Thread by @AleciaHiggFord

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato We have a brain break game that we play that seems to have shifted us into a place of disarmament and honesty in talking about race/identity together.
It’s in math, and the idea is that kids write 3 true statements on an index card:

1st one: True for you + most/all of class.

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato This 1st stmt aims for 100%, 25/25 or a “one away” fraction like 24/25.

2nd fact: true for you and about half the class. Looking for 50% or fractions near equivalent to half like 12/25.

3rd fact: True for only you or maybe 1 other, looking for low % or a unit fraction 1/25.

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato Kids write their own and turn them in, I shuffle them read,

“Stand up if you live in Nashville” All stand, “how did we do on the target?” Kids say 100% or name the fraction and how close to whole.

I say, “keep standing if you also play a sport”, some sit & then we evaluate how

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato ...close to 1/2 we got, name fractions, benchmark more or less than half, which sport, etc.

Then I say, stay standing if... and read what the Ss wrote 3rd. After getting to know ea other a bit, a S wrote “I am mixed” so I read,

“Stay standing if you are also mixed”. Shy looks👀

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato Some of the white kids don’t know what it means, whether to sit or stand. They’re halfway in between.
Beautiful freckled boy whose card I think it is, is standing. I say, mixed race, right? Is that what you mean D? He answers yes.
Just like with what sports do you play on prev..

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato ...question, I ask, you want to tell more? which races are you? He does. I thank him for sharing. He smiles. Did we hit our math target? Yes, unit fraction! Other kids say, I’m mixed too, and we talk about diff mixes they are or might be.

We do the next card.

Something shifts.

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato They want to talk about race and start putting it on the cards.

First time I read, “Stay standing if you are also African American” someone says more curious than anything else, that’s racist. But all the kids who don’t identify as AA sit and I say, more or less than 1/2? ...

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato to give myself time to assess the feeling & legitimize the stmt. Then I think I said, it’s not racist to name your race. Racism is when a group of ppl are systematically disadvantaged or treated unfairly because they are a certain race. Race is part of who we all are.

🤔Oh, OK.

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato I didn’t mean to go on so long, I guess I needed to process this lovely thing that happened as a result of talking about identity, the value in allowing kids to self identify in <safe spaces> and while in <diverse community> of 3rd period math!

It was then safe to ask me...

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato Ms Ford, are you mixed? Why is your hair so curly?

I share about my grandfather who came here on a boat fr Italy when he was 15 and my other great gf who came fr Syria. Why I look white except for my questionable hair.

Back then they went to court to decide who is “white”..😯

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato All of this happens over time. Safety is created, questions & answers & differences are valued, explicitly and overtly. Who we are and how we move through this world differently -
I drop some of the stuff I learned from #ClearTheAir @ValeriaBrownEdu & #seeingwhite @SceneOnRadio

@wwndtd @ChristieNold @ProjectLITComm @jarredamato @ValeriaBrownEdu @SceneOnRadio I learn where their grandparents came from, what they know/don’t know about them. Some share/ask in smaller grps & other spaces more personal identity stuff.
Talking about race in integrated spaces is valuable, respecting their voices & stories. We got to identity from the game!