Resources for Staff and Families
Resources
As a learning institution, educating over 3400 students each year, it is our duty and responsibility to help our families be equipped with the tools and the knowledge to have difficult, and sometimes uncomfortable, conversations with their children about race, equity and social justice.
As a parent of three children, I know from experience some conversations are a choice we make to have with our children and sometimes the conversations are forced upon us when horrible events take place and are broadcasted for all to see. We must understand that our learners are watching, they are listening, and like many of us, are seeking guidance to better understand what is going on in the world.
There is no one that knows a child better than their parents and/or guardians.
I hope these resources, sent to me from parents, educational organizations and higher education personnel are useful and meaningful as you continue to be our partner in educating our learners and preparing them for real world experiences.
Respectfully,
Dr. Adam Hartley
James Baldwin "A Talk for Teachers" 1963
Please see the link here that is the transcript of James Baldwin's "A Talk for Teachers." An interesting clip is pictured below.
The Role of White Teachers
As a profession that has a majority of teachers who are white, it may be difficult to understand the role of the white teacher in addressing racism. Two articles may be of interest. This one talks about why it is essential that white teachers don't pretend to not see the race of their students. This one from Teaching Tolerance has a similar theme.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Here is a link to a number of web resources the museum has put together for educators.
PBS News Hour Lessons
Here is a link to resources from PBS including an important lesson on media literacy.
1619 Project Resources
Many of you may know that the Pulitzer Center and NY Times Magazine have created a number of resources about race in America known as the 1619 Project (1619 is the date of the first slave ship to arrive in what becomes the U.S.). Click here for a link to the project, updated in light of current event.
NY Times Article for Students
For those schools still in session, this article may be a good one for educators to send to students to initiate a discussion about events surrounding the murder of George Floyd.
Teaching Tolerance
Teaching Tolerance always has helpful resources for educators. Here is the link.
Melissa Giraud is a social justice educator. Here is her website EmbraceRace - there are lots of resources: articles, webinars, children's book recommendations, etc.
CNN will have a 60-minute special called "Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism - A Town Hall for Kids and Families this Saturday at 10am
Dr. Kira Banks, Assistant Professor of Psychology at St. Louis University, has a YouTube Channel called Raising Equity and here is one of her videos Talking to Kids about Racism in the Media
Article from NPR "Talking Race with Young Children"
TEDx Talk by Beverly Daniel Tatum, President Emerita at Spelman College, Is My Skin Brown Because I Drank Chocolate Milk?
NPR interview with Jennifer Harvey, author of Raising White Kids: Bringing Up Children in a Racially Unjust America
NCTE's Committee Against Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English
Charge
To investigate and make recommendations to counteract racism and racial bias in teaching materials, methods, and programs for language arts, English, and humanities and to recommend to the NCTE Executive Committee considerations related to professional learning and practice regarding teaching linguistically and culturally diverse students, with the assistance of appropriate scholars and experts, as well as careful documentation from the research base for the recommendations. Learn more.
CARBTE's Antiracist Toolkit
- What Antiracist Language Teachers Do
- Antiracist language teachers consciously work to create safe learning environments for all students. This poster provides a description of what these teachers do.
- Qualities of Antiracist ELA Curricula
- Antiracist ELA curricula must celebrate and sustain diversity as part of educational justice in a changing world. This poster describes the qualities of such curricula.
- Antiracist Teaching Bookmark
- What's wrong with English-only teaching practices? This bookmark provides a several answers.
Books
So You Want To Talk About Race (Some profanity)
Dr. Hartley and other FAPS administrators are reading this now.
Stamped: Racism, Anit-racism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi (Accessible to middle school/high school students. It gives great detail about the history of racism in America - the history that is left out of our history books).
Educator/Parent Guide: https://s3.amazonaws.com/WebVault/SLJ/EDIT20/projects/STAMPED-edu-guide.pdf
Other Suggestions (Please research more before allowing children to read)
- How to Be an Anti-Racist
- White Fragility
- We Are Not Equal Yet
- Waking up White and Finding Myself In the Story of Race
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria
- Not Light but Fire
- A Black Women’s History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali N. Gross
- Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights by Mikki Kendall
- All American Boys by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds
- An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Black Appetite. White Food.: Issues of Race, Voice, and Justice Within and Beyond the Classroom by Jamila Lyiscott
- Black Brother, Black Brother by Jewell Parker Rhodes
- Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone
- Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzl
- The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward
- For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood . . . and the Rest of Y'all Too: Reality Pedagogy and Urban Education by Christopher Emdin
- The Gold Cadillac by Mildred D. Taylor
- The Guide for White Women Who Teach Black Boys by Eddie Moore, Jr., Ali Michael, and Marguerite W. Penick-Parks
- Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson
- The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter
- How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley
- Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
- Letting Go of Literary Whiteness: Antiracist Literature Instruction for White Students by Carlin Borsheim-Black and Sophia Tatiana Sarigianides
- Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds
- Miles Morales: Spider-Man by Jason Reynolds
- "Multiplication Is for White People": Raising Expectations for Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit
- Murder on the Red River by Marcie Rendon
- Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom by Matthew R. Kay
- Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson
- Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow
- So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo
- Sulwe by Lupita Nyong'o
- Surviving Becky(s): Pedagogies for Deconstructing Whiteness and Gender by Cheryl E. Matias
- The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession by Dana Goldstein
- Teaching Race: How to Help Students Unmask and Challenge Racism by Steven Brookfield
- There, There by Tommy Orange
- This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Tiffany Jewell
- What If All the Kids Are White? Anti-bias Multicultural Education with Young Children and Families by Julie Olsen Edwards, Louise Derman-Sparks, and Patricia Ramsey
- White Rage by Carol Anderson
- Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
- Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl
- Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Roads
- How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon
- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
- It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers) by Trevor Noah
- Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
- March by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
- Monster by Walter Dean Myers
- We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom by Bettina L. Love
- White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo