Be You! Students Show Us Who They Are — and Are Not!
By Iysha Perkins
In recognition of Black Lives Matter at School at Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS in Washington, D.C., a few students and I read Hey Black Child and M is for Melanin. Both picture books focus on who you are as a Black child and how you can affirm and celebrate yourself.
During the read aloud, I asked questions about what emotions were evoked and what thoughts and comments students had. They were encouraged to share their perspectives in peer discussions. During discussion, I recorded questions and comments on an anchor chart. The responses included,
"How come (they) don't like Black people?"
"Some of the (non-Black) kids in my class won't talk to me or play with me"
"Ms. _____ (non-Black teacher, name omitted) is always mean to me and ______ (Black students, names omitted) but she's always talks to _____ (other non-Black students)" and "_____ (non-Black student, name omitted) always tells ____ (other non-Black student) that I look dirty."
"Why do the teachers treat me like I'm bad when I'm not, like they are scared of me when I didn't even do anything?"
As I was writing their questions and statements, I noticed the following words that kept being repeated:
Bad
Ugly
Dirty
Threat
The advocacy element I engaged students with was to not only be proud of black skin by identifying and reflecting on traits and characteristics that make you who you are, but also what you are NOT. I introduced the theme:
"Be Bold. Be Fearless. Be you!"
Students were asked to draw a self portrait and once done, to draw a line directly down the middle of the face. On the left side, we wrote, "As a Black boy/girl, I am . . ." and on the right side, "As a Black boy/girl, I am NOT . . ."
Next, they were asked to write on the left side all of the POSITIVE traits that describe who they are. On the left side, they wrote all of the negative traits they may have heard from others or may have felt about themselves. Afterwards, we shared our portraits, explored others thoughts/feelings, and then the portraits were placed on display for everyone to see who we are and who we are NOT!
The students showed so much emotion when speaking about the traits that they do not embody. The best part was hearing them validate the positive attributes and feelings of their peers.
Iysha Perkins is a special education compliance manager at Inspired Teaching Demonstration PCS.