Kids are teachers too

Freedom of speech. It's a truly beautiful thing. In honor of MLK, Jr.'s upcoming birthday, we celebrated with a little party and learned some things about his legacy in class today. The kids were pretty interested and asked lots of questions. My Cooperating Teacher taught class this afternoon as I just observed or chimed in as needed. However, I got to read aloud a story the other day called, My Brother Martin. It was written by MLK, Jr.'s sister and details their childhood and the events that led him to have his "dream." I wasn't quite prepared for some of the comments and questions I got from the kids.

Now keep in mind, these are first graders. As I am reading, there is a picture of the King children gathered on the floor and listening to their grandmother tell them stories. One little boy, I'll call him Lucas, asked why all the people were dirty. It took a second to click that he was talking about the color of their skin. I gently explained that it wasn't dirt and that it was just the color of their skin. This class of first graders consists of predominantly Hispanic/Latino children, with a just a handful of Caucasian and maybe one Asian mixed in. There was a little African-American boy from the class next door that was listening to the story. When I came to the part in the story that used the word, "negro," this little boy asked me what the word meant.

Again, I carefully explained that it was not a nice word to use, but had been used many years ago to describe people with black skin. What really struck me about this moment was that in a room full of other races, this little black boy was the one to ask THE question. This was a new word to him and I felt so uncomfortable having to be the one to explain it to him. I approached the situation as I would have if he had been my own child. I tried to think about what I would want my son's teacher to say to him about racial issues. I tried to be very honest, but in a child-friendly and tactful way. Needless to say, it was the most profound read aloud experience I've had to date and I learned a great deal from the kids. They see that they look different from one another, but it's not something that bothers them. It is the adults who plant the seeds of love or hate.