How to do better
I believe that we have a role as educators to teach about race, social justice, equity and similar topics. This education should take place in the home and in every classroom. It can take on a variety of formats from teaching kindness and understanding to teaching culture and history to looking at, listening to, and creating artwork that provides a format for conversation. At every age we need to have open conversations to help bring an understanding of the value of every person’s life.
I have started to compile a list of resources to help support educators. I will continue to add to this blog post as my research leads me to more resources. I invite you to return to this blogpost in the future. And, if you have resources please share them with me at meartsed@gmail.com so I can include them or you can post them in the comment section below.
At the end of this post there is a link to a facebook page that belongs to the British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. He and his 6 siblings performed “a tribute to the families and communities who are affected by racism and racist violence.” Their message is one that arts educators understand: “music is a form of expression and a testament to hope and love.”
BOOKS
- Young Children
- Patricia Polacco books
- Pink and Say
- Chicken Sunday
- Holes in the Sky
- Ashley Bryan books
- Beautiful Blackbird
- Freedom Over Me
- Infinite Hope
- Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester
- Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
- Books by Ezra Jack Keats
- Books by Leo and Diane Dillon
- Books by Jerry and Andrea Davis Pinkney
- Patricia Polacco books
- Middle Grades
- A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée
- Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
- New Kid by Jerry Craft
- Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
- Young Adult
- Dear Martin by Nic Stone
- All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
- I am Alfonso Jones by Tony Medina
- Books to Teach White Children and Teens How to Undo Racism and White Supremacy – a long list of books available
- the conscious kid – website of books
EDUCATIONAL BLOGS, ARTICLES, and OTHER RESOURCES
- Several books on racial and social justice by Robin DiAngelo including White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard For White People To Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, Beacon Press 2018. Resources at the same link.
- How you can be an ally in the fight for racial justice written by Deray Mckesson on the TED-ED blog.
- Amplifying Artists and Musicians of Color (a list of 24) by Jaime Patterson from the Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM blog
- Why White Students Need Multicultural and Social Justice Education by Sheldon Eakins from the Cult of Pedagogy Blog
- The Art of Education
- How to Help Students Process, Reflect, and Enact Change by Raymond Yang
- A Guide for Working with Students Creating Controversial Artwork by Raymond Yang
- How To Discuss Social Issues in the Art Room Without Bias by Abby Schukei
- Teach Your Students to Use Art as a Tool for Social Advocacy by Lee Ten Hoeve
- 5 Black Female Artists You (and Your Students!) Should Know by Megan Dehner
- How to Better Support Your Marginalized Students by Nick Gehl
- Lessons
- Using Color Theory to Deconstruct Race: Part I by Matt Christenson
- Using Color Theory to Deconstruct Race: Part II by Matt Christenson
- Talking About Race National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Harriet Tubman, an Unsung Naturalist, Used Owl Calls as a Signal on the Underground Railroad, article on the Audubon website
- The Theresa Vaughn Project, Leonard Schneider website, “Unification.. ie helping people to get along better. This might be possible if we can get to a better place / page culturally and musically.”
TED ED EDUCATOR RESOURCES
- The importance of affirming student identity presented by Educator Jeewan Chanicka
- How can you be an ally in the fight for racial justice by Deray Mckesson from Ideas.TED.com
- How students of color sharing their truths impacted one educator presented by Educator Jini Forcucci
EDUCATION WEBSITES
- Social Justice Standards from the Teaching Tolerance website
- Resources that Teach For America has curated to share for ‘wellness and navigating racism, violence, and civil unrest.’
OTHER RESOURCES
- CNN/Sesame Street racism town hall archive from June 6
- Very large collection of resources in a google doc being updated periodically titled Scaffolded Anti-Racist Resources
- Embrace Race – a website whose goal is: Let’s Raise a Generation of Children Who Are Thoughtful, Informed and Brave About Race
- Until We Are All Free – a website with tons of art and culture resources
- NPR’s animated shorts recorded lives and stories – Story Corps
- Equal Justice Initiative – Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, they do work in Education, Racial Justice and Criminal Justice Reform
- A VT Middle School teacher created this padlet with resources for Teaching About Race and Creating an Anti-Racist Climate
- First Aid Arts – Providing training and support to individuals and organizations who want to offer effective arts-based care to survivors of natural disasters, human trafficking, forced migration, domestic violence, homelessness and other types of trauma.
- California for the Arts anti-racism resources
