TFA25 Reflection

"Maybe you'll find some of the Koolaid inspirational!" is what one of my colleagues said when I told her that I was headed to DC for Teach for America's 25th Year Anniversary Summit (funded by the Walton family). 

Let's just say that I went with low expectations for the conference, and high expectations for seeing my best friend who lives in the city, and thankfully I was pleasantly surprised. 

In my first session "What is the Role of a White Educator in this movement" I was pleasantly surprised to hear from Jeff Duncan-Andrade, a hesitant alum much like myself and for similar reasons: TFA doesn't talk about race enough. TFA isn't acknowledging the system of white supremacy that exists in our country which systematically disempowers and disenfranchises people of color. And most importantly, he expressed that, as white educators, we have the power to insert ourselves in this movement, but power is not the same as permission.  

Power is not permission. Ask permission to work in the community where you teach. Talk to the elders. 

Then, we heard from Elena Villanueva Beard, the CEO of TFA. Dr. Duncan-Andrade was a tough act to follow, but she made a compelling call to action. "Friends, I've taken this thing as far as I can -- not it's up to you. You need to step up. You need to take the lead." 

What does that mean for me right now? 

It means that in a staff meeting on trauma, I interrupted to talk about how our test-taking policies and pressures contribute to and exacerbate children's trauma. 

It means that I sent out this article on Black History to my staff. 

It means that I asked the Dean of Students if he thought it would be appropriate for me to come to an event for fathers and sons, expressing my solidarity while naming my whiteness. 

It means I prioritized this blog over some of my other work because thinking about my place in this movement is the only way I will get better. 

So ya, I think I drank some of the Koolaid, and it tasted like social justice. 

MLK Reflection

On the Friday before MLK weekend my team agreed that we had gotten so caught up in the push of academics that were neglecting many other socio-emotional needs, so we decided that even though it is stereotypical and not enough we were going to read a book about MLK and have a discussion.

When you make the choice to talk about a black leader only during Black History Month or on MLK Day you are communicating to children that there are two kinds of American History: the "regular" kind (white) and the "other" kind (black). If you are not also celebrating Hispanic History or Asian American History, then you are also silencing those historical narratives. I'm not saying that to discourage you. I'm just trying to raise your awareness.

Also, how can you talk about the Civil Rights Movement if children are only just beginning to understand abstract concepts and have not yet developed a historical timeline? This is an approximation of what I said to my babies. My words are italicized, their words and questions are not for clarity:

A long long time ago people lived here who now we call Native Americans. You might hear them called Indians but that is not the right name for this group of people. They lived here for hundreds of years, which is a very long time. Then, some people from Europe who looked like I do and who we might call "white" decided to look for new land and they came here, but they didn't want to share the land. So instead they killed most of the Native Americans. Some of these Europeans were very bad. They also went to Africa and took people from that continent to be slaves in America. [Here a student interjected about slavery. I stopped, let him share what he knew, and acknowledged that he was right. I asked who was teaching him about this and he named his grandmother and father.] So most Africans who came to America were taken from their families and homes and forced to work by bad white people. 

Why were the white people being so mean?

Well, not all white people are bad, but the ones I am talking about were very mean. They didn't want to work or share any of the things they had. Many Africans in slavery escaped and fought but it was a terrible time for our country. Remember when we talked about Harriet Tubman? She helped slaves escape. And Henry Box Brown, remember his story? We only told you about a couple of brave Black people who escaped and helped others, but there were hundreds. Finally, a great war called The Civil War started because some white people believed that slavery was wrong and white other people wanted to keep it. Unfortunately, when the war was over and slaves were freed not much actually changed for Black people in America. Lots of white people thought that Black people were less intelligent or less beautiful because of their skin color so they made lots of terrible rules so that they wouldn't have to share with the Black people. Can you imagine not being allowed to drink from the water fountain just because of the way you look? Or not being able to shop at your favorite toy store because of how you look? The Civil Rights Movement is so important because Black and white people came together and fought to change some of these terrible rules. You have probably heard of some of these leaders -- Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks were both important. 

And Malcolm X!

Yes, and Malcolm X. Actually, there were so many black people fighting for equal and fair treatment that we could never name all of them right now. There were thousands. And even though some good white people helped, many many more did not. They didn't want things to change.

Why didn't the bad white people want to share their stuff?

Great question -- that's really hard to answer. Probably they were scared or they weren't educated about different kinds of people. Regardless, it was terrible. We celebrate Martin Luther King and other Black leaders because they were brave. So many people disagreed with Martin Luther King that he was shot and killed, assassinated, for fighting for black people to have fair treatment in our country. I'm going to read you this book about the Civil Rights Movement because it shows how things were and how they changed. But this is a fight that isn't over even now -- sometimes people are treated unfairly because of how they look. Martin Luther King died to show us that that is never ok. And then I read the book This is The Dream.

The aftermath can also be scary and difficult. Children synthesize and summarize over many days. It could be weeks before someone comes out and says something about how white people are bad. Be ready for their processing. Encourage them to keep bringing it up by addressing their comments in a calm way. Rather than shut down what they say by telling them they are wrong, seek to understand where they are getting their information. Allowing children to ask difficult conversations and giving them space to process is your job. If they ask a difficult question or they don't have the answer, tell them the truth. Most importantly, recognize that we are all working together to come to a more complete understanding of racism in our country. Your students have important ideas to add to the conversation.