Don't Call Me White!

What a crazy week! Is it over yet?!

 

We had our Halloween Parade yesterday (pics of my fancy costume to come) AND I got a sound system and microphone in my classroom this week. I have to admit, I was very resistant to this sound system thing. I may be little, but I can be loud. (This girl was in all the school plays growing up. Projection, baby!) But oh my geez. I tried that microphone today and it’s WONDERFUL! I didn’t realize how much I was straining my voice before. Plus the kids think it’s the coolest thing ever and therefore love to hear me teach.
Ha. We’ll see how long that lasts. J

Anywho, I haven’t shared any ideas in a while and I’m itching to write. You might have read that I’ve only lived in Utah for a year, and I’m originally from Louisiana. (Big game this weekend, folks! BEAT BAMA!!!) Well. Back down south you got lots of diversity. We learn about slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. Here in Utah (at least where I teach)…not so much. I have learned so much about pioneers since I moved here, but haven’t seen much in the diversity department. I think that cultural and ethnic diversity are what make the world go round and so I’ve tried to incorporate these things into my classroom quite a bit.

I found this website, Teaching Tolerance. It’s full of great, FREE resources! If you click on Free Teaching Kits, you can browse the things they have available to teachers. There’s this one DVD on there called Starting Small -- for teachers, not kids. It talks about how to teach diversity to the younger grades. One activity I love from the DVD (and that I’ve done with 5^th and 2^nd graders) is the Skin Color Paint Activity.

Here are the basics of how it works. Go to Walmart and buy several skin-tone paints. Sit your kiddos down and read a few diversity/differences-related books. (This year mine loved The Little White Owl.) Lead a discussion on how we are all different, but special the way we are. This segways in to the fact that we all have different skin colors, but none of us are actually “black” or “white.” I tell the kids we are going to use the paint to figure out what color they actually are. We go through the class, student by student, determining together what color(s) everyone is. For example, they might be a mixture of café latte and coffee bean or “fry sauce” –it’s a Utah thing—and French vanilla. The kids love figuring out what everyone is! What’s great is when a “black” kid and “white” kid are the same colors. It’s usually an “aha moment” for the kids. As we figure out what color the kids are, they write down the colors on a sticky note. Now I will admit, my 2^nd graders’ parents were not as into this activity as my 5^th graders’ parents were. But I feel that teaching acceptance early is super important.

You can learn more about this activity in the StartingSmall DVD, which you can get for FREE from tolerance.org! You can also subscribe to their teacher magazine (also free). Here’s a pic of some of my kiddos.

 The kids and I really like this activity and I highly recommend it, particularly if you’re having acceptance issues in your class. How do you promote diversity and acceptance in your classroom?