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Charlotte and the Quiet Place Read by Mr. Frank

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“Min Jee’s Lunch” | A Read-aloud Video for Young Learners

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At least 28 cities have begun or are planning to partly or fully remove deteriorating highways that have isolated Black neighborhoods.

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The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill now moving through Congress will bring money to cities for much-needed investments in roads, bridges, public transit networks, water infrastructure, electric power grids, broadband networks, and traffic safety.

We believe that more of this money should also fund the dismantling of racist infrastructure.

Many urban highways built in the 1950s and 1960s were deliberately run through neighborhoods occupied by Black families and other people of color, walling off these communities from jobs and opportunity. Although President Joe Biden proposed $20 billion for reconnecting neighborhoods isolated by historical federal highway construction, the bill currently provides only $1 billion for these efforts -enough to help just a few places.

As scholars in urban planning and public policy, we are interested in how urban planning has been used to classify, segregate, and compromise people's opportunities based on race. In our view, more support for highway removal and related improvements in marginalized neighborhoods is essential.

As we see it, this funding represents a down payment on restorative justice: remedying deliberate discriminatory policies that created polluted and transit-poor neighborhoods like West Bellfort in Houston, Westside in San Antonio, and West Oakland, California.

Policies of separation

Many policies have combined over time to isolate urban Black neighborhoods. Racialized rental and sales covenants began appearing in U.S. cities in the early 1900s. They changed cityscapes by restricting certain neighborhoods to whites only, which concentrated Black people in other areas. Racialized zoning, outlawed by the Supreme Court in 1917, was followed by single-family or exclusionary zoning, which restricted residents by socioeconomic class-a proxy for race in the U.S.

Next came redlining, a classification process that started in 1933 when the federal government rated neighborhoods for its loan programs. Working with real estate agents, the federal Home Owners Loan Corp. created color-coded neighborhood maps to inform decisions by mortgage lenders at the Federal Housing Administration.

Any neighborhood with substantial numbers of Black residents was colored red, for "hazardous"-the riskiest category. Other New Deal programs, such as the Federal Housing Authority and Fannie Mae, built on redlining by requiring racially restrictive covenants before approving mortgages.

Beginning with the first federal highway law in 1956, transportation planners used highways to isolate or destroy Black neighborhoods by cutting them off from adjoining areas. Once the highways were built, the social and economic fabric of these neighborhoods began to deteriorate. Distinguished environmental justice scholar Robert Bullard calls this transportation racism, alluding to the way in which isolation limited employment and other opportunities.

The lasting impacts of highway construction

Today low-income and minority neighborhoods in many U.S. cities have much higher levels of fine particulate air pollution than adjoining areas. Across the U.S., Black and Latino communities are exposed to 56% and 63% more particulate matter, respectively, from cars, trucks, and buses than white residents.

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It's time to dismantle racist infrastructure. Let's start with American highways

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The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill now moving through Congress will bring money to cities for much-needed investments in roads, bridges, public transit networks, water infrastructure, electric power grids, broadband networks, and traffic safety. We believe that more of this money should also fund the dismantling of racist infrastructure.

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A protocol for looking critically at content and developing a sensitivity to the roles of power and participation in the design of objects and systems.

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What we can learn from software developers as educators.

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Tell me if this sounds like you: You hear about a new teaching idea and decide you'd like to try it. Then for the next two, three, six months, you put it off, waiting for the day when you can get it just right. Your "idea" file grows thicker and thicker, and most of it never gets used.

If this is you, it might be time to add a little beta to your practice.

In the tech world, the term beta refers to software or other products that have not yet been perfected, but are released to the public for a kind of trial run. In this piece from the online tech magazine MakeUseOf, Joel Lee explains: "The beta phase begins when a product propels from 'functional but hideous' to 'polished and ready to go.' Bugs are hunted down and fixed, features are improved or revamped for maximum usability, the interface and graphics receive an overhaul, and performance issues are optimized."

When I see the word beta attached to something, I get excited: Here's something brand-new! Anything could happen! But beyond that sense of anticipation, I have a great deal of admiration for developers in beta. And envy. Because in software development, the beta phase is an accepted, normal, predictable stage of product development. Problems and bugs are expected. It's a culture whose motto - " Release early, release often " - lifts up the notion that continuous improvement is way better than eternally holding out for perfection.

The concept of beta is now making its way into the business world. In their book The Start-up of You , entrepreneurs Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha advise readers to put themselves in a state of Permanent Beta. "We are all works in progress," they write. "Great people, like great companies, are always evolving. They're never finished and never fully developed. Each day presents an opportunity to learn more, do more, grow more. Permanent beta is a lifelong commitment to continuous personal growth."

Tech first, then business. So how about education? Isn't it time we consider making beta a standard part of our approach?

If we treated our practice the way developers treat software, we'd end up with a better product and greater job satisfaction. We already try new things all the time. The difference is our attitude about the process: So many people in education expect perfection the first time around. When we don't get it, we reject the good idea, move on to the next new one, and repeat the cycle. We're chasing our own tails.

But imagine if we embraced beta, if every attempt at something new were treated as the first in a series of iterations - repetitions of a process with the goal of making improvements each time around.

Here's what it might look like:

In Our Own Teaching: Mrs. Roberts has heard about Project-Based Learning (PBL), but she doesn't know where to start. Working with a colleague, she converts her smallest, simplest unit to one that incorporates more PBL aspects and takes it for a trial run. She's up front with her students, telling them this is the first time she's taught this way - this unit is still in beta - and she asks them for feedback at regular intervals. When something goes wrong, rather than immediately deciding that PBL is nonsense, she makes note of it for future iterations.

With Student Work: Mr. Bruno has tasked his science students with designing, conducting, and reporting on their own experiments. Rather than set a single deadline for finished work, he plans several phases: The first one is the beta phase, where students design and conduct their experiments, report on them, then make plans for improving their designs and going through another iteration.

In Administration: Dr. Stewart wants more of her staff to flip their classrooms this year, but instead of mandating it ("Everyone will flip at least 20 percent of their lessons. End of discussion."), she tells them this will be their beta year for flipping, that everyone should flip at least three lessons, spacing them far apart to allow time to learn from each attempt. She adds a 5-minute "What Went Wrong" feature to every faculty meeting, where different teachers report on something they learned about flipping from mistakes they made in one of their attempts.

On a Macro-Level: A new set of standards has been proposed! Rather than adopting them whole-cloth and mandating full implementation within a short span of time, your state institutes a series of beta years,during which teachers craft lessons using the new proposed standards, and a regular series of meetings and workshops is held to refine the standards. Several years later, the revised standards are released in their finished form.

Adding more beta to your practice can be very simple - just embrace the concept at times when everyone gets too focused on finished and perfect.

If you'd like to take things further, to develop an entire workflow that embraces the idea of iteration and trial and error, I recommend Design Thinking for Educators, a free 80-page pdf written by the global design firm IDEO. The manual shows teachers how to use the same process designers use to creatively solve problems with curriculum, physical spaces like classrooms and cafeterias, and processes, such as the way your school handles students' daily arrival and departure.

The guide includes step-by-step instructions for developing and testing ideas, and it includes case studies to show you the principles in action. There's even a set of worksheets to take you through the planning. It contains so many ideas that I had never even thought about, but would be so useful in an educational setting, such as the section on how to pitch a concept, which shows you how to convince others that your idea could work for them. And although it's not named as such, the notion of beta - of prototyping and revising solutions in cycles of continuous improvement - is present throughout.

As an educator, you are a designer. A developer. You design and develop spaces, materials, systems and experiences. It's time you start thinking of yourself that way.

Now. Go dig into that idea folder. ♦

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Teaching in Beta: What We Can Learn from Software Developers

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We already try new things all the time, but we expect perfection the first time around. When we don't get it, we reject the good idea, move on to the next new one, and repeat the cycle. We're chasing our own tails.

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This is about facing our history and how to better our classroom.

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PBL teaches students to foster connections and learn more than just content knowledge

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Project-Based Learning (PBL)

When PBL is personal to students, it can provide more than just content knowledge-it can also foster important connections.

Courtesy of Teague Tubach

The author's students built a 'Tunnel of Despair' as part of their study of refugees and immigrants.

It all started because of an email. In August 2020, I received a message from a parent in my seventh-grade humanities class, explaining that her husband was a genocide survivor; he had escaped the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and then lived in a Thai refugee camp before coming to California. I was intrigued, and like any good educator, I started asking questions. What I uncovered became the catalyst for a unique project-based learning (PBL) experience.

What I discovered was that my students came from very diverse backgrounds. More than 40 percent of them had parents who came to the United States as immigrants or refugees. What's more, my students and their parents represented 23 foreign countries of origin: Australia, Austria, Bosnia, Cambodia, Chile, China, Côte d'Ivoire, England, Germany, Guatemala, Holland, India, Iran, Ireland, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and Vietnam. I kept asking questions, and my curiosity quickly turned to inspiration. Their stories needed to be told, and my students needed to be the ones to tell them. Project HOPE was born.

Understanding and implementing the histories, cultures, worldviews, and experiences of our students, can be the impetus for powerful PBL.

Infancy: Angel Island and Interviews

In its infancy, Project HOPE was going to focus on the experiences of Asian immigrants who came through Angel Island in San Francisco. In prior years, I brought students to the Immigration Station on the island, also known as the "Ellis Island of the West Coast." This year, my students would still learn about Angel Island, but with the park closed, and looking into the eyes of the children of immigrants and refugees, I realized that Project HOPE needed a dynamic adolescence.

My students researched the history of Angel Island and also interviewed their parents, extended family, and members of our community. They created illustrated journals, telling the stories that they had encountered. For some students, this was deeply personal, and for others it was a window into powerful human experiences.

All communities have unique histories that can enlighten and inspire. When we listen to understand and develop purposeful inquiry, we are rewarded with not only unique PBL ideas but also the power to make the world a better place.

Adolescence: Widening the Lens

I broadened the scope. We learned about push factors, such as poverty, by watching the documentary Living on One Dollar. We learned about war and the many struggles and triumphs of a Vietnamese family by reading Thi Bui's memoir The Best We Could Do. We learned about the lives of children in Ukraine, Syria, and South Sudan through two virtual reality experiences, "The Displaced" and " Clouds Over Sidra." We read " The New Colossus " and learned about the history of the Statue of Liberty while revisiting the history of Ellis Island. This adolescent phase gave my students a good foundation from which to spread their wings.

They took flight. My students were given access to Los Angeles Times education accounts, which they used to conduct research into ongoing immigration and refugee issues that interested them. They also chose two books, one fiction and one nonfiction, to further explore the lives of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Some of the popular choices were The Distance Between Us (Young People's Edition), Enrique's Journey (Young People's Edition), Other Words for Home, A Land of Permanent Goodbyes, and We Are Not From Here. Several also decided to branch off and watch news stories or documentaries. We found several TED Talks and a compelling docuseries on Netflix called Living Undocumented.

The resources for our projects already exist and continue to be developed. I recommend organizations such as We Need Diverse Books, Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance), and The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Maturity: Spreading HOPE

My students gained special knowledge, powerful insights, the skills and courage to tell stories, and the empathy to truly understand. Now it was time to go public. We wanted to create an interactive experience, influenced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, and Tunnel of Oppression, interactive, immersive experiences made popular on university campuses that are designed to highlight social issues. We purchased three-quarter-inch PVC pipe and connectors and an 18-by-20-foot tarp to create what we called Tunnel of Despair.
Courtesy of Teague Tubach
Inside the tunnel, students created original art pieces that showed the desperation and misery that was evident in several of the stories they encountered. Outside of the tunnel, they created representations of hope as well as a large urban art wall on the tarp. As visitors walked through the tunnel, they saw images of despair and listened to a heartbreaking audio recording of family separation. Upon exiting, they were greeted by welcome signs from Disneyland's "It's a Small World"; original art pieces; clay, plaster, and cardboard sculptures; illustrated journals; and more. The juxtaposition of hope and despair resulted in a more dynamic understanding of the human condition-one that visitors, and creators, would not soon forget.

We worked with researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education to create virtual tours of the tunnel. Some students used Google Street View to create photospheres and then made them interactive using ThingLink. Other students created walk-through videos and then added explanatory text slides. Both versions of virtual tours were shared with a wider audience.

Reflecting on the Life of Project HOPE

Project HOPE began as a grassroots effort inspired by my students and their families. It became a multitiered PBL experience that my students shared with our community via a powerful public display. In the end, Project HOPE wasn't just something they did; it was something that changed them and gave them a greater appreciation for the plight of immigrants and refugees.

There are many avenues to powerful PBL experiences. They often require the wisdom of educators, coupled with the innovation and energy of students. When we teach truth, seek justice, and stick together, we bring hope to our communities and the world.

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How Project-Based Learning Can Teach Empathy

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Project-Based Learning (PBL) When PBL is personal to students, it can provide more than just content knowledge-it can also foster important connections. Courtesy of Teague Tubach The author's students built a 'Tunnel of Despair' as part of their study of refugees and immigrants. It all started because of an email.

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An article about teaching about things that really happen in the world.

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An LFJ award winner centers her students’ perspectives in the current conversation about racism, social justice education and the need for an inclusive national narrative.

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Welcoming Special Needs into the Classroom

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Welcoming Special Needs into the Classroom

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I can remember the first time I taught students with disabilities. I was teaching sixth grade, and twelve students with IEPs had been placed in a single class period with me. Despite the fact that I'd had one whole 3-credit college course devoted entirely to special education, I was absolutely clueless. I mean, I had seen the students' IEPs, but I didn't really know how to interpret them. I was introduced to Kathy, the resource teacher who would accompany these students to class every day, but I wasn't sure what her role was or what shape our relationship was supposed to take.

And needless to say, that year was an absolute train wreck. I know I didn't serve those twelve kids well, and the remaining students also suffered, because I knew nothing about how to manage a class with such a wide range of abilities and needs.

I can only imagine how different things could have been if I'd known someone like Jam Gamble. I just discovered Jam-short for Jahmeelah-on Periscope a few weeks ago. She was talking about how she dealt with a student's misbehavior one particular day, and just listening to the love in her voice and the careful way she handled this student's feelings told me she was the kind of teacher I wanted to know. Once I realized her work focused primarily on special ed, an area I haven't given nearly enough attention to on this site, I knew I had to have her on the podcast.

Jam Gamble

Ms. Jam is a developmental services worker in Toronto, Ontario. She supports students with disabilities, holds workshops, consults, and hosts her own TV show called A Voice for All, which focuses on promoting disability awareness within the greater Toronto community.

When discussing possible topics for our interview, Jam and I talked about how many general ed teachers feel inadequately prepared to serve the needs of students with disabilities. Despite this lack of preparation, every year more teachers are likely to have these students in their classrooms. Because Jam spends every day doing this kind of work, we decided to have her share some ways general ed teachers could make their classrooms more welcoming for students with IEPs.

1. Express your fears and concerns.

When we think about making our classrooms more accessible, we tend to think primarily in terms of the physical space. "You could have the most accessible classroom in terms of space and lighting," Gamble says, "but if you don't have an accessible attitude, your classroom's not accessible."

She believes "inaccessible" attitudes stem from fear, from the discomfort of being assigned to work with a child with a disability and feeling ill-equipped to do so. She says the key to breaking through this is to admit your fears and talk to someone who can help. "You have to admit if you're nervous. You have to admit if you have worries. Then you can find the right people who could help you get over those fears."

And who are those people? "First and foremost," Gamble says, "talk to the parents. Ask them about their child. How was their summer? How was school last year? What were goals that you wanted to see manifest last year but didn't manifest that we could focus on this year? What are things they're doing outside the school that we could incorporate into their lessons? Questions like that give you so much information that you can take and run with."

The other person to confide in is the support specialist at your school. This was something I didn't really do as a general ed classroom teacher, and now I can't even imagine why. "This is someone who is there for the sole purpose of that student, and they understand a lot about inclusion and integration and program planning for this child," Gamble says. "Why wouldn't you talk to that person to get that juicy information that you need?"

2. Consult with your specialists. Regularly.

In my own experience as a classroom teacher, I rarely met with the support specialists unless I was having a problem. I didn't meet with them proactively. That was a mistake; I didn't fully understand what they had to offer.

Gamble says classroom teachers who make this effort, who reach out to the specialists in their building, get a lot in return. "I absolutely love some of the past teachers I've worked with who have come to me to like, 'I'll be honest with you. I don't know where to begin. Can we talk? Tell me what your skills are.' And I'm like, 'Yes. Oh my goodness, yes.'"

Because special ed teachers' resumes are not on display, classroom teachers may underestimate their skills and expertise. "Unless you ask me," Gamble says, "you wouldn't know I have supported people with disabilities from birth to seniors. I have a wide range of experience in terms of who I've supported, whether they're lower functioning or higher functioning, someone who's dependent or independent. I have a wide range of experience when it comes to seizures. I've worked with children who are nonverbal. I've worked with children who are verbal. I've worked with people who have echolalia. I've worked with children who have fears and phobias. I've worked with all these different people that I've taken all my personal experiences from them, and I've put it into this one big recipe book that a child could come in, and I could go, boom. I know exactly what to do."

3. Design activities that challenge everyone.

Much of the time, classroom work will need to be modified for the student with an IEP. But if we occasionally flip this-creating activities that truly level the playing field-we can give that student access while also letting others experience the world the way that student does.

"Once I had a student with a visual impairment," Gamble says, "and we created a sensory challenge where everyone had to be blindfolded, and you had to touch different objects and try to guess what they were. We did a scavenger hunt around the classroom-'Four steps to the left. Three to the right. Stop. Put your arm in front of you.'-so they could experience what it was like to move around the world with a visual impairment."

4. Recognize that parents struggle with their own discomfort and fear.

Teachers will be more successful in partnering with parents if they're aware that parents may need emotional support. "Some of these parents just received a diagnosis," Gamble explains, "so they're going through their own guilt and denial and embarrassment and shame, and all those types of emotions."

These emotions can manifest as behaviors that teachers might misinterpret. "I've had parents who are very silent. They don't want to come to the meetings. When you do get them in for a meeting, they don't have much to say...there's a wall that's up. They don't seem like they want to engage."

When encountering parents who present with challenging attitudes or behaviors, Gamble urges teachers to withhold judgment. "You have to look at the background story before you judge these parents," she says. "And unfortunately, I'm seeing too much judging happening. We're looking at their external behavior, and we're not looking at why their behavior may be happening."

She also recommends helping parents see how vital their role is. When Gamble talks with parents, she explicitly asks them for their help. "I go, 'I need you. I need you to meet me halfway. I want you to be invested in this, because I'm invested in your child...if you really want me to do the magic I'm capable of doing, I need you in on this with me, and if there's things that you're scared about, if there's things you're unsure about, let's get through this together.'"

5. Read books with students that promote diversity and inclusion.

Books are a powerful tool for building an inclusive classroom culture. Teachers should seek books for their classroom libraries that have characters with disabilities. They should also read and discuss them regularly as a class.

"We don't have to wait until Autism Awareness Month or Down Syndrome Awareness Month," Gamble says. "This needs to be a weekly thing that we talk about being different and promoting differences and celebrating it as a uniqueness and not something that we have to be cautious about."

Below are two of Gamble's favorite books for sharing with younger students, along with some other highly acclaimed books for a range of age groups.
This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these, Cult of Pedagogy receives a small commission at no extra cost to you. Other highly-rated books that promote inclusive thinking:
Share Your Thoughts

The posts on this site get better over time because of all the insightful comments shared by readers. If you are a general ed or special ed teacher, tell us what you've learned about making your classrooms more inclusive. Parents, share your stories about teachers that have made your child feel welcome. ♦

Where to Find Jam Gamble

Website: www.msjam.ca

Twitter: twitter.com/Iamjamgamble

Instagram: instagram.com/iamjamgamble

Learn something new every week.
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Creating a Welcoming Classroom for Students with Special Needs

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Many regular ed teachers feel inadequately prepared to serve the needs of students with special needs. Here are some ideas.

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In order to check in and make sure that educators feel that they can do all they need to do within the hours of the work week, she advises that school leaders provide space for teachers to ask questions, ideate and reflect with their principal or school counselor. "We have a cultural expectation that people aren't working after hours. And if you are finding that you can't keep up with your job expectations in the 40-hour work week, you're talking to your supervisor about getting support in a non-shaming way," said Alison Putnam, a school leader at Centerpoint School in Vermont. Her school leaders prioritized getting rid of unnecessary, extra meetings and giving teachers more opportunities to connect with each other.

"We do a monthly wellness group where teachers from across the school get together in small groups to talk about our wellness, and how we're feeling at work. We talk about goals we have for ourselves and what is supportive of those goals," said Putnam.

Another way to support teachers' working conditions and workload is " tap in, tap out," a self care strategy from Fall-Hamilton Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee. In this technique, educators form a text message group to contact whoever is available to temporarily fill in for them whenever they need to take a moment to step out and regroup during class.

"It's just so simple, but it can be so powerful in acknowledging that you don't have to carry this stress by yourself," said Venet. "It's more than saying, 'We're a community.' It's actually finding a way to put a structure around that."

Trauma happens inside schools

It's not uncommon for educators to think of students as "bringing their trauma to school" as if it's packed in their backpacks somewhere between their bag lunch and homework folders.

"Too often, teachers perceive trauma as something that comes from 'outside of school,'" said Venet. "Much of the research and writing on trauma frames it as resulting from factors schools cannot control." When effectively applied, trauma-informed education means critically examining how oppression at schools causes trauma in students. Oppression can happen outside of schools as well as within schools, caused by peers in situations, individual teachers and curriculum.

"Trauma is a lens, not a label," advises Venet in her book, pushing teachers to look beyond labeling trauma-affected students to understanding how structures may cause trauma.

Schools are not equitable for trauma-affected students and numerous studies show that children experiencing trauma have greater difficulty learning . On top of that, student responses to trauma, such as disengagement or misbehavior, are often unknowingly disciplined.

Venet recommends a universal approach to trauma-informed education so that schools are centering students' humanity, whether their trauma is apparent or not. She advocates for making responsive, social-emotional supports accessible to all students with as few barriers as possible. That means making sure students know what is available to them when they are struggling whether it's having flyers on the wall, information on the school websites, or informed teachers that can point them in the right direction.

A universal approach ensures that all students, including students who are unwilling to ask or have cultivated coping mechanisms that allow them to go unnoticed, get support. High achievers affected by trauma are especially at risk for being overlooked, and adults often misinterpret their coping for resilience.

Cultivate relationships rooted in equity

"Take whatever timeline you have in your mind for how soon you're going to have that strong relationship and multiply it by two, three or four because it just takes people so much longer to build that trusting relationship," said Venet about cultivating connections with students.

She cautions that students' capacity to trust will be lower as a result of the instability and uncertainty of the pandemic. When children go through trauma, they have some mistrust in authority figures and in systems, because often during trauma, those people and systems weren't there for them.

"I think we have a lot of work to do to rebuild and prove that schools can be places of safety and community," she said.

To do this, Venet urges teachers to take a stance of unconditional positive regard for students, a concept developed by psychologist Carl Rogers, that emphasizes removing conditions - such as compliance or achievement - for accepting another person. In schools, Venet sees unconditional positive regard as communicating to the student, "I care about you. You have value. You don't have to do anything to prove it to me, and nothing's going to change my mind."

She encourages teachers to build positive relationships during everyday moments like how students are greeted when they enter class or when they make a mistake.

"Any opportunity you have to affirm the student's inherent worth is a moment for unconditional positive regard," she said.

Establishing good relationships can be a long process. And just because students are not openly responding to relationship-building efforts, it does not necessarily mean that the care and support they've received are unappreciated.

Make sure to note students' progress and focus on their strengths. "Recognize that even though you might not see a shift right away, it doesn't mean the shift isn't happening," said Venet. Additionally, it's helpful to remember what is developmentally appropriate for students, so don't take it personally when a highschooler rolls their eyes or a kindergartener has trouble following directions.

Trauma-informed education is not going to look the same for every educator. In the same way that Venet encourages teachers to pay attention to what is going right when working with students, teachers can expand upon what they do well when it comes to their own practice.

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'Trauma Is A Lens, Not A Label': How Schools Can Support All Students - MindShift

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In order to check in and make sure that educators feel that they can do all they need to do within the hours of the work week, she advises that school leaders provide space for teachers to ask questions, ideate and reflect with their principal or school counselor.

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A website of many different articles about Black Agency and Black Joy

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Schools across the country recognize "Black History Month" with lessons, activities, and events meant to spotlight important figures in Black history and milestone events in the trajectory of Black life in America.

Here at Facing History, we know that Black history is central to all of American history, and should be part of a robust teaching curriculum year-round. Alongside the lessons of Black history, it's also critical to honor the resilience, creativity, and vitality of Black people in the face of inequity and violence, past and present. This year, we're continuing to elevate Black history by honoring the themes of Black Agency & Black Joy.

Stay tuned this month as we share an array of teaching resources and blog posts designed to promote innovative instruction and reflection on these topics and help you strengthen your Black history curriculum.

Sign up to be notified when our new resources are available

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Black history is central to all of American history, and should be part of a robust teaching curriculum year-round. Alongside the lessons of Black history, it's also critical to honor the resilience, creativity, and vitality of Black people in the face of inequity and violence, past and present.

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How classroom jobs help your classroom

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Sponsored by Kialo Edu and Kiddom

This might be the perfect time for this topic. At first I just thought it was a neat idea, something teachers could implement pretty easily, something that would be a nice change of pace from what we usually talk about here.

But now I'm thinking this might actually be the thing that helps wake up a lot of our remote and hybrid classrooms from the white-knuckle, just-get-through-it mentality many of us have settled into as the '20-21 school year grinds through its second half. Just maybe.

I'm talking about classroom jobs, the tasks we assign to students to help keep our classrooms running. This is typically something we associate with face-to-face classrooms during normal times, but I was absolutely delighted -and I don't use the word 'delighted' every day-to learn that not only is it totally possible to assign jobs to students in remote classes, the jobs can make those remote classes really, really enjoyable. On top of that, they'll help students discover and develop passions and talents they can take with them well beyond your class.

When I was a middle school teacher, I didn't do much with classroom jobs. I was too much of a control freak, for one. The other reason was because it wasn't really a part of middle school culture. Elementary teachers are fantastic about assigning jobs to students, but as kids get older, teachers use these kinds of systems less and less. As a result, secondary teachers often work themselves to the bone, doing everything themselves as their students, ironically, grow more capable of taking on responsibilities every year.

Now that I have talked with Thom Gibson about this topic, I wish I could go back to the classroom so I could put some serious effort into establishing a robust system of classroom jobs. Gibson is a middle school STEM teacher from Austin, Texas. He has basically mastered the art of managing a whole program of classroom jobs, and he's made that process work for remote learning, too.

Thom Gibson

In our conversation on the podcast, we talked about why setting up students jobs is such a good thing to do, how to troubleshoot common problems with a jobs system, and what some of Gibson's favorite classroom jobs are-once you hear some of these ideas, I know you're going to want to try them.

Why Setting Up Classroom Jobs is Worth the Effort

It builds positive classroom community and culture. "Students feel like they are actually contributing in a meaningful way that is helping you as the teacher or helping their fellow classmates with something," Gibson says.

It gives students opportunities to explore interests and develop talents. Gibson started to see more value in classroom jobs when he had students create things that could be shared with a wider audience, like podcasts, newsletters, and art. "I started seeing an opportunity to tap into the students' interests with these class jobs as opposed to just getting something done for me."

It lets students learn job application skills. In Gibson's class, students aren't just given the jobs; they have to apply for them. So they gain experience with the job application process.

A Few Cool Job Ideas

Classroom jobs have really evolved past board cleaner and line leader. Gibson has compiled a list of over 25 unique student job titles. Here are ten to get you started:

1. Podcaster: Produces a regular brief podcast on a topic of interest to students, using tools like Soundtrap or GarageBand to make it happen. To keep it manageable, Gibson recommends only having students do one podcast per month, and keeping each episode under 3 minutes.

2. Athletic Trainer: Sets a timer for the middle of a class meeting to lead students in a movement activity, whether students are in the room or in a video meeting.

3. DJ: Plays music for 5 minutes before class. This can be done through the videoconferencing platform if you are remote.

4. Motivational Speaker: Records a one-minute Loom video each week reflecting on a motivational idea or quote to share with the class.

5. Visual Display Artist: Creates posters for in-person class or graphics to be used online for remote learning.

6. Zoologist: Cares for the class pet (or their own pet in remote learning) and lets the rest of the class check in once a week to see how the pet is doing.

7. Tech Guru: Sets up the teacher's classroom tech and helps other students with tech in-person, or troubleshoots and provides help to other students through screen sharing during virtual learning.

8. KonMari Organizing Specialist: Keeps classroom supplies organized. This one works best in an in-person setting, but many teachers probably also have online spaces that could use help with decluttering.

9. Assistant Grader: Helps the teacher with grading. In person, this student would highlight mistakes on assessments for the teacher to look at later. Virtually, this student could assist with some online grading and notify other students when assignments are missing from online platforms like Khan Academy.

10. Tutorial Creator: Makes YouTube tutorials for all kinds of tasks that other students need in the classroom.

Making it Work: The Logistics

A system like this doesn't just spring up out of nowhere; it requires organization and maintenance. Gibson shared a few key components of how his jobs program works:

Job descriptions are provided ahead of time. Students first get a chance to look at all job listings, which include a description of each job along with notes on what personality types would be a good fit.

Students apply for jobs. Gibson has found that this maximizes student buy-in. In the application, students choose their top three jobs and explain why they'd be a good fit.

Job holders get checklists. After students are "hired," (and multiple students may be hired for the same job), they are given job-specific checklists of responsibilities, including when their job is performed, how often, and how to do it.

A teacher's assistant keeps it all together. Although it was not mentioned in the above list, it is essential to have a teacher's assistant whose job it is to remind everyone else to do their job. Gibson recommends looking for "super type-A" students to fill this role.

Teach the jobs like any other curriculum. Students will need practice and feedback to do the jobs right. If a student isn't doing their job correctly, "Make them do it again," Gibson says, "not as a punishment but just as a way of, okay, so now let's try it again."

At a time when we are all hungry for human connection, when classrooms feel more fragmented than ever before, when we sometimes go days or weeks without talking to each other, adding classroom jobs to the mix could be the breath of fresh air we need for our schools. They will give students a new reason to show up, to participate, and to stick around, because in a meaningful way, the classroom will become theirs again.

Learn More from Thom Gibson

Gibson's free course, Essential Student Jobs for the Middle School Classroom of Tomorrow, can be accessed here. His paid course, How to Teach Kids About Money Plus, is here.

Follow him on Twitter, on Instagram, or on YouTube.

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It's Time to Give Classroom Jobs Another Try

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These fresh ideas for student jobs will invigorate your classroom and get you and your students excited about school again-even if you teach remotely.

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How is my classroom management hurting my students?

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Listen to this post as a podcast:
If you struggle with classroom management no matter how many different strategies you try, there's a good chance you might be doing something to get in your own way. In this post I wrote for MiddleWeb, I explain how each one of these teacher mistakes can cause problems for you, and what you can do instead.

Read the full post HERE.

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Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Are You Sabotaging Your Classroom Management?

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If you struggle with classroom management no matter how many different strategies you try, there's a chance you're doing something to get in your own way.

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Principals and Practices of a Responsive Classroom

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Principals and Practices of a Responsive Classroom

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The Responsive Classroom approach is informed by the work of educational theorists and the experiences of exemplary teachers. Read more!

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This was a jamboard about elementary practices and how it looks and sounds like.

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T Chart Social Studies - Google Jamboard

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A story about a woman who grew up in poverty in the Bronx, got accepted into Princeton, and became a judge. Later she becomes a supreme court judge.

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Sonia Sotomayor: a judge grows in the Bronx read-aloud

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School curriculum does not attempt to offer understanding from a global perspective

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By Nina Shoman-Dajani

Illustrator: Leila Abdelrazaq

Leila Abdelrazaq

Of the hundreds of assignments my children have brought home from school over the years, not one of them has referred to Palestine or to Muslims. As a Muslim, a Palestinian American, and a mother, I want this to change.

My siblings and I often felt like outsiders growing up in California - struggling to find balance between our Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and American identities. As the children of Palestinian immigrants, we knew there was something special about who we were - but this special identity is what caused that outsider feeling at times. As second generation Arab Americans, my children should not have to struggle with their identity in school as we did - but unfortunately, that is not the case.

I am an Arab American Muslim educator, born and raised in the United States. My parents were born and raised in Palestine and moved to the States in the 1960s for better opportunities following the establishment of the state of Israel and the refugee crisis that followed. My parents instilled a love for Palestine in my heart from a young age and my U.S. foreign policy lessons started at about age 3 - as the children of parents who were born in the 1940s during the British Mandate for Palestine, and the subsequent establishment of Israel on Palestinian land, we were surrounded by political discourse at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

My siblings and I were the only Arabs at our elementary school and it was apparent at a young age that we were different. We lived dual lives: one filled with tradition and culture at home - watching Mom make fresh bread over hot stones and learning the Palestinian national anthem in preparation for a community event - and the other filled with constant attempts to blend in and maintain friends at a school where you had to shop at the Gap to fit in (as the youngest of seven, my wardrobe consisted of hand-me-downs, so Gap was pretty much out of my league). While I watched my classmates ascend from Brownies to Girl Scouts and admired the large colorful bows in their hair - I managed to make a few friends in elementary school. Once I was invited to a friend's house to play after school and her mother commented to another parent who was over: "Nina is Palestinian . . . isn't that interesting?" I did not think too much of it at the time but I knew even as a child, she was not making a compliment. I remember that moment decades later - now as a mother. My own experiences make me overprotective of my children, who I naturally want to shield from being "othered."

It was not until junior high and high school that I was engaged with peers from other marginalized communities - finally feeling like I was not an outsider. Most of our peers thought my siblings and I were Mexican and our dark hair and brown eyes allowed us to blend in rather than feel "out" as we did at the predominantly white school that we attended previously.

In college I made Arab and Muslim friends (other than my siblings and cousins) for the first time, on my large university campus in Northern California. I was able to celebrate and further cultivate my love for the Palestinian traditions and culture my parents taught me by getting involved in social and political activities on campus and in the community. As an undergrad student when the second Palestinian Intifada and second war in Iraq started, there were plenty of opportunities to join protests against U.S. involvement in the Middle East. These protests were not just about opposing war in Iraq though - they became a meeting place for like-minded activists to gather and speak out against U.S. global hegemony and the unfair foreign policy the United States supported regarding Palestine.
Hopes for My Three Children
Now, as a mother of three children, I reflect on my own life as I attempt to navigate parenthood. My daughter and two sons are second-generation Arab American Muslims. Their grandparents on both sides were born and raised in Palestine. In terms of "fitting in," not much has changed since I was their age. My children also attend a predominantly white school as I did. The reality is that my children are Arab American Muslims with Arabic names and the only time they hear any mention of Arabs or Muslims in America on TV is from the news and they hear "terrorist, threat, or war" associated with Arab, Muslim, or Palestine. At school, the first and only time that my son came home to tell me that Arabs and Muslims were discussed at school, it was in the context of learning about the horrific acts of Sept. 11, 2001. He was confused and disheartened, yet adamant that real Muslims would not kill innocent people. My response was to sit my three children down and teach them how to engage in a discussion about Islam when they are confronted with a situation where their religion or identity is misinterpreted at school. In the 4th grade, when children are taught that Muslims are terrorists, as in this teacher's September 11th lesson, how are they supposed to process who their Muslim classmates are? Especially at a time when the president openly supports anti-Muslim racism.

My children are asked questions about their faith and heritage by other students and are too young to discern if the questions are out of curiosity or fear, just like I endured. "Why don't you celebrate Christmas? Do you believe in Jesus? What's Palestine?" can be difficult questions for very young children to answer when put on the spot. Teachers who are oblivious of the background or culture of my children typically do not intervene or discourage students from asking personal questions, much like my teachers in elementary school.

The school curriculum does not attempt to offer understanding from a global perspective so it is no wonder the students turn to my kids with questions. Between my three children and the hundreds of assignments they have completed over the years, I have never witnessed a homework assignment or class assignment refer to Palestine, Arab Americans, or Muslims. Whether it is Palestine, the history of Arab Americans or the fact that Muslims have been in North America for hundreds of years, not one reference that I am aware of has been made.

When geography is studied, even when in the context of ancient civilizations, there is no mention of Palestine in the classroom. Curricular silence is not an attempt to remain neutral - it is an acceptance of the Western-dominated narrative that fills our social studies books in U.S. schools. Although some lessons may explore "ancient civilizations," the historical contributions of Muslim scholars (such as the creation of algebra and discoveries in astronomy) are ignored while Western civilization remains at the center of the curriculum. So far, my children have not had an opportunity to write, present, or share in any capacity their heritage with their classmates. Even at my elementary school, I remember we were invited to dress up in cultural clothing and share a traditional dish with our class in 3rd grade. (My teacher was Greek and appreciated cultural exchange.) My children are now in 2nd, 4th, and 7th grade, and I cannot recall a time when teachers provided such an opportunity. This may seem like a simple example, but the validation that such opportunities provide can have a lifelong impact on how a student views their identity in relation to their classmates, in their community, and within the national conversation.

We live at a time when the president has expressed disdain for Brown and Black communities. The president backs a Muslim ban, openly encourages anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism, has halted Syrian refugees from entering the country, and wants to build a wall to block families searching for safety. The current president also has given every stamp of approval needed for Israel to continue its settler colonialism and military Occupation of Palestinian land - my parents' and my grandparents' homeland. Palestine is typically not in elementary world history books and my children ask me why Palestine is not on the maps they study at school. I respond, "Palestine exists - it's where your grandparents and great-grandparents were born," and regardless of which map they see, they know where to find Palestine. Now, when we come across a globe in a store, my kids always point out where Palestine is - regardless if they see Palestine printed there. Of course, we discuss their heritage and family lineage at home, just as we did when I was growing up, but it would be great to have reinforcement from school, not an erasure of my ancestors' homeland. One of my boys has an affinity for studying flags and asked me why the Palestinian flag is not in the almanac he checked out from the school library. Non-Palestinian students wouldn't even realize Palestine was missing. Why should children have to wait until they get to college to learn the truth? And that is if they opt in to explore such topics.
My Children's Teachers
My children do not see a reflection of themselves in their teachers. Although the student demographics are shifting at the school they attend, every single teacher in their school (with the exception of the physical education teacher) is white. I have a hard time believing this wasn't intentional when I see that every administrator and school board member is also white.

I must mention that my children have had some great teachers at their school. However, there was a year that I received so much critical feedback about one of my children (in kindergarten!) coupled with the hostile demeanor and negative tone of the teacher during every conversation I had with her, that I couldn't help but think, "Does she have a problem with my child because he's Arab? What assumptions are made about my child because of his name?" Regardless of being U.S.-born, a name with cultural significance defines you in this country. Names pay homage to your ancestors . . . or in my daughter's case, to her grandmother who was born in Palestine. The beauty in the range of students' names is rarely recognized but can serve as a rich lesson to learn about the heritage of the children in a classroom.

The lack of diversity in the teachers at my children's school (and any school) is reflected in the curriculum, in the lessons, in the molding of every child in each classroom. As I see an influx of children who are Muslim and/or of Arab heritage at my children's school, I wonder when the administration will make adjustments to welcome this population.

One lesson on Islam or Arabs - is that too much to ask? It can be as simple as inviting a parent to speak about why their child is fasting during Ramadan at school. I believe it is reasonable for teachers to recognize when children are fasting and to have a conversation with the class about what this means so children are not confused about why their classmates aren't joining them at lunch. Regarding cultural traditions and practices, it would be great to solicit suggestions from parents about how their heritage can be shared in the classroom as a way to educate their child's peers about global customs. I know many parents would be happy to share information.
Keeping Hope
Unless parents, educators, and advocates for social justice speak out against the status quo that controls the curriculum in our schools, nothing will change. I am not the only one wrestling with how to raise proud Arab American Muslim children while countering the hostility that exists toward Arabs and Muslims in our society. Is it too much to ask that teachers simply recognize children for who they are? For teachers not to pass judgment on their students or their families and to make attempts to celebrate the heritage of all children in their classrooms? I hope that it doesn't take another generation for us to witness a more expansive social studies curriculum that includes Palestine and the history of U.S. involvement in the Middle East - from the perspective of the people who are from the region.

With the struggles, there is also triumph. One day when my children are my age, and they reflect on their childhood, they may recall children who asked them curious questions and ignorant teachers who didn't acknowledge their faith or heritage and a time when we had a racist anti-Muslim president.

But that's not all they will remember. I hope they remember this moment when not one, but two American Muslim women, one of Palestinian heritage, Rashida Tlaib, and the other of Somali heritage, Ilhan Omar, were elected to Congress. These are the women we sometimes discuss at our breakfast, lunch, and dinner table - leaders who offer hope and that my children can strive to emulate. It was the election of these women that prompted Scholastic News to publish an issue focused on the newly elected women in Congress that included Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar on the cover. That is progress toward telling stories to our children that are not in the social studies text (yet!).

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As an Arab American Muslim Mother, Here Is the Education I Want for My Children

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A Palestinian American mother describes the alienation that she felt in school, and how she draws on her experiences to imagine the schooling she wants for her children.

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'A simulation is basically an attempt to re-create a situation or a phenomenon from the past,” Jeffries explains, “to put students in a re-created environment as much as possible so that they can generate a stronger sense of empathy, particularly for those who suffered as a result of this historical situation or phenomenon.”

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Sponsored by ProWritingAid* and Chill Expeditions

*Cult of Pedagogy is an affiliate for ProWritingAid. If you sign up for a paid account through the provided link, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.

What better way is there to learn about something than to actually live it? That's the thinking behind classroom simulations, where teachers attempt to re-create an event and have students act as participants. Once they've walked in the shoes of the people who are actually part of a given situation, students should, in theory, reach new levels of understanding about that situation.

And for many academic topics, this holds true. Students will understand our legal system better if they participate in a mock trial. They'll gain a deeper appreciation for what led to the Boston Tea Party after playing out the roles of colonists being taxed. Virtual simulations offer even more possibilities: A digital chemistry lab, for example, will allow students to mix many more chemicals and see their results far more easily than if they tried to gather and mix the same chemicals in real life.

But when it comes to certain events-those related to slavery, the holocaust, war crimes, or any other event where people experienced violence or trauma-simulations can do more harm than good. Although teachers who conduct these activities do so because they want students to develop deeper empathy for the people involved, they end up putting students in a position to inflict pain on each other and experience real trauma, all without much educational benefit at all.

We can do better.

To learn more about this issue, I talked with Hasan Kwame Jeffries, history professor and host of the Teaching Hard History podcast. In our conversation, we discussed why certain historical simulations are harmful, why teachers should stop doing them, and what they should be doing instead to teach those challenging topics well.

Hasan Kwame Jeffries

What is a classroom simulation?

"A simulation is basically an attempt to re-create a situation or a phenomenon from the past," Jeffries explains, "to put students in a re-created environment as much as possible so that they can generate a stronger sense of empathy, particularly for those who suffered as a result of this historical situation or phenomenon."

When they are designed well, simulations allow students to gain a deeper understanding of a particular situation, like this one about farming in the Gilded Age.

"Teachers are gravitating to simulations out of a desire to be better," Jeffries says, "to think creatively and get students engaged in the classroom."

Unfortunately, those good intentions don't always get the desired results.

How Can Some Simulations Harm Students?

Problems with classroom simulations arise when teachers attempt to simulate traumatic experiences.

One example is the New York classroom where African American students were asked to play the role of enslaved people in a mock slave auction. Other simulations ask students to lie side by side on the floor to simulate the horrific Middle Passage across the Atlantic.

How do these experiences cause problems?

"Part of the problem with trying to simulate any traumatic experience is that you can't actually recreate it," Jeffries explains. "You can't really simulate what it would feel like to be dehumanized on an auction block and separated from your parents. What you would need to do to actually re-create these scenarios would put you in jail."

"So then what are you left with?" he continues. "You're left with not only the potential for traumatizing children, but you're reinforcing contemporary inequality: We cannot divorce the present from the past. We still live in a white supremacist world, and children are bringing that in. We don't talk about racism and white supremacy and inequality in our society for the most part. But then we're going to create this one-off classroom situation in which we're going to sell black kids. What it does is create confusion on the parts of both students of color and white students. It can reinforce stereotypes rather than disrupting them. And especially when you begin to isolate children of color in these scenarios, it can really create a traumatic experience because you're putting these children in what can be intense, sort of under-the-microscope conditions in which they are being treated as unequal. And then what are you doing to repair the damage after that?"

Some teachers might wonder if this problem can be solved by randomly assigning roles so that a student of any ethnicity might play the role of an enslaved person or a slave owner, or even deliberately reversing roles, having white students act as the enslaved people in the simulations.

Jeffries says no. "Essentially you would be telling these other children, okay, you're going to be the black people for today, right? That doesn't really help, because they can just walk in it, and then they walk out of it. And then how do they carry that into the playground? It's like, okay, I had my black experience, and that is about being sold. In other words, even pretending that we're going to do something that is race-neutral around a subject that is not race-neutral doesn't really help the scenario either."

Another problem with these types of simulations is that they run the risk of treating the subject matter too lightly, of trivializing it. When students are put in uncomfortable situations, they might laugh or goof around in response to that discomfort. "That's a response to being insecure in the moment," Jeffries says. "And that can have this sort of ripple effect that then trivializes a subject that you do not want to trivialize."

He also warns that some online experiences can have a similar effect. "We have to be careful of the gamification of history. One of the most common online simulations is about enslaved people running away. I actually like the idea of having students think about the tough choices and decisions that it would take for somebody to escape slavery, but you have to create the right scenario for students to understand what the issues are. You can't just have the character suddenly just wake up one morning and say, okay, do I leave or do I stay?"

To be worthwhile, an online simulation will have to provide more complicated, nuanced situations. "What are the consequences? What are the costs? Who's being left behind?" Jeffries says. "There are so many other permutations that have to be included. And if they are not included, then I think you wind up going back to trivializing this history. If they're not getting a full sense of the scope, of the conditions and circumstances, and the reasons why people would decide to escape and stay, then you're actually doing a disservice. They're learning less than what they should be learning."

What Should Teachers Do Instead?

Rather than try to re-create these traumatic experiences, Jeffries recommends a more thoughtful, discussion-based approach, where teachers use literature or other texts to learn about particular phenomena, then ask students to think about and discuss the decisions people made in those circumstances.

"You don't say, hey, what would you do if you were this person? You say, what did this person do? And what were some of their options? And so you're inviting children on their own terms to put themselves in the shoes of another person simply by thinking about the decisions that they have in their lives."

And these kinds of conversations should be happening all year, not just as part of an isolated unit. Harmful simulations, Jeffries says, are part of a larger problem of teaching topics like slavery in isolation. "We do such a poor job of integrating these difficult subjects, throughout the curriculum over the years, but rather we just sort of drop it in. In Ohio, they get a little Underground Railroad in the third grade, and then they don't deal with early American history and slavery until the eighth grade. So there's these two moments with nothing in the middle."

Instead, we can be integrating our study of these issues throughout the curriculum. The Teaching Hard History curriculum created by Teaching Tolerance offers a solid collection of resources and lessons that help us do just that.

Teachers who are used to offering students active lessons might be concerned that giving up certain simulations will make their classrooms less engaging, but Jeffries points out that engagement doesn't necessarily have to equal fun.

"Education is not always entertainment," he says. "We just have to accept that. Sometimes it's just sitting down and literally having a conversation, getting students-even at the younger ages-just to think critically about things in conversation, in dialogue, without trying to make it entertaining. Because it is traumatic. And we have to treat it with the sensitivity it deserves."

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Think Twice Before Doing Another Historical Simulation

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Sponsored by ProWritingAid* and Chill Expeditions *Cult of Pedagogy is an affiliate for ProWritingAid. If you sign up for a paid account through the provided link, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. What better way is there to learn about something than to actually live it?

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This is a great resource for a numerous amount of books to have in your classroom that include every student of every background.

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TeachingBooks | Author & Book Resources to Support Reading Education

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This is a list of many books to choose from for your students to read.

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Before you speak, think and be smart. It's hard to fix a wrinkled heart. A conversation about how words matter.

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'Catching the Moon' read by Kevin Costner and Jillian Estell

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What is racism? The children's book series A Kids Book About addresses some of the many facets of racism in their word-driven book A Kids Book About Racism. This video shares a reading of that book by author and the company's founder Jelani Memory. He wrote the book to help start conversations with kids ages 5+.

"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."

As with the book, the video is best watched and discussed together. It can be a helpful tool for talking with young children about the U.S.-centric protests and uprising for the equal treatment of Black and Brown people under the law.

And it's never too early to talk with children about racism. From Pretty Good Design, adapted from work by the Children's Community School, via The Conscious Kid:

More on the topic from Dr. Erin Winkler, author of Children Are Not Colorblind: How Young Children Learn Race [pdf]:

"Adults often think they should avoid talking with young children about race or racism because doing so would cause them to notice race or make them racist. In fact, when adults are silent about race or use "colorblind" rhetoric, they actually reinforce racial prejudice in children.

Starting at a very young age, children see patterns - who seems to live where; what kinds of homes they see as they ride or walk through different neighborhoods; who is the most desirable character in the movies they watch; who seems to have particular jobs or roles at the doctor's office, at school, at the grocery store; and so on - and try to assign "rules" to explain what they see. Adults' silence about these patterns and the structural racism that causes them, combined with the false but ubiquitous "American Dream" narrative that everyone can achieve anything that they want through hard work, results in children concluding that the patterns they see "must have been caused by meaningful inherent differences between groups." In other words, young children infer that the racial inequities they see are natural and justified.

So despite good intentions, when we fail to talk openly with our children about racial inequity in our society, we are in fact contributing to the development of their racial biases, which studies show are already in place."

Related guides include Mother.ly's Age-by-age guide to talking to your kids about racism

Pair this withA Kids Book About Belonging by Kevin Carroll, who explains that belonging "was the most important thing that I needed as a child... Belonging is a fundamental need. Belonging is something that we all want, and most importantly, we all seek it out."

This is a book about belonging. It 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.

Related watching: Civil rights and emotions. Follow this with Black and STEM stories, including:
* The Courage To Invent: NASA Roboticist Dr. Ayanna Howard Tells Her Story
* Hidden Stories: Dorothy Vaughan
* Corina Newsome, Ambassador Animal Keeper

We also love A New Republic: The portrait work of artist Kehinde Wiley.

And as always, Wangari Maathai's "I will be a hummingbird."

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A Kids Book About Racism, a video with author Jelani Memory

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What is racism? The children's book series A Kids Book About addresses some of the many facets of racism in their word-driven book A Kids Book About Racism . This video shares a reading of that book by author and the company's founder Jelani Memory.

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This is a story of a little boy name Theo, who woke up one morning and asked his mother, "Mom, what if there were no Black people in the world?" Well, his mother thought about that for a moment, and then said, "Son, follow me around today and let's just see what it would be like if there were no Black people in the world." Mom said, "Now go get dressed, and we will get started."

Theo ran to his room to put on his clothes and shoes. His mother took one look at him and said, "Theo, where are your shoes? And those clothes are all wrinkled, son. I must iron them." However, when she reached for the ironing board, it was no longer there.

You see Sarah Boone, a black woman, invented the ironing board, and Jan E. Matzelinger, a black man, invented the shoe lasting machine.

"Oh well," she said, "please go and do something to your hair." Theo ran in his room to comb his hair, but the comb was not there. You see, Walter Sammons, a black man, invented the comb.

Theo decided to just brush his hair, but the brush was gone. You see Lydia O. Newman, a black female, invented the brush.

Well, this was a sight: no shoes, wrinkled clothes, hair a mess. Even Mom's hair, without the hair care inventions of Madam C. Walker, well, you get the picture.

Mom told Theo, "Let's do our chores around the house and then take a trip to the grocery store." Theo's job was to sweep the floor. He swept and swept and swept. When he reached for the dustpan, it was not there. You see, Lloyd P. Ray, a black man, invented the dustpan.

So he swept his pile of dirt over in the corner and left it there. He then decided to mop the floor, but the mop was gone. You see, Thomas W. Stewart, a black man, invented the mop. Theo yelled to his Mom, "Mom, I'm not having any luck."

"Well, son," she said, "Let me finish washing these clothes, and we will prepare a list for the grocery store." When the wash finished, she went to place the clothes in the dryer, but it was not there. You see, George T. Samon, a black man, invented the clothes dryer.

Mom asked Theo to go get a pencil and some paper to prepare their list for the market. So, Theo ran for the paper and pencil but noticed the pencil lead was broken. Well, he was out of luck because John Love, a black man, invented the pencil sharpener.

Mom reached for a pen, but it was not there because William Purvis, a black man, invented the fountain pen.

As a matter of fact, Lee Burridge invented the typewriting machine and W. A. Lovette the advanced printing press. Theo and his mother decided just to head out to the market.

Well, when Theo opened the door, he noticed the grass was as high as he was tall. You see, John Burr, a black man, invented the lawn mower. They made their way over to the car and found that it just wouldn't go. You see, Richard Spikes, a black man, invented the automatic gearshift, and Joseph Gammel invented the supercharge system for internal combustion engines. They also noticed that the few cars that were moving were running into each other and having wrecks because there were no traffic signals. You see, Garrett A. Morgan, a black man invented the traffic light.

Well, it was getting late, so they walked to the market, got their groceries, and returned home. Just when they were about to put away the milk, eggs, and butter, they noticed the refrigerator was gone. You see John Standard, a black man, invented the refrigerator. So, they just left the food on the counter.

By this time, Theo noticed he was getting mighty cold. Mom went to turn up the heat, and what do you know? Alice Parker, a black female, invented the heating furnace. Even in the summertime, they would have been out of luck because Frederick Jones, a black man, invented the air conditioner.

It was almost time for Theo's father to arrive home. He usually takes the bus, but there was no bus, because its precursor was the electric trolley, invented by another black man, Elbert R. Robinson.

He usually takes the elevator from his office on the 20th floor, but there was no elevator because Alexander Miles, a black man, invented the elevator.

He also usually dropped off the office mail at a near by mailbox, but it was no longer there because Philip Downing, a black man, invented the letter drop mailbox, and William Barry invented the postmarking and canceling machine.

Theo and his mother sat at the kitchen table with their heads in their hands. When the father arrived, he asked, "Why are you sitting in the dark?" Why? Because Lewis Howard Latimer, a black man, invented the filament within the light bulb.

Theo quickly learned more about what it would be like if there were no black people in the world, especially if he were ever sick and needed blood. Dr. Charles Drew, a black scientist, found a way to preserve and store blood, which led to his starting the world's first blood bank.

Well, what if a family member had to have heart surgery? This would not have been possible without Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a black doctor, who performed the first open-heart surgery.

So, if you ever wonder, like Theo, where would we be without black people? Well, it's pretty plain to see. We would still be in the DARK!

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This is a story of a little boy name Theo, who woke up one morning and asked his mother, "Mom, what if there were no Black people in the world?" Well, his mother thought about that for a moment, and then said, "Son, follow me around today and let's just see what it would be like if there were no Black people in the world."