In my experience it is not enough to have Black History Month, Orange Shirt Day, or any other limited time scope to talk about racism, culture and diversity. To me, if it is a topic that we believe to be important, that if we truly want to take time to end racism and celebrate diversity, then we have to integrate it into everything we teach. These things are not curricular topics, they ARE the curriculum.
And this is maybe no where more true than in a Language Arts class where we can use stories and poems to listen and talk about people’s real lived experiences. Here are two books and lesson plans that I have been using and have proven top notch resources for launching into truly heartfelt discussions about these tough topics. Please use them, modify them, push yourself and your students to think through some hard feelings and feel your way through some entangling thoughts.
This is the real work of teaching…
Resources
Rez Dogs – Joseph Bruchac (see my review under the Ride, Read, Review tab) http://images.randomhouse.com/teachers_guides/9780593326213.pdf
Ghost Boys – Jewell Parker Rhodeshttps://readingwithrelevance.org/Ghost-Boys-Teacher-Guide.pdf
And please refer to this website for further discussion, interviews, etc with Ibram X. Kendi – one of the most powerful writers and teachers on the topic of anti-racism today – https://www.ibramxkendi.com/