It's Time to Talk: An Exploration of How Kindergartners and Their Teachers Talk About Race

• In Event: 68.041 - "Yes, We Do See Color!" Actively Combating Racism in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Although it has been researched that young children inquire about race (Aboud, 2008; Hirschfeld, 2008; Patterson & Bigler, 2006; Van Ausdale & Feagin, 2001; Winkler, 2009;), there remains a gap in the literature portraying young children in school settings discussing race as part of the curriculum. This five-month critical case study examined the conversations that occurred when kindergarteners and their teachers engaged in an interdisciplinary Social Studies and English Language Arts unit focused on race. The study utilized principles of Social Education (White, Marsh, & McCormack, 2011), Social Justice (Lipman, 2004; Nieto, 2013), and Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Crenshaw, Gotanda, Peller, & Thomas, 1995; Delgado & Stefancic, 2012; Ladson- Billings & Tate, 1995) to analyze the kindergarteners’ thought-processes on race.
In particular, the following question was asked: “How do kindergarten students discuss race during interdisciplinary social studies and language arts lessons?” Considering CRT focuses on the impact of race and racism (Crenshaw et al., 1995), it provided the foundation to analyze how students interrogated the lessons. In particular, counter-storytelling (DeCuir & Dixson, 2004) was implemented as a key component to present narratives from historically marginalized communities whose voices are often either minimized or omitted in texts (Brown & Brown, 2010).
A critical case study framework was employed, that included participant observation, field notes, work samples, and interviews. The data was analyzed to understand how students and their teachers presented and made sense of race. There were approximately nine kindergarteners and two teachers in the study. All of the kindergarteners attended an urban public school located in the northeastern region of the United States. Numerous data sources, i.e. transcripts, field notes, interviews, and recordings, were utilized to triangulate the data and ensure reliability and validity. By reviewing a variety of data points, a deeper understanding of the kindergarteners and teachers’ thought-processes during the unit emerged.
The outcomes of the study indicated that the teachers’ willingness to discuss race as well as the ways in which the information was presented directly impacted not only the kindergarteners’ ability to hold conversations about race but also how deeply they examined the concept of race and its subsequent impact on people and communities. Although multiple themes arose in each classroom, the two themes that were consistent across both classrooms were (1) developing a strong sense of community and (2) Black History Month with Resistance. Student work, excerpts from conversations during the unit as well as student and teacher interviews will be presented to support both themes. While the kindergarten teachers highlighted in this study worked at the same school, their personal backgrounds and comfort level addressing race differed, which impacted how the educators presented the content of the unit to their students. Along with the themes, the importance of preparing educators to analyze their own thoughts about race while simultaneously coaching them to teach about race with young students was underscored as essential when attempting to discuss a contentious topic, such as race.

Author

• Kathlene Alysia Holmes, National Center for Teacher Residencies