on "talking about race with students"

On a Tuesday night (OK, last night) in Minnesota (but the photo is from a Texas trip, so please forgive me; it's for effect), eighty-two educators in Minnesota met at Bad Weather Brewing Company to participate in a discussion hosted by two Minnesota teachers, high school social studies and junior high English, respectively, called "Talking About Race With Students." Importantly, there was no How to in the title.

Tom and Colleen, our hosting pair, tented the brew-tables into age groupings: K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and on. The elementaries in the audience circled up, shoving tables to walls, and I sat next to the incoming principal at JJ Hill Montessori, the school at which Mr. Phil, as he was called there, worked.

In our small group, we were invited to use Four Agreements from Pacific Education Group (a concept new to me) in our conversations, we were given suggested roles, three questions to get us started (What are the Worries we have about Race Conversation in class, and how do we address them?, What are the biggest Challenges to having these conversations, and how do we work through them?, and What are the biggest Barriers we face, and how do we overcome them?), some information to consider, and final questions (What will you remember about today's discussion? and What will you do next?).

I took on the role of scribe because this is what I do, and I do this in turbo-mode every day at the training center, but it also forces me to listen rather than natter on, and that's so crucial to these kinds of conversations, especially for me. (I was asked to speak when we shared out, since I wrote, but I demurred, citing that I am a Montessori teacher, and we don't speak a great deal in the classroom--we are, after all, meant to step back more so than in a standard classroom in order that the children engage with the materials and one another--observation is a huge tool, and we use that for a nuanced and subtle guiding in our classroom, one that is especially important when we have these purposeful and time-tested materials to use.)

I also was, in some senses, representing a small cluster of my classmates who wanted to go but couldn't (self-care being key to surviving the boot camp of Montessori training).

This is what I sketched out, for better or worse:

 We spoke of our concerns on saying the wrong thing, getting tripped up, how to navigate that, and we also talked about parent pushback, misconstruing messages, negating avoidance (especially conveying this to colleagues who simply choose to not speak of race in their classroom), etc.
 We spoke of how we want to discuss these topics in a constructive way. What does a valuable response look like?
 A big element of our conversation was having materials in the classroom that made sure we represent our population of students: not just in images, but also in stories. Finding ways to communicate, "I see you." (And in turn, avoiding tokenism.)
 In change, "If not you, then who?" Fighting back against set curriculum and restrictive districts.
 We also talked a great deal about parent relationships. We've fallen into problematic patterns: we give these "stand and deliver" parent nights that are incredibly long and in a single language (not always representative of those spoken at home), expecting the parent to come to us. One educator even mentioned doing home visits in optional lieu of parent-teacher conferences at the school.
 Our events are even centered on what might not be working: we have ice cream socials and carnivals that are attended by only one group of parents, while we aren't asking the question, "What does engagement look like to you? What opportunities would you prefer?"
 There was a conversation about appropriation versus appreciation and that fine line. (See: this article about a Japanese tea party; see also this poster campaign.)
 Storytelling was a big topic as well--sharing stories with one another. Building parent allies and becoming allies to parents.

In the full group share-out, there were great dips into topics that could be explored further:
 What does it mean to be a white person in front of the room?
 How do we avoid alienating students?
 What does a constructive dialogue look like?
 How do we set up the community in the classroom to provide for conversations?
 What is the best way to model safe space?
 Also discussed: empathy, building relationships, achievement gap, the quick-to-designate EBD diagnosis, cultural bias, the importance of listening


This is part of  an important and never-ending discussion. This is a hard discussion and we need to be brave enough to ask questions and try to get answers--we need to educate ourselves and show up. We need to listen. And we need to not pretend it's not an issue that our children, our students face constantly.

Much gratitude for last night's space and time to let it percolate and to bring me one step along in my own journey. As always, more to come.