Parents & Educators

10 Tips on Talking to Kids About Race and Racism by Karen Tao, July 8, 2020. From PBS Education.

26 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity With Students by Michael Gonchar. March 15, 2017.  26 short New York Times documentaries that range in time from 1 to 7 minutes and tackle issues of race, bias and identity. To help teachers make the most of these films, several teaching ideas, related readings and student activities are provided. From New York Times, Lesson Plans (limited to 5 per month), The Learning Network. (intended audience - middle and high school) 

Anti-Racism For Kids 101: Starting To Talk About Race. “If you’re nervous about talking about race with your kids, these books about racial diversity will give you an easy place to start destigmatizing difference & celebrating racial diversity.” Every step of the way, this site also gives you a bit of advice on how to talk with children, so there’s more than a booklist here.  From The Student Ignition Society: education activists modeling progressive social change in early childhood education throughout the US. 

Anti-Racism Resources for Parents and Kids. A wide variety of anti-racism resources – lists of them -- books for different ages, social media, websites, organizations, podcasts, resources, film TV, video  -from Healthline.

Becoming Upended: Teaching and Learning about Race and Racism with your Children and Their Families by Kirsten Cole and Diandra Verwayne, Young Children, May 2018, Vol. 73, No. 2. From the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Breakdown Whiteness: These resources show the various “bricks” that build up whiteness. Different systems in our society have different structures of racism. By considering these systems separately, we can see how whiteness functions in particular ways in each system.

Dismantling Racism, a web-based workbook created by dRWorks was once the foundation for a two-day workshop, but is now offered free. This workbook is recource dense so use a computer to view it. Many of the included resources are useful for educators, but you will need time to explore this site. In addition to sections that include the assumptions that support the workshop, there are sections on “What is Racism?”, “Internalizations” addresses internalized racial inferiority & superiority and the impacts of internalized racial oppression , “White Supremacy Culture” which explains culture, racism and then how the two come together to create white supremacy culture, and “History of the Race Construct” which contains a small sampling of U.S. laws, court decisions, and other acts which lay some of the groundwork for constructing race as a hierarchy with white at the top plus other resources (ex. cartoons, films) related to understanding the construction of race and racism.

George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. What do we tell our children? by Alia E. Dastagir. USA TODAY published 5/31/2020, updated 6/11/2020.

Lesson of the Day: How Black Lives Matter Reached Every Corner of America. In this lesson, students will use more than 200 photographs to learn about the protests that swept across the United States in late May and June.  Sept. 8, 2020.  From New York Times, Lesson of the Day: Short lesson plans featuring current events articles), The Learning Network. (intended audience - middle and high school) 

How to Talk Honestly With Children About Racism. From PBS Kids, June 9, 2020. 

Nice White Parents Discussion Guide by Nicole Daniels and Michael Gonchar. Published Aug. 27, 2020, Updated Aug. 31, 2020. The five -part podcast series looked at the influence of white parents on one Brooklyn middle school that opened in 1968 - even though their children didn't attend it. Although this is a case study of a single school, the podcast raises issues on the realities of race, privilege, and power across all American schools.  Links to the five-part podcast are included within the discussion guide, which is designed for educators and students (middle & high school) as well as community groups. From New York Times, Lesson Plans (limited to 5 per month),  The Learning Network of the New York Times.

These resources can help you facilitate discussions about race and guide students through lessons on white privilege, economic inequality, mass incarceration, the complexities of identity and more. From Teaching Tolerance.

Racism and Violence: How to Help Kids Handle the News. From Child Mind Institute.

en Espanol:

Racismo y violencia: cómo ayudar a los niños a enfrentar las noticias

The Conscious Kid, an education, research, and policy organization is dedicated to equity and promoting healthy racial identity development in youth. The Conscious Kid supports organizations, families, and educators in taking action to disrupt racism in young children. Resources include: How to Talk to Kids About Race, Racial Literacy: key terms, Racial Trauma and Ways to Cope, How to be an Ally, and lists of recommended books.

Resources to Address Race and Racism for Families, Educators,and Students, published June 2, 2020.  Recent events in Kentucky and across the United States have shed light on the need to rethink how we’re teaching students – and ourselves – to fight racism. KET Education has curated this list of free resources with other trusted public media partners to use as tools to support learning. As with all educational materials, please preview these resources prior to utilizing with students to check for appropriateness. 

The #SchomburgSyllabus archives Black-authored and Black-related online educational resources to document Black studies, movements, and experiences in the 21st century. In connecting these web-archived resources to the Schomburg Center’s own unique materials, the project honors and recognizes the source and strength of Black self-education practices, collective study, and librarianship. The #SchomburgSyllabus is curated by Schomburg Center staff and organized into 27 themes to foster a greater understanding of the Black experience. 

Showing Up For Racial Justice –  Educational Toolkits.  On this resource page, you’ll first see resources about “Political Education.” Scroll down for a resource section “Thinking Critically about Racism, Whiteness, and Class.”  Some resources require a SURJ member log-in, but many do not. 

Social Justice Resources – Do you want to talk to your young child about issues of social justice, but don’t know how? You’re not alone—most adults find topics like race, gender, and class difficult to talk about with children. But if we don’t find ways to talk about it, children will learn whatever they can glean from unspoken messages, and that doesn’t often work out very well. Resources from the Children’s Community School.  

Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching about School Segregation and Educational Inequality by Keith Meatto. May 2, 2019.  From New York Times, Lesson Plans (limited to 5 per month), The Learning Network. (intended audience - middle and high school) 

Talking about Race, an interactive website, is accessible by topic or by audience (educators, parents/caregivers, people committed to equity). A resources link leads to over 100 searchable resources. Provdided by the National Museum of African American Culture and History. 

Talking Race with Young Children is a podcast episode that can help parents, educators, and anyone who spends time with children. Even babies notice differences like skin color, eye shape and hair texture. Here's how to handle conversations about race, racism, diversity and inclusion, even with very young children.  From National Public Radio, April 26, 2019.

Talking to Kids About #blacklivesmatter by Marissa Yang Bertucci,  Medium, June 2, 2020.

Talking to Kids About Racism and Justice: a list for parents, caregivers & educators. You'll find lots of different formats of resources on this list from the Oakland Public Library.

Teaching for Change provides teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write and change the world.  By drawing direct connections to real world issues, Teaching for Change encourages teachers and students to question and re-think the world inside and outside their classrooms, build a more equitable, multicultural society, and become active global citizens.

Teaching Ideas and Resources to Help Students Make Sense of the George Floyd Protest. Putting the demonstrations into a larger context, with help from The Times and other news and educational organizations. By Natalie Proulx and Katherine Schulten. Published June 3, 2020 Updated June 8, 2020.  From New York Times, Lesson Plans (limited to 5 per month), The Learning Network. (intended audience - middle and high school). There's an amazing amout of material here from both current and historical sources to aid you in helping students understand the larger context (articles, links to historical videos, opinion pieces from both adults and students, and much, much more). 

They’re not too young to talk about race! is an infographic that shows how children understand and use race at different developmental stages. It has clickable links to studies about children and race as well as resources to help parents and teachers as they work to help guide children around issues of race and racism. 

Lesson of the Day: When the Monkey Chants Are for You: A Soccer Star’s View of Racist Abuse by Jeremy Engle. Jan. 16, 2020. In this lesson, students will look at racism in European soccer and explore ways to address and remedy the problem. Although this lesson looks at events in Europe, the questions raced about racism among sports fans are relevent in the USA too.  From New York Times, Lesson of the Day: Short lesson plans featuring current events articles), The Learning Network. (intended audience - middle and high school) 

"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" and "Some Notes for Facilitators" is an article from The Seed Project that can be used with students, educators, or community members in order to explore privilege and find ways to learn and teach about it in a constructive way. 

Who Gets to Be Afraid in America? by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. Atlantic, May 12, 2020. “Americans don’t see me, or Ahmaud Arbery, running down the road—they see their fear.” Dr. Ibram X. Kendi reflects on Ahmaud Arbery’s murder and how the right to self defense is not granted equally to everyone in this country. This essay would be appropriate reading for older students.

Your Kids Aren't Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Roundup.  Written by Katrina Michie.  Books for children, books for adults, podcasts, toys, additional websites, and more. From Pretty Good Design.