Description:
Starting Small was developed as a training tool for educators
working with preschool through third-grade children. There is a video
(approximately an hour in length) and a 250-page, easily accessible
book that augments the video. The kit profiles excellent teaching practices
in classroom communities that are overtly anti-racist and committed
to the strength of diversity, and the promotion of justice, peace and
equity. Seven classrooms are explored.
Review:
This is an excellent resource. The video and the book work well together,
but can also be used separately. The book retells the classroom vignettes
and also offers “reflections” and “application notes.”
Reflections offer brief, well-constructed research reviews about topics
that are less widely addressed, including: racial and ethnic awareness,
gender awareness, sameness, childhood losses, prejudice formation, heroes,
and friendship connections. The application notes give clear, point-by-point
tips for how to support children around specific topics that were reviewed.
Some application notes topics include: nurturing justice, affirming
identity, facing prejudice, and supporting children’s power. The
application notes are suitable for teachers, parents and anyone working
with children.
The video is well edited with much footage showing classrooms in action
and an accompanying mix of introductory comments, reflections from the
teachers and children, and expert testimony. The video concisely gets
at the heart of the issues. How can we create intentional anti-racist
communities with young children? What happens when diversity and the
skills of making peace are at the heart of the classroom? The accessible
and inspiring video demonstrates success, but also captures the struggles.
Suggested Use:
This is an excellent resource. The book is a solid reference about
children’s developing senses of racial, ethnic, and gender identity
with how-to guidance for meeting young children’s needs and welcoming
them into the creation of a diverse community. What do you do when a
five-year old makes a racist comment? This book explains the developmental
context of the five-year old and explains how to be both anti-racist
and child-centered. I have used the book working with parents, teachers
and youth who have questions about how to intervene with young children
about discrimination and exclusion.
The video can be viewed in it entirety or viewed by segment. Showing
the profile of one classroom can be an excellent ten-minute discussion
starter. I supplemented a wonderful UU sixth grade anti-racism curriculum
with a segment of the video that profiles a multi-racial, multi-ethnic
preschool. In the clip, we meet a teacher who feels that she has lost
the sense of community she built at the start of the year. She decides
to start over. She clears a wall and starts making a full size mural
of all the class members. Using “multicultural” paints,
in hues of beige and brown, she invites children to think about how
they can best represent their skin colors. When a new child says he’s
white, another child replies, “Nobody’s white.” The
child looks crushed, but the teacher moves the group along by focusing
deeply on color. She says, “We start with these 12 colors the
factory makes and then we mix and match. How many colors of children
do you think there are in the world?” One by one, the teacher
has children go up to the front of the room and the group guides the
teacher as to which paints to mix to make an exact match to the skin
color. It’s a joyous moment when the “white” child
realizes that he, too, has a skin tone that requires lots of mixing
and matching of colors. The moments of pain that were on the face of
the “white” preschool student resonated deeply with the
primarily Anglo-American sixth graders viewing the film. The ten-minute
clip sparked honest discussion, from the intellect and hearts of the
sixth graders, who focused on the pain, responsibility, and joys of
anti-racist community.
