talking about hard things - the set up

There is a lot of debate going around about what teachers should and should not teach about race and gender. I am a firm believer that all things are on the table at all ages. If a child has a question then they have been exposed to the subject and it’s a good idea to get them to share that information with you. Obviously, there are some topics that could be safety issues and that needs to be a private conversation with the student and the necessary adults involved. However noticing how they themselves are experiencing the world differently based on color, culture, nationality, gender, should all be open topics to be discussed. Somehow this has fallen into the category of a hard thing, and I’ll admit when I first started down the path to being an educator too I thought why bring this up when children are so young? But not talking about what children can easily observe or experience is putting our own comfort above their curiosity and their desire to explore and understand the world.

The great news is that from early years on we can start exploring the student’s own sense of self. We should be starting exploration of their own families and the traditions and practices from their homes. We give them the tools to look at their selves and then we can see what is the same or different from our classmates. Starting with a foundation of having discussions about who the child is and what they have experienced so far and showing that those experiences and their identity are something that is valued in our classroom will start setting us up for tackling harder questions down the road. I really enjoy giving my students simulations or watching videos that allow students to consider different feelings and points of view. By starting with a celebration of themself and giving students the language to talk about their similarities and differences they can then engage in the simulations and discussions with the ability to draw on their own experiences as reference points.

Finding ways to bring the students home language and celebrations is a surface-level way to start incorporating and celebrating cultures in the classroom. I would also engage parents with some home learning and the ability to reflect on traditions the students’ family has and this will also allow for discussion between the classroom and home. This is step one, and an easy introduction to the kind of things that will allow for the harder discussions down the road but still essential for building the base of developing a shared language of speaking about ourselves in the classroom. Here are some great ideas for starting to talk about “self”.

This can be done starting in early years- drawing a self portraint. Have the student leave space in their clothing and their background so they can place observations about who they are afterwards. This will yield different levels of reflection depending on which grade leve you are working with.

For the background area students should make a list or drawings about things that people can know about them by observation. For example, they are a son/daughter, brother/sister, tall/short, where they currently live, languages they speak, etc.

For the clothing section of the self portrait the student should think of things that you can’t intitailly know about the student through observing their life in public. For example, where they were born, where they have lived previously, the religion they practice(or dont’), their likes and dislikes, their own descriptions of their personality, the different backgrounds of their parents that impact their home life.

There can be wiggle room for what’s inside vs. whats outside depending on what the child thinks is observable but overall it allows a chance to start thinking about who they are and what things have meaning to them about their identity.

Another lesson that goes well with this for starting mid-elementary and upwards is incorporating the iceberg theory. This same idea of what is seen and observed and the idea that there is likely much more under the surface. There are many great examples of the idea of culture being an iceberg. Students could compare their own personal ideas and apply the cultural iceberg theory to examine themselves and to start partnering with classmates to discuss different parts of the cultural iceberg.

This is lovely for connecting self to others, as well as connecting self to historical cultures. What can we observe is similar or different from the culture we are studying to where I currently live, or to where my own family has come from.

Additionally anytime I am thinking about the “hard” lessons I like to see if there is a good way to incorporate a visual thinking exercise as they tend to be super helpful at revealing thoughts and questions I had not considered. If you are new to visible thinking then visit Project Zero and take a gander to get you started. This site is fantastic for getting the conversations starting and also being mindful to allow for reflection before we start demanding students share their observations. Plus amazing insight for us after the fact, in case the students write down something they weren’t willing to share but have high value for the class that we can find a way to introduce without the student feeling called out.

I will be sharing some of the simulations and lessons I have done throughout the summer so you have them to consider before the school year begins in case you are stuck for ideas to start talking about “hard things” in class. I think though as you get started you will realize that it isn’t really all that hard once we start practicing being open and having a dialogue. A good idea before you start this with your students though is to ensure you have self-reflected on your place and space in the world and how you view yourself. Also, a good idea is to practice saying “I hadn’t thought of that, let me reflect” in case something tricky does come up and you are feeling defensive or unsure of how to respond. It’s okay to wait until you have effective words to guide and communicate- we are all learning together after all.