…changing the world, one reader at a time.
One of my summer classes this session is an online book club for 7th and 8th grade readers. While I’m eager for the chance to connect with middle schoolers after a spring semester of mostly focusing on my K-4 readers, I’ve never done an online book club before. I was excited, but worried it would […]
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As a white educator, I have focused on buying, featuring, and teaching texts with BIPOC authors and characters with the goals of inclusivity and representation. But that’s not enough. So how do I move through inclusive towards becoming a more culturally competent and actively antiracist educator? This spring, our school required us to digitally document […]
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My May antiracist read was Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, by Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. This book is the young readers adaptation of Dr. Kendi’s best-selling Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Here is some information about the book, from Jason Reynolds’ website: This is NOT […]
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No matter how you learn best, there are myriad resources available to help approach, begin, continue, or deepen your antiracist journey. Here are a few resources that have helped me recently, including information about original sources for further reading, listening, and learning: 1. Are your kids too young to talk about race? A look […]
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I did not expect to be hosting our New Kid Faculty and Staff Book Club from my dining room, in my slippers. If I’m being honest, once our school closed, I wasn’t expecting to host this book club at all. While we were all thrilled when more than 50 members of our faculty and staff […]
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In 2020, I’m attempting to read at least one book each month specifically to help me on my antiracist journey. I’m not an expert, and I’m not a professional. You’re welcome to read and learn along with me, if you’d like. January: Waking Up White, by Debby Irving My February antiracist read was White […]
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All of our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders have been learning about the amazing work of Vashti Harrison in preparation for her visit through the Virginia Festival of the Book next month. They’ve been talking about her nonstop, and we’ve been studying her work in many of my classes. And last week, in a meeting about […]
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After posting Finding our Color Words Using Honeysmoke last week, readers asked me to share a list of the picture books that we used and loved for our skin tone picture book walk. I pulled these books thoughtfully and with my human skin tone palettes in hand, hoping to include as many shades as possible. […]
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Since our schoolwide conversation about Black History Month, the kids have been curious and open about discussing race and differences. Here’s a lesson, inspired by middle schoolers, that I shared with my K-4 students last week, if you’d like to see. Last week, I was talking to my middle schoolers about what they […]
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How do you best prepare your students for discussions about race, ability, and other human differences in your classroom? The conversations in the library since our community Black History Month discussion have really been remarkable. I’ve been so impressed with the way that students have opened up and asked questions out loud that they’ve previously […]
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