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So a few years ago, I was beginning a new unit on a race with my fourth graders. And whenever we start a new unit, I'd like to begin by having all the students list everything they know about it, and then we also list questions we have. And I had the type of moment that every teacher has nightmares about. One of my students had just asked the question,

Why are

some people racist? And another student. Let's call her. Abby had just raised her hand and volunteered. Maybe some people don't like black people because their skin is the color of poop, you know. So, as if on cue, my entire class exploded. Half of them immediately started laughing, and the other half started yelling at Abbey and shouting things like, Oh, my God, you can't say that. That's resist. So just take a second to freeze the scene in your mind. There is a class of nine and 10 year olds,

and half of them are in hysterics because they think Abby has said something wildly funny and the other half are yelling at her for saying something offensive. And then you have Abby's sitting there completely bewildered because in her mind she doesn't understand the weight of what she said and why Everybody is reacting this way. And then you have me. The teacher is standing there in the corner, like about to have a panic attack. So as a classroom teacher, I have to make split second decisions all the time, and I knew I needed to react. But how? Consider your fight or flight instincts. I could fight by raising my voice and reprimanding her for her words or flights just changed the subject and quickly a start reaching for another subject. Like anything to get my students minds off the word poop. However, we know the right thing to do is often not the easy thing to Dio. And as much as I wanted this moment to be over and that I knew both of these options would help me escape the situation, I knew that this was far too important of a teachable moment to miss.

So after standing there for what felt like an eternity, I unfroze and he turned to face my class. And I said, Actually, Abby makes the point. My students kind of looked at each other, all confused, and I continued. One reason why he racism exists is because people with light skin have looked at people with dark skin and said that their skin was ugly and even uses reason as an excuse to dehumanize wth. Um, and the reason why we're learning about race and racism in the first place is to educate ourselves to know better and to understand why comments like this are hurtful and to make sure that people with dark skin are always treated with respect and kindness. Now this was a truly terrifying, teachable moment. But as we move forward in the conversation, I noticed that both Abby and the rest of the kids were still willing to engage. And as I watched the conversation really marinate with my students,

I began to wonder how many of my students have assumptions just like Abby? And what happens when those assumptions go unnoticed and unaddressed? Is they so often d'oh? But first, I think it's important. Take a step back and even consider what makes the topic taboo. Like I don't remember receiving an official list of things you're not supposed to talk about. But I do remember hearing over and over growing up. There are two things you do not talk about that family get togethers and those two things our religion and politics. And I always thought this was very curious, because religion and politics often are such huge influencing factors over so many of our identities and beliefs. But what makes the topic taboo is that feeling of discomfort that arises when these things come up in conversation. But some people are extremely fluent in the language of equity, while other people fear being PC shamed or that their ignorance will show a soon as they open their mouths. But I believe that the first step towards holding conversations about things like equity is to begin by building a common language, and that actually starts with de stigmatizing topics that are typically demons taboo now.

Conversations around race, for example, have their own specific language, and students need to be fluent in this language. In orderto have these conversations. Now, schools are often the only place where students can feel free and comfortable to ask questions and make mistakes. But unfortunately, not all students feel that sense of security now. I knew that day in front of my fourth graders that how I chose to respond could actually have lifelong implications not only for Abby, but for the rest of the students in my class. If I had brushed her words aside, the rest of the class could actually infer that this type of comment is acceptable. But if I had yelled at Abbey and embarrassed her in front of all of her friends, that feeling of shame associated one of her first conversations on race could actually prevent her from ever engaging on that topic again. Now,

teaching kids about equity and schools is not teaching them what to think. It is about giving them the tools and strategies and language and opportunities to practice how to think. For example, think about how we teach kids how to read. We don't start by giving them books. We start by breaking downwards until letters and sounds, and we encourage them to practice their fluency by reading every single day with a partner or with the friends. And we give them lots of comprehension questions to make sure that their understanding with their reading and I believe that teaching kids about equity should be approached in the exact same way. I like to start by giving my students a survey every year about different issues around equity and inclusion. And this is a sample survey from one of my kids. And as you can see, there's some humor in here for under the question. What is race she has written when two or more cars, people and animals run to see she was fastest and who wins. However, if you look at her question,

what is racism. It says when somebody says they're called someone dark skinned immune name, so she's young, but she's showing that she's beginning to understand. And when we act like our students aren't capable of having these conversations, we actually do them such a disservice. Now. I also know that these types of conversations can seem a really, really intimidating with our students, especially with young learners. But I have taught first through fifth grades, and I can tell you, for example, that I'm not gonna walk into a first grade classroom and start talking about things like mass incarceration. But even a six year old first grader can understand the difference between what is fair people getting what they need. We identified a lot of these things in class together and the difference between fair and equal when everybody gets the same thing,

especially goody bags of birthday parties. Now, first graders can also understand the difference between a punishments and a consequence. And all of these things are foundational concepts that anyone needs to understand before having a conversation about it. Mass incarceration in the United States, Some people might think that kindergartners or first graders are too young to have conversations around racism, but also tell you that young kids understand that there are many different components that make up our identities and how people are similar and different, and what it means to have power when other people don't. When we have these conversations with students at a young age, it actually takes away some of that taboo feeling when those topics come up at a later age. Eso no, that teaching about these things and schools can feel like navigating a minefield. For example, what happens if parents or families aren't on board with having these conversations in schools? But to these people, I can say these are some examples of things that students have said to me and brought to my attention.

For example, I had a student come in and whisper to me, I've heard all these people use the term LGBT Q. But I don't know what it means that I'm too embarrassed to admit it. I had a student come in over a weekend and come up to me and say, You know, I just watched this movie about Australia, and it made me wonder if they have racism there, too, and I always want my students to be comfortable having these conversations, because when they're comfortable talking about it and asking questions, they also build comfort and bringing in their own lives and experiences and how they relate to these big topics. Also, some teachers might be kind of nervous if a student brings up a topic or ask the question, and they don't know the answer to it. But if a student ever brings something to my attention,

I don't know the answer. I will always admit it and own it, because I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert in something that I don't have experience and or I'm not an authority on. That same year, I had a student come in and ask a question about the LGBT community, and I just didn't know enough to give them an appropriate answer. So instead, I encouraged that student to reach out and ask that question to a representative of a nonprofit who had come to speak to our class about that very same issue. When we admit to our students that we don't have all the answers, not only does it humanize us to them, it also shows them that adults have a long way to go to when it comes to learning about issues of equity. Um, a little while back I wrote a lesson about consent, and to some people, this was very exciting because I took this topic that seemed very taboo and scary, and I broke it down into a way that was accessible for young learners. However, to other people, the idea of consent is so strongly tied to sex and sex is often considered a taboo subject that it made them very uncomfortable. But my students are third graders,

so we're not

talking about sex and class. Rather, I wanted them to understand that everybody has different physical boundaries that make them feel comfortable. And the social and emotional intelligence it takes to read somebody's words and tone and body language are skills that often need to be explicitly taught the same way. We teach things like reading and math, and this lesson is not reserved for students of one single demographic. Things like questioning and making observations and critical thinking are things that any student of any race or ethnicity or background or language or incomers zip code should be learning in schools. Also, deliberate avoidance of these conversations speaks volumes to our students because kids notice when their teachers, when their textbooks leave out the voices and experiences of people like women or people of color. That silence speaks volumes. Acid recently asked my class of third graders what they would say to adults who think they're too young to learn about issues of equity. And while this is a small sample of my 25 students, all of them agree that not only are they capable of having these conversations, but they view it the right to learn it as a right and not as a privilege. And in their words, we're big enough to know about these things because these problems are happening where we live. And we have the right to talk about, Um because it will be our life in the future. Thank you

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