Introduction
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What if teachers accepted the idea that young students need adequate preparation for a deep, meaningful understanding of racism and how to dismantle it? What if they identified the key, fundamental concepts students need to know first, similar to the way they teach basic number sense before teaching algebra or trigonometry? How would this lead to better outcomes? How would this create more unity and a sense of empathy around the topic? How could this reduce injustices and help to eradicate racism? This book seeks to answer those questions.
Book Overview
I write from a specific perspective: that of a White teacher and mother of biracial children. The primary audience for this book is elementary school teachers and school leaders interested in breaking silences in their classrooms and school communities in order to disrupt bias and work against racism. This book is also written for any parent, caregiver, or other adult who spends time with young children and seeks greater equity and understanding by talking with them about race and racism. This book examines a specific experience of race in a specific context: a kindergarten classroom in an independent school in California. This book tells the story of how I learned to talk about race and racism with my students and my daughters and invites you to consider the following lessons learned for yourself and adapt them for your classroom. •
Teachers can create conversations with elementary school students around race and racism.
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Kindergarten students can learn about changemakers and can acquire skills to become changemakers themselves. The same is true for diverse classrooms and for students of all ages.
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As a White teacher and mother, I can face my fear and discomfort talking about race and racism with children. Teachers can adopt strategies for facilitating dialogue, building understanding, and creating inclusive, empathetic conversations with students.
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Teachers have the power and responsibility to strengthen diverse communities and create more inclusive and equitable environments.
©️2022 by Solution Tree Press
In this book, I explore with you how we can contribute to what professor and author Sheryll Cashin (2017) calls cultural dexterity or “an enhanced capacity for intimate connections with people outside one’s own tribe, for seeing and accepting difference rather than demanding assimilation to an unspoken norm of whiteness” (p. 10).
