Hey, remember me? I have been feeling a little MIA from my very favorite people - school counselors! You might have heard, I am writing a book! I have an amazing co-author and am thrilled to be sharing our thoughts on equity in school counseling with the world. I am not going to lie though, it's challenging stuff. I've been devoting all the free time I can to book writing and haven't been here with y'all as much as I would like. Our book is due to the publisher at the end of June so never fear, this too shall pass. 

In the meantime, I want to share with you some of the social justice children's books that I have sitting in my Amazon cart. They look wonderful and I can't wait to get my hands on them. I'll do some Instagram Stories with walkthroughs so you can see the illustrations and hear my opinions about the books. 

I Am Enough by Grace Byers
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What It's About: As a mother, educator, and counselor, I want to whisper these words into every girls' ear. We are all enough. Amazon describes it as "a gorgeous, lyrical ode to loving who you are, respecting others, a being kind to one another." Need I say more.
Why I'm Excited: As a white woman, and mother to a white girl, I love that this book brings the positive message of loving who you are with a black girl at the center. I want my child to see positive messages about children of different races to balance out the white-centered world we live in. As an educator, I love that this book features a black girl because I want my students to see themselves represented in the books that we read and the stories we tell. Also, Grace Byers of Empire fame!

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

What It's About: Unhei moves to the United States from Korea and is worried that no one will be able to pronounce her name. She tells her classmates that she will choose a name and they all put ideas in a jar to help her choose. One child from her class comes to her house and learns her real name and it's special meaning. The class encourages Unhei to go by her own name. 
Why I'm Excited: Stand up on the soap box with me y'all. Names are important! Pronouncing names are important! It's not ok for us to ask kids and families to change their names to make it easier on us. 

Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Masters' Strike of 1909

What It's About: Clara, an Ukranian Immigrant, moves to the United States and begins working in a garment factory. Frustrated by the terrible working conditions, Clara never gives up. She learns English and leads the largest walkout of women workers. 
Why I'm Excited: Girl Power! I cannot wait to share this story with some strong girls in my life. So much to admire about this true story. Clara is an English Language Learner who overcomes obstacles to be a strong leader for change. I'm also excited about opening up discussions about child labor and poor working conditions that still go on today. I think that bringing up difficult topics alongside positive stories of historical relevance can make big problems seem less overwhelming or scary to younger children.

The Youngest Marcher

What It's About: Get ready to be a rebel for change. Audrey Faye Hendricks was the youngest child ever to be arrested in the civil rights protests of Birmingham Alabama in 1963. 
Why I'm Excited: My child has been to 3 marches in her young life and we will be going to her fourth in just a few weeks in DC. I want her to be active and strong. To take on the causes of our society with passion and that's just what Audrey Faye Hendricks models. For school, I think it would be an amazing discussion in an upper grade around doing what's right when it's hard. Visually, the book looks beautiful with an unusual layout and gorgeous illustrations. 

Born a Crime

What It's About: Comedian Trevor Noah, The Daily Show, was born in apartheid South African to a white father and black mother. By law, this union was illegal and punishable by 5 years in prison. Noah's mother had to keep him hidden for many years so that she would not be arrested and he would not be taken away. After apartheid lifted, the mother and son were able to live openly for the first time..
Why I'm Excited: Trevor Noah is funny, I enjoy hearing him on the Daily Show and like his wit and charm. I knew that he was from South Africa but had no idea of the true story behind his childhood. I anticipate learning a lot about how races interact, changing systemic racism, and what it means to set apart from society around you.

For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood

What It's About: Dr. Emdin is a former classroom teacher turned professor whose experience has led to his theory of reality pedagogy. This book aims to share Emdin's experiences and wisdom from his time as a student and teacher in urban schools. 
Why I'm Excited: This one is cheating a bit because I've already read this book. It's a dense read but worth the effort. I found it best to read a bit and take a break to reflect and practice concepts before returning. My sister is a 5th grade teacher and she and I read the book at the same time. She has implemented some of Emdin's ideas in her classroom. We both found his book to walk the line of the theoretical and the practical in a great way.

Going to School in Black and White

What It's About: Two students in Durham, North Carolina learn that they will need to change schools due to desegregation in their community. One student is black. One student is white. They later become friends as adults and share their stories in this memoir.
Why I'm Excited: I am participating in a book study with my daughter's school district for this book. I am interested to hear the stories of these two women. I think that the narrative of the students who experienced desegregation is under-represented in our stories of history. This was also apparent when I watched the powerful documentary Teach Us All and I want to continue my learning in this area.

So what's on your book list? I am an avid reader (read 125 books last year!) and am always looking to add books to my ever-growing "to read" list. I would love for you to share your favorites with me.

Classroom elves, Christmas Trees in the lobby, Polar Express viewings, Santa at dismissal, when does celebrating the holiday season move from fun to culturally insensitive? I knew of a school where Santa came every year to speak to the younger students. During instructional time. When the principal moved to end this tradition, she was asked if she wanted to be the person who "didn't like Santa." I love celebrations and I definitely think school should be FUN but I am committed to being culturally responsive in my work as a school counselor.

Teaching Tolerance states that "culturally responsive teaching recognizes the importance of including students' cultural references in all aspects of learning, enriching classroom experiences and keeping students engaged. How can we take this definition and apply it to our celebrations during the holiday season?

Walk around your building and take note of the decorations you see in the hallways, in classrooms, and especially in the lobby. Are holiday traditions other than Christmas included in a more than nominal way? A menorah in the corner of the classroom does not a decoration make. I once visited a school where the media center had set up beautiful vignettes of different holiday traditions including a Christmas scene with faux-fireplace and stockings and a table set for a Hanukkah meal. I've never seen anything like it and I was amazed at the care that the librarian had taken to make each display meaningful.  

All cultures celebrate the spirit of kindness and giving in some way. You don't need to focus on Christmas to appreciate these traits. Consider a food drive or acts of kindness day to celebrate. Likewise, traditions are founded in spending time with our loved ones - I am attending a school's "gift of reading" day this week where each class has special visitors from the community and district to read to them. I am choosing to read non-holiday books because I wasn't comfortable with my Christmas-only selection at home. But I am wearing my ugly sweater! The students will all be in the pajamas but I have to go back to Central Office ;)

Make it a point to learn about the traditions and holidays that your students celebrate. Ask questions about what those traditions mean to their families. Not all religions have a celebration in December so keep your questions open wide to year round traditions and holidays by asking "What is a tradition that you have in your family?" 

The holiday season is also an opportunity for your students to learn. Explore traditions, holidays, and cultural experiences of a wide variety of communities as you move through the month of December. All students are better for learning about others.

We also keep our questions open because not all children have the joy of Christmas, Hanukkah, or other traditions at home. For many children, their celebration days will be empty due to poverty, abuse, or family crises. I recently saw a classroom lesson where students wrote a letter to Santa with the quote about "those who believe will see presents under the tree." My heart breaks for those kids who either don't believe because that is not their family tradition or that do believe but won't have presents or a tree.

I strongly believe school should be fun. There are many ways to celebrate the festivity of the holiday season while learning and growing from the rich, diverse religious and cultural traditions that are represented in our communities. As school counselors, we are charged with making school a welcome and inviting place for all students to learn. How are you working to make your school welcoming to all this holiday season?

It's time to step out of your comfort zone (possibly) and think about equity and social justice. I believe that all educators want the best for all students, however, the outcomes for non-white students are far below that of white students regardless of socioeconomic status. This summer, I had the piviledge of exploring the concept of interrupting racism with a colleague, Alicia Oglesby, at the ASCA conference. Here's the thing, we are not experts. We are school counselors who believe in the importance of interrupting racism and working for equity and social justice. On January 17, we will be hosting a webinar with ASCA on the same topic. 

What do we mean by interrupting racism?  The word interrupt is a verb that is defined as "to stop the continuous progress of (an activity or process)." So to interrupt racism, we must first identify obstacles to achievement of all students regardless of race and second to stop the continuous progress of the status quo. If educators want the best for all students, what are the obstacles that are standing in the way of all students succeeding at the same level? Some factors are completely out of your control as one school counselor in one building. But where can you impact change?

If you aren't familiar with Misty Copeland, I highly recommend learning more about her story. In her journey to become a principal dancer in the American Ballet Theater, Misty faced racism again and again. Her story exemplifies the norms that can become embedded in any community. In ballet, Misty's body shape did not fit the norm. What norms do we have in education that may effect the way that we as educators treat students, parents, and learning environments? This discussion is essential to changing the way that your building conducts business. As school counselors, we are uniquely qualified to guide this work in our schools. 

It's uncomfortable for many people to talk about race. It's uncomfortable for many people to talk about how we might be failing students. It's uncomfortable to think about how systemic problems might be alive and well in our building. We care about students, we don't want to admit we are a part of the problem. I'm the first to acknowledge that this conversation is hard. This is one of the most difficult blog posts that I've written. I've started and stopped more times than I can count. But this is our work.

To help your staff become more comfortable with difficult conversations, try some of these tips:

• Access the Affective: Begin conversations with some easy topics. You can break groups into pairs and have them share something simple about themselves. What did you eat for lunch today? Switch pairs and up the ante each time. As you access the positive feeling of chatting, people will be more comfortable when you finally land on the more difficult questions.
• Practice Courageous Listening: Create a space for people to share their experiences (schema). Allow the space to use you own schema (not society's) to help us change and grow. We all have different stories and our different stories are who we are. 

So what gives? We're here, we want to do the right thing. I mean, I don't think I'm racist. Right? 

Project Implicit, originally associated with Harvard University, "is a non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition - thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control. The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a “virtual laboratory” for collecting data on the Internet." 

Project Implicit characterizes implicit stereotype as  one that occurs outside of conscious awareness and control. For instance, if you say that you believe that men and women are equally good at math, it is still possible that you associate math with men without knowing it. This would be an implicit math-men stereotype. This also applies to race. You might truly believe that all races are equal and still have implicit stereotypes. Project Implicit has online tests you can take to see how biased your thinking may be. 

Implicit biases become ingrained in habits. In this funny video about bikes, we can learn some things about how habits (like biases) can be broken:

• Knowledge is not understanding
• Sometimes you have a way of thinking in your head that you cannot change even if you want to
• Truth is truth no matter what I think about it. Be careful about how you look at things because you always carry a bias whether you think you do or not

We must interrupt our own biases when we see them. Just like learning to ride a backwards bicycle, it is possible with practice. In this way, we are interrupting our own racism.

The thing about interruptions is that they happen all the time, just walk into a kindergarten classroom. To interrupt racism and stereotypes, we must interrupt every day, every lesson, every contact:

1. Keep data and disaggregate for race: be open to the idea that change is needed, hold yourself and your school accountable
2. Consistently include issues related to race: no more sweeping under the rug
3. Practice Interruption: speak even when your voice shakes
4. Know your resources in your community, in literature, in the media: you will need resources to ignite change
5. Check Yourself

Ready to explore more? This post is just a fraction of what Alicia and I will cover in our webinar. Please join us or view the archive. I will post more here as I continue to explore this work. We have also created a handout with links to additional resources and next steps for you. This document may not be visible on mobile.

Where are you in the work of equity and social justice? Have you had discussions about race in your school? What tips can you share with others?