“Who was scared?”: Entering into Reflection Toward Change as Critical Social Educators

Angie Zapata,Mary Adu-Gyamfi,Sarah Reid

doi:10.31274/tcse.11531

Abstract

This article discusses how an elementary teacher facilitated critical conversations about race and racial injustice with her first-grade students. Our collaborative teacher-researcher team closely examined the whole-class read-aloud events with two picturebooks focused on race and racial injustice. We point to the need for reflection toward change among critical social educators to enhance critical literature discussion among young children. In this article, we highlight how we encountered successes and missteps in our efforts to engage young children in critical literature discussion and how that process is deeply ingrained in the work of decentering whiteness. Whether experienced or novice, entering into a stance of reflection toward change is a powerful classroom practice for any critical social educator interested in moving toward an antiracist pedagogy.

Highlights

This article discusses how an elementary teacher facilitated critical conversations about race and racial injustice with her first-grade students
Whether experienced or novice, entering into a stance of reflection toward change, as Lottie has in the opening lines of this article, is a powerful classroom practice for any critical social educator interested in moving toward an ãADU-GYAMFI, ZAPATA & REID
By reading illustrations through visual thinking strategies (Price-Gardner, 2017), interrogating representations of linguistic differences (Zapata, 2020), or engaging children through critical questioning (FontanellaNothom, 2019), early childhood educators and their students can enter into rich discussions of power, race, and identity. We build upon this scholarship to explore how an emerging critical social educator, like Lottie, integrates picturebooks into the early childhood classroom to intentionally explore race and racial injustice with young children

Summary

Introduction

This article discusses how an elementary teacher facilitated critical conversations about race and racial injustice with her first-grade students. We hold up Lottie as an example of a critical social educator who is committed to centering race discussions in early childhood classrooms through picturebooks and willing to humbly and critically reflect on her teaching toward change.

Results

Conclusion