Content uploaded by Meir Muller
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Meir Muller on Dec 19, 2020
Content may be subject to copyright.
Engaging Children In Conversations About Oppression Using Children's Literature
Abstract
As Early Childhood educators, we consider the role that teachers can play in engaging
children in conversations about oppression using children's literature. Against the
backdrop of recurring racial unrest in the U.S., (e.g., the Charlottesville, Virginia and
other protests), we discuss ways texts can be used to deepen young children's
understandings about oppression. We encourage educators to equip children with
insights and strategies which will interrupt oppression in collective and intentional
ways. We also provide a brief overview of structural issues relating to oppression
(drawing from Freirean critical theory) and share 10 books that can be used to start
conversations.
... They are readily available in most classrooms, cognitively stimulating, and possess affective significance (Johnston et al., 2007;Tomé-Fernández et al., 2019). In addition, research shows that picture books in early childhood classrooms help children with identity formation (Chaudhri & Teale, 2013;Morgan & Kelly-Ware, 2016) and constructing understanding between groups (Hayden & Prince, 2023;Koss, 2015) and can be used to help children advocate against inequity (Boutte & Muller, 2018;McNair, 2016;Osorio, 2018). ...
... Hence, many of the racist and antisemitic messages in these books will be understood by young children. Although research has shown that young children have a hard time constructing an understanding of systemic racism (Boutte & Muller, 2018;Dawson, 2022), recent studies suggest conditions and pedagogical approaches to help children understand the concept of systemic racism (Johnson, 2022(Johnson, , 2023. Thus the messages in the subset of books, which strongly express that racism and antisemitism are not acts of isolated incidents attributed to a single individual but are often systemic issues, can be effectively used by early childhood Jewish education teachers to introduce the topic of racial relations using the 12 historic fiction picture books. ...
... Classroom intervention research suggests that upper elementary school-aged students can consider oppression from multiple perspectives, including the broader historical framework of how society is organized and how to create change (Fain, 2008), analyze and interrogate literature around societal issues such as immigration (Braden, 2019), and address and challenge social inequities in their curricula (Kersten, 2006). To prevent children from internalizing harmful messages about oppression, it is essential to proactively engage them in reflections early (Boutte & Muller, 2018), especially those who belong to groups that experience discrimination (Ayón, 2016). ...
... For example, Justin withdrew from the discussion when insensitive language was used and never addressed, and other children withdrew from the content around anti-Black racism as well. These examples suggest that although it is essential to engage youth in sociopolitical reflections at early ages (Ayón, 2016;Boutte & Muller, 2018), much preparation and training must go into developing such open systems for critical discussions around ML technologies. This preparation must go beyond consulting with community partners (Lee et al., 2021) to include how to respond compassionately and sensitively to children, how to allow them to opt out of discussions safely, and, more generally how to build trust among partners in politicized contexts in technology education (Vakil et al., 2016). ...
As big data algorithm usage becomes more ubiquitous, it will become critical for all young people, particularly those from historically marginalized populations, to have a deep understanding of data science that empowers them to enact change in their local communities and globally. In this study, we explore the concept of critical machine learning: integrating machine learning knowledge content with social, ethical, and political effects of algorithms. We modified an intergenerational participatory design approach known as cooperative inquiry to co-design a critical machine learning educational program with and for youth ages 9 - 13 in two after-school centers in the southern United States. Analyzing data from cognitive interviews, observations, and learner artifacts, we describe the roles of children and researchers as meta-design partners. Our findings suggest that cooperative inquiry and meta-design are suitable frameworks for designing critical machine learning educational environments that reflect children’s interests and values. This approach may increase youth engagement around the social, ethical, and political implications of large-scale machine learning algorithm deployment.
... Reading and discussing multicultural literature serve as a common means to initiate conversations about race (Boutte & Muller, 2018;Vlach, 2022). Students respond to critical issues around social and racial justice with critical thinking, reflecting on their racial identities and disrupting hegemonic hierarchies Brooks et al, 2018;Daly, 2022;Epstein & Gist, 2015;Kim, 2010;Price-Dennis et al., 2016;Son, 2020). ...
Racism’s pervasive influence on People of Color (POC) in the United States is further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to heightened racial stigmatization and violence against Asian Americans. This study, informed by AsianCrit and reader response theories, explores how Chinese American students develop activist agency through reading fiction and relevant texts illustrating the racialized experience of Chinese Americans, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through four students’ participation in a community-based book club and engagement in literacy practices for one year, findings reveal students actively unpack the anti-Asian racism through generating counternarratives and ultimately demonstrate activist stance as they make associations with their everyday realities in their family, community, and schools. The study underscores the crucial need to critically examine and raise awareness about prevailing racial narratives, emphasizing the continuous importance of critical racial literacy education both within and outside schools.
... It has become increasingly salient for educators and researchers who are working with young children in schools to recognize the urgency and necessity of eschewing colorblindness and embracing race consciousness (Boutte et al., 2011;Husband, 2010;Sachdeva & Adair, 2019) in early elementary school contexts in order to actualize racial justice in society. As a result, a number of scholars have developed and/or documented methods and approaches for facilitating conversations about racism and racial difference in elementary contexts (e.g., Boutte & Muller, 2018;Copenhaver-Johnson, 2006;Daly, 2023;Payne & Journell, 2019). These scholars emphasize that school can and should be a site for social justice praxis, in which young children and classroom teachers are engaged in critical dialog for the purposes of social change and transformation (Braden et al., 2022;Comber & Nixon, 1999). ...
The current climate of K‐12 education in the United States has seen a narrowing of literacy instructional practices, exponential amounts of book bans, and contrived hysteria about liberal indoctrination and Critical Race Theory (CRT). Yet, as the world becomes increasingly connected across difference, and as research increasingly demonstrates that we must engage young children from all backgrounds in discussions about sociopolitical issues, it is urgent that classroom teachers foreground children's experiential knowledge in comprehension instruction. In this article, we address the following question: In three early elementary literacy contexts, how did educators use culturally sustaining practices with diverse children's literature to enact reading comprehension and engage young children in critical, sociopolitical meaning making? Three teacher educators of Color share findings from qualitative studies in the United States Northeast and Southwest that examine this integration with the use of diverse children's literature. The first finding illustrates how teachers utilized book introductions to situate a diverse group of early elementary‐aged students in various sociopolitical issues and engage them in critical readings about texts. The second finding illustrates how a series of after‐school literature circle discussions enabled first‐grade African American children to make meaning dialogically and communally about enslavement. The third finding illustrates how the teacher created space for second‐grade Latinx students to translanguage as they drew on multiple reading comprehension strategies and made sense of immigration. The implications from these studies invite a rethinking of the dominant paradigm of reading comprehension instruction.
... Using books in early childhood classrooms has been theorized and empirically shown to be helpful in engaging children in discussions around race and racism (Beneke & Cheatham, 2019, 2020Boutte & Muller, 2018;Cutler, 2017;Faragó & Swadener, 2016;Fontanella-Nothom, 2019;Husband, 2019;Kemple et al., 2016;Kim, 2015;Kim & Tinajero, 2014;Kim et al., 2016;Lazar & Offenberg, 2011;Nguyen, 2022;Sachdeva & Adair, 2019). For Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (i.e., BIPOC) children, racially affirming story-books and read-alouds can provide the vocabulary to talk about race and racism, help with processing racial events and racialized experiences, and present points of view of characters with whom the child might identify or empathize with (Curenton et al., 2022). ...
This mixed-methods study investigated how two White preschool teachers, who were familiar with anti-bias pedagogy but had low training on anti-racist teaching strategies, discussed race and racism, using books, in two predo-minantly White classrooms. Teachers were observed in two classrooms, during book discussions with children, and teachers’ racial attitudes were assessed via two survey measures. The book discussions were audio- recorded and transcribed. Teachers discussed skin, hair, and eye color, and avoided naming “race” or “racism.” Teachers placed racial discrimination on the same footing as other physical differences, decreasing the significance of racism and racial discrimination. There was silence surrounding race, both from the White teachers and primarily White children. The teachers focused on encouraging children to accept all differences and minimized the salience of race, racism, and racial discrimination. Despite reporting race-conscious attitudes on the survey measures, the teachers struggled to discuss race and racism with young children in the actual classrooms. Implications are dis-cussed for teacher professional development.
Imagination is often relegated to the margins of African American children's schooling experiences. Furthermore, the varied role of children in liberation struggles and their centrality in ushering in just futures remain underexplored. This article examines five African American first graders’ sociopolitical knowledge and how they used their imagination to develop counternarratives of refusal and agentic possibilities. I offer imaginative praxis as a conceptual tool to analyze how young African American children name historical and contemporary racialized realities and generate joyful visualizations of actionable resistance. Young children's imaginative praxis challenges the notion that the fight for liberation is void of joy.
Decades of research demonstrate that young children make meaning about race and racism. Yet there remains a dearth of scholarship about whether and how African American children are thinking across racial and ethnic difference to make sense of systemic inequities. Moreover, there are but a handful of scholars who have documented the ways that children and youth engage in acts of solidarity. Extending the growing body of literature that privileges young children of color's critical perspectives, this article examines African American first-graders’ sociopolitical awareness; in particular, it explores how they expressed their understanding that racial discrimination undergirded contemporary US immigration policies. These data reveal that the children possessed a capacity for demonstrating solidarity with other non-white people, in that they named and critiqued the marginalization experienced by immigrant communities of color. Drawing on Black feminist epistemologies, critical literacy, and critical consciousness, the author argues that the children's emergent solidarity can be understood through their three rhetorical moves: (1) interchanging Black and Brown people in name; (2) advancing a critical moral ideal by juxtaposing current and former political leaders; and (3) invoking knowledge of US history. Although popular media and political discourse seldom portray immigration as an issue that concerns Black communities in the US, African Americans have long understood that their own liberation is connected to that of other marginalized groups. As such, this article urges early childhood researchers to examine the nature of the questions being asked about young African American children's racial meaning-making practices and knowledges about belonging, equity, and inclusion within and outside schools.
The authors share their responsive teaching to develop children’s exploratory talk during interactive read-aloud with books.
Multiculturalism is a burning issue in today’s educational landscape. There is a pressing need within Early Childhood Jewish Education (ECJE) to interrogate biases and Euro-centric discourses that perpetuate inequities within classroom practices. The authors apply the metaphor of a “Seder Plate” to challenge the pedagogical models of the “melting pot” (assimilationist education) and the “salad bowl” (multicultural education) that devalue each child’s culture. Just as a traditional seder plate is used to prompt questions and a discussion about oppression and marginalization, the Seder Plate approach can be used to confront injustices and honor cultural differences. The Seder Plate model supports tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy, including a) competence in their own and others’ cultures, (b) critical consciousness, and (c) academic excellence. Along with fleshing out the implications of these three models, the authors provide critical questions for social justice, and strategies to implement a Seder Plate approach in ECJE.
Black children around the globe develop and learn in persistently racist environments. Decades of early racial awareness research primarily center on the development of young children’s self-esteem, racial biases, or friendships. Researchers have yet to learn all that can be understood about young children’s perspectives on structural racial inequities. There is a dearth of research that examines young African American children’s emergent sociopolitical consciousness. As such, this article explores the following inquiry: What research conditions make it possible to elicit young African American children’s racialized sociopolitical awareness and knowledge? Over the course of one school year, I studied five African American first graders’ literacies, racial awareness, and sociopolitical knowledge who were enrolled in an independent neighborhood elementary school. Through a synthesis of my methodology, I detail three foundational orientations: (a) privileging intraracial spaces as contexts for narrating and grappling with racialized, sociopolitical realities, (b) utilize children’s literature by and about Black people with critically conscious narratives, and (c) operating from the belief that young children are competent to speak about the racialized conditions in which they live. The implications from this research demonstrate the possibilities of pro-Black research at the intersection of racial awareness and sociocultural literacy studies. To combat antiblackness in education research and in schools, we need to hear the voices of African American children and carve out spaces that center Blackness for them to express racial sociopolitical truths. Conducting early racial awareness research about and with young African American children requires that we believe they possess the developmental capacity to name and resist inequity and imagine the possibilities of racial justice.
Educators often do not recognize biliteracy and bidialectalism in African American Language (AAL) speakers. Chronicling the experiences of twin four/five-year old AAL and emergent Standard English speakers, we discuss the importance of recognizing and building on the routines and identities of African American children and families. We present three strategies for supporting the learning of African American children who are biliterate and bidialectal. Using the academic literature which illustrates African American children’s communicative virtuosity as a backdrop, we use language samples from twin AAL-speakers to illustrate key points. Emphasis is placed on the importance of building on African American children’s communication styles in classrooms and helping them to negotiate and move between two different discourse communities for both oral and written language.
Whereas professional organizations recognize the centrality of diversity in school curricula and instructional practices and most educators conceptually agree, little of this information and ideology is translated into classrooms. When examining the ethos in most schools, the valuation of diversity is not readily apparent in teacher attitudes, instructional practices, curricula, and school policies. Although rapidly changing demographics and accompanying negative performance trends of students from nonmainstream backgrounds implore educators to consider issues of diversity and equity, teachers give little or no substantive attention to sociocultural and sociopolitical issues that mediate teaching and learning in an increasingly diverse world. In this article the author encourages educators to envision and enact new legacies on behalf of humanity. The author discusses issues of social justice along with pedagogical strategies and includes examples from micro and macro levels of society.
As Filipino Americans continue to struggle academically in our public schools, we must seek alternative frameworks to understand how their historical backgrounds and cultural identities have impacted their educational experience. Filipino Americans have a colonial history that has produced what scholars termed as ‘colonial mentality’, a denigration of self and aspiration to be like the colonizer. Given the historical legacy of colonialism, educators have begun to look at developing curriculums and pedagogy with decolonization framework with the aim to emancipate students from ignorance and ignite a commitment to social change. In 1996, the multicultural teacher education program, entitled Pinoy Teach, was launched to empower college students to teach Filipino American history and culture to middle school students. This article presents findings and implications from a survey research study that examined the long term impact on its college student teachers ten years later. Though the Pinoy Teach curriculum was not originally developed from a decolonization framework, the results showed that the program served as a tool to decolonize the college student teachers. The outcomes have implications for the conceptualization and implementation of decolonizing pedagogy and curriculum.
Countering the position that colorblindness is desirable for teachers and children, this article encourages early childhood
education teachers to engage in conversations about race and racism with young children. We discuss why the early childhood
years are important for interrupting racism and make suggestions for helping children develop tools for addressing it. Annotated
examples of children’s drawings about racism from a second grade classroom are shared to demonstrate that young children are
not colorblind and that they think about and experience racism in their daily lives. We conclude that it is both an educational
and ethical necessity to address racism with young children.
What kind of social studies knowledge can stimulate a critical and ethical dialog with the past and present? "Re-Membering" History in Student and Teacher Learning answers this question by explaining and illustrating a process of historical recovery that merges Afrocentric theory and principles of culturally informed curricular practice to reconnect multiple knowledge bases and experiences. In the case studies presented, K-12 practitioners, teacher educators, preservice teachers, and parents use this praxis to produce and then study the use of democratized student texts; they step outside of reproducing standard school experiences to engage in conscious inquiry about their shared present as a continuance of a shared past. This volume exemplifies not only why instructional materials—including most so-called multicultural materials—obstruct democratized knowledge, but also takes the next step to construct and then study how "re-membered" student texts can be used. Case study findings reveal improved student outcomes, enhanced relationships between teachers and families and teachers and students, and a closer connection for children and adults to their heritage.
“Mommy, is being Brown bad?”: Critical race parenting in a “post-race” era
- Matias
The Los Angeles riots: A Korean American perspective
- Chang