Teaching the History of Voting Rights in the USA

Before the election, we wanted to focus on something other than the actual candidates as many students (and teachers, including me) were feeling so stressed about the outcome. So we learned about the history of voting rights in the United States of America. We started, as we so often do, by reading a picture book to the students. We read Granddaddy’s Turn, A Journey to the Ballot Box and talked about what we knew and what we could infer about Grandaddy and the narrator. 

In this excellent book by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein, a young boy goes with his grandfather to vote shortly after the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. It appears that they are in the rural South. The narrator’s grandfather is dressed up and has waited a long time to be able to vote. However, they are turned away and disrespected. Granddaddy is told he needs to read a complex text, and when he cannot, his ballot is taken away and ripped up. His grandson (the narrator) is shocked and devastated to witness this and see tears in his grandfather’s eyes. Later, when the narrator is older, he votes for the first time, and takes a picture of his grandfather with him.

Our students were so upset about what happened to Grandaddy and felt both happy and sad when the narrator was able to vote and did so with a picture of his granddaddy with him. They also had questions about if it was still like this for some Black people when they vote. To answer this question and provide some historical background, we used this history of voting rights titled Who Got the Right to Vote When? from Aljazeera. It has images and a useful list on the left side titled “Able to Vote” (in 1776, only “white property owners” are listed in green). 

Our students are in 3rd grade, so we could not use every listing on the timeline as it would be too lengthy and overwhelming, but instead focused on some important dates and images. As 3rd graders are very concrete and don’t always understand relative units of time (10 years ago and 50 years ago don’t always feel that different to them without any context), we tried to give context by saying this might have been in your parents/grandparents lifetimes. I used my parents, who immigrated from India in1975 and are now US citizens, as examples as well, especially as we talked about how who could become or was considered a citizen tied into voting rights as well. 

The literacy test Granddaddy encountered was one example of disenfranchisement tactics, and we also told students about poll taxes, voter ID laws, intimidation, and decreased access to polls (closing polling places or limiting the number of polling places in certain counties). We also talked about voting by mail and early voting as those are two ways many people in our community voted this past year due to the pandemic (DC and Maryland both have early voting and DC sent mail in ballots to all registered voters). 

Some questions to talk about with students: 

Why do we vote?

Who should have the right to vote?

Who has always had the right to vote? How does that compare to voting rights today? 

How do people vote?

How can the US government make voting more accessible for everyone? What could we do to help?

What barriers still exist to voting today?

After the horrendous attack on our democracy last week, as we get ready to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and as we lead up to Inauguration Day on January 20th, critically examining voting rights through America’s history and today feels more relevant than ever. It’s also something tangible that students can relate to as who doesn’t want to have their voice heard? Children also can understand what it is like to feel silenced or without a say. 

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Resources for Teachers for the Insurrection at the US Capital

Here is a list of resources that I found helpful after last Wednesday’s attack on the US Capitol. Please comment below if you have more to add. As always, sending support to all of the teachers out there who are holding it together and holding it down for their students.

• Beyond the Stoplight: Resources for teachers on the days after the attack on the US Capital

  • This post has a really important reminder that teachers do NOT have to “teach” about this horrific event, but if you are going to talk about or give your students space to talk about it, do so “with intention, care, and an explicit commitment to justice and equity.” 

• Twitter thread by the Zinn Education Project: “Teach About the Coup AND the Georgia Victory. They are connected. Now more than ever, students need lessons and inspiration from organizing in the face of white supremacy.” (Thanks to Teaching for Change for spotlighting this for me.)

• From the Zinn Education Project: Teach the Roots of the 2020 Rebellion 

  • Lessons and resources on white supremacy and resistance in the United States

• Teaching Tolerance: Leading Conversations After the Insurrection in Washington D.C.

• We shared this Newsela article with our students on Thursday - it can be adjusted for multiple reading levels, starting at 3rd grade.

• Facing History and Ourselves: Responding to the Insurrection at the US Capitol 

• PBS: Classroom resource: Three ways to teach the insurrection at the US Capitol

• New York Times: Teaching Resources for the Storming of the U.S. Capitol by Pro-Trump Extremists

• NPR Article: How To Talk To Kids About The Riots At The U.S. Capitol

  • This has resources and could be helpful to share with parents if they have concerns or want to continue the discussion at home 

If you are worried about backlash or concern from families: 

My go to response to parents who worry that topics are too “scary” is, “We totally agree this is a complex topic that must be addressed thoughtfully and with intention. Here is a resource to help you as we work together to keep answering your child/student’s questions. Thanks for your partnership in this important work!” I also note how rigorous asking and answering critical questions about the world is and how we are tying history into events unfolding around us. 

However, I have the backing of my administration and I teach at a school with a social justice mission. I also have an amazing co-teacher so I am not facing these confrontations alone. Many teachers are in very different positions. Do what feels right for you and your students. You always know best. If you decide to go ahead with these discussions and do receive pushback, try to make it about the students when you respond. Go back to the questions and concerns they had and how you were trying to answer them (which is your job, after all!). The news was and is scary, but ignoring it won’t make it go away or reassure your students. 

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Games to Play During Remote Learning or Physically Distanced Learning

Games, brain breaks, Morning Meeting activities, and community building exercises are a vital part of learning in our 3rd grade classroom. I’ve (Nina) been thinking a lot about how we can continue to incorporate games and brain breaks even when teaching over video or while staying six feet apart. Here are some of the ideas we came up with - Gabby is the game genius, so I asked her to help me brainstorm! We came up with two lists, which are below. I tried to link to a description or provide it myself unless it seems really self-explanatory, but if anything is not clear, please comment below and we will give you more details.

On live video (Zoom, Google hangouts, etc)

Keep in mind that a whiteboard with names or teams behind you where you can show them their points and keep updating it or keep track of rounds, etc. will help many of these! Also, depending on your setup, many of these games would also work in person and physically distanced!

• Name and a movement! (and then the group does it back to you) as a fun greeting 

• 20 questions (younger students often need a refresher on what is a “yes or no question” and practice re-wording their questions to fit their criterion).

• Mystery number (or country, city, classmate, food, letter/sound, book, etc): like 20 questions but more subject focused. Great way to practice Math notation! 

• Mystery voice! - all students look away from the camera (in the classroom, close their eyes until the teacher has told them to stop) and the teacher chooses a student to be the ‘mystery voice’. The teacher gives the mystery voice the thumbs up to speak and they say the agreed upon sentence (ours was, “I am an awesome third grader”) while all classmates continue to have eyes closed and the mystery voice student also closes their eyes to blend back in with the group. The teacher says, “Okay, eyes open, raise your hand if you have a guess for who is the mystery voice!”. Take 3 guesses and see if the mystery voice student can win! We found this was a great way to integrate fun adjectives to elevate vocabulary (enigmatic, deceptive etc.) while providing praise. It was also a fun way to settle into a nice (anticipatory) quiet, and let kids be creative and silly (with structure). 

• Dance break (not a game, but fun!) 

• Great Wind Blows (can’t do the walking around part, but could raise your hands and then pick someone to go next)

• Telling a story where each person adds a sentence (teacher or volunteer student who is old enough could type it and share their screen so everyone can follow along)

• Mad libs

• Simon Says: a classic movement break! You may need to operate on the honor system and let students decide when they are out. 

• “Hangman” but make it less violent and change the name/ complete a different image (like a cute simple dog face!) when they guess the wrong letters to fill in the blanks. 

• Jeopardy (need to set up questions beforehand)

• Pictionary (person who is drawing draws on paper and everyone else pins that video)

• Charades (same as pictionary but you act it out in front of your webcam)

  • Reverse charades (everyone acts one thing out and the teacher or one student has to guess what the group is doing by looking at everyone’s frames! This sounds hilarious to us. You also might have experienced this as “Heads Up” played on someone’s phone.) 

• Scattegories (pick 3 categories, 3 letters.. Would need to send them the paper to fill in their boxes) 

• I Spy (using your camera’s frame and you can set up a little scene) 

• Press conference (one person ‘leaves’ and the rest of the group decides who that person will be (someone famous or familiar that everyone knows). When the person “returns,” members of the group asks them questions (which also give them hints about their pretend identity) and they have to answer the questions and try and guess who they are. They usually get 3 guesses. 

• I’m going on a trip…: Students have to guess the pattern of what you’re bringing with you. This is so much fun and once students get the hang of it, they will volunteer to be the leader.

• Emotions Game: someone acts out emotions or you have to guess the emotion based on the image or a peer’s facial expression on video! This might be fun in teams with a timer (20 seconds for each emotion or acting out, etc).

While physically distancing:

All of these games can be played while staying six feet apart. However, we’d recommend having some kind of virtual (dots, carpet squares, tape on the floor) so students know where to stand. You might want to practice staying on your spots before you jump into a game and have a signal or word for when students need to check if they are still on their spots.

• Vegetable off: two students face off. The teacher asks the audience for an adjective and a vegetable (audience members whisper their suggestions or write them down so the competing kids can’t hear them). Then you count down, 3, 2, 1, and announce the adjective and vegetable (for example, “nervous green bean!) and the competing kids both have to embody a nervous green bean. We usually only give them 5-10 seconds with a verbal countdown as this can be hard to keep up. This would be terrifyingly awful for shy kiddos so maybe just keep this one as kids who volunteer, but it is always good for getting everyone laughing and awake! We have used it as a tie breaker at the end of a game when there are 2 kids left as the winners. 

• Read My Mind: (this is a game for kids in pairs). Put your thumb up when you have your word, countdown from 3 and both say your word at the same time. For example, I might say “shoes” and you might say “cheese.” On our next round, we need to try to think about what word might combine elements of shoes and cheese. We are trying to get to the same word over time through associations.

• Splash or Splat

• Zip Zap Zoom 

• Freeze dance: this is a classic! Play music and when the music stops, the last person to freeze is out. You may want to give students a box or circle to dance in to help them maintain physical distancing. 

• Wah 

• Heads Up, Seven Up: another classic! I remember playing this in elementary school. You would need to find a way to modify the tapping the thumb step (perhaps tapping with your foot three times or moving something with your foot), but ask your students to think of solutions that could work with staying 6+ feet apart and I know they will have lots of creative ideas.

• Around the World (we’ve done this with math facts, vocabulary, and geography!) 

• Bippity Bippity Bop 

• Look up, Look down 

• Who’s the leader?/Coseeki 

• Rock Paper Scissors Evolution: I’ve also played this with students where the loser becomes part of the winner’s entourage and cheers them on. That might be really hard with physical distancing though as the game ends with two large groups of people each cheering on their champion. 

Hope this list brings some moments of joy to your classroom (virtual or physical)! Please share any others as we’d love new ideas to try out. One last plug - Responsive Classroom always has new ideas and resources for Morning Meeting activities/games as well.

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Back to School Activities for Distance Learning

I (Nina) am preparing to go back to work after my extended maternity leave. This is shaping up to be an unpredictable and unprecedented school year, but I hope my students and I can still find joy in learning and getting to know each other. My school has decided that we will start the year fully remote, although we are small (and independent) so we are lucky to have an option of some in-person small group meetings to meet students and parents, do some technology training, and distribute materials at the beginning of the year.

Conceptualizing distance learning has been challenging for me. In August of 2018, I wrote about some of my favorite ideas to start the school year and I am trying to think about how I can still do some of those activities with my students, maybe with a new twist! I try to think about the purpose of the activity and how we can still achieve the essence of it in a new way. 

Here are some ideas:

• Names! Name activities are the best. They provide an opportunity for you to learn about your students and ask them how they would like to be addressed in class. They also create a chance for you to share something about yourself while learning about students’ identities. They are my absolute favorite and I am excited to brainstorm ways they can still work:

  • Create your Name: this activity was inspired by SEED. Have your students create their name in a way that feels good to them, using whatever materials they have on hand. You can explain the activity by modeling how you created your own name (using scrap paper or whatever else you have around the house). I used to take students’ photos holding their “name masterpieces” and put those up outside our classroom, but you could have students submit photos of their work and share them, or even put photos of their “name masterpieces” together into a collage and make it your virtual background (or if you have a way of collecting physical papers from your students, put them up on your wall, but this seems complicated). Here are some digital collage resources, and I’ve also used Google Photos to do something similar in the past. I love the idea of creating a collage (virtually or otherwise) as it’s important for students to see all their names together and know you are still a classroom community. It’s also great for new students as this way everyone knows how they would like to be addressed.

  • Name Stories: these are always fascinating, validating, and so much fun! I always introduce name stories with a read aloud (see name related read aloud ideas below), and then give students prompts to interview each other and ask about the story of their name. Interviewing each other on live video might not be possible, but you can have students interview a family member about how they got their name. Some great questions to give students to start with: Who chose my name?  Why did they choose this name for me? Am I named after someone?  What does my name mean or what significance does it have?  What do you like about my name?  After the interview (which you can skip depending on logistics), students can write their “name story.” This is a wonderful activity to get to know students and students enjoy it as well because they can share as much as they like or choose to focus on one aspect of their name that feels good to them.

  • Class “My Name” Poem: This extension of name stories is a great way to build community. I’ve participated in this activity as part of a group of adults, and we loved it and felt more connected afterward. Ask each student to choose one sentence from their name story to share. If you are in person, you can have students write their sentences on a post-it. If not, they can simply read it aloud or post it on Seesaw, Google Docs, etc if you are using that type of tech. I liked having each student read their sentence aloud and then I would type them or write them down, but it can be hard to keep up, so it’s nice to have them submit their sentences as well. Once you have all their sentences (don’t forget to include one of yours!), sit down with them when your students are elsewhere and arrange them into a poem. Later, share the poem with your students. They will love hearing their sentence and appreciating what the class created together.

  • What’s Your Name Worth? This is a great Math activity that helped me start the year by seeing how my 3rd grade mathematicians approached a puzzle. For 3rd graders, we gave them a chart showing all of the letters in the alphabet and a corresponding value in cents (for example, a is worth one cent, b is worth 2 cents, etc), but you can create your own chart with negative and positive values, Math problems, or really whatever works for you and your students. Once students found the value of their name, they could choose a teacher’s or family member’s name and then had to try and find names worth exactly twenty five cents or a dollar. Again, this is something they could work on independently and then either verbally share what their name is worth or post it on a website.

  • Name related read alouds (for the chapter books, you can read an excerpt of the relevant part): A House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jackie Woodson, Thunderboy Jr. by Sherman Alexie, The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi, The Favorite Daughter by Allen Say, My Name is Yoon by Helen Recorvits and Gabi Swiatkowska, My Name is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada - and there are so many more!

• Start a read aloud: We start a chapter book on the first day of school and it engages students in a shared reading experience from the very beginning of our time together. We read Save Me a Seat for our first read aloud last year and it was a perfect back to school book that fit into so many of the things we talked about (our needs as learners, our classroom contract, goal setting, appropriate challenge, and more)

• I Wish My Teachers Knew: give your students the opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns with you. This year, this is more important than ever!

• Numbers Important to Me: we use this activity to introduce our Math binders. In the past, we made the cover of our Math binders our “Numbers Important to Me” pages, but this year they could be shared virtually or displayed at home. Students write (and decorate) numbers and why they are important to them. For example, “5 - because I have 5 people in my family.” Make sure you make an example about yourself so your students can learn about you as well. This can be done on paper or on a computer - whatever works best for you and your students!

• Top Ten Lists: read the first chapter of The Top Ten Ways to Ruin the First Day of School for inspiration and then make a “Top Ten Things to Know About [insert your name]” list. Again, make an example to share! Students LOVE reading these about each other, so would be great to share virtually. If you want to do a live share, I’d suggest telling each student to choose ONE thing about themselves to share.

• Letter to Yourself: this can be a wonderful first day or week homework assignment (for older students) or an in class activity. Have students write letters to themselves making predictions about the school year. In the past, we would seal them in individual envelopes, put them away, and then give to students on the last day of school, but this year, you could have students email you letters or submit documents however works for you, and still either send them back to them or print them and hand them back (if we are in person again) at the end of the school year. This can also be a great tool for goal setting! I’d suggest creating an example that you wrote talking about how this year is new for you and what you are going to work on as this will be excellent modeling for students.

• Hopes & Dreams: set hopes and dreams for this school year. I always model with one of my own and try to have one that is social emotional focused and one that is about learning or trying something new. You could explicitly model to students how you modified your hopes and dreams for this year in a new setting or format. Later, use your students’ hopes and dreams to move into creating classroom rules and goal setting (more ideas and details are available from Responsive Classroom).

• Guess Who?: have students send in three “clues” about themselves (tell them beforehand that these should be things they are comfortable sharing) and every day, have a different “mystery student” where you share the clues throughout the day and take guesses about which student you are learning about! You may want to ask for more than three clues and then only share three in case the clues are too obvious or something you’d rather not share.

• Reader Survey: I’ve found that my students love filling out surveys online (we usually use Google Forms). I get so much more information from them through this medium, although they often use emojis to express themselves as well. Make a survey to get to know your students as readers. This is extra important right now as reading is one thing we can encourage students to do as an academic activity, but also something fun to do when other fun options are mostly off limits. Since we won’t be able to recommend books to students in person, knowing them as readers so we can try to recommend books through online platforms or the public library (ours in DC are open now with mostly “take out” service) is so important.

• Daily Life Word/Story Problems: this is a great way to model how we incorporate Math into our daily lives. Start by sharing some you wrote about your day. I’ve discovered that students love anything about babies and pets (don’t we all?). For example, I gave my baby 17 pieces of mango. He dropped 5 on the floor, put 2 in his hair, gave 1 to me, and ate the rest. How many pieces of mango did he eat? After you share, give students an assignment to write some of their own, and then during your next class (or later in class), they can share their problems and discuss different ways to solve them and “prove” their answer is correct.

• Share a photo: this depends on your comfort level and what you feel is most appropriate for your students. My co-teacher and I are sending our students a photo postcard of us (email or posting on a site would work too) so they can see our faces before the school year begins and get a nice note from us welcoming them to our class. If you are sharing photos virtually, it might be nice to send multiple photos showing how you are getting ready for the school year.

There are, of course, so many more ideas and possibilities, so please comment below with any of your go-to beginning of the school year activities and tips for modifications! If you are starting the year in person or in a hybrid model, any of these activities could still work. Sending strength to all teachers starting this new year, but especially those who still don’t know what their school year will look like, or how they will stay safe and keep their students safe.

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Books to squeeze in before the summer is over... and bring into your teaching/ reccomend to students!

Book Reflection Time! 

Some books that have given us good moments this summer. Here are made up awards I’m giving books I’ve enjoyed this summer. 

Best Calming vibes: 

How To Relax ( I now want this entire series because How To Fight and How to Love were also great ... I still burn the top of my mouth trying eat all the time so How To Eat is probably what’s up next, clearly I need it). 

The most lovely:

The Carrying: Poems - Let’s be honest pretty much anything she touches turns beautiful. These are no exception.

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (is it an adult book? A kids book? A little Pooh Bear vibes? Hard to say but it was sweet and lovely). 

Made me think/ continued learning:

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective - especially excellent. If you haven’t read This Bridge Called My Back I would recommend pairing the two!

Girl, Woman, Other - it’s just brilliant. Read it.

Michael Rosen’s Sad Book  beautiful, poignant, heartbreaking. It’s so human and honest and I can see it being used with kids or adults. Be prepared to maybe probably cry.

Minor Feelings - for the amount of highlights that I have in this one alone, I had to put it on here.

Excited to take to the classroom alert:

Middle grade chapter books 

Mañanaland - I may have teared up with this one too. A family of big-hearted men, magical realism, a timeless message.

Stand Up, Yumi Chung! This one was so well done. It packed a punch (both funny and the ouch vibes when realities of racism etc..) and we dare you to not fall in love with and root for Yumi.

We Dream of Space  , Wow. Erin Entrada Kelly does it again! Shifting narratives, a family out of orbit.. it is absolutely beautifully done.

Witches of Brooklyn - I was lucky enough to get this as an ARC and it’s absolutely adorable (I am a sucker for quirky aunt/grandma figures and spunky MC’s!). Basically, you want it! It’s also a trilogy which we love because hooking kids into a graphic novel series is such a WIN.

Go With the Flow - Girl power, girl friendship power, everyone is different power… and period power! This graphic novel is awesome.

Picture books we’re excited about bringing to the classroom!

How to Solve a Problem - It is always great to have true story and a younger human role model, not to mention the work ethic and fashion goals!

Saturday by Oge Mora- we love this for so many reasons. The perspective, the single mama rep, the loving relationship, the outlook on life. It’s endlessly relatable and a great teaching tool but also it’s just sincere and sweet.

Visiting Day - It’s a Jackie book, what else do we need to say?

Grandpa’s Stories - This one tugs at all the heartstrings. And the art matches perfectly (just look at this cover!?).

What I still haven't gotten to but need to read before the summer ends!! (yes, this can be an award).

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous 

Children of Blood and Bone 

ARCs (advanced reader copies) I am excited to have and am just starting to read:

One Time - Sharon Creech 

Charmings as a Verb - I am about halfway in and I am totally charmed.

What I’m most excited about grabbing next!!

Black Sun 

The Black Kids 

Felix Ever After 

All Boys Aren’t Blue 

and last but not least:

Three Keys (sequel to Front Desk by Kelly Yang which we LOVED and would be a great read aloud!)

Ah books. We love books.

What are y’all reading? What else should we squeeze in before school starts??

So you’re going to start a conversational community about equity issues...

That’s great, we believe in you, here are some humble tips!

We figured The Color of Fear would be an apt image for this post! (watch this film if you haven’t seen it, a real gem).

Is your company trying to make an affinity space? A conversational community? A SURJ group? What’s the name, what's the style, what’s the vibe? OK, ok we’re not trying to tease. These spaces can be really effective, important, and even transformative -- when done well and properly supported and cared for. 

We actually happen to be really passionate about these types of spaces, they’re incredibly special when successful. We’ve started students of color groups and facilitated them, as well as run adult conversational communities (year long ones-- shout out to the National SEED project!), and conference ones. Every group of humans is different and facilitating is a true art form. If there’s anything we’ve really learned it’s that you have to find a style that works for you-- and it takes practice! We are always learning and growing in our facilitation skill set. That being said, there are some skills and considerations that support more successful group work. Here are some tips we have for people considering how to get started (so you can hopefully create The Most Magnificent Thing! We thought images from this book would be relevant:).

1. Plan 

   • As much as we wish you could just sit in a room and have a great conversation about race, class, disability, sexuality... etc. It just doesn’t work like that most times! It is important to have a plan for the meeting, even if you follow the group and go off the plan (we’re here for intentional responsiveness)! Having a frame - an opening, a small check in and discussion, a concept taught/activity/resource shared, a reflection, a discussion, a closing - supports learning and ensures that conversations remain on topic. It often takes a while for the ice to break, for the group to be fully bought in, and for you to have modeled enough that you’re trustworthy and will take care of everyone as best you can in this space. Since these conversations are based within centuries of systemic oppression-- they are often painful, vulnerable, and wackadoodle. Not everyone will be available to show up every time, or at all (unfortunately). The best we can do as facilitators is model the expectations and provide structure and guidance to put the group in a position where we are actively talking about what hurts us all and move towards greater understanding. 

2. Co-lead & plan your breaks 

• This work is exhausting. There are also no right answers. It takes teamwork, it takes tossing around ideas, it takes multiple perspectives. It also takes a pause sometimes (those ouch moments hurt!) and someone else to jump in or have the words or energy you don’t in any given moment. We highly recommend a water bottle to help you pause and then a bathroom break even if you don’t have to go just to breathe alone. We are firm believers in the importance of at least two people doing this work. It makes it more sustainable, more realistic, more honest, removes that front-of-the-room-leader ego, and models what we are all working towards-- a stronger community. This is a we thing; don’t try & go it alone. 

We are getting to work!

3. Set the tone. 

• While some of our past students would probably want to tell you about their long process of creating the rules in our classrooms over the years (we firmly believe in this, you can read about it here), we still set the tone for the communities we create and facilitate. Structure is important, especially for white people who (often unknowingly) self sabotage their own growth and learning by derailing into tangents and repeated lines (this also goes back to why you need a plan). Moreover, with less structure, the most dominant humans tend to take over the conversation/space and the less dominant ones step back. It’s what we’ve learned - why would suddenly be different in a nerve-wracking equity conversation space?

• The tone can come in a lot of forms. It can be rules like: “speak from the ‘I’ perspective only” or “what happens here stays here, what’s learned here, leaves here”, “be here when we’re together, no phones or checking out etc.”, “assume positive intent”, “no blame, no shame, no guilt.”, etc. There are tons of options and models of these that people use and find work best for their group. Many of the ones we mentioned above have been used in SEED seminars over the years. 

No actually, team, this is going to be work!

4. Reinforce the tone. 

• This is not a space to come into begrudgingly. Having the opportunity to even be a part of a conversational community is an opportunity for self growth and further understanding of who you are and the world around you. What a gift-- it’s like free human school! You get to have real conversations with people around you, reflect on yourself, level up your understanding of theories and the brutality of the systems in and around you, and reimagine ways in which you will continue to make the world better. The framing we’ve always taken on this is: “no nonsense”. When humans get anxious they will often have negative inner voices about this space; your job will be crucial in being steady, repeating the framing and tone for why we are together, here, grateful and ready to be doing the work (see what we did there)? Speak it into existence! 

• We do want to note that “no nonsense” does not mean “no feelings”. In fact, we like to be very upfront and set expectations for feelings that might be had and options for how to accept them (yes, just like we would with kids). Everyone will have feelings in this space and noticing feelings is integral to this work. Setting a tone that gives people a guide to both expect these feelings and work through them to get to the core of the learning.

• Our thoughts shape our reality and our lives. Can we repeat one more time how important it is then to push our thoughts, challenge our thoughts, take on other’s thoughts? We can grow our entire lived experience this way- so powerful. 

5. Be prepared to take on a teacher-type personality!

• This personality should still be you (if it’s not you, everyone will see through it AND you’ll be exhausted and won’t be able to sustain whatever vibe you’re trying to put out)! That being said, know that just like when you were in school, people (yes, even adults!) will look at you differently and look towards your modeling and leadership. Facilitating is leading and it’s a hefty responsibility. For example, if you take a break to eat snacks and start talking smack about a colleague-- you’ve ruined the modeling and safety of your space even though it is ‘off time’. If your goal is to promote an open/safe/challenging space, you do really need to be “on”; adults are even more perceptive and less trusting than our kids, which says a lot - our kids see all.the.things.

6. Have a food budget. 

• Normally we would suggest food at the beginning and snack time as a break about halfway in a meeting, but since everything is virtual right now, requesting a budget for food somehow might require more creativity. Food is community, a good fidget, a way to connect... ! 

7. Use humor.

• This ish is heavy. It’s our lives. It’s oppression passed on for generations. It’s not going away. There are times in this work when it is not appropriate in any form to laugh. But! the moments where you can, when you can, we implore you to use it. The silly stuff. An opening greeting, a sweet video to warm up, a joke about your bad cooking, the way your grandma teases you... humor does connect us. We can’t make these spaces ‘fun’ per se (you really can’t), but no one says the entire process has to be suffering either (even Buddha doesn’t say that)!

• Never tease a member. You’ve worked too hard to make the space safe, it is just not worth it if someone takes something the wrong way or you’ve taken a misstep and hurt them. They will be shut off from the space and we don’t have time for that.  

8. Model reflection

• If you did make a mistake like the one above, apologize. Model not knowing something, model considering a different point of view, model caring about something. You might not need to take it to a full teacher “think aloud” but it is so important to model the reflecting-and-taking-ownership process. We will all flop as we try to be better to one another and so we have to see and know how to do this well and often. We have to make it expected and normalized. 

• Have an opening and a closing to provide space to reflect and ease and in and out of the group. 

• Have a way to receive feedback and earnestly repeat how much you value and want it (and mean it)! When I really bomb on a lesson I call them AFOG’s (another f*ing growth opportunity - with the words in the wrong order to make me laugh and remember to lighten up)! Whatever tools you use, use them! And share them, too, so people see how you’re showing up for growth of yourself and your little community. 

9. Share some, but not much 

• If you share nothing and pass every time you are going to seem holier than thou. If you share for five minutes every time or lecture you're going to seem holier than thou. Know very clearly you’re not a participant, but also know you’re a member of this community. You need to share some in order for it to feel comfortable for participants to share with you. 

10. Provide times you’re available (and/but get paid) 

• There are people who are going to want (or need!) to have a chat with you outside the rest of the group. This is important, but also be careful. Some people need further learning so they don’t offend someone else, and you are the available patient human who can guide them through maybe a problematic thought etc. That is your job, not another participant’s. However, you do need to think carefully about what times you make available and have clear cut offs or you will never stop thinking about your group! Also, get paid. This group will take a lot of your time and energy.

11. Be hands on, relevant 

• If the format is the same every week people will zone out. Even in this virtual world there are ways to be hands on! We love simulations but there are so many ways to keep people present and active in the conversation aside from just talking at them or doing circle conversations (where everyone is asked to share). That being said, do not eliminate the circle conversation from the meeting ever entirely. It’s important to hear all voices and share. 

• If you’re choosing something from 1974 that you’ve used fifteen times, double check that it’s good, know why you’re choosing it. You have limited attention spans so you have to choose excellent resources. There are so many (!!!) short pieces that are brilliant as well as the constant world we live in to connect to what you’re talking about. This keeps it real. 

12. Ask questions 

• We make a point of not interrupting when facilitating (especially hard for me, Gabby, because in my general life I often do - ugh)! But it’s a no go zone in facilitating.

• That being said, letting a moment that needs a timeout slide is not the move either. Wait for someone to finish talking and ask questions to guide, or pivot to share a resource etc. These ‘ouch’ moments are crucial to everyone’s learning. They have to happen, and you have to be responsive and show up, you’re the voice that keeps everyone, but especially the most oppressed safe.

13. Have affinity time/break out times 

• If you have a mixed crowd, this is essential. POC need a break. We need time without white people and we still want to and need to talk about these concepts too. Some of our toughest conversations have happened in the POC affinity space actually (talk about anti-blackness in other non black POC groups!? It gets tough)! This time is important for white people too, but have a clear plan for how their affinity time especially will go. 

14. Stick to the time. 

• We use timers when we are doing formal facilitating. We tell people how much time each person has and go around the group. We set the tone by saying we will say “thank you” when your time is up even if you are mid word mid sentence you stop. We mean thank you, and we also must go on. 

• Some people choose to let the time sit even if the person says they have nothing to say and hold the space for that person. Sometimes that person ends up chiming in because they don’t want to sit for the minute quietly or they realize with the time held they want to share their voice. Some facilitators honor the pass, it’s up to you and your group. 

• Regardless, end the group on time and keep the timer vigilant. The expectation is people show up wholeheartedly ready to work, and so when the time is done they’ll need to return to their jobs, babies, dogs etc. and we need to honor that and they will show up better for it. 

15. Reinforce the tone, expressing gratitude and pride 

• We don’t mean this to say be self congratulatory or to pet white people. 

• What we do mean is that talking with others openly and honestly about systemic issues is hard. Trying sincerely and being committed to knowing you will fail, getting up and growing and challenging yourself again-- in any endeavor is something as teachers, we believe in. 

Facilitating resources we love: SEED, Teaching for Change, NWSJTC

And more! 

Feel free to reach out to us to hear more about resources we love, how we approach this work, or if you could just use a coach and cheering on as you get going! 

Onwards!

Reminder: Representation Matters

After reading Weeding Out Racism’s Invisible Roots: Rethinking Children’s Classics | Opinion by Padma Venkatraman in the School Library Journal, I thought about book choices in classrooms and schools. I know most teachers right now are grappling with how and if they will be able to be with students in person this fall and of course, everyone’s safety and health is the most important thing. However, if you are like me, you are trying to plan and organize for what little we can control. One thing we can control is what books we choose to share with students. 

Children receive so much information and so many ideas through their surroundings and exposure from a very young age. Racism and institutional exclusion through societal messaging starts so early. At school (and out in the world, in the media, and more), students are shown that certain voices are more important than others. They see only certain categories of people in positions of authority. While we might try to teach students that everyone is equal, the reality of society and the world around them sends a different message. I’ve learned through experience that we cannot and do not always anticipate the messages that kids internalize. 

A six year old girl once told my sister (who is a physician) that she didn’t know girls could be doctors until she met her. She had never expressed that sentiment out loud, so no one knew to tell her or show her female doctors. Another time, a child was reading a board book about the US presidents to me. The last page of the book is a mirror that says something about how YOU (the reader) could be the next president. She looked at me and said, “I can’t be president because I’m a girl.” The second to last page of the book depicted all 44 presidents (this was a few years ago), who of course, are all male. Naturally, she assumed only men could be president. I explained how only men have been president so far, but she (or other girls) could still be president one day. She looked skeptical (and who can blame her!) so we talked about women leaders in other countries. 

I think about these instances when I buy books for my classroom, choose read alouds and book club books for my students, recommend books to students, write curriculum, and more. We teach a biography/nonfiction writing joint unit in the spring and we try to highlight people who will inspire our students, interest our students, and push back against a dominant narrative or messaging. I’m fortunate to have a budget from my (private) school to buy books, and I totally understand that some (many) teachers are constrained by district mandates, administration set curriculum, standardized testing, no budget for books, and more. When I taught public school, I was encouraged to teach certain books because the school owned class sets of them. I’ve gotten around this in the past by borrowing books from other teachers and using the public library, as well as using a document camera or an online edition of a book to project the text so kids can follow along if needed. 

Modeling your excitement about new books for students is a great way to encourage them to become lifelong readers. What are we telling students if we teach the same books year after year? If we want children to be constant readers and learners, we need to do so as well. And even if you love a book, that doesn’t mean it’s right for your classroom or that you should share it with students. It’s not about you or your feelings. Good memories don’t negate problematic messaging. Teach books you love AND that have important representation and counter messaging for kids. 

When looking for new books, ask yourself: can my students see themselves in this book? Do they learn about someone different from them? Do they learn about a different lifestyle, socioeconomic status, race, language or culture? And please, BE CRITICAL: representation is key but make sure it is not otherizing or stereotypical. If you’re not sure, use the internet to read reviews! Some great resources:

• Common Sense Media

• We Need Diverse Books

• Disability in kidlit

• American Indians in Children’s Literature

• Teaching For Change Book Lists

• The Brown Bookshelf

• Our blog! We are always reviewing new books or sharing lists of books we love

Remember, don’t just avoid stereotypes. Practice image and message replacement. Of course brown women are scientists/doctors/people with authority. Also, books about kids who just happen to be [fill in the blank] are also valuable. Characters should not be reduced to their “difference.” For example, all your books with Black main characters should not be about slavery or civil rights. Also, make sure you have books about Native Americans that are set in the present! 

Please comment below with any other resources you love. We love hearing and talking about new books!

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As the work continues

Hi wonderful people.

We thought it might be useful to share some new and old favorite resources of ours that we turn to as we engage in our justice educatorianship. We’ll come up with a new trendy term for it just to keep everyone on their toes (we’re kidding, there’s a lot of those to keep up with as it is).

We do want to start with the brief (sometimes painful, but essential and realistic) reminder about how this work is ongoing.. and ongoing..and ongoing. We aren’t surprised because we know how deep this work has to go and yet that doesn’t remove the pain/numbness/exhaustion/tears  the list goes on. We respect that sometimes the heavy fury of this work in our society comes in the form of self care (see our list below for good vibes). Other times, it’ll come in the form of modeling the answer to the guiding questions we teach backwards from: HOW DO WE WANT OUR CHILDREN TO TALK ABOUT _____? (insert: race! injustice? inequity? oppression? disability? etc.). And we plan from there. 

Resources for the good vibes: 

• Kukuwa Dance - black joy, good for your mind and body and the best way to “move your boombsey” when you’re spiraling down. 

• The Camping Trip -This is coming out soon and it is precious and new. Sweet and lovely in every way and perfect for summer. 

• Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry - the adult accompaniment for the cute book above, bursting with the nature knowledge and love we know. 

• Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration- sometimes hearing black and brown on repeat in the news causes for a quadruple dose of the sweet affirming of the beauty of our colors. 

• The Avant Guards (series) - ragamuffin group of kids led by a girl who reminds gabby of her mom (to a t!). They play basketball sometimes and otherwise just cool and queer and I want to be in their group! 

• What is Given From the Heart - feels like a throwback 90s picture book in the best way. 

• Pumpkinheads- cute romance. If you're not in the mood for white people at.all. Skip this though. If you’re available for interracial love then this is cuteness falling in love times. 

Resources to use as refreshers/ pass along to others when you’re tired but people are clambering for something from you:

• NMAAHC Being Antiracist guide  

  • NMAAHC "Let's Talk!" (guide to a range of topics related to race) 

• So You Want to Talk About Race  (one of the best, clearest guides we’ve found, we give this as gifts routinely) 

• Teaching for Change (if you reach out to them tell Deborah that Gabby & Nina sent you ;). 

• This tweet thread by Alicia Garza 

• National SEED Project  (guides for frameworks, and how to talk about difficult things with one another. This is a group that runs and trains people on how to facilitate tough convos). 

• Northwest Social Justice Teaching  (so far one of the best conferences we have been to for educators in this work. If you want to just say leave me alone and go register for this conference, this would be a good one). 

You won’t regret buying this, I reread it, refer back to it, and find resilience in it time and time again.

Resources for adults who have read the most shared guides & say they want something “different”:

• This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color  (one of Gabby’s favorites of ALL TIME! The sheer level of brilliance and genius in this book is slam dunk unbelievable.) 

• Good Talk (Mira Jacobs- graphic novel)  

• You are in the dark in a car by Claudia Rankine (poem) 

• They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us (Hanif) 

• Red at the Bone (Jackie Woodson always!) 

• New Daughters of Africa (anthologies of black women really can’t be beat!) 

Resources for diving back in with kiddos:

• Black History Month post - this is ours. Sorry to do this but we didn’t feel like repeating ourselves / making this post too long. We’ve got a lot of posts on how we teach, have tough convos, reflect, simulations we’ve designed.. So poke around on our blog if you were hoping for that from this post! 

• Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z  

• Sulwe  

• Say Something 

• Kindness Makes Us Strong

• 1619 Project 

Thanks for the work you do and thank you for pushing to do more- be it taking care of yourself better,protesting, sending bail money, politically organizing, raising amazing young humans, pushing for/with educators, teachin’ the youths or whatever else you’re up to. Ah, maybe you’re sending books to everyone?! ( we would both really love if that could be a real job we hop in and out of:). Regardless, the road is long and moments like this slice and kick us all in the gut. We do this work together and we keep on keepin’ on together. 

The work we do matters. The way we support our kids in being better than our past matters. Taking care of one another matters. Black and brown lives matter.

It takes a village and we’re grateful you’re out there in ours.

Love to y'all. Be in touch.

Remote Learning Ideas

I am home on maternity leave, but more and more of my fellow teachers are hearing about school closures due to health concerns and potential exposure to coronavirus. I’ve been thinking a lot about ways to send work home or set up some kind of remote learning that are equitable and developmentally appropriate. 

First and foremost, ask your students for suggestions (if you have advance warning)! They will have lots of creative ideas for how to best keep their learning going at home. At the very least, they will be able to share the reality around internet access, quiet workspaces, free time, and more at their homes. They will also feel better if you include them in the process and model how this is a new situation for all of us and we are being flexible, understanding, and doing our best. 

Remember that some students may be helping to take care of younger children or sharing space with many others. Also, if students have internet access through an adult’s phone only, it is not something they can use for hours on end (or necessarily at all, if that adult goes to work or needs to use their own phone!). You know your students best - what will be the most helpful for them right now? Remember that many of them may be stressed out by the change in routine and may rely on coming to school for many things. 

Of course, I understand that many teachers are required to prepare and assign some kind of remote work plan so students can continue learning at home regardless of students’ home situations. For those of you who are required to assign work that will be graded or counted for credit, I am including low tech ideas below for students who will not have internet or technology access.

Some ideas that came to mind:

• Math projects: one of the things I don’t enjoy about teaching a set Math program is that we never have time for projects! Math projects can go so many different ways. They are a wonderful example of how Math has real world applications. Depending on what you are studying, have students apply and demonstrate their learning in a creative way. Some successes I have had in the past include proposals for field trips or experiences including budgets, creating robots to explore the relationship between measurement, area, and perimeter, finding applications of multiplication in everyday life, figuring out the best way to share resources in our school, and lots of adventures in data collection (think about people students can interview or poll when they are at home). Students can also share their work in low and high tech ways.

• Teach someone how to.. This is one of my favorite Math projects. I had my third graders wrap up our review of subtraction with regrouping by creating a visual to teach subtraction to second graders. They had lots of flexibility in terms of finished product, but had a checklist of things that needed to be included and explained. My students loved doing this and were very creative with their explanations. This could work with many concepts, but make sure it is a review of a previously taught concept.

• Letter writing: I love letter writing for every subject! Students can write to politicians or leaders, family members, their future selves, book characters, famous people (in history or in the present), other students, you, and so much more. Letter writing is a great way to show students why we practice reading and writing and how powerful our voices can be. You can see the letter one of our students wrote to Hillary Clinton above this post!

• Research projects: every year, I do a bibliography study and essay writing unit with my third graders. They learn so much about a variety of wonderful people and they are so excited to share what they know. While it is best to be able to teach students how to read and comprehend nonfiction, take notes, restate facts in your own words, and so many other skills, students can definitely do some research on their own. This is a great at home project as it can be low or high tech. Students with access to the internet could use a teacher provided list of safe and reliable sources and others could use library books or pre-printed out articles. If library books and articles are not available, they could interview adults at their home or even “research” an adult in their life and interview other family members about that person.

• Interview a family member: this is related to research projects, but could also be a storytelling activity. When I taught fifth grade, we had a storytelling unit and had students interview family members as part of a Storycorps inspired storytelling project. While students required guidance for parts of this project, they could still interview a family member and choose to share a story in their own creative way while at home.

• Podcasts are a wonderful classroom tool. While it’s hard to think of a way to access podcasts without technology (you could print out a transcript of the podcasts you are assigning, but that wouldn’t really be the same experience and would require a lot of printing out and advance notice/planning!), they are also free, accessible through a variety of devices, and require only enough internet access to download them. Here are some that have amazing classroom potential:

  • Book Club for Kids: kids discuss middle grade novels

  • But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids 

  • Brains On: Science Podcast for Kids

  • Be Calm - mindfulness podcasts (try out, recommend to kids for bedtime)

  • Pants on Fire  - podcast (Gen Z media) liar vs expert

  • Listenwise - search engine for educational podcasts for kids

  • Zooglobble - podcast about music

  • Anchor FM: make your own podcast

  • Go Synth - helps with recording podcasts

  • Bricoradio - experimenting with just letting kids talk, some episodes might inspire your students to make podcasts

• I never have time to teach writing poetry anymore, and I miss it! Writing poems inspired by a mentor text is definitely something students (who can read independently) can do on their own/at home. Some of the mentor authors and texts we’ve used in the past as well as different structures can be found here. 

These are just some ideas that came to me - would love to hear more ideas and learn about what teachers are actually trying out! 

Sending lots of energy and kudos to all the teachers being flexible and supporting their students in so many ways during this uncertain time.

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Black History Month: Past Ideas & Thoughts!

Seeing all of the activity around Black History Month on various social media platforms inspired me to write a blog post again (I know it has been a long time - I (Nina) was busy having a baby!). I am on maternity leave, so won’t be teaching in a classroom this February, but will link to some of our past posts with our ideas and reflections. 

My memories of Black History Month when I was in elementary school are pretty vague, but I remember learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and maybe even singing some songs about how he helped our country. As an elementary school teacher myself, I definitely have had to teach into the idea that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “fixed” racism in our country or that racism was something bad from our past. You can read more about one way we approached MLK Day in the past here. The past few years, my co-teacher and I have been participating in Black Lives Matter at School week. It’s a nationwide movement that occurs the first week of February.* 

It’s important when teaching history (especially to concrete third graders) to tie it to the present, and I always think about any of the “history” months (Black History Month, Women’s History Month, etc) through this lens. Starting with Black Lives Matter at School week is a great way to do this. You can read more about our participation in Black Lives Matter at School week and get some resources and ideas for Black History Month here, as well as read our reflections after participating with more details about how we chose to approach the week in our classroom here. 

I’m sure we’ve said this before, but it’s also really important not to relegate Black history to one month of the year (we love the title of the book How Long 'Til Black Future Month, has anybody gotten their hands on this one yet??). Black history is American history and should be part of our curriculum year round. Also, our curriculum should reflect our world, and the world we want our students to live in.

Some things to keep in mind when approaching Black History Month: 

• Since your curriculum reflects the diversity of our world, you do not need to cover all of Black history in one month (often times depth in one area they didn’t know about can be more quality instruction with essential ideas than the grand sweep over conversation). Choose your focus based on student interests, knowledge, or ignorance or what works well with other units. Students will often need background information and time to process, so it is far better to cover something in depth than give them information out of context. 

• Make sure you have time for student reflection and feedback. We had a student who wrote a comment on an article we read that helped us know what we wanted to do next. Open ended comments and reflections also let students have a way to let you know what they are thinking and feeling.

• Give students opportunities to share and process, but do not expect Black students to share or answer other students’ questions. They are not in the classroom as examples to white students. Also, make sure students of color have a way to communicate with you in case they need to process or feel uncomfortable about the way something is framed or understood by others.

• Think critically about the resources you use (which of course we teachers do each and every day). Just because a picture book is about a Black historical figure does not mean that it is a good resource for your students. Think about framing, whose story or voice is highlighted, and unintentionally reinforcing stereotypes. Also consider context you might have to provide for the resources you choose (if there is slang, slurs, or historical terms your students don’t understand -- ie: the use of “Negro”, for example, you have to prepare to teach into these!). 

• As a side note beneath this- we are huge fans of explicit vocabulary instruction. Students rarely have opportunities to have these conversations, and when they do, the big ‘adult words’ do not get broken down for them and that is a missed opportunity for learning and excludes them from participating in the conversation. Freyer models, group work, vocabulary logs or what have you--  you can bring your Black history vocabulary into systems you already have! 

• Use original sources! There are so many ways to do this. Some ideas are through videos of historical events or speeches on YouTube, adapted text of speeches or letters on Newsela, and documents. It is a wonderful way to bring history to life and preserve the voice and intent of the primary source.

• Poems can be an excellent way to start. I have always believed we need to use poetry more in all subjects. For example, the beginning of the Langston Hughes poem, “Let America Be America Again” is below. Have students read the poem and write connections and questions. Also, teach them about Langston Hughes! We’ve also used poems from Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming (if you are stuck on where to start, she has so many wonderful books for a variety of ages!).

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

-Langston Hughes, from Let America Be America Again

Please share your thoughts and ideas below! We’d love to hear what other educators are trying out this month. I especially enjoy hearing about other classrooms as I am away from my own students right now.

*We love Teaching For Change and if you want resources or a good community in the DMV area they are worth connecting with and receiving emails from! 

**This asterik is from Gabby just to note that she has yet to see schools that she has been working in, in Oregon, participating in BLM week. Of course, the work continues!

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Inquiry in Social Studies

I’ve always loved teaching Social Studies through inquiry. Start with questions students have, and then let them explore, research, and learn from there! This approach has led to biographical essays about inspirational historical and contemporary figures, case studies about different countries, companies, and Virginia Indian tribes, investigations into various holidays, and so much more. My hope is that teaching Social Studies through inquiry supports my students in continually learning about the world in a curious and open way.

Some essential parts of inquiry in Social Studies (for me) are:

• Keep the final product open or at least open ended! There are so many ways to share what you learned - let students figure out the best way to do so and personalize it.

• Encourage creativity! We asked our students for annotated illustrations of the Virginia Indian tribe they studied, and every single one of them interpreted that a different way.

• Be clear that what you are learning is limited in scope and in perspective. Use a concrete example to show that sweeping statements about all individuals who share an identity (or other) trait don’t work. I often use my wearing glasses as an example of what is generally true, but not always true for people who wear glasses versus what I prefer. The concrete example helps students to see the fallacy of overgeneralized statements and they can suggest how to reframe or rephrase statements to avoid this. Some words and phrases my students brainstormed included: usually, sometimes, some, in this instance, this example, one possibility (and of course, there are more).

• Always start with student questions! This is where inquiry begins - with asking a question. Keep in mind that students may need an introduction to a topic or some background knowledge before they can pose meaningful questions. Photographs, video and audio clips, and primary source documents are a great way to get students interested in a topic and give them some context to start asking questions.

• Find out what students already know (or think they know) and act accordingly! Background knowledge is so important to learning and understanding. So is identifying and clearing up misconceptions. Skipping ahead to research and learning new information without engaging in this pre-inquiry step can lead to more confusion.

One example of an attempt to do many of these things was our Native American Studies unit with 5th graders. We started by asking students what they already know about Native Americans, and immediately needed to clear up confusion about names and proper terms (many of our students claimed that saying “Indians” was offensive). One way we did this was by taking a field trip to the wonderful National Museum of the American Indian here in DC.  At the museum, our students were surprised to learn Native Americans are still very much present today. 

Many of our students shared that the Disney movie, Pocahontas, came to mind when we first started learning about American Indians. So we took some time to delve into an investigation of Pocahontas and see how what we discovered connected with what we already learned and had questions about. Students were shocked to see how quickly they generalized from an animated movie with limited historical accuracy to all Native Americans.

Our takeaways from this information our students shared (and were missing) was that we needed to learn more about American Indians today! So we learned some new vocabulary and background information from documentaries, articles, stories, and more. We also learned about the Virginia Indian tribes as a concrete example of American Indians living near us right now.

Our final project for the unit was a case study! We gave students time and resources to learn about a Virginia Indian tribe. We started with questions like: what do you want to know? What are the 10 most important things to know & share about this tribe? How would you depict your understanding? Students wanted to know SO MANY THINGS! The Top 10 List was a really effective structured way to share their knowledge while allowing them to follow their own lines of curiosity. We also included an “annotated illustration” as something to share to allow creativity and freedom to express their learning in an unstructured (non-written) way. As you can see from one of our students’ finished products (cover photo), they had so much to share. 

*An important disclaimer we started our case study work with was to remind students that our understanding is limited! We don’t know everything about an entire Virginia Indian tribe and couldn’t share it if we did.

The best way to do inquiry might vary from class to class and subject to subject, so these are just a few general guidelines we try to follow that have worked for us.

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The Art of Coaching Teams Institute

Last year, I took on a new role at my school and in addition to be a 3rd grade teacher, I was also the Co-Teaching Facilitator. It was fun to be able to work with my colleagues in a new capacity and rewarding to find and provide resources to (hopefully) support them. As part of this role and some hopes for next year, I attended The Art of Coaching Teams Institute through Bright Morning. I had already read and worked with The Art of Coaching by Elena Aguilar and was excited to add The Art of Coaching Teams (also by Elena Aguilar) to my resources bank.

The workshop packed a lot into two days and I especially loved the opportunities to collaborate with others and make what we were learning and discussing relevant to our own work. There was so much to appreciate, but here are a few of my highlights:

• I loved the Cycle of an Emotion (in the photo above). It is so concrete and applies to everyone in almost every situation. We talked about it during the institute as a way to be mindful of our reactions and responses, but I see so many ways to use this graphic. I would love to use it with my third graders - we often talk about how we can’t control our feelings, but we can control what we do about them. It also provides a wonderfully concrete and tangible way of understanding someone else’s perspective when someone does something we don’t particularly appreciate. In a coaching or collaboration situation, I could see it being useful as a way to stop or limit a misunderstanding or conflict instead of lettings things spiral or build.

  • One really important point about the graphic above (Cycle of an Emotion) is that our interpretation is colored by our own unconscious biases and systemic forces in our society. We must acknowledge our own identities and the cultural contexts that influence our interpretations, physical responses, and actions. I really appreciated this lens as I find that I can’t genuinely work on team building without acknowledging (and hopefully challenging!) these forces as part of all of our interactions.

Another aspect of the institute I really appreciated was the focus on emotional intelligence and how developing the emotional intelligence of a team is crucial to effective collaboration. If you ignore emotions or tension in a group, so much energy will go toward avoiding or managing that tension. But if you have a group that excels at understanding and taking care of each other, they will be able to communicate well, have healthy conflict, and work well together. As the slide above reminds us, “when people feel good, they work at their best.” This is also a really important reminder to take care of yourself. You can’t be a good teacher (or friend, sibling, etc) if you aren’t in a good place. It takes so much emotional energy to be unhappy, frustrated, stressed, or upset. 

• One of the strategies for leading more inclusive teams was to encourage storytelling as it builds connections. I always love any reminders of the significance and transformative effects of storytelling. It is such a wonderful way for people to become more connected to each other and to find common threads in our stories to help us understand what we are working toward. Stories remind us of our shared humanity. Even though I don’t teach a full formal storytelling unit anymore, I use storytelling in my teaching all the time. When starting a new unit or sharing a new concept, ask for stories about this idea, emotion, or experience in people’s lives. They will be far more prepared to engage afterward and will feel more connected to anyone whose story they shared.

• And finally, always go back to purpose! This sounds basic, but it is so crucial. A clear purpose provides clarity and focus, increases motivation, and can help uphold the larger mission, goals, or vision of an organization, classroom, or community. When I share a purpose of what we are learning or working on with my students, they are more engaged. Even when someone might disagree with your purpose, sharing it is powerful.

I hope some of these reminders are helpful (and that you get a chance to check out some of Bright Morning’s resources!) What are some important reminders or must-do’s for you when working in or leading a team?

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"What is always on your end of year list?" A quick 10 always on there items from us.

We were asked what is always on our end of year to do list.. Below are a few pieces we always have on that list. Ironically, for me the end of the year has so many of its own mini lists and rituals. 

A few things that are always on there for me are: 

1. Write thank you notes (this includes personal ones I write, and also putting aside class time and guiding the students to reflect and write their own. These include notes to students, ridiculously reliable, wonderful maintenance staff, an amazing receptionist, a family that has been really kind, a colleague/peer that helped you out, a class of students you used to have that is graduating etc..) 

2. Log that all our classroom books have been returned! Have students help out, remind families etc. 

3. Set aside class time to solicit student feedback. We wrote blog posts about how and why we do this in 2017 and 2018. End of year feedback from students (post from 2017), Always Ask for Student Feedback! (post from 2018). Our work of teaching and learning is grounded in reflection, this is so important! 

4. Take pictures / make a slideshow/ do some sort of comparison from beginning of the year end of the year. This can be photos from then and now, opening the letters we wrote to ourselves in September, or comparing work from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. 

5. Assign a lot of student helpers to take things down/ clean! 

6. Play more games/ plan for fun moments together, this is the last time this learning community will be together in exactly this way and time will fly and the year will be over. We love making a point to just enjoy each other as the year winds down. 

7. Prepare summer reading lists  (we also wrote a blog post on this, Setting Students Up for Summer Reading) --  foster continuous reading excitement (and let them enjoy giving you and one another recs!), and set them up for success to have books they know they want to get at the library or the bookstore. (We have tons of posts on books we love, here is the most recent one about books we extra loved for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month) 

8. Finish that all class read aloud! We wrote about how we wrap that up in an older post (Looking Back to Look Forward). 

9. Reflect- use that student feedback, consider the pieces that worked and haven't worked, and congratulate yourself. There is always more we could do or a piece that could have gone better or a student we wish we reached or supported better. Make note and also celebrate another great year of fostering forever learners! 

10. Plan an end of school meal that you're excited about (for me, it's usually an Ethiopian dish.. or sushi! I just got hungry writing that). We both just love food so.. yep! 

This piece was also published on Medium through McGraw Hill’s The Art of Teaching Project!

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Capital Area Progressive Schools!

Last month, I had the opportunity to present at the Capital Area Progressive Schools (CAPS) Conference! The theme of the conference was Responsive Practice: Diversity, Equity, and Differentiation. This conference takes place every two years and all CAPS members faculty and staff are invited to join. This year, my school had the day off for students so everyone could attend and it seemed like most other schools did so as well. It was so lovely that so many schools were able to do this so we had so many other teachers (and faculty and staff) to meet! Coming from a small school with only one class per grade, it’s always very exciting to have a chance to talk to other 3rd grade teachers.

My (new) co-teacher and I presented our What continent do you think they are from? drawing humans activity that Gabby and I designed as part of our 3rd grade geography curriculum. We use this activity to open our students’ eyes to the reality of the entire world out there (as opposed to only North America and maybe Europe) as well as their internalized biases (and of course, so much more!). We read a description of a human being, ask them to draw this human using only crayons, and then write down what continent they think this person is from.

This was only the second time I’ve done this activity with adults, and really enjoyed the discussion and questions from our audience. We had a smaller group than we anticipated so we were able to open up discussion as we went along and ask people to share out instead of only sharing in a small group. It was fascinating hearing about different thought processes and how, as adults, we become instantly aware of our implicit biases and what it felt like to try to challenge them.

We had a very interesting discussion about application or adaptation of this activity for pre-kindergarten aged students, interdisciplinary or subject specific use in middle school classrooms, and talked about Science applications and generally beginning the dismantling or challenging of stereotypes when starting a new unit of study. At our school, we’ve been fortunate to work closely with the Kindergarten and First Grade teachers who are engaging in social justice work in their classrooms as well, and were responsive to the needs we communicated based on the work we were doing in Fifth Grade, so we shared some of the activities they do as well.

One part of this activity that I really love is asking participants to write down what continent they think someone is from! Many of the adults at our workshop found that they were able to be mindful of their own first instincts around race or gender when drawing humans, but the continent twist surprised them and made them ask: why is it that we always think of Europeans and North Americans? What does this mean for our classrooms and the voices and faces we need to highlight?

Later in the day, I went to a roundtable discussion about continuing diversity, equity, and inclusion work a few years in and how to keep moving after the initial momentum from starting out (as an institution or as staff/faculty at an institution. It was helpful hearing about work at other schools and problems, reactions and possible solutions that have come up.

Some of my other takeaways and valuable reminders included:

• I love the idea of a cultural competency checklist as a place to start with all faculty and staff - it really underscores the idea that we all are commiting to this important work and all have something to bring or work on.

• One school had everyone fill out an inventory detailing who they spend most of their time with, who their friends are, and who they are comfortable with as a concrete way for people to understand why certain spaces might feel more or less natural or customary for them

• One share involved someone explaining that there was a wide disparity of how people were experiencing the school and different ways they tried to make people understand that

• Progressive schools are grounded in relationships so everyone’s experience matters!

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Books to extra enjoy Asian Pacific Heritage Month! (and all the months)

A Few Additions: Our Favorite Recent Reading in Honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

Check out last year’s post here!

Here are a few more worth taking a peek at this month, or any month:)

The House that Lou Built by Mae Respicio

We know we chose this one for Womyn’s month, too-- but with intersectionality and all, Lou and her family have a ton of awesome women as well as rocking their heritage, being thoughtful, and the list of what they rock goes on.. ! Enjoy the Bay Area vibes, tiny house-plot, girls who know what they want, and Filipino rep— it’s a keeper.

Counting on Community by our fave (we met him!!!) Innosanto Nagara. This is our favorite board book of his and is most certainly what Gabby will be giving to all of her loved ones who have babies. A beautiful counting book that adds aspects of the lovely things that make community. This has his staple artistic beauty, and of course has his fierce love and passion for humans being good to one another and doing good work.

Somewhere Only We Know by Maureen Goo - for you, or your young human friends who are craving the pop world celebrity happenings. This one was fun and had the vibes you would want from a K-Pop star living in Hong Kong going off-script. We especially enjoyed that it was set in Hong Kong!

Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai - a novel with some pictures in the mix (not a graphic novel, as I had assumed before reading it), it focuses on two brothers who move from China to Australia and have very different experiences adjusting and managing such a huge transition. There is lots of baking involved and the pair of siblings are really relatable in this one. The first half felt pretty slow, but by the end we enjoyed it and found its way of representing the boys to be very valuable.

Come on. How can you stand the cuteness of this cover? Also— I just read it is getting adapted to be a J-drama!? If that doesn’t sound exciting for summer, I don’t know what is.

My Brother’s Husband by Gengoroh Tagame, (please enjoy both Volumes 1 and 2 !!). This graphic novel is heartwarming in all the BEST ways. Based in Japan, this series is about a super cute girl and her contemplative father. It’s really best if you enjoy this graphic novel series right now, and not be told what it’s about. It’s simple, poignant, human, and just very well done. If I had to choose a book to give to someone and say, “Happy May!” (because of course, that’s a fun thing to do) it would likely be these books because I would know someone would be happy in May after reading them. Just read them!

And can we bring back Full CIcada Moon? Great, thanks so much for understanding. The cover alone should woo anyone, but also so should this half black half Japanese main character who is super introspective and navigating her way through the world.

BONUS - For grown humans: The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai was a fun, more original plot of a romcom book with non-white humans - HOORAY.  This one was entertaining and featured a black woman lead and a Samoan man as the main love interest. You heard that right, Samoan rep!! Let’s shout it from the rooftops, how overdue is that!? Also there is a little disability rep and conversation woven into this seemingly light fluffy romance book, so perhaps enjoy some of that, as well. Not to mention there is a quirky aunt in this one-- am I the only one who aspires to be a quirky weirdo aunt? She’s in here if you like that, like I do. Finally, this is a series in case you are searching for that summer beach series to devour.

Books we recently added to our Want to Read list: The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters (!! someone please send me this, who doesn’t love a sister story!?), Ramadan, looks like a timely, simple board book by Hannah Elliot, Other Words for Home, It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew The Way, and for summer romcom vibes Fake it Till You Break It with a fake dating trope that one of us can’t help but want to check out! (sigh, it’s Gabby, I’m not embarrassed by this I own it).

What books have you been loving with the ridiculously ginormous label of Asian representation recently? Or ever? Tell us, we are always looking for more, and happy May!

New Books to Celebrate Womyn's History Month (All Year Long!)

Great New Books to Keep You Celebrating Womens’/Womyns’ History Month (All Year Long)

image from: https://hfhealthyliving.org/five-ways-celebrate-womens-history-month-new-york-city/

If you are a regular of our blog (hi!) you know we are of the mindset that while we appreciate the monthly celebrations as reminders to re-up our work, we don’t want to fall into the trap of only emphasizing the community being supposedly celebrated during only that month with our students.

That being said, we love an excuse to add extra incentive and energy around learning about womyn. So here are some newer fiction books (most we read as ARCs so we could keep you as in the loop as possible) that have heroines that we think will aid in great conversations, or are solid options for keeping your students hooked in their adventures and inspired!

1. The House That Lou Built by Mae Respicio

We love this for its Filipina (!!!!) main character, Lou, her steadfast belief in herself and her dreams. She holds this belief even though they do not match what others expect of her, and we also admire her love for working with her hands and trying her best. We also adore Lou’s spunky and loving matriarchal family, the food descriptions (you might drool, we would use this as a class read aloud just to be able to incorporate some ube cake or lumpia into the classroom!?), and the representation of multiple different types of families and types of love:).

2. Miss Mink: Life Lessons for a Cat Countess by Janet Hill

We love this for the art, really, but also the life lessons. There isn’t much text here but this is a different type of picture book and we could see it feeling inspiring to some students. For the cat lovers, for those who love looking at the details in art (and finding the cats!), for the humans who want to travel and make their own rules. We could see it being a fun starting off point for a lesson on personal autobiography, where students make their own “rules for life” according to themselves, with illustrated images to accompany them!

3. The Breakways by Cathy G. Johnson

For a slightly stronger reader middle grade reader while still being fluffy and sweet, this is about the most fun eclectic bunch of girls on the struggling, C-level soccer team. Super diverse cast, sweet moments, and sincere struggles with trying to fit in. We love the representation of so many different ways to be an awesome girl (which from this text really means, find out who you are and be that!).

4. Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

One of the new Rick Riordan Presents books, this one is the best from RRP so far (according to Gabby!). While this one is technically about the main character, a Sal, Gabi is really the star of this book and she is everything you could want a heroine to be. She is bright, she is thoughtful, she makes mistakes, she has a loving family you want to be friends with (I won’t spoil it for you, they are adorable), and she is a BOSS. This one also has incredible food scenes, amazing art school vibes, and of course, a universe at stake! (We may also note we love the Cuban vibes, Miami vibes, the healthcare focus which we normally shield from kids-- diabetes and babies, and how all of this is blended into a hilarious fantasy book!).

5. Pilu of the Woods by Mai K. Nguyen

This one is for your melancholy or outdoorsy inspired kiddos. It’s a beautiful graphic novel about grief, nature, familial relationships, and working through your feelings. We’ve seen quite a few books out where boys get to have their big feelings (anger, ‘acting out’) and getting their moments of not knowing how to manage those feels. We love this for the representation of a girl who is unsure how to manage her feelings. We are grateful for the example of Pilu and how she works really hard to wade through her feelings, and finding her way back to supportive humans she loves.

There are, of course, so many more! But we will leave you with five so that it hopefully will not feel overwhelming. There are also so many fantastic anthologies about real womyn (also equally important, if not more so at times!), but we imagined you would see these on shelves at bookstores and blog posts everywhere this month.* We also know there are plenty of more obvious choices but we thought we would mix it up with a variety of these new/ less promoted ones. We hope this quirky new picks inspire you to keep sharing fictional (and non-fictional) amazing womyn with your students -- all the models for the endless ways they can be amazing young womyn!

Happy Womyn’s History month this month and all the futures!

Bessie’s photo at the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame

*However if you are in need of an amazing woman to teach about this month Gabby highly suggests one of her favorite humans in history, black, motorcyclist and all around bosslady, Bessie Stringfield. That being said, she hasn’t quite found a kid’s book about Bessie that she loves just yet so please send your recommendations, if you find one!

Ideas for Black History Month and Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action

Happy snow day all! Not teaching today means I have time to reflect on and write about some activities we tried out this month related to the Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action (which we also participated in last year), and Black History Month.

While it happens that our biographical essays unit (which ties in with our non-fiction reading unit) falls during this month, we of course try to teach with an anti-bias framework every day (and all day!). Our curriculum, language, literature, and so much more should reflect the diversity of our world (as we the teachers do!) and we work hard to make this a reality everyday. So we are very purposeful about what we teach during Black History Month/Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action in hopes of avoiding the pitfall of teaching Black history only one month out of the year.

This month, we used a number of wonderful read alouds to enlighten our third graders. On February 1st, we joined millions of educators and participated in the National African American Read-In with a read aloud of Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson. This book connected with so many things we were learning about including our year long study of geography, biographies, and of course, Black History and the Black Lives Matter At School Week of Action. We also read a Newsela article about Jacqueline Woodson being named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Finally, we read Each Kindness and continued working on thinking about author’s purpose by asking ourselves a series of questions leading up to conceptualizing why the author chose to write this book and what the author might want us to learn.

Student responses to Granddaddy’s Turn

Another powerful read aloud was Granddaddy's Turn: A Journey to the Ballot Box by Michael S Bandy, Eric Stein, and illustrated by James E. Ransome (pictured above). We read this book right after we read a Newsela article about poll taxes and present day voter ID laws. Students made the connection right away and had so many questions about literacy tests at the polls, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and more.

My students were also enthralled when we read Libba by Laura Veirs, illustrated by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh as part of our biography study. They loved seeing and hearing about the statue of her and had so many questions about playing the guitar upside down! They are often amazed that they haven’t heard of someone who is so talented and this feeling leads into discussions about whose stories are highlighted (or omitted) in our homes, schools, and in the media.

This post would not be complete without including Milo’s Museum by Zetta Elliott. Third graders usually know and can describe what being excluded feels like, so they relate to Milo even though she is reflecting on institutional exclusion. There is so much to love about this book and we used our framework for inferring author’s purpose to think about how it feels to be excluded and what you might want others to learn from hearing your story about it.

February (and the school year) is not over yet, and of course there are always more wonderful books to share and enjoy! Please share activities or ideas that worked well in your classroom - book recommendations especially are always welcome.

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Ideas for Teaching Poetry

Happy Snow Day to any other teachers who are at home like me today! Since I actually had time to read books that were not for school today, I was reminded of a poetry unit we taught with our fifth graders. There were so many great sessions, examples, ideas, and books for teaching poetry at NCTE (which I attended in November) that it made me miss teaching a full poetry unit!

For those of you who have a poetry unit or are just looking for new ways to teach, introduce, or incorporate poetry, here are some of my favorite lesson ideas:

• Start by asking students what is poetry? How can you tell if something is a poem? What makes something a poem? We asked our students to think about these questions and then looked at a lot of different poems together. This is a great way of dispelling misconception (poems must rhyme, anything can be a poem, etc). Our students would usually end up with some variation of the idea that poems must have some kind of meaning.

• We wrote “breathless” poems (do not search this term on the internet, especially on your work computer!). The way you write a breathless poem is to write about an experience. Then, cross out the parts you would eliminate if you were out of breath and couldn’t say every word. We went caving with our 5th graders, so we started with that (shared) experience and modeled choosing what words were non-essential and physically crossing them out. Finally, we wrote (or copied and pasted) the final version with just the words that were left! The students loved this structure and came up with some great poems.

• Mentor texts are huge in poetry, but students don’t always know where to find the line between inspiration and imitation (which is understandable!). We solved this problem by finding a mentor text that models using a mentor text, written by the one and only Jacqueline Woodson! Her poem Learning from Langston (from her book Brown Girl Dreaming) has her mentor text within her poem. We compared and contrasted the mentor text and poem and asked our students: How did JW make the structure her own?  What did she learn from Langston? Then, it was their turn to try it out.

• Now that your students have a better idea of how to use mentor texts, write some food inspired poetry using Gary Soto as a mentor author! This is a great way to introduce the idea of metaphors and similes (or review them if your students are already familiar with them.) It’s also an excellent hook as almost everyone has a favorite or despised food they can write about. (We used some of his poems with food metaphors from his book, A Fire in My Hands, but of course, you could use any of his poems as mentor texts).

• Another mentor author we love is Neil Gaiman and his book Crazy Hair. You can read more about how we used this book here, but it was a wonderful social emotional learning moment as well a poetry one!

Image from: https://literaryfusions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/calamity.png

• And of course, we could not teach poetry without including a mentor text from Kwame Alexander. His books have some many great formats, structures, and ideas, but we tried what we called “definition” poems with our students (photo above). The basic structure is the word is the title, the pronunciation and part of speech are listed, and then the word is defined. Next, there are three examples of how to use the word. We gave our students dictionaries and they wrote their own definition poems. This was a wonderful lesson in how to use a dictionary, vocabulary, and poetry.

We’d love to hear more ideas for teaching poetry (especially ideas for mentor texts! There are so many wonderful texts out there).

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Presenting at NCTE

Late last month, I had the honor of participating on a panel presentation at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual convention. I was sharing details about our beloved storytelling unit on a panel about cultural relevancy, the arts, and student voice! I was lucky to be paired up with an excellent co-presenter (the panel ended up just being the two of us!) and loved sharing details about what still is one of my favorite units to teach.

I was originally slated to be on a panel with four other people, but as it worked out, only two of us were able to present. We were both able to share more details about our work and had more time for questions (which is often my favorite part). Not surprisingly, the highlight of my presentation really was the video of a student performance from our Final Stage show where every single one of our students performed a true story about their life.

Other things I loved presenting about: Anne Thomas, who was our guest speaker/storyteller and introduced the concept of storytelling as a performance with her story, Burden No More, how we used both Story District and StoryCorps as resources, the incredibly valuable tie in to social emotional learning as stories help us both understand ourselves and learn from each other, and how I wish Jacqueline Woodson’s amazing new picture book, The Day You Begin, existed when we were teaching this unit.

I truly loved seeing how the audience responded to my student’s story. I spoke about the bares bones of the unit, why it was transformative, student quotes, and resources and ideas, but the student video was far more powerful than anything I said! I also was asked many great questions about how to use storytelling with preservice teachers and adults in general. There was a lot of engagement with the idea of storytelling as validation of less prominent stories or voices, and connections to other cultures with oral history traditions (especially Native Americans and tribes fighting for state and/or federal recognition).

It was also amazing to be around so many teachers of English (and authors! And readers!)! I enjoyed all the nerdy, literary, and punny shirts and tote bags and just general love for books and authentic literacy opportunities. Thank you to my wonderful co-presenter, our audience, and all the other educators I was lucky enough to meet at NCTE!

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Top 7 Things I’m Reminded About Now That I’m a Student Again...!

Gabby here- first post in eternity.

It’s finals week over here in graduate school land, and as I begin to reflect on the term (or procrastinate-- whatever you want to call it!), I have been thinking about what past teacher me could be reminded about from my current student life. Here are a few pieces that came up as I reflected (or procrastinated, really, you decide- just don’t tell me!). Hopefully these can be helpful right before the upcoming break, or when students return in January.. in addition to reviewing all those hard taught classroom expectations that they forgot!

1. Time: What is time really, you know? And how does it just disappear so fast?! In seriousness, the demands of time management of a student are hard (different from a teacher’s but still very hard in its own way!), and I forgot to the degree they are especially when we calculate in the rest of their lives. Students do not even have full control of their schedules (siblings rehearsals, family obligations they can’t opt out of like adults do..) Remembering that what you ask students to do requires them to both manage their time AND do the assignment .. make sure it’s actually worthwhile or call it a pass. There are of course a million cool things you could shove their way for them to work on, but when you want it to actually take some time, make sure it is your very top pick and you have loads of reasons as to why you chose that one.

2. Review homework in class or don’t assign it. Connect in some way the work they are doing at home to in class work otherwise that homework does not really matter... Nothing is less motivating even for the kid who is continuously on top of their reading to realize ... huh.. it doesn’t really matter if I do this work or not. Even if they keep doing it, noticing it doesn’t matter will change the intentionality with which they do it. Also, repeated exposures is helpful for everyone! There’s nothing like that moment when you notice that you’ve been trying hard to follow the rules and nobody else and then you wonder why you are...yes, our students notice.

3. Do frequently check for prior knowledge / experts about a range of topics — there’s a great range of educators in my classrooms right now and the courses where we are just getting lectured to and not discussing with one another seems like a lost resource / learning opportunity! I often feel this way at conferences, too... Your students know a ton and bring all sorts of background knowledge to the table that you really won’t know about unless you ask.. Or when their mom tells you in the hallway in May..

4. Remember how scary authority is — if there was one thing I could emphasize the most in this entire post it is this point over and over again. Authority is actually terrifying and makes all of us squirm or meek up (this should definitely be a phrase) in some fashion. If you are not doing something well your students may very well not tell you. If your students are asking you for something, chances are it is something that really needs to change and it took a lot of pumping up for them to get to that point. Asking questions, asking for clarification, asking about an unfair grade (!!!) ... is typically not going to happen 80% of the time those dilemmas actually come up. That means as the teacher on the other side, we have to proactively and consistently check how things are going for your students and how open your lines of communication are.*  This also means being even more on their team than they are is the best way to go, because they likely won’t have the words or the skills (which we do need to teach them / have them practice) to ask for what they need and tell an authority figure what isn’t working respectfully. I had to talk to a professor about a grade and I was sweating. Actually sweating. *The 80% statistic is made up or also known as my personal educated guess *

5. Everyone likes a video example. That’s all, I just think that’s true. Pick a good one, obviously-- but they help break things up and provide different entry points to learning.

6. Remember that students are social beings ... it is only from training that they do not chat with each other during your entire class. Also, talking with one another about their learning is actually really effective for them to all be hands-on practicing something.. You just have to teach and reinforce how to do it.

7. Calculate in fatigue /winter slumps/ testing times and plan with that in mind. You are exhausted and so is your cast of characters. Everyone is tired. Do your students need a review day (back to repeated exposures!), and not trying to shove more in their brains? It would be a great way to assess how they are doing and switch up the energy during a doldrum time. Like right now! And back to writing papers. Thanks for the casual writing outlet and also for the wonderful work that you are likely up to this year !

Oh, and of course, don’t make people buy books that you only assign one chapter in the whole term and you could’ve just uploaded a pdf !!! ... hmm, clearly a specific thought... apologies! But do carefully consider the reading you are assigning. If you ever need some recommendations just look at one of the many Teach Pluralism book recommendation blog posts!

Happy plugging through December to get to Winter Break educator friends! We can do it, we are almost there. So. close.