Valentine's Day

Congratulations to teachers who have made it halfway through February! It is always a feat of endurance, but even more so this year. Last year, my co-teacher and I decided to find a way for students to exchange cards (no food) despite all of the challenges as we felt that they needed the joy and celebration. We were back in person, but only for half days, and the adults at our school had just started to get vaccinated. So we had the students bring in cards earlier in the week, distribute them in bags they decorated, and then had the bags “quarantine” so we would all feel comfortable touching them. This was before the revelations about how COVID actually spreads and we wanted to bring some connection and fun to a very odd school year. Of course, we said no food, and specified that while bringing cards was optional, you must bring one for everyone if you are going to bring them in. 

Even if exchanging cards doesn’t work for you or your class, there are many different ways you can approach Valentine’s Day. We’ve included some resources below with a list of possible read alouds. We’ve also written cards for seniors (through DC Public Library) and focused on writing cards for people in our school community that might not get a lot of cards on Valentine’s Day as they aren’t part of a class. I’ve had students make cards for someone at home or share appreciations about classmates. 

One of my favorite memories of Valentine’s Day at school, however, is when Gabby and I gave our 5th graders some Valentine’s Day commercials to peruse with a few different lenses. Students worked in groups to investigate and share their observations and questions, and then we shared out as a class. The students had a lot to say about the commercials (this was in 2014 so maybe/hopefully commercials nowadays would have more representation?) and were especially upset that no one in the commercials was wearing glasses. I sometimes wear glasses and my students took the exclusion of glasses from the commercials very personally on my behalf! It was unexpected and very hard not to laugh as you truly never know what students will come up with.

We started by asking students what they think of when they think about Valentine’s Day. Students shared different associations and traditions. Then, we put students into small groups and gave them a tracking table to record observations and questions (pictured above). Each group watched the same 4 commercials, but did an in-depth analysis of one commercial through the lens of gender, sexuality, racial or ethnic representation, and socio-economic status. We taught into some of these terms earlier in the school year and in general, made sure students knew what they were investigating. 

Here are the commercials we used:

1. FTD (flowers) - we weren’t able to find a working link to the commercial we used in the past, so here is another example.

2. Jewelry (Pandora) - again, we weren’t able to find a working link to the original commercial we used, but here is another example. 

3. Chocolate (Russell Stover)

4. Verizon

In addition to the frustration over no one wearing glasses, students had A LOT to say. They felt that the commercials depicted women as “greedy” because they “just wanted people to buy things for them” and that everyone had to have a relationship a certain way even though there are so many ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day or care about someone. Students also noticed that everyone in the commercials was white, straight, and seemed to have a lot of money or at least not be at all worried about money. We also pushed them to think about why this messaging matters or what impact it might have outside of Valentine’s Day. Students had a lot of ideas and reflections and many made personal connections with feeling alienated or not seeing themselves or their families represented.

Read Alouds:

Both of these could be combined with a writing exercise asking students to write/create in answer to the prompt what is love? Or what does love mean to you? 

Love by Sophia by Jim Averbeck

Love by Matt de la Pena

Other Resources:

The Dark Origins of Valentine's Day: NPR (this is definitely a read for adults)

Resources for Learning about Empathy on Valentine's Day: Edutopia

Resources for Teaching About Love: Rethinking Schools

Happy Valentine’s Day (or halfway through February!) to all of you - however you choose to celebrate, or not. We know you show love to students every single day in so many different ways. Please share any other ideas you have for activities, investigations, read alouds, or more.

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Map Exploration

My 3rd graders and I have been learning all about maps! We learned about different features of maps, different kinds of maps, made our own maps (which were so creative) and more. This week, my co-teacher and I asked students to bring in a map from home. We told students it was their “homework” so they took the assignment very seriously, reporting talking to their parents to get permission and reporting back to us that they looked at different maps they found at home and decided not to bring in some that were too large or fragile etc.

Once we all had maps at school (and we of course had some extra ones for students who forgot), we started our map exploration. First, as a class, we watched a Brainpop (not Brainpop Jr.) video about map skills and reviewed features of maps we might look for and reminded ourselves to use the map key or legend to help us understand the information the map was displaying. Then, we projected an image of this map of Washington, D.C. on the board. We let students have a minute to look at the map and see what they notice. Immediately, cries of, “Why is there so much white? It’s ALL white. There are so many white people!” filled the room. Students turned and talked about what they noticed and questions they had. 

They noticed so much. They had questions and observations about white neighborhoods taking over, why white and black neighborhoods are so separate, if it is like this everywhere, why there were so few (visible) Asian blocks, and what the gray areas meant (we explained those are areas where people don’t live because it’s Rock Creek Park or it might be a solely commercial district). Some students noted where our school might be and that it was in a white area as well. After giving students time for discussion and reflection, we passed out copies of these See, Think, Wonder sheets and told students to note one thing they discussed with their partner. 

Next, we gave each pair time to look at the maps they brought in and share with their partner. Students were very excited to share their maps! After they finished sharing and reflecting, they were free to walk around the classroom and look at other maps. We have a big world map on the wall and put out different books with maps in them as well such as My Map Book by Sara Fanelli and 50 Cities of the U.S.A.: Explore America’s Cities with 50 Fact-Filled Maps by Gabrielle Balkan. After students had time for (silent) exploration, they met in small groups (2-4 students per group) to discuss what they noticed, what questions they had, and anything they learned or wanted to learn more about next.

Eavesdropping on the discussion was fascinating! Students were surprised by the different types of maps and really wanted to explore more. One student had brought in a map of constellations, which really pushed us to think about maps as applying to everything, not just locations on Earth! Having students bring in the maps really led to strong investment and interest in the exploration as they wanted to share what they brought in and felt a personal role and connection. Starting with a map of DC also really intrigued students, as many of them were born in the area and have always lived here, so looking at DC in a new way really interested them. And of course, the questions and responses discussed (and a few responses included above) show how deeply they were thinking about who lives where and why that might be. Other maps that were really popular (that we provided) were this map showing each state’s favorite Halloween candy, this map showing ice cream consumption by state, and all the maps in My Map Book (linked above).

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Affinity Groups in Lower School

We ran a Students of Color affinity group for grades 3-5 at our school and hope to be able to meet again later this year. We used to meet during lunch (pre-COVID) which was so lovely, but since that’s currently not possible with all of our protocols, we are trying to find another time and space. We’ve found that many schools have affinity groups for older students, but want to share support and ideas for starting an affinity group with some of the younger ones as well. Our crew really benefited from it and it was a time we all looked forward to as a breather during the week!

What to Prepare 

• A general overview of your proposal/plan to share with administrators so they know and take this endeavor seriously. Everything about this process is easier if you have administrator buy-in. They will be bombarded by at least a few parents as you get going, soon enough. 

• Maps/globe

• Vocabulary: Race, ancestors, minority, majority, POC, BIPOC, see below 

• General ground rules you want to pitch to the students (ie: what is said here stays here, what is learned here leaves here.. Or something that allows them to tell stories and talk freely about what they want and need without becoming too messy or mean of a situation if it is about a classmate or one of your colleagues). It will get messy, FYI. And we wanted students to share whatever was on their mind, but we were careful that we didn’t want all the kids leaving the room at the end of the group dog piling or mad at a certain kid that was talked about during group.

  • Along with this, general expectations for how you would like students to behave in the space. For us, teacher-led rules that were non-negotiable were about cleaning up our classroom and respect for one another. We recommend teaching these explicitly like you would in your classroom to set everyone up for success, you are a new group together (from different classrooms!) with new personalities. It is hard for them otherwise to know what part of this get together is casual vs. what part is regular school so be really clear so they can be successful. You can also choose where to make room for them to add in what they want the group to be and expectations/rules they have etc. 

• Games, food, and memories are part of forming a community. Make a plan with the admin to set yourself up for some of these to be expected and supported in your group. 

• At minimum, a second adult. We recommend this for a few reasons, practically speaking, a weekly commitment is hard for anyone to always be able to make (things come up!) and it’s important to not cancel the group as much as possible (the kids will let that be known!). Also, more teachers of color means a fuller community and more connections for everybody :). In addition to this, tough things come up, and it is important to have another adult in the room to balance out how to respond and also to discuss with after if you need to handle a difficult situation in a careful way etc. 

• A space! A time! Where will you meet? When? We had our meetings in our classroom which was great for us (and our crew), but it also meant we had to ensure the rest of our class knew they couldn’t come barging in the room at lunch or stay after to ask a question or manage a meltdown. Think about what space will work best for you all collectively that you can get to. 

Expected Bumps & Pushback 

• We were told that 3rd graders don’t know what race they were.

• Push back from students & families who are not part of the affinity group. We had parents claiming this is segregation and a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

• Teachers who don’t agree, like it, or understand and might pass this feeling on to other students knowingly or unknowingly. Also, teachers pitching a white affinity group. 

• “Tan” students trying to come to our group, or kids trying to bring their friends and explaining why they could or should come who weren’t POC.

• As mentioned above, talk about someone who upset or hurt a student’s feelings. Think about how you want (and need) to navigate this for the students/families and your position. Things will come up. 

• Time! It’s limited! Plan for a little bit of passing time. Kiddos coming from different classrooms and grades will need some wiggling time and they will talk and joke as they see each other and enter the room. Also consider the buffer of clean up (it is their responsibility in our group!). So if you want to plan a discussion topic or specific activity, think with your teacher brain about the realistic amount of time you have to do it and how it can work. 

Useful Explanations & Language 

• Explain affinity group means we share an facet of identity - also we share being in the minority

• This is the one time a week we are in the majority

• Explaining to students that people of color don’t trace their ancestry back to Europe

• A communal event any culture/community might have (going to Temple, celebrating a Quince, going to a Friends meeting) you might need and want space from someone who doesn’t share that cultural background so you can just BE. Be with your community, relax, share, laugh, eat etc. and not feel the gaze of someone outside or answer their questions for what they don’t understand about your community right at that moment! A big part of enjoying affinity is getting to be with your people and relax! 

Activities We Loved & Our Favorite Parts! 

• The joy! The laughs! And selfishly, it was a community for both of us, too! It was also a nice way to check in with POC kiddos from different grades who we had our eyes on in a routine way and make sure they were feeling cared for and doing okay. 

• Weekly share - they loved having the time to share and be unfiltered in ways that felt different from their classroom and school day experience. Any way that we could step our voices off and give their voices and bodies the space to just be, we tried to for the short time they had this space! Even if we wanted to, they never would’ve passed up on their share time (even when we said we’d use the time for games or other fun stuff!) as they really wanted to talk. 

• Sharing positive current events and moments in history!

• Games & food are part of becoming a community! 

• Kids connecting from different groups. 

• Kids from different POC backgrounds learning more about one another and their backgrounds without the white gaze! Just because we’re all some kind of brown, doesn’t mean we suddenly know everything about everyone else. We loved the learning moments that got to happen for and with our students in this smaller setting. 

• Celebrating and being proud. Kids shared a lot of things they did with family, but also other parts of their lives that when we checked in with their teachers they didn’t hear about in class. This group was so excited to cheer or to join in with kids in being proud of themselves for something they accomplished or a way they handled a tough moment. 

• Which segways nicely to the shared knowledge/advice. Students were really thoughtful and supportive about advice and being supportive of how to handle some of the tougher parts of being a minority in our school. They said it in ways only they could have and also heard one another in ways that only could be heard from a peer. We found this really powerful and beautiful. 

• Music! We had some fun/ dancing. 

• Books! Our end of the year gift to our students were books (surely you are shocked!) and it was really nice to write a note to each one of them and give them a book to take with them as they graduated from our division and left our group for the older POC group. 

• A meet up with the older kids! We had some meet ups with the older POC group which was great for both groups. Knowing personalities, thinking about what would be the best use of time, planning something that works for all ages are all things to consider. We found that our kids really just wanted to...talk with one another. 

Other Thoughts 

• It’s worth it! It really is! Our kids told us so, families told us so, and we felt it, too. 

• You also have affinity and are not alone! You can always reach out to others (or us!) for tips or thoughts about what is happening in their affinity groups. 

• Your kids, like always, will guide a lot of what you do so no two affinity groups will be exactly alike. 

• A big part is just jumping in. Our school is now used to the concept and we look back years later and remember a lot of the bumps (we are always and still learning of course) and are grateful to have gotten it off the ground so it can be where it is today for today’s students. Even if we haven’t and won’t ever make it ‘perfect’ they deserve their own space. 

Resources 

Resources from Rosetta Lee's website

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Reflecting on the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action

Now that February is ending (how is it already March?!), we are looking back to the beginning of the month when we participated in the nationwide Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action.  When talking about something like Black Lives Matter with third graders, we work hard to make sure that the points of entry and examples are tangible, accessible, and developmentally appropriate.

As we reflected on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, anti-bias education is not something we do just one week (or day, or month) out of the year. It is something we try to do all day, every day as part of our curriculum, teaching philosophy, and classroom culture. The people we highlight and celebrate in our classroom day to day reflect the diversity of our world (just like we the teachers do!).

Image from https://wearoutthesilence.org

We started our BLM week by asking students: What do you know about Black Lives Matter? We showed them the image above and then had them reflect using an I think/I wonder chart on large notecards. We were impressed with the thoughtfulness of our students’ responses. They understand that “Black Lives Matter” needs to be explicitly said because we still don’t have equality (as you can see from a few of their responses pictured above).

We continued sharing images throughout the week as an image is a tangible and accessible way for our students to start a discussion or learn about something new. When showing a new image, we would ask: what do you notice? What questions do you have? What do you think you know?

This is a great way to incorporate social justice work on all levels into your classroom - always start with an image! Ask what students notice. Ask what they think they know. Ask what questions they have. They will often surprise you and will have space and time to think deeply and reflect in a meaningful way.

Later in the week, we read this article from Newsela about implicit bias in teachers and how black preschoolers are 3.6 times as likely to be suspended as white preschoolers. After reading the article, we had students write three statements (responses or questions) after reading it (one student's responses are pictured above), and then had a whole class discussion. This example (black preschoolers being suspended at far higher rates) is really helpful for pushing our students to move beyond the idea of history and past discrimination. It provides a way to explain systemic and institutional oppression through a concrete example. The idea of preschoolers being suspended also really upset our students. Many of them made connections to their Kindergarten Reading Buddies (who they read with once a week) and they were shocked that children so young could be discriminated against and suspended.

Another resource we loved (and are keeping until the end of the school year) was our “Black History Month” book bin! As you can see (above), it is bursting with books. Students enthusiastically asked to read books from that bin and recommended them to each other. Important note: these are obviously not ALL of our books about black peoples (or that have characters of color). We have many that infiltrate all other categories. This was one way to organize some books related to Black History Month and Black Lives Matter that really worked for our students.

We also did a read aloud of Milo’s Museum by Zetta Elliot and discussed the book afterward. During the read aloud, students volunteered to explain why Milo might be feeling uncomfortable, and said it’s racist because the painting is uncomfortable (referring to a painting of a white woman and a black woman who appears to be a slave), she’s the only black girl there, and she’s not in the museum! This was another tangible and concrete example of institutional exclusion. Students connected to Milo feeling upset about not seeing herself in the museum and many of them empathized (either through the read aloud or from their own experiences) with the concept that representation matters.

We culminated our week of action by asking students to write their own statements of what Black Lives Matter means to them, and why it is important. We told our students before they started writing that we would read and combine their responses into one piece for all of us to sign and display on our door with our “everyone is welcome here” sign. The process of taking all of their ideas and combining them into one overall statement is familiar to them as this is how we created our class contract.

After we received all of their statements, we spent some time paring them down and choosing parts that summarized overall ideas and came up with the statement pictured below. Finally, we had an  unveiling of our finished class statement and each student came up to sign their initials in cursive (which was a big deal because we had finally finished learning how to write all of the letter in cursive the week before!).  Some of our students also surprised us by creating their own Black Lives Matter poster as a small group and asking us to “put it up somewhere everyone can see it!” So today we have two posters up outside our door.

Did you participate in the Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action? What resources or activities would you recommend? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

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The Message We Send When We Try Not to Talk About Race

We submitted a piece about an experience from our classroom to Embrace Race, a multiracial community of people supporting each other to help nurture kids who are thoughtful and informed about race. It was published recently!  Please read The Message We Send When We Try Not to Talk About Race and let us know what you think.

Why we need to talk about race

"It's personal."

"No one has ever talked about race in front of me so I think you don't talk about it. Ever."

"My parents have only talked about it once in front of me and they were REALLY uncomfortable, so I learned you shouldn't talk about race."

Earlier this school year, we asked our students what they know about talking about race. A few representative responses are quoted above. All of our students also agreed that race is confusing and they don't know much about it. We discussed how when something is confusing or we don't know much about it, the way to learn more about it IS to talk about it, even if it is uncomfortable.

So, this week was "race week" in our classroom. We started with a drawing activity, challenging students to realize stereotypes and expectations they've internalized without realizing, and continue on to learning about institutionalized racism and learning vocabulary and explaining concepts around race.

The drawing activity consists of us reading descriptions of various celebrities (we tried to pick people the kids would know) devoid of any descriptors related to race or gender, and asking students to draw the person they visualized. We give them ONLY crayons to draw with so they are forced to choose a skin color.

One of our student's drawings.

During the reveal process when we read the descriptions and showed them a photo of the celebrity in question, we asked them to raise their hands if they drew someone female/male or black/white/etc. Some students were very nervous even to raise their hands, and insisted they "didn't draw a race." There was a lot of discomfort, nervous laughter, and awkwardly looking away. Some students said they felt "weird" about their drawings. Others only admitted they visualized or drew someone having a particular race only after another student spoke up and said she was surprised that she automatically thought in stereotypical ways.

One student reflected,

"I thought I did not believe in stereotypes, but my drawings showed me I did."

We pushed them to then reflect on WHERE they were getting these messages and images from and reminded them of our Halloween investigation and all of the outside influences on our minds! One student wrote later,

"I used to think I wasn't racist, but now I'm thinking that it is weird that my mind was already being prejudiced beause I didn't think I was."

Next, we learned about racism by watching this video. We bleeped out a curse word and gave the students an outline of the main points to fill in, as well as stopping and discussing and watching the video twice (as they noted, she talks so fast!).  Students had a lot of questions about institutions and the idea of a social construct. We assured them that these are difficult concepts for adults and we would keep thinking and talking about them.  For homework that night, they read a Newsela article titled "For minority students, suspensions begin in the earliest grades" for a practical application of both institutional racism and intrinsic bias.

The finished charts from our "silent conversation." 

Later in the week, we had a class "silent conversation." If you haven't experienced the silent conversation set up before, you should try it and will love it! It is an amazing way to quietly and automatically build in reflection and responding to thoughts and questions of others.  We wrote stereotype, prejudice, race, culture, discrimination, identity, and bias down on sheets of chart paper. Then, we modeled how to have a silent conversation on the board and asked students what they noticed. They came up with: 

Be silent!

Write down your thoughts/reactions to the word on the paper.

Respond to other people's thoughts.

Show you agree with an exclamation point or you don't understand with a question mark. 

As you can see from the photo above, students had thoughtful and complex responses during our silent conversation. One student reflected afterward that writing instead of having to speak up really freed her to think of what she wanted to say as no one knew it was her writing and we were all just thinking of ideas separate from who wrote or said them.

Questions and thoughts students had after our silent conversation:

"I wonder why so many people think stereotypically. Even I think stereotypically without realizing it."
"I wonder how I can detect bias in myself and fix it? Also, I wonder if people naturally have prejudice or if it is something that is taught?"

In past years, we have had to explicitly connect this learning to present day issues, as our students used to think that racism was more of a problem in the past, like slavery or legally enforced segregation. They had learned a narrative that Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement "fixed" problems relating to racism. However, in the aftermath of the recent Presidential election and with frequent news of hateful harassment since Election Day (some in nearby areas), this year they easily made the connections on their own.

 

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Reflecting on our Field trip to the NMAAHC

What an AMAZING museum.

Our minds are still reeling with personal thoughts and our own identity politics, along with the incessant thinking that teachers do about every single one of their students and their learning. Our brains are on museum-fire!

Here are few things we are thinking about post-trip.

As adults -- we were reminded yet again the beauty, pain, and necessity of education. We especially loved the quote above. We also felt immensely grateful to be teaching at a (progressive and independent) school where we have autonomy over our curriculum and  discussion topics. We feel even more well-equipped (even just taking photos at the museum has given us so many resources and jumping off points). In addition, we feel even more charged to continue educating, re-educating, and unlearning with our students this year!

The students responded to the museum incredibly well. Being ten and eleven years old, they needed concrete artifacts and connections to confront the reality of slavery (and historical oppression) instead of thinking of it as a distant, past event in history. Our students found learning about ships used to transport enslaved Africans really powerful.

One student shared how one ship only arrived with only one person still alive (out of 171). He added that the conditions on the ships were terrible and Africans weren’t “being treated like people.” Another student noticed that some ships that carried slaves had names like Happy or Innocent, which really seemed like the wrong name to her, but it makes you think about perspective and how maybe what they were doing didn't seem that bad to them at the time. Our students really benefited from visiting a museum with a different perspective. One child mentioned that he often hears one narrative about Jackie Robinson, but at the museum he heard a totally different perspective about how the Negro leagues were deprived of their best players and took away some heroes from African American communities. This is, of course, a pattern we see in many avenues in our society.

For example, as adults, we see it admissions and employment and we love that they are starting to think about the complexity of a dynamic like this, in which accepting a few "model minorities" is a method of quieting the rest of that demographic and reinforcing the American Dream. Those few exceptional people who have 'made it' (ie a role model like Jackie Robinson) can now turn around to their own people and say (along with the rest of the system) "work harder and you can achieve this, too!" narrative. We won't necessarily take it there with our students, but we love that they could hear this idea explicitly at a MUSEUM!

Our students also have brains that are on museum-fire:

“I used to think that African American history was small and was mostly about being slaves. But now I’m thinking that their history is a big part in our society because they aren’t just slaves, or free, they are people and they had their own society.”

“My favorite part was learning history, even though it made me sad/upset. We can't pretend bad times didn't exist because they did and this museum made me more aware.”

We were a little apprehensive about whether or not this museum would be too much for our students. However, just as the incredible Ida B. Wells says, "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them." We feel so incredibly grateful to work as being educators (and in turn, lifelong learners), and we found ourselves especially appreciative to be educating students in this city at this time. This museum is not only a labor of our entrenched American history but it also serves as a beacon to our students to learn many truths and remind them that they can be our lights towards a more pluralistic society.

Lingering Wonderings/ Moving Forward...

Now is the time. Now is the time to call the timeout in a classroom conversation to discuss an interaction that seemed intertwined with nuances about race. Now is the time talk with our students about how complicated some pieces of this conversation are… and how clear some others are, to share with them explicitly what a movement like Black Lives Matter is all about and how it came to be.

As teachers, it is our job to move a schedule forward, meet curriculum deadlines, do that thing called grading.. It never feels like the 'right' time when we are in it. Nevertheless, our students (and kids) are not going to get any better about conversing about these integral issues.. Without practice. And quite frankly, neither are we.

So here's to all you brave conversationalists out there 'leaning in' (is that still trendy to say?) and taking on conversations that feel nerve-wracking, painful, and confusing. As we tell the students, conversations in which you have a lot of feelings are incredible things as that usually means you care and/or you are speaking your truth.

Let's get to it and keep on keepin' on! And if you get a chance, check out the NMAAHC!

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