Talking About Race - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1579225608 ISBN 13: 9781579225605

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

What is it that gives many of us White people a visceral fear about discussing race?

Do you realize that being able to not think about or talk about it is a uniquely White experience?

Do you warn your children about how people might react to them; find store staff following or watching you; get stopped by the police for no reason?

The students of color in your classroom experience discrimination every day, in small and large ways. They don’t often see themselves represented in their textbooks, and encounter hostility in school, and outside. For them race is a constant reality, and an issue they need, and want, to discuss. Failure to do so can inhibit their academic performance.

Failure to discuss race prevents White students from getting a real, critical and deep understanding of our society and their place in it. It is essential for the well-being of all students that they learn to have constructive conversations about the history of race in this country, the impact of racism on different ethnic communities, and how those communities and cultures contribute to society.

The need to model for our students how to talk openly and comfortably about race is critical in America today, but it is still an issue that is difficult to tackle.

To overcome the common fear of discussing race, of saying “something wrong”, this book brings together over thirty contributions by teachers and students of different ethnicities and races who offer their experiences, ideas, and advice. With passion and sensitivity they: cover such topics as the development of racial consciousness and identity in children; admit their failures and continuing struggles; write about creating safe spaces and the climate that promotes thoughtful discussion; model self-reflection; demonstrate the importance of giving voice to students; recount how they responded to racial incidents and used current affairs to discuss oppression; describe courses and strategies they have developed; explain the “n” word; present exercises; and pose questions.

For any teacher grappling with addressing race in the classroom, and for pre-service teachers confronting their anxieties about race, this book offers a rich resource of insights, approaches and guidance that will allay fears, and provide the reflective practitioner with the confidence to initiate and respond to discussion of race, from the pre-school and elementary classroom through high school.

About this title

About the Author

Steven Grineski started his teaching career in 1975 as an elementary school teacher. In 1984 he joined the Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) faculty and earned his doctorate from the University of North Dakota in 1989. While at MSUM Steve served as Dean of Education, Chairperson for Secondary Education and Foundations, Director of Faculty Development, and taught in several different departments and regularly in the local public schools. Currently he is Professor in the School of Teaching and Learning and teaches in the Foundations of Education program, while serving as field experience liaison between the MSUM Teacher Education and the Moorhead, Minnesota, Alternative Education programs. Steve has made over 100 presentations at state, regional, and international conferences; and published over 75 articles and 4 books in diverse areas including cooperative learning, critiquing corporate school reform, alternative education, holistic approaches to teacher education, critical perspectives about instructional technology, talking about race and racism, and the history of education. Steve and his wife Lee are parents to daughters Abby and Sara and privileged grandparents to Noah, Libby, and Caleb.

Review

"Our schools too-often banish the unpopular, squirm in the presence of the unorthodox, hide the unpleasant. Much of what we call schooling forecloses or shuts down or walls off meaningful conversation, dialogue, and choice-making. There’s little space for skepticism, irreverence, or doubt. While many of us long for teaching as something transcendent and powerful, we find ourselves too-often locked in situations that reduce teaching to a kind of glorified clerking, passing along a curriculum of received wisdom and predigested and generally false bits of information. This collection offers a means to disrupt and reconnect, and a way forward." (Bill Ayers)

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1579225608
• ISBN 13: 9781579225605
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 340
• Editor: Grineski Steven, Landsman Julie, Simmons III Robert