Young students understand diversity, inclusion through self-exploration By Lower School Teachers Lizzie Ammerman, Nabilah Rahman, and Victoria Roca “Potato parfait skin” and “eyes that can taste what they see” are some of the ways Lower School students describe themselves in projects during the division-wide study of identity that began in fall 2019 — a natural extension of the work already done around diversity and inclusion. There were cultural potlucks, cardboard name cutouts, puzzles explaining students’ hobbies & personalities, self-portraits, and an identity quilt. How did three faculty develop this curriculum and make it age-appropriate K-4? How has it benefited students? Why is it important for students to learn about their identity including social-economic status, race, and gender differences?
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each pie, sparkling faculty met regularly to explore chocolate ice cream, how diversity and inclusion work grilled chicken salad, and might be more systematically sandy beige are a few of the incorporated across the curnames that second graders used riculum. To that end, teachers to describe their skin colors after curated books, created a scope reading “The Skin You Live In” and sequence, and developed by Michael Tyler and David Lee activities that would best support Csicsko. Dollops of white, red, our youngest learners. yellow, and brown paints landed on each desk with students swirlKnowing that children recognize ing until they felt they mixed differences in people and begin matches with their skin colors. to categorize them by those visTheir art projects were part of ible differences — such as skin Lower School’s identity unit forcolor — as early as six months, malized in fall 2019 — a natural it was of utmost importance that extension of the work already Lower School educators spoke to Lower School Teachers Lizzie Ammerman, Victoria Roca, and Nabilah Rahman done around diversity and incluthose differences and reflected sion in Grades K-4 for young positively on them. Students who minds to begin to understand socioeconomic status, race, and are not given ample opportunities to explore the way in which gender differences as well as concepts like privilege and discrimithey know themselves, and how society may portray those same nation. Students gain a better understanding of themselves, their identities, can easily fall prey to negative stereotypes and biases, classmates, and their communities, and their lessons manifest whether about themselves, or those different than themselves. In themselves in cultural potlucks, cardboard name cutouts, puzzles order for students to grow into adults who welcome diversity and explaining students’ hobbies & personalities, self-portraits, and who seek to create civil discourse with those of differing perspecan identity quilt. tives, our youngest students must explore these concepts early and often. In December 2018, Nashville hosted the National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference, a conference Over the summer, three of the classroom teachers from the PoCC for professional development and networking for educators of group worked together to create a binder of morning meeting color and allies of all backgrounds. Teachers from all divisions lessons, read aloud discussions, and resources exploring identity took advantage of the proximity to attend powerful sessions on systematically across all grade levels. As Second Grade Teacher diversity and inclusion, and brought ideas for growth back to the Victoria Roca, Second Grade Teacher Nabilah Rahman, and First classroom. Over the next five months, a group of Lower School Grade Teacher Lizzie Ammerman were well suited to recognizing
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