts, Pizza Parties, or Other Hard-to-Quit Incentive Systems. When not working, Mike can be found hanging with his family, tending his perennial gardens, and searching for new running routes around his home in Durham, NH.

Earl Hunter II has been an educator his entire career. He spent many years as a dynamic elementary school teacher in California. Now a full-time education consultant, Earl travels throughout the United States leading engaging professional development for schools. Earl is a certified Responsive Classroom presenter and consultant, he has presented at national conferences, and was a featured contributor to the book Teaching Self-Discipline. Earl lives in the Los Angeles area with his amazing family. To contact Earl, send him an email at earlhunterconsulting@gmail.com.

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Inequities Hidden in Plain Sight: Homework

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Does homework disadvantage the already disadvantaged? What can we do instead to create more equitable school experiences for all kids?

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Intersection of social-emotional learning & equity vital

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Intersection of social-emotional learning & equity vital

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Dena Simmons is the Assistant Director at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. She is a university scholar-practitioner, TED speaker, and educator on social-emotional learning, equity, and culturally responsive practices. She sat down with LEE staff to discuss in-depth the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL) & equity in school systems. Follow Dena Simmons on Twitter (@denasimmons) & Instagram (@denasimmons). Sign up for her newsletter today!
First, how are you doing? How are you practicing self care right now?

Thank you so much for asking. I am doing well for the most part. For one, I feel grateful to have a home, a job, and food to eat during this uncertain, trying, and stressful moment when unemployment is so high. I have been actively focusing on my self care because, for me, it is a revolutionary act in a world that does not distribute care or the privilege to live equally. It is so easy to get overwhelmed and enraged by the news of the health disparities related to COVID-19, the unnecessary death of George Floyd, the obsessive policing of Black people, and all of the resulting pain and suffering in the Black community.

Some ways that I am taking care of myself is by staying connected virtually with friends and family, exercising, and helping educators by posting almost daily #quaranteaching tips on my Twitter (@denasimmons) and then putting them in my stories on Instagram (@denasimmons). When I am not too anxious about whether I washed my hands after touching my mailbox or the railing in my building or whatever else, I work on my upcoming book, White Rules for Black People.

What does your work with educators, schools & school systems look like?

I work with teachers all over the nation and world to use the power of emotional intelligence to create a more just and compassionate society. I train educators, do research, and learn with school systems on how to teach, learn, and work at the intersection of SEL, equity, and culturally responsive practice so that all students have the safety to learn in the comfort of their own skin.

Tell us more about the intersection of SEL & equity.

It is important that whatever we do in education causes no harm. This is true for SEL, which refers to life skills that support people in experiencing, managing, and expressing emotions meaningfully, making sound decisions, and fostering rewarding interpersonal relationships. Too often, however, SEL is implemented out of context, and without an anti-racist and equity lens, I fear that SEL could become white supremacy with a hug. Additionally, the narrative of SEL could be problematic. As I have traveled and worked with schools nationally, I have heard SEL repeatedly discussed as an opportunity for compliance for kids of color or used to show how children of color are deficient in something else. For white youth and privileged students, SEL is about college and career readiness. Teachers can read more here about applying an equity lens to social, emotional, and academic development in a piece I co-authored and here where I talk about how we can change the problematic narrative and students of color.

What recommendations do you have for school systems wanting to move towards enhancing social & emotional learning and equity in this digital learning environment?

Create opportunities for SEL development, healing, and self-care for the entire school community by infusing SEL skills into everyday interactions and academic instruction with students online. So, consider how you might lead a community circle virtually or how you create a safe and brave space for students to talk about what they're experiencing and to heal. Two of the #quaranteaching tips I created and shared on my Twitter account that can be used are: 1) inviting students to write a letter to their future selves two years from now where they document how they are feeling about this moment and what they aspire and hope to do so that they can see their resilience, emotions, and dreams in the future and 2) asking students to play the role of an advice columnist where they are helping a classmate cope with some anxiety and fear about the pandemic.

Allow students and families to opt-out of activities. Some students and families are tired and suffering in ways we will never know. We should be flexible and understand that people know what they need while still maintaining high expectations.

Allow for varied methods for students to demonstrate understanding based on what is accessible to them.

Be careful that you are not assessing privilege at this time. Not all students have access to a quiet place to work, internet, food, support, safety, and technology needed to participate in virtual learning.

Create project-based learning opportunities that are culturally relevant, student centered, and allow for civic engagement, for families to be involved, and that rely on resources already disposable to students and families.

As families take a larger role in their children's digital learning, what opportunities do school systems have to include parents in their social & emotional learning in equitable ways?

Our work with families is even more important now that we are relying on them to be partners in educating our young people. I talk a little about that in my ASCD article called "Why COVID-19 is Our Equity Check." School systems must support families in supporting the young people in their families either by making material more accessible, providing resources and information with families like blogs or sites that explain the content students are learning, and sharing the SEL practices that students are using in class that could be reinforced at home. While I am a proponent of SEL, it is important that it is not devoid context and that it has an equity and anti-racist lens so that it does not create inadvertent harm. I wrote about that in an article called, "Why We Cannot Afford Whitewashed SEL" and spoke about it in an interview with EdSurge and on stage at the inaugural SEL Exchange conference.

We know that when students return to school, educators will find themselves faced with students who have experienced trauma as a result of the pandemic for a whole host of reasons. How can educators & school system leaders tap into social-emotional learning practices & trauma-informed strategies to address students' diverse needs?

Everyone has and will face some level of trauma because of this pandemic either through their own suffering or through watching the suffering of others. As educators return to schools, it is important that they are taking care of themselves. There is a famous saying that "hurt people hurt people," and if our teachers are not well or are stressed and burnt out, they have very little to offer to their school community. We know from research that teachers who are stressed and burnt out have less warm interactions with the students and that classroom management and academic achievement suffer. As a result, stressed teachers lead to worse outcomes for students, which is why I always say that teacher stress is an equity issue. After teachers have focused on caring for themselves and healing, they have to create the space and time for student and community healing as well--something I talked about on a panel with Discovery Education. Children cannot learn if they are emotionally hijacked; so, concerted effort is necessary for supporting them with their healing and making sense of the pandemic.

Additionally, the pandemic has not only revealed, but also heightened deep-seated inequity in our education systems. That said, we need more than practices to alleviate the trauma many students of color and other youth at the margins were experiencing. We need a new system--one that values equity, liberation, and anti-bias practices, one that has healing, SEL, culturally responsive practices, social justice, and civic engagement at the core, so that schools do not traumatize our young people inadvertently.
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Leadership for Educational Equity staff is devoted to supporting members as they grow and implement their visions for equity. No question is too large or too small. You can always reach out to your LEE contact to get started.

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Intersection of social-emotional learning & equity vital, says LEE member Dena Simmons

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Dena Simmons is the Assistant Director at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence . She is a university scholar-practitioner, TED speaker, and educator on social-emotional learning, equity, and culturally responsive practices. She sat down with LEE staff to discuss in-depth the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL) & equity in school systems. Follow Dena Simmons on Twitter (@denasimmons ) & Instagram (@denasimmons ).

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The Oregon Leadership Network (OLN) promotes the engagement of school and district staff to continually examine and discuss potential inequities. These conversations may address policy and procedural issues, student engagement issues, allocation or redistribution of resources, or just a new way of looking at school or districts structure, practice, or policy. One way to scaffold these important conversations is through the creation of an Equity Leadership Team.

An Equity Leadership Team is a group of committed individuals whose goal is "to ensure that each child receives what they need to reach their academic and social potential." It should be noted that some "equity teams" are known by other names, such as a leadership team, school improvement team, or school climate team. Team members essentially collaborate around equity issues, potential equity issues, or proactive ways to engage stakeholders about future challenges arising from inequities.

Equity Leadership Teams work to:

Eliminate inequities and disparities in student achievement

Foster a safe and healthy school climate

Promote an inclusive culture that engages and draws on the assets of students, families, staff and community members

Foster leadership development

Encourage conversations about equity and social justice

The protocol presented in this booklet is intended as a guide for designing the structure, role, and work of the Equity Leadership Team.

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The Oregon Leadership Network (OLN) promotes the engagement of school and district staff to continually examine and discuss potential inequities. These conversations may address policy and procedural issues, student engagement issues, allocation or redistribution of resources, or just a new way of looking at school or districts structure, practice, or policy.

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Social-Emotional Learning for an Antiracist Future

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Social-Emotional Learning for an Antiracist Future

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Brought to you by the Hammer Family Foundation

Get a glimpse inside real classrooms in our classroom videos to see our teaching strategies in action, learn from our on-demand webinars, and engage with our self-paced workshops to further your professional learning. Gather with colleagues or view on your own!

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On-Demand Learning Center - Professional Learning on Your Schedule

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Get a glimpse inside real classrooms in our classroom videos to see our teaching strategies in action, learn from our on-demand webinars, and engage with our self-paced workshops to further your professional learning. Gather with colleagues or view on your own!

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Without Context, Social-Emotional Learning Can Backfire

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Without Context, Social-Emotional Learning Can Backfire

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A few years ago, I had the great fortune to meet Bronx native Dena Simmons on a fellowship trip and hear about her life's work and experience. She's an educator, a TED speaker, and currently, the assistant director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence-not to mention a keynote speaker at the EdSurge Fusion conference later this year.

What I didn't realize at the time was just how much of a confluence there would be between her work and the current trendiness of one particular phrase: "social-emotional learning" (SEL)-something which Simmons has been exploring and researching for years.

As has happened with other buzzwords in the education space-from "personalized" to "project-based" learning-when a concept gains traction on Twitter or becomes trendy among edtech company offerings, it runs the risk of being mishandled or cheapened. Simmons is well aware of that reality, and has written and spoken about that risk for organizations from ASCD to large public school districts.

Namely, are we at risk of bastardizing SEL to the point where it becomes less helpful and more harmful for the students we seek to serve? How should educators work with kids to truly develop those soft skills-and escape the inevitability of impostor experiences?

Last week, Simmons and I sat down to discuss just that, and more.

What's the point of teaching children about conflict resolution skills, if we're not talking about the conflicts that exist because of racism or white supremacy?

Dena Simmons

From Social-Emotional Learning to Social-Emotional Equity

For the last five years, Simmons has risen through the ranks at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence-first starting off as associate director of school initiatives, then moving into a director of education role and finally making it to assistant director.

But for Simmons, her growth isn't simply driven only by a desire to climb the career ladder. In fact, her work in equity comes from a very personal place. When asked to recall a key memory that defined her as an educator and a human being, she mentions her twin sister, who has a chronic, debilitating illness.

"It really is hard to watch my sister struggle and suffer, but it has really brought out the activist in me, because I've had to fight for her since I was young," she describes. "I've had to tell doctors to respect what she's saying when she's in pain. It really taught me about how black lives are valued-especially within the chronically sick black folk community."

As a young girl growing up in the Bronx, Simmons was ever-aware of the importance of personal safety and community. Today, she works with her colleagues to ensure that "our young people have safe spaces to learn"-hence the research and efforts around spreading social-emotional learning and helping students figure out how to navigate and manage their emotions, relationships and well-being.

However, according to Simmons, the world of SEL isn't all hearts and stars. On the contrary-we are at risk of delivering a "very flawed narrative" when it comes to SEL. Here's how.

When Social-Emotional Learning Becomes 'White Supremacy With a Hug'

First, Simmons describes the fact that when SEL is taught to students-particularly students of color-without any context, it can become inherently problematic. "What's the point of teaching children about conflict resolution skills," she says, "if we're not talking about the conflicts that exist because of racism or white supremacy? Without that nuance, she says SEL risks turning into "white supremacy with a hug."

To help address this issue, Simmons recently wrote a piece for ASCD entitled " Why We Can't Afford Whitewashed Social Emotional Learning," in which she argues that teaching SEL needs to happen within a sociopolitical and racial context.

"Educators often teach SEL absent of the larger sociopolitical context, which is fraught with injustice and inequity and affects our students' lives," she wrote, adding that educators oftentimes "feel ill-equipped and uncomfortable in addressing topics like poverty, gun violence, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of injustice that many students, particularly our most marginalized, experience daily."

Beyond that, the trendiness of SEL is something that also gives Simmons pause-something she recommends practitioners be aware of.

"People's lives are at stake and so we have to approach anything we do with them-SEL, project-based learning, any of the sort of big names or trendy things-we just have to do it responsibly. We just can't do it for the sake of doing it," she states, later adding, "I worry that sometimes because of the trend, we do it for the sake of doing it and not because it could enhance people's lives."

Beyond the Defensiveness: Starting with Educator Self-Analysis

At the heart of this all, however, is a need for educators-those folks ultimately in charge of the SEL instruction-to recognize and confront their own internalized racism and sexism, defensiveness and lack of true SEL understanding as it applies to their own awareness and biases.

Simmons, who gives trainings on equitable social-emotional learning to districts and schools across the United States, oftentimes sees that defensiveness and white fragility (a concept first coined by scholar Robin DiAngelo) firsthand.

"The second flawed piece about SEL is [the idea] that some groups of children need it more than other children. When I do SEL trainings, it's like 'kids with special needs need this more,' or 'our black and brown children need this more,' as if because they're not calm enough..." Simmons says. She explored this in a piece she wrote for the Greater Good Science Center.

But what teachers really need to do, she explains, "is to understand themselves, recognize their power and privilege and identity," and "what that means in the work that they do and the people with whom they often work."

And that, as Simmons adds, takes humility, time and most importantly, effort.

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Dena Simmons: Without Context, Social-Emotional Learning Can Backfire - EdSurge News

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A few years ago, I had the great fortune to meet Bronx native Dena Simmons on a fellowship trip and hear about her life's work and experience. She's an educator, a TED speaker, and currently, the assistant director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence-not to mention a keynote speaker at the EdSurge Fusion conference later this year.

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Building a Culture of Equity Through SEL

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Building a Culture of Equity Through SEL

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2019 SEL Exchange: Building a Culture of Equity Through SEL

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Former Teacher’s Advice On Joy In Class: Let Students Lead the Way

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Former Teacher’s Advice On Joy In Class: Let Students Lead the Way

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Your browser does not support the audio element.

The book "Teaching When the World is on Fire" offers a collection of essays from educators about the politics and culture of teaching.

It turns to educators - instead of "experts" - to discuss how teachers do and should engage with students around issues ranging from Black Lives Matters to sexual assault to hate speech to climate change.

Detroit education researcher and former teacher Carla Shalaby contributed the essay "Calling on Omar " to the collection.Shalaby also wrote the book " Troublemakers: Lessons in Freedom from Young Children at School."

In the essay, Shalaby describes a moment in a classroom when a child tries to redirect the class - for some, 'disrupt' - to inject a little bit of joy.

She tells WDET's Sascha Raiyn Omar's story shows how children often model humanity for their teachers.

Click on the player above to hear author Carla Shalaby about teaching in today's America, and read excerpts, edited for clarity, below.
Sascha Raiyn, 101.9 WDET: As a parent, I've had that moment where I am on task or I am stressed out. I feel like it happens every school morning, where I forget that there's this little human being who's got her own things going on.
Carla Shalaby, author: We're tired. And, you know, kids are annoying, kids are frustrating, and they're exhausting. They are tireless, while we're tried. It can be a tough match, especially first thing in the morning, when you're thinking about the next thing you've got to do. That's the big difference between adults and children, one of the big differences, where adults are like, 'I'm on my way to doing something else,' but kids are what they're doing right then.

That's really all it is, is adults trying to remember what it's like to be a child. Be present in the joy that you're trying to experience in a given moment and not be so anxious.
How do you bridge that gap, between who teachers want to be and who teachers are trained to be in order to survive the work day?
That is the moment that this profession is in. Teaching as a profession is suffering because it's so hard to be joyful, because teachers are over-criticized. They have absolutely impossible jobs that are becoming more impossible. I think the essay sounds critical of the teacher I write about, but I was that teacher. If I go into classrooms now, I still am that teacher. Realistically, it's very, very hard not to follow our training, which is bring kids someplace, to drag them along someplace.

Good teachers right now are wrestling themselves with the gap that you named. The gap between who they want to be as teachers, and what they're doing each day.

I want them to feel a little more powerful in their right to close that gap. They don't.

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Former Teacher's Advice On Joy In Class: Let Students Lead the Way - WDET 101.9 FM

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Your browser does not support the audio element. The book "Teaching When the World is on Fire" offers a collection of essays from educators about the politics and culture of teaching. It turns to educators - instead of "experts" - to discuss how teachers do and should engage with students around issues ranging from Black Lives Matters to sexual assault to hate speech to climate change.

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EMBEDDING EQUITY IN CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

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EMBEDDING EQUITY IN CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

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Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

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Leadership, Shared Power, and Vulnerability | Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

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The session videos all touch on the theme of leadership, shared power, and vulnerability in improvement work.

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When students feel happy and proud — the Student Experience Story Guide

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When students feel happy and proud — the Student Experience Story Guide

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"My favorite day of school was when it was my birthday because everybody said hello to me, and I wish that happened every day."

- a Seattle-area student, when asked to reflect on their best school experiences

For years, CEL has had frameworks around practice, knowledge, leadership and mindsets for adults. But we've never had a student-facing framework. When we revamped the Four Dimensions of School LeadershipTM to center student experiences in school, we knew we needed to bring students more directly into our work.

Jenn McDermott, director of innovative initiatives at CEL, spearheaded the effort to do just that. Jenn and CEL colleagues invited K-12 students from three Seattle-area school districts - then later on, students from across the country - to collaborate.

And the team learned that the adults at school really need to listen hard - because what adults focus on to make a better school experience? It's not the same as what students say they want and need.

Watch a video of this conversation (6 minutes)

(The transcript below has been edited for length and clarity.)

For Jenn, the Student Experience Story Guide was a chance to take a back seat and to let students drive.

I started my career as a teacher, and I've been a facilitator of adult learning for most of the rest of my career, so I'm used to organizing and directing. This effort felt very different to me. I had to really let go of some of the learned behaviors I have around leading students toward an outcome, so I could create space for students to be able to authentically share their stories.

And I had to really think about my reactions to those stories - not as stories that met an outcome for a lesson but stories that really represented who the students were and what they wanted.

Whatever concept I thought I was looking for, I had to really wipe the blackboard clean of that idea and just listen to what kids were sharing.

Part of what we're learning - and it's based on my experience too - is how much we as adults in systems with kids are looking for students to say certain things. It's sort of this program we've been trained on.

Whatever they say, it's not for me to judge their experience. Whatever concept I thought I was looking for, I had to really wipe the blackboard clean of that idea and just listen to what kids were sharing.

Creating the Student Experience Story Guide was a student-driven process.

We started very simply, with one prompt: tell me about your best experience in school. Their answers were so clear. They knew exactly what moments to share and why. One boy said, "My favorite day of school was when it was my birthday because everybody said hello to me, and I wish that happened every day."

From there, we asked the students to take their best experiences and organize them around themes. Very quickly, the words "happy" and "proud" emerged. We asked schools to bring a diverse group of students to the table - including students who didn't have great experiences in school, from the adult perspective, and those who did. We wanted to be sure students who don't usually get the chance were sharing their experiences. And "happy" and "proud" kept on showing up.

Overwhelmingly, the students - especially the younger kids - told us that the "thing" we were trying to create needed images. They didn't want a lot of words. They didn't want it to look like an adult document, essentially. They talked about the shapes and images and colors they imagined.

Part of what we're learning is how much we as adults in systems with kids are looking for students to say certain things.

Even so, the transition from from naming "happy" and "proud" to producing a framework prototype was challenging.

The older students struggled the most. They'd ask, "what's the right answer? What are you trying to get me to say?" when what we really wanted was their unfiltered imagination. I think that speaks a lot to how acclimated they were to school, and how school goes for them.

Student drawings reflect their vision of a "happy" and "proud" school experience (36 seconds)

Our team wasn't sure what to do - until we landed on the familiar concept of heroes and villains.

Who helped you? Who didn't? We said that heroes and villains weren't people, necessarily, but what helped them or have or got in the way of positive school experiences.

The idea worked. The students moved past trying to fit their ideas into adult expectations. Heroes and villains - it seems like such a simple idea, but it didn't feel simple at the time.

We couldn't predetermine outcomes or metrics. Here's why.

An adult we've worked with said that " students are experts of their own experience." It's a great way to think about our approach to understanding student experience.

We had no traditional project metrics for that very reason. I had to really watch myself with follow-up questions and ask myself, what am I trying to find out here? Am I allowing the students to really express themselves? Because to do otherwise would undermine the whole reason I was there. The students were the metric.

I just kept saying, "The kids are going to create something. They're going to give us something and it's going to work." Even though I never knew what that something was going to be.

I just kept saying, "The kids are going to create something. They're going to give us something that's going to work."

Over time, the students' many drawings evolved. A student with graphic design talent was the first to come up with the triangle-in-a-circle-with-a-superhero image. And the students made sure that those who aren't yet readers and second-language students could use this "something" to tell their "happy" and "proud" story, too.

I couldn't be happier with what we ended up with.

As it turns out, what they developed reflects well what we know - and are learning from research about - how kids best develop socially, emotionally and academically.

And also, because the point of the project was for students to be the experts of their own experience, we decided to not call what they created a "framework" after all.

As the story guide has been introduced to educators, they've been forced to reflect on how well they are centering the student experience.

We're considering this a year of learning through use. So we're working with interested partners to incorporate the story guide in their professional learning.

So far the response has been great. I don't think adults are surprised by what's on there, but there's almost a humbled response: oh, we're not asking kids about their day. We're not asking them if they're happy and proud.

What does it mean to put students at the center?

What's the connection between student experience and school outcomes?

What does student experience say about equity?

If we're not asking students about their experiences and giving them a greater role in shaping their experiences, how will we know if the work we do is making a meaningful difference?

The guide prompts a lot of reflection like this.

A colleague told me, "this is not an assignment for kids. This is an assignment for adults to hear kids' stories," and I love that.

Are you interested in the Student Experience Story Guide? We're looking for additional opportunities to incorporate it into the professional learning we offer. Please reach out to us for a conversation.

Related posts:

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When students feel happy and proud - the Student Experience Story Guide

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For years, CEL has had frameworks around practice, knowledge, leadership and mindsets for adults. But we've never had a student-facing framework. When we revamped the Four Dimensions of School LeadershipTM to center student experiences in school, we knew we needed to bring students more directly into our work.

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We Read Too is a mobile directory of books for kids and teens written by authors of color featuring main characters of color.

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Why Colorful Pages? With current events in our nation, it is becoming more crucial to create inclusive and empathetic PreK-12 classrooms, libraries, and homes. This website aims to help educators, families, and librarians explore the use of multicultural literature/diverse books to cultivate cultural empowerment and crosscultural empathy in our students.

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A large part of CBC's mission is to gather relevant book lists and resources for use by parents, educators, librarians, and booksellers. The publisher members of the CBC and many other organizations have taken the lead on curating lists of fiction and nonfiction books for young people that represent diversity in all its forms.

This regularly updated directory features diverse titles offered by CBC member publishers as well as curated lists from other organizations.

Check back often as we continue to update with new titles and resources!

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PUBLISHERS: if you wish to share your diverse titles and resources, please email shaina.birkhead@cbcbooks.org.

CBC Diversity's Goodreads

Front and backlist children's and young adult books reflect the diverse nature of our world! Browse the titles on the archived CBC Diversity's Goodreads to search hundreds of diverse children's and young adult books by age and subject.

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A large part of CBC's mission is to gather relevant book lists and resources for use by parents, educators, librarians, and booksellers. The publisher members of the CBC and many other organizations have taken the lead on curating lists of fiction and nonfiction books for young people that represent diversity in all its forms. This regularly updated directory features diverse titles offered by CBC member publishers as well as curated lists from other organizations.

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I Dream Library™ connects students, caregivers, educators & organizations with intersectional literature that supports childhood mental wellness. We believe accessible BIPOC 2SLGBTQQIA+ representation in classrooms and other public spaces is a basic human right. This online resource empowers intersectional identity, equity and allyship.

teach the Dream until it's reality

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I Dream Library™ connects students, caregivers, educators & organizations with intersectional literature that supports childhood mental wellness. We believe accessible BIPOC 2SLGBTQQIA+ representation in classrooms and other public spaces is a basic human right. This online resource empowers intersectional identity, equity and allyship.

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Universal Design for Learning as an Instrument for Change

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Universal Design for Learning as an Instrument for Change

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READ THE TRANSCRIPT About Mirko Chardin
Mirko Chardin is the Founding Head of School of the Putnam Avenue Upper School in Cambridge, MA. Mirko's work has involved all areas of school management and student support. His greatest experience and passion revolves around culturally connected teaching and learning, recruiting and retaining educators of color, restorative practice, and school culture. He delivers keynotes across the nation on equity, social justice, and personal narrative. He is also a race, diversity, and cultural proficiency facilitator and leadership coach for the Aspire Institute at Boston University's New Wheelock College of Human Development. He is a principal mentor for the Perone-Sizer Creative Leadership Institute, a Trustee at Wheaton College, and an active hip-hop artist.
About Katie Novak, Ed.D.
Katie Novak, EdD is an internationally renowned education consultant as well as a practicing leader in education in Massachusetts. With 17 years of experience in teaching and administration, an earned doctorate in curriculum and teaching, and seven published books, Katie designs and presents workshops both nationally and internationally focusing on the implementation of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and universally designed leadership.
Show Highlights

Equity by Design

Missed opportunities when providing options for students

Are we creating barriers for our students?

Intent and Impact

Are we giving ourselves more work when using UDL?

Connect with Mirko and Katie
Twitter - @MirkoMilk

Twitter - @KatieNovakUDL
Equity by Design: Delivering on the Power and Promise of UDL Inquire about the Leading Equity Center's "Annihilating Racial Injustice in Schools" training

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Universal Design for Learning as an Instrument for Change with Mirko Chardin and Dr. Katie Novak

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READ THE TRANSCRIPT About Mirko Chardin Mirko Chardin is the Founding Head of School of the Putnam Avenue Upper School in Cambridge, MA. Mirko's work has involved all areas of school management and student support. His greatest experience and passion revolves around culturally connected teaching and learning, recruiting and retaining educators of color, restorative practice, and school culture.

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A Framework for Anti-Bias Education

The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K-12 instruction. Comprised of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes, the standards provide a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

Divided into four domains-identity, diversity, justice and action (IDJA)-the standards recognize that, in today's diverse classrooms, students need knowledge and skills related to both prejudice-reduction and collective action. Together, these domains represent a continuum of engagement in anti-bias, multicultural and social justice education. The IDJA domains are based on Louise Derman-Sparks' four goals for anti-bias education in early childhood.

Each of the IDJA domains has learning outcomes and school-based scenarios organized by grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12.

Download the Standards

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The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K-12 instruction, providing a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

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Articles | Books & Publications | Webinars | Digital Learning | Experts & Events

In their book, Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators, Elias et al. state that
social and emotional competence is the ability to understand, manage, and express the social and emotional aspects of one's life in ways that enable the successful management of life tasks such as learning, forming relationships, solving everyday problems, and adapting to the complex demands of growth and development. It includes self-awareness, control of impulsivity, working cooperatively, and caring about oneself and others. Social and emotional learning is the process through which children and adults develop the skills, attitudes, and values necessary to acquire social and emotional competence. (1997, p.2)
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The Promise of Social-Emotional Learning

As we learn more about what drives and supports students, social-emotional learning has become a growing area of interest in schools. The October 2018 Educational Leadership examines how educators and schools are integrating SEL into the curriculum, and how schools are measuring its impact.
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Articles | Books & Publications | Webinars | Digital Learning | Experts & Events In their book, Promoting Social and Emotional Learning: Guidelines for Educators , Elias et al.

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American Indians in Children's Literature

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American Indians in Children's Literature

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Editors Note: This post was created as a one-page document that would fit into a single page. It is also available as a pdf. If you have trouble opening or downloading the pdf, write to us directly (see the "Contact" tab for Debbie's email address). A one-pager was hard to do! We wanted to add resources for each of the ten points. Instead, we'll be adding resources in the comments section. We encourage you to share the link to this post and the pdf with others but do not insert Tips for Teachers in something you are selling! We created this as a free resource. If you see someone selling it, please let us know.
Tips for Teachers: Developing Instructional Materials about American Indians
Prepared by Debbie Reese (Nambé Owingeh) and Jean Mendoza (White)

American Indians in Children's Literature

As educators develop or adapt lesson plans to teach about Native peoples, we recommend attention to the following:

(1) "American Indian" and "Native American" are broad terms that describe the Native Nations of peoples who have lived on North America for thousands of years. Recently, "Indigenous" has come into use, too (note: always use a capital letter for Indigenous). Many people use the three terms interchangeably but educationally, best practice is to teach about and use the name of a specific Native Nation.

(2) There are over 500 sovereign Native Nations that have treaty or legal agreements with the United States. Like any sovereign nation in the world, they have systems of government with unique ways of selecting leaders, determining who their citizens are (also called tribal members), and exercising jurisdiction over their lands. That political status distinguishes Native peoples from other minority or underrepresented groups in the United States. Native peoples have cultures (this includes unique languages, stories, religions, etc.) specific to who they are, but their most important attribute is sovereignty. Best practice-educationally-is to begin with the sovereignty of Native Nations and then delve into unique cultural attributes (languages, religions, etc.)

(3) There is a tendency to talk, speak, and write about Native peoples in the past tense, as if they no longer exist. You can help change that misconception by using present tense verbs in your lesson plans, and in your verbal instruction when you are teaching about Native peoples.

(4) Another tendency is to treat Native creation and traditional stories like folklore or as writing prompts, or to use elements within them as the basis for art activities. Those stories are of religious significance to Native peoples and should be respected in the same ways that people respect Bible stories.

(5) In many school districts, instruction and stories about Native peoples are limited to Columbus Day or November (Native American month) or Thanksgiving. Native peoples are Native all year long and information about them should be included year-round.

(6) Native peoples of the 500+ sovereign nations have unique languages. A common mistake is to think that "papoose" is the Native word for baby and that "squaw" is the word for woman. In fact, each nation has its own word for baby and woman, and some words-like squaw-are considered derogatory. We also have unique clothing. Some use feathered headdresses; some do not.

(7) To interrupt common misconceptions, develop instructional materials that focus on a specific nation-ideally-one in the area of the school where you teach. Look for that nation's website and share it with your students. Teach them to view these websites as primary sources. Instead of starting instruction in the past, start with the present day concerns of that nation.

(8) To gain an understanding of issues that are of importance to Native peoples, read Native news media like Indian Country Today, , and listen to radio programs like " Native America Calling."

(9) The National Congress of American Indians has free resources online that can help you become more knowledgeable. An especially helpful one is Tribal Nations and the United States: An Introduction, available here: http://www.ncai.org/about-tribes.

(10) Share what you learn with your fellow teachers!

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Prepared on October 1, 2020. May be shared with others.
© American Indians in Children's Literature.

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Tips for Teachers: Developing Instructional Materials about American Indians

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Editors Note: This post was created as a one-page document that would fit into a single page. It is also available as a pdf. If you have trouble opening or downloading the pdf, write to us directly (see the "Contact" tab for Debbie's email address). A one-pager was hard to do!