First let me start off with saying that I have never read a story that I could relate to. So many thanks to Elizabeth Acevedo for capturing the story of this strong willed mother who also happened to be in high school. As some of you may know I am a young woman of color who made the choice of becoming a mother at nineteen.

My seven year old daughter, Lyn is in the place I was when I was her age and although I tell her this she still finds it hard to connect with the books she reads. I began to search online different books where young people or young characters shared the same adversities my daughter might be going through right now. I ordered a few books but these two impacted me the most:

Black Enough which is a collection of stories of young black people in America it is Edited by Ibi Zoboi.

I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by: Erika L. Sanchez

There are a few picture books but these books are more meaningful and bring out so many topics for us to talk about.

All for now,

smarana00

Thank you to my best friend Gaysha who purchased these bandaids for us!

 

Growing up in New York City and going through the public school system there was not a time when teachers made it a point to talk about race outside of black history month or in 2009 when Barack Obama was running for president. There was no opportunity for any person who considers themselves a person of color (POC) to share their experiences or to be validated by adults. It was not until college, when I chose to take a course on race where it was welcomed to openly speak about race and my experiences with racism.

It was during that course that I vowed to myself that when I became a teacher I would make sure to make the time to have conversations about race as well as discuss with children concepts such as race, racism, stereotypes, discrimination, etc. Since then I have joined one of the few public progressive schools in New York City where having conversations about race is part of our curriculum and work to help our society by speaking about how race affects people of color. I am also part of the race and equity committee in my school and lead a group, named Conversations of Color, with a colleague for children in grades 3-5. In this group children are invited to share any thoughts or questions that they have about race as well as share their personal stories surrounding their identity as children of color. Many children during these meetings have shared that they wish we would speak more about race and the experiences of people of color in our country. On one occasion a child shared, “Sometimes when we talk about race I share what I’ve been through but it’s like no one’s really listening.” (personal communication, May, 2018). This made me realize how important it is to have conversations with children about race at an early age. It also made me think whether both white and colored teachers pick on white students before students of color and why did it happen?

Alexakos, Amat, Pride, Lee, Paylor-Smith, Wright, Zapata, and Tsetsakos (2016) argued, as they explored difficult to have conversations in their study with graduate students, that “thorny issues”, such as race, and the experiences that different people go through are worth exploring. However, there is not enough research that shows the impact that having these “thorny” conversations has on children who identify as people of color and white. It is something that is explored in graduate classes (Alexakos et al., 2016; Aydin & Tombuloglu, 2014; Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo and Rivera, 2009), and with seniors in high school (Martell, ND), however, in early childhood education it has been explored only by a few such as Husband (2011).

Speaking about race in the classroom allows for true democracy where people of all different walks of life can share their truth, even though it might not be the truth for many. It is important to provide people with the space to have conversations about “thorny” issues in order for there to be growth for all. Cases, such as Alexakos et al. (2016), Husband (2011) or Martell (N.D.), have shown that when people share their stories and their perspectives, they are sharing their stories with those who are willing to listen and those who take the time to try to empathize with each other.

Due to the fact that there is a limited amount of research on how speaking about race allows for democracy in younger grades, I have conducted research in my third grade classroom. There are 30 children in my classroom, 14 of whom consider themselves people of color, 13 of them consider themselves white and 3 of them shared that they do not want to identify as any specific racial identity. To begin conversations on race and sharing stories, we spoke about culture and ethnicity and thought about who these two different things affect, as well as how we perceive different events. The children were able explain what culture, ethnicity, race, and racism is and how they connect to one another. Children also had the opportunity to begin to empathize and begin to build their compassion with one another while having the support of their teacher to get through topics which were difficult for them to understand.

With this information administration and teachers should take the time to have professional developments on race and equity work for teachers who work with young children. Teachers will hopefully understand the importance of having difficult “thorny” (Alexakos, 2016) conversations and the impact it will have on all of their students. For many years people have taught about multicultural education, however there have not been many opportunities where children have been given the opportunity to share their stories with one another.

Children and Race Conversations

As an early childhood educator I understand how important conversations about race are in a classroom, specifically, how not teaching about race can be harmful to children and the classroom community. Over the years teachers in early, middle, and high school classrooms, as well as educators in higher education, agree that speaking about race occurs at an early age. Young children learn to sort and categorize thing early on in their childhood. They start to sort things by their size, shapes, and colors. They look at themselves and then compare themselves to the world around them in order to make sense of the world. Boutle, Lopez-Robertson, and Powers-Costello (2011) argue that children between the ages of three to five begin to draw conclusions about the world based on their experiences. Similarly, Van Ausdale and Feagin (2012) learned that children make sense of race in their everyday life experiences, after they spent a year observing toddlers and how they made sense of the world around them. They also learned that there are four dimensions: concepts and thinking, spoken discourse, everyday experiences and performances that restrict privilege, and identities, in which they identify what contributes to the children’s “rationalizing process” (Van Ausdale and Feagin, 2012). This is why it is important to provide children with the opportunities to speak about their race, their identity, and their experiences in a formal setting of a classroom in addition to having informal experiences of race in their everyday lives.

Husband (2012) explores how speaking about race has become a taboo which has lead children to become colorblind. Colorblindness allows all children to think that no one sees color — supporting social injustice and oppression to continue. Another study, conducted by Derman-Sparks (1998), involved both a preschool class and the teacher who started to think and talk about race by looking at “flesh colored” band-aids. The teacher explored with the class if the band-aids actually match anyone’s skin tone. They learn that it only matches a few students, a few white students, and then they proceeded to speak about racial injustice. This is a common experience for children who are not white. This early childhood teacher took this everyday informal experience to have a formal conversation about race and racial injustice instead of simply saying, “it’s just a band-aid,” which only would have perpetuated to never ending cycle of social injustice.

Another example of color blindness is seen in a study conducted by Boutte, LaPoint, and Davis (1993) where children were heard telling ethnic jokes in a second grade classroom. Not only were the jokes “inappropriate”, according to Boutte et al. (1993), but the children did not have an understanding of the subtle messages behind the jokes. During the time that this joke occured the teacher should have discussed how race is involved and the stereotypes that these jokes were reinforcing instead this teacher simply stated it was rude. Boutte et al. (1993) states, “Teachers might think that talking about race is not polite; actually not discussing race is impolite,” and I couldn’t agree more with this statement (p.).

This connects to the formal experiences in my daughter’s education. My own daughter, who was three years old at the time, came home from her daycare one day telling me that “only Italians can be teachers.” This surprised me because I myself am a teacher (and I am not Italian), so I wondered why she would assume that. The teachers in her daycare center were all Italian and because of my daughter’s individual experience with just one ethnic group of people representing the teaching profession, she made this conclusion. This is when I intentionally had a conversation with both my child as well as with her teachers, encouraging them to diversify their teaching staff, letting them know that this was a thought my daughter shared with me because of her experience.

Speaking about Race at a Graduate Level

Alexakos et al. (2016) explores the importance of having conversations about race and racism and the impact it has on students at a graduate level. The majority of the students in Alexakos’ et al. (2016) study began to explore the perspectives of others by. In this study the argument is that people who have been oppressed throughout history deserve the space to share their experience with others and be able to explain how their truth shapes their perception. Allowing to have space for people to have conversations about race allows for all different perspectives to be heard and allows for there to be democracy in the classroom.

Having uncomfortable conversations, which Alexakos et. al (2016) ends up naming as “thorny” issues, is important in building hope that they will grow and learn from one another while not always agreeing with other’s perspective but accepting their truth. It is also important that the voices of the oppressed are heard and that the privileged take the time to listen to other’s story. These tough conversations become easier for people to process and take the time to empathize with others when they are given more time to discuss with other people.

Conversations on Race in the classroom

Aydin and Tonbuloğlu (2014) explored how teaching multicultural education allows for there to be democracy in the classroom. Due to the fact that diversity is increasing at a more rapid pace, it is important to allow for children to have the space to learn about other people’s story (or their truth) (Gay, 2000). However the way that student teachers approach multicultural education will predict how the children will show respect to others (Aydin & Tonbuloğlu, 2014). It is also important that the teachers have a support system in their schools in order for them to reflect on their practice. Although Aydin & Tonbuloğlu’s study (2014) was not happening in the United States, it shows what the teachers have gone through in order to help their students and have an understanding for the others and their experiences (Aydin & Tonbuloğlu, 2014).

Having conversations about race is in the classroom is a topic that must come up and be presented in the classroom, this however has become a taboo. Both multicultural and anti racism education are to be used to “embrace principles of social justice to support the elimination of poverty, racism, classism, religious bigotry and sexim in the United States” (Grant, 2006). Teachers must share the history of this country from the perspectives of all people who lived on the land we now know as the United States. Multicultural and anti racism education is our key to social justice and human rights (Author, 2006).

One of the hardest parts in teaching multicultural education is discussed by Alsubaie (2015), where he states that there needs to be an emotional relationship established between the teacher and their student (2015). When teaching multicultural education, teachers must be able to modify the curriculum to reflect all of the students, as well as provide the space and time needed in order for there to have an opportunity for a meaningful time to discuss and reflect on the curriculum for both the teacher and the students. This is why it is going to be beneficial for me to have the support of my administration as well as colleagues to reflect.

Another benefit of having conversations about race is that it allows for their to be an emotional connection between a teacher and students, as well as it allows students to know that they will not be simply taught “white people’s history,” but rather there will be multiple narratives from different points of view in the United States history (Martell, 2012).

Moreover, racial microaggressions can cause harm in the classroom and ofen time white people are unaware of the offensiveness of these microaggressions (Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo and Rivera, 2009). By not having conversations about race we all students to “remain oblivious to their racial actions or statement as well as their meaning and impact with the lack of awareness” (2009). There will be white people who will have a misconception about the world around them along with lower empathic abilities and compassion. For many white students(Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo and Rivera, 2009) in this study who were taking graduate courses ,it was hard to have conversations about race.

According to Sue, Lin, Torino, Capodilupo and Rivera (2009) adults react by denying racial reality and needing instructor strategies for facilitating these different dialogues which could be the result of denial from previous educators to these graduate students. It further proves the point that too often people are told or lead to believe that race should not be spoken about and it remains a taboo since these conversations can be “impolite” (Alsubaie, 2015).

Purpose for this Research

This research is being conducted because there is still more work that needs to be done where children at an early age are given the opportunity to speak about race and racism in the classroom. There has been research done on the highschool level, however, there is limited research in early childhood setting, which is troublesome, since early childhood education is the foundation of the education a child will receive in its sum. As a person who has had a lot of experience in the New York City public school system I understand the importance of speaking about race and racism in order for people of color in particular to feel like they are valued in the community that they are in.

It is also important when children who identify as a person of color to share with me during private conversations that they feel like there is still more work that we need to do so that people of color can be listened to better and taken more serious. Children who identify as a person of color are aware of the injustices when it comes to race and it is vital that as an educator I acknowledge their perspective and provide a space for children who might not be aware of these issues to have the space to explore this and the support from a teacher to have a better understanding of what other children are sharing with the class. Children are speaking about what race and racism amongst each regardless if we want to speak about it in our classroom or not so it is vital for us to provide a space to have misconceptions to be cleared as well as being able to support children to have a better understanding of the world and different experiences that they are faced with.

Method

Recruitment Procedure

Teaching in a progressive public school allows me to hold conversations about race and racism in the classroom when they are needed. Many of my colleagues have attended workshops to speak or learn more about teaching anti-racism curriculum as well as multicultural education. At our school there are two different committees which work hard at making sure there is equity for all people as well as providing space and time for teachers to reflect on what they are doing in their classroom. We speak about the support we provide to all of our children.

All children that are present for the conversations will be asked to share their thoughts on the feelings as part of our closing of the conversation in addition to write down a reflection on the different topic that we might be exploring that day.

Setting and Participants

This research is quantitative where educators who teach anti racism were interviewed as well as speak about race and racism in my third grade classroom. Conversations that are held about race and racism in my third grade classroom were lead by my co-teacher and myself and were transcribed by another teacher in the classroom. After the conversations children were asked to write in their journals to reflect on how they felt after the conversation. In addition I used some of the transcribed conversations from the Conversations of Color group where we met on twice during the research time frame. Conversations occurred weekly in the classroom and monthly with the Conversations of Color group.

Measures

As a class we began to have discussion about what culture, ethnicity, observations, stereotype, and prejudice are. We would have 45 minute conversations as a class to share our thoughts with one another as well as share any questions they had where we would try to answer it together or make sure to find a time to come back to the conversation.

Children would be asked to answer specific questions in their journals. There were a few times when children who identified as either colored or white would have small group conversations with myself since they shared that they felt uncomfortable sharing it with the whole class and did not want anyone to tell them what they thought was wrong although as a class we agreed that we would respect people’s opinions even if we did not agree with it. Which is a reminder of how the discussion of race and the different perceptions of people have become a taboo.

At the same time when talking to different teachers in my school they brought up how often times it is the brown and black children who will not share their thoughts and ideas with the class. Instead white students lead the conversations about what they think the perception of other people in the classroom might be. These are the same teachers who guide the Conversation of Color group, which is not surprising due to the fact that these teachers are taking their lunch and dedicating it to offering a space for children to have discussions about their stories. There were some teachers who shared that they read stories in the school library and the librarians will highlight different topics that different people of different race might be going through.

Discussion

When the conversations about culture children were asked to look at different photos of black people doing a variety of things, some were photos of children in a school, others were photos of black people in African textiles as well as a photo of black families celebrating different holidays or ceremonies. As I walked around the classroom talking to the different children about what the notice about the pictures, many white children told me that these are black people. The colored children in the classroom shared everything but the skin color of the different people in the images. When asking the children who noted the color of the skin of the people they shared that they thought the only reason I was sharing this is because we learned about West Africa. Which made me question what their response would have been if we did not learn about West Africa. Would they still think that I picked out pictures of black people purposely?

As we began our unit many students shared that they were excited to be exploring culture and how ethnicities connect people. However as we began to get further into the conversations about the similarities and difference children began to share less with each other. Often it was students of color who would hesitate to share stories in the classroom. On the other hand, white students would share many stories about gun violence, feeling uncomfortable to certain places as well as injustices that they might have heard of or know about. One white student spoke about ho this father who grew up in South Africa always tells him that “even though some things are changing there is still a lot of hatred that is spread from people to people.”

It was evident which children have spoken to others about what race is. During one conversation with this third grader class I asked the children if they felt that race is not so important any more? Children began to speak about segregation and how many children have fought against it and that today we have diverse communities… our classroom being one of them. On child shared “it might have happened back then but I don’t think it’s actually happening right now.” Another child then said “It’s still happening but not in the same states” (throughout the years children have learned about segregation and how it was mostly occurring in states in the south such as Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and New Orleans, etc.

However one child of color quickly began to share :

“I think it’s still happening for example… like Donald Trump he’s being racist. When I was watching the black reporter he didn’t like the guy and he said a racial slur. He said something about him being black … it was like him using the N word.”

This opened up a conversation that all children looked confused as I sat there and shared with them what the N word was. Children then began to share the different variations that they heard and as a community we all discussed how hurtful this word is, one child shared “people used words to make sure that the enslaved people knew that they were slaves and they have masters. It was their way of making sure to keep them like down.”

Another student then shared “There were a lot of hard feelings after the civil wars because many people in the south did not feel like it was fair that enslaved people were free.” A white student then shared “I think it still exists but not as much as back then… but I know that the Ku Klux Klan still exist. That’s a terrorist groups that shoots black people…they try to scare people to make them act a certain way. It’s complicated”. Soon a child of color shared “The Ku Klux Klan is a terrorist group of whites only who bombed and killed black people so that there can still be segregation.” The same white student then shared with the class that sometimes this still happens to different black people in different places but not all the time.

The conversations of color group meet twice during the research that was taking place and many students of color, that are in my classroom continued to attend the meetings. One child of color in particular began to share how she felt about the conversations we were having in the classroom. “There has been times when a white student kept asking me why I was dark and my dad wasn’t. I was like I don’t know because not all people are supposed to look the same. Just because our skin color doesn’t match it doesn’t mean he’s not my dad. Plus that’s so rude. Like I don’t to up to him and say why do you have blonde hair and your dad has brown hair.” Other children in the group quickly began to share their stories of similar situations where someone might question who their parent is due to different physical attributes.

During one of the Conversations of Color meeting we had a special guest named Rashid Shabazz who works Color of Change or COC which is an organization that works towards racial justice so that the world is more humane and less hostile for black people in America. He shared with the children that many of the stories that they share are the similar stories that adults have and adults feel like they need support with which is why he works for Color of Change. “So after a horrible hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, many black people felt as if the government was not paying attention to them the way that they should. Many Blacks felt ignored in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina due to the fact that they noticed it was mostly black communities that were not getting aid as quickly as other communities were and so Color of Change.

There was one learning experience we did where as a class we explored what privilege means. We used a learning experience developed by high school teacher, where the children were asked to sit in rows and then given a sheet of paper to crumbled up into a paper ball. The children were then asked to shoot the paper ball into the recycling bin that was placed about 2 feet in front of the first row, then from their seat. Children in the last rows were immediately upset and began to call out to me to let me know that this was unfair and that there was no way that they could get their paper ball into the bin. I then told them the same words that I have heard many teachers tell children who let teachers or adults know that they are having a hard time, “ You just have to try really hard. Think about it and it will happen trust me. Put in the work look at where the basket is and aim towards it.” One student quickly laughed at my remark but then said she would use my advise, not to any of surprise she made did not make it into the bin. We stopped there to reflect on what just occurred. Many students said that she did not get it in because it’s her fault she didn’t believe in herself enough to get it in. That student, a white student, said, “I had too many things going against me. Like number one I’m short so that means I have short arms. Number two I never did this before so I don’t really know where to aim and number three well it take more than just want something you have to practice a lot so that you can make progress and get better at things.” As soon as she said this I decided to have the children stand up and go against a wall all lined. Following another learning experience created by Rebecca Layne and Ryan Chiu for Dr. Arthur Romano’s Conflict Resolution Pedagogy class at George Mason’s school for Conflict Analysis and Resolution . For this experience the children were asked different questions and asked to step forward, backwards, or stay in place depending on the statement.

Statement 1: “If you are right-handed, take one step forward.”

Out of the 28 students that were present for the learning experience 25 of the stepped forward. All three students were white.

Statement 2: “If English is your first language, take one step forward.”

Of 28 students, 25 stepped forward. All three students who did not move were of color.

Statement 3:“If one or both of your parents have a college degree, take one step forward.”

Of 28 students, 25 stepped forward. All four student who did not move were of color.

Statement 4: “If you can find Band-Aids at any Target, CVS, Rite Aid, or Duane Reade to blend in with or match your skin tone, take one step forward.”

Statement 5:Of the 28 students, 15 students moved forward. Thirteen students most who consider themselves of color did not move.

Statement 6:“If you mainly use the subway or the bus to get around with your grown ups, take one step back.”

Of the 28 students, three students stepped back, all children were of color.

Statement 7:“If you have heard of stories where the main character is someone who looks like you, speaks the same language of you, or shares your same culture, take one step forward.”

Of the 28 students, all students stepped forward.

Statement 8: “If you or your family has ever left your homeland or entered another country not of your own free will, take one step back.”

Of 28 students, 25 stepped forward. All three students who did not move were of color.

Statement 9:“If you would never think twice about calling the police when trouble occurs, take one step forward.”

Of the 28 students, 18 students moved forward. Ten students most who consider themselves of color did not move.

Immediately the white student who spoke about how unfair it was for her to not be able to get her paper ball into the bin shared how she felt:“Okay so like I know that in the first activity I was the person who could not get it into the plastic bin but like with the second expertise I was able to move all the to the front and I bet if you like wanted to do the first exercise with like where we are right now in the front, middle and back that I would get my ball in the bin. It’s like I have a privilege.”

“Yeah, it is a privilege because it’s not like you did anything special to get there you didn’t have to work to get there. It was just like a privilege. It’s like when we do our pencil checks and if we were responsible then we get a new pencil or an eraser. It’s not the same thing. It’s different,”

shared male student of color as he began to reflect on what the previous student shared.

“Can I just say something about the second exercise?,” began another colored male student. “You know when you asked us about us feeling safe about calling the police if there is trouble. Something I noticed is that more people who are brown and black didn’t move. Do you know why that is?” He opened up the conversation back to the classroom. Although no one shared anything. This child quickly began to talk about Trayvon Martin, a child who was murdered in 2012 by another person. “It really does not make any sense because the guy that killed him, George Zimmerman called the police to say he was worried about his safety but then he followed this kid. Like who follows someone they are scared of? That doesn’t make any sense at all. But then he shoots the kid!”

At this point many children began to make noise some raised their hands then the previous white female student said, “This is why they have the black lives matter? Is that why you have the shirt Sally?”

All children waited for me to respond however I asked for another person to share what the Black Lives Matter movement is. A colored male student quickly began to share how for a lot of black people it’s like no one really cares when a black person dies. “Like in the news, the news will saw some things that are not always try. They will say things to like pursue you to think something, that what Rashid was telling us at conversations of color. So people started to get organized and protest and basically like say, Black people matter please treat us like how you would to any other group.”

All of this occurred during an hour exercise with a third grade classroom where white and children of color were able to quickly think about their privileges or lack of. Days after this some children shared how happy they were to be able to speak about this and that they shared it with their parents. While I also had one student who questioned everything that we did and how it made her feel.

This child who identified as white was silent in the classroom but one day during lunch she came to the classroom to speak to me about she felt about all the conversations. She shared that she was uncomfortable because it felt as if everyone thought white people were racist or that white people do not understand what colored children go through. As I listened to this child I had to be conscious about what I would say since for the most part it was white students who were leading the conversations and it was white students who would bring up race while the colored students often stood silent and would only share things that they knew they have evidence about. It was as if I was in Alexakos’ or Aydin’s graduate classroom were many of the white students were uncomfortable and had a difficult time being able to share their stories or the stories of their classmates. Thankfully I was not because I was able to speak to this child’s mother and begin to have a better understanding of who this child is and what I can do to support her during this learning experience.

This mother shared with me that although her daughter might identify as white she sees her as a person of color, but that she wishes it wasn’t true because it’s harder for people of color to do different things. This child’s mother then began to tell me a little bit about who she is and shared the story of how she got into college. She shared that she went a college where the majority of the people were white and she was actually accept to her school due to affirmative action. She shared how ashamed yet thankful she was that that was the reason that she got into her college. All I could do is listen to her and share with her that stories like hers need to be heard because for other’s having affirmative action has given them the opportunity that they might not have had without it. “I think that is it is more important to remind students that we are all part of the same race – the human race.” Although I did not completely agree with her statement because unfortunately we do not live in a society where we all believe that all people belong to one race- the human race. Due to that fact we have to share or stories with one another.

Limitations

The biggest limitation on this research was the limited amount of time to have a meaningful curriculum that shows growth and the process of building a classroom to have conversations that might be uncomfortable. Due to the fact that this research paper needs to get done within a time frame it was difficult to truly keep the whole child in mind.

Not all children process different topics at the same rate and some children have a harder time when they are uncomfortable with being vulnerable with their classmates. There were so instances where children would come over and ask to speak to me in private to speak about how they felt about the lesson or when they did not understand something. At the same time it would be important to have these open discussions as a class on a daily basis.

It was also difficult to find research where conversations of racism were occurring in the early childhood classrooms although there are many conferences in the early childhood field such as Big Chairs where they speak about the importance of having a culturally responsive classroom that offers the opportunity for young people to share stories with those who they spend time with.

Implication

As a person who got their education thanks to the public school system I was honored to be able to provide a space to challenge my students to be uncomfortable and speak about different topics such as race, racism, privilege, stereo types, and discrimination, that they might have the opportunity to speak with other adults in that they interact with. I know that as a child of color I never truly felt that my voice was being heard by the adults who I was interacting with.

It was actually really frustrating to write this research as well because I do not feel like this paper is truly getting the true impact it has had on some students in my classroom especially those who are colored. It has brought me closer to my co teacher and my coworkers who help lead the conversations of color group as we all reflected on how to support our students and try to teach them empathize with one another.

The privilege learning experience was by far my favorite of all the lessons. It was thanks to my co teacher who shared with me a lesson that her sister did with her high school students. I remember when she first brought up the idea and we debated on whether it would be meaningful for them to do or if it would be confusing, causing us to have to think of more activities.

The most rewarding part of these learning experience was being able to hear these students who were uncomfortable talking about this and would often not want to dig dip and share some vulnerable stories. This is an ongoing conversation which all children benefited from. My students of color and white students shared that they felt like they were able to talk about things that a lot of the time many grown ups tell them that they are too young to talk about but that they felt its not them who has a problem with these conversations it’s the adults.

References

Alexakos, K., Amat, A., Pride D.L., Lee, K.J., Paylor-Smith, C., Smith, T., Wright S., Zapata,

C., and Tsetsakos, P. (2016). Mindfulness and discussing “thorny” issues in the

classroom. Cult Stud of Educ 11:741-769

Aydin, H. & Tonbuloğlu, B. (2014). Graduate students perceptions‟ on multicultural education: a qualitative case study. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 57

Brown, A.F., Bloome, D. Morris, J.E., Power-Carter, S. and Willis, A.I. () Classroom

Conversations in the Study of Race and the Disruption of Social and Educational

Inequalities: A Review of Research

Hollingworth, L.(2009).Complicated Conversations Exploring Race and Ideology in an

Elementary Classroom. Urban Education Volume 44 Number 1. Corwin Press

Husband, T. Jr. (2011). “I Don’t See Color”: Challenging Assumptions about Discussing Race

with Young Children. Illinois State University. Springer.

Martell, C.C. (ND). Race and Histories: Examining Culturally Relevant Teaching in the U.S.

History Classroom. Theory & Research in SOcial Education, 41: 65-88

Tatum, B.D. (1992). Talking about Race, Learning about Racism:The Application of Racial Identity Development Theory in the Classroom. Harvard Educational Review vol.62 No.1 Spring 1992.

Growing up a child of color it was hard for me to identify with any of my teachers none the less share any stories that I might have and experiences that I might have gone through. As I got older this continued and then I got to City College. I was 23 when I registered for a class titled: The Color Line. That’s when I realized I need to make sure that no other person has to ever go through so many years of school without speaking about race and racism based off of my OWN experience in the classroom. At 27 I had the opportunity to write a thesis about anything I was passionate about when it comes to education. I present to you research I did for my thesis & conversations that need to be read and shared. So here it is…