On Charlottesville and Classrooms

Trump is on the TV screen making excuses for the vile and violent racists who marched, with torches and clubs and guns, through Charlottesville. He refuses to use the word terrorist to describe the man who ran down over a dozen anti-racist protesters and killed Heather Heyer. 

And school is starting in a few weeks. So what do we do in our classrooms? Off the top of my head, here are some thoughts:

• When kids say things like, "I love all the colors in the world! Except black and brown," address it, please. You don't have to call them out, because they don't see the big picture. But do something to let kids know black and brown are beautiful. In my class, my co-teacher and I tell kids brown and black are our favorite colors. And we talk about beautiful brown things all the time - sparrows, acorns, and skin.
• Don't promote colorblindness. I'm tired of talking about why it's problematic, so go here or here if this is confusing.
• Build a classroom library that reflects your class in many ways. Ask families what identities they'd like to see reflected in the classroom library. Some families may find it difficult to answer this question. Dig in a little to get families thinking deeper. I imagine that some families who have the hard time with this question think they're just regular/normal. That lets you know you have work to do in educating this family about the ways people might identify. I couldn't find books about Sudan that didn't reflect war and strife, so I wrote one. Writing class books is a wonderful way to make sure your library has the books you need.
• Make your classroom a privilege-free zone. One of the teaching moments about which I harbor the most guilt had nothing to do with teaching kids. A white father approached me just before morning meeting one day and said he needed to talk to me immediately. Thinking there was an emergency, I interrupted the 5 year old on my lap telling me about the scary nightmare she'd had and went to speak to this father outside the room. Long story short, it wasn't an emergency, just a father who didn't like the way a brown girl had interacted with his daughter. He used the word bully to describe this five year old, and put his finger in my face demanding to know what I was going to do about it. I should've shut him down, but I was too stunned. Never again will I brush off a child who needs me to make an entitled parent feel that their privilege extends to my classroom. 
• Call on girls and brown kids first and frequently and work to find ways to share air time equitably. Before someone says "that's racist/sexist," head to a classroom and record data to show how often brown kids and girls are called on and what kinds of questions they're asked. For most of kids' school lives, it's likely that air time won't be equitable. Try to make it more so for a year or two of their lives. If there are children who dominate the conversation frequently, help them to notice whether and how they are listening to their classmates.
• Teach kids to use a calm and quiet wait signal instead of waving their hands, and then allow wait time for kids. Count to ten in your head if you need to, but teach your students to really listen, and teach them that everyone has something important to say. Coach children to use respectful language to agree, disagree, or add to the statements of others, but to listen, most importantly.
• Teach freedom songs and songs about justice and equity. The more you sing words about community and justice, the more children will have the language to speak up on these issues as they grow. Some of my favorites include Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around, We Shall Not Be Moved, Redemption Song, All I Really Need, You Can't Always Get What You Want (chorus), What Can One Little Person Do, The Union Team (and everything else by Ella Jenkins) and One Love. 
• Find ways to get more families involved in the life of your classroom. I love and appreciate the families who have helped out in various ways in our classroom over the last few years, but I recognize that it's often the same families - the ones who can take time off of work, have flexible hours, get childcare easily, etc. They're the same families who can donate and purchase things for the classroom. Find ways, even if it means changing your plan for the day/unit/year, to allow all families to be present. I know kids will remember when Serenity's mom came in and drew their names in graffiti and when Zakeriya and Zakeriya's moms came into make sambuksa during Ramadan. More importantly, Serenity and the two Zakeriya's saw their moms in our class and other brown kids saw grownups who looked like them in our classroom. This year, our school made it possible for us to do home visits. What a wealth of information we're getting that will help us connect with our families!
• Talk about the hard things. Last year, we knew we had to talk about the election when we heard that our first graders were talking about Trump during lunch. There were so many things kids wanted to discuss about national news that we began making our closing meeting about the news of the previous 24 hours. We eventually turned those class meetings into a full unit about activists and ways people change the world through art, music, writing, research, marching, and more. (My co-teacher adds: Kids are ALREADY making meaning about race, privilege, and current events. It's just a question of whether or not grownups and educators are a part of that conversation and helping to guide it. )
• Read books about activists so children have a menu of possibilities for how they will make the world better. Some possible subjects: Rachel Carson, Hugo Chavez, Wangari Maathai, Malcolm X, and so many others. Seek out activists in your school community to talk to kids. (Check out Paula Rogovin's book, Classroom Interviews for inspiration.)
• Read about trauma. This is something I'm currently working on. Here's one article, but a quick Google search will turn up many more.
• Encourage children to help themselves and help each other, to be problem solvers in ways that benefit their class and, when appropriate, the larger community. Our first graders made and distributed a book about ways to be kind after Trump took office. They took action to benefit the community. 

I'm going to stop there for now because otherwise I'll never post! What do you do in your classroom to promote equity, justice, and peace?