Hedreich Nichols

Small Bites Friday Five 12-03-21:

This week, in honor of my own book launch, I am recommending 5 books that would make great stocking stuffers for you or the educators in your life.

Define Your Why, by Barbara Bray, will take you on an inward journey so that you can capture the joy of really doing what you love.

Once you define your why, you can get more intentional with your teaching and learning routines with Be Awesome on Purpose from Bonnie Nieves.

Of course, being intentional in the classroom should mean impact outside the classroom. Environmental Science by James Fester and Jorge Valenzuela provides strategies and tools to help teachers amplify student voice through authentic, project based learning.

When guiding students through project based learning modules, asking the right questions is key. Connie Hamilton’s Hacking Questions will provide you with the tools you need to step off the stage and get students to efficiently and strategically problem solve.

Finally, if you’re into banned books, get a copy of What is Anti-Racism , a kind of allyship 101 book that covers where race came from and how to fight against racism, even if marching is not your thing. It was written for children but it’s for everyone.

Books Making Impact

These books, the authors in particular, have all brought something special to my practice. And as an educator, growing into an applied researcher has broadened my horizons and impacted what I can do for and with my students immensely. Now that I have written my own book on teaching and learning strategies, I can only hope that the information will impact your teaching as these educators have impacted mine.

My wish for this book is that it strikes a chord with people looking to become more inclusive as well as with those sitting in a mandatory book study. With that wish, I tuck myself into bed.

Be sure to look out for a special edition post after I reflect over tomorrow’s book launch. And meanwhile, join in on December’s 31 days of positivity challenge (#31DP). Details below.

How do you eat an elephant? One #smallbite at a time.

Thanksgiving was never attached to Plymouth Rock in my house, the women who raised me knew too much truth to celebrate what was the beginning of the end for so many. We cooked, we were thankful. Yesterday, I cooked, I am thankful. I am also in solidarity with those who mourn this month.

Seek Diverse Perspectives about the US Origin Story

This week, I will leave you to find your own truth; about Thanksgiving, about our nation’s origin story. Try to find one new truth or one new voice to amplify. See you next week for the launching of Finding Your Blind Spots-Eight Guiding Principles for Overcoming Implicit Bias!

Here is my most recent article from Edutopia featuring Indigenous narratives and stories, many from Indigenous people. These stories are helpful for teachers and learners seeking historical accuracy.

Below are links to explore and stories to be heard about the over 60 million people who were here long before Europeans came; and this week’s Small Bites features the names of indigenous voices to learn from on social media, plus a groovy Spotify playlist to help you decolonize your drive-time.

Delve into native American culture in many forms at https://www.powwows.com/native-music-radio/

Explore and support cultural endeavors at https://www.firstpeoplesfund.org/

View Native American films and filmmakers telling their stories at https://visionmakermedia.org/native-american-heritage-month/

Enjoy this rabbit hole, a melange of resources from the comedic to the academic, including an Indigenous Peoples Day toolkit for teachers at https://illuminatives.org/indigenouspeoplesday2020/

Support Indigenous Artists

NOTE: Special Thanks to Rhonda Head, the award winning Cree mezzo soprano on this week’s #SmallBites. You can find out more about her on rhondahead.com, @Rhonda_Head on Twitter, or RhondaVHead on Instagram. Her music, including her latest Christmas single, can be purchased on iTunes.

Reposted from November 2020

SmallBites Friday Five (songs) 11-12-21:

Use this week to learn about microinsults found in songs. Here are five you might use to spark reflection. It should be noted, unless you have older students and a group accustomed to discussing controversial topics, these are not necessarily G rated lyrics or themes. Please review them before using them in any academic setting. The songs are listed in order from least to most school appropriate.

Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones

In The Summertime by Mungo Jerry

Illegal Alien by Genesis

Kung Foo Fighting by Carl Douglas

Mexico by James Taylor

Oohhh That’s My Jam

When I look at the above songs, each of them is attached to a memory from my youth. I think about how innocently I rocked out to each of them. Now, I listen and I think, what would it be like if I rocked out in a class with my students of Mexican and Asian descent? What if I taught my girls about sending “no noodles” and then played In the Summertime. Would they pick up on the subtle threat to girls from poor backgrounds? WOuld they still find me credible if they did?

Am I saying that all these artists are cringeworthy and to be cancelled? No, absolutely not. While some lyrics, for me, cross a line, others are more parody than mean spirited. Still, how would a Mexican student in a mostly White school feel if “Mexico” or “Illegal Alien” were played? Or imagine a lone White student in band having to hear “Play that funky music White boy” as his walk on song when he entered the band hall?

Everyone Does Not Feel the Same

Students may not all be offended and I don’t think burning albums is the solution. However, taking a closer look at what we read, watch and listen to will provide us with opportunities to learn. Are lyrics misogynistic? Are racist stereotypes portrayed through the songs or videos?

Once again, before you throw the records on the fire: I am not advocating that the artists be vilified. I am simply saying that cultural awareness is called for. I have danced to Brown Sugar, and while I cringe now, it simply shows that we can all learn and grow.

As you grow and make different choices, use the graphic below to identify the consequences of little unintended slights.

Small Bites Friday Five 10-29-21:

20-30m – Hang out on the National Park Service’s Telling All Americans’ Stories website (although you could spend hours on NPS.gov going on history adventures). Afraid of pushback for telling diverse stories? Consider having your classes do research on the history of regions, cities or even neighborhoods.

15-20m – If you think teaching about places is a more neutral way to enrich curriculum, mine the nps.gov site on “National Historic Landmarks in your community and across the nation” for content and context.

10-15m – If you are reading online publications with your classes, consider magazines like the Smithsonian’s “American Indian” which build present day context and cultural literacy. (Note, the moniker ‘American Indian’ is still an official US designation in legal documents and is used in certain settings. In the classroom setting, acknowledge national heritage–Cree, Choctaw, Caddo, etc.– when referring to your students)

5-10m – If you only have 5-10 minutes, look through “American Indian” and bookmark 2 or 3 articles to explore with your classes during November, Indigenous Peoples month.

0-5m – If you don’t have much time, take a couple of minutes to think about what you might not know and how you can make time to keep building cultural literacy when you are busy.

Every time I thought about the “SohCahToa” teacher in California who has sadly been vilified and shamed by her peers all across the country, I wondered how she must be getting along. This was not ‘Karen’ and the Scary Black Man birdwatcher in Central Park. This was someone who made a mistake–a very insensitive, unlearned mistake. And she won’t be the last to do so.

Learning gaps

We’ve all been taught a one-sided version of history and that’s a problem. The things I teach on through my work I have learned mostly through extensive research as an adult. Once I realized that there was more to the story, I began to dig. But like that teacher, I didn’t always know what I didn’t know. I was 16 and a high school senior before I realized that the Confederate army was not fighting for me.

While riding home from school one day when I was a young girl, our car
stopped next to a truck at the traffic light. The truck was standard issue
for the area—big mud terrain tires, a gun rack, and a red flag with white stars and
crossed blue bars in the window. I said to my mom that I wanted one of those flags
for my room. She and a friend from work who was also in the car laughed. I pressed
on, insisting that the flag was cool and would match my Americana theme. They
froze, exchanging a look of incredulity. They asked me one question: “Do you know
what that is?”

-Finding Your Blind Spots, Hedreich Nichols

Now, if I, a Black person, born in a Negro hospital, missed the fact that the Stars and Bars were not flying for me and that in actuality it was them “D*mn Yankees” who were fighting for my freedom, how can we expect someone who probably has not been touched by racism to get how wrong the whole SohCahToa thing was?

Complicity?

That teacher is a symptom, not the problem. What she did and didn’t learn–what we all did and did not learn–is the problem.

Look through your social media pages. How many of our friends regularly post pictures of diverse groups of friends? Further, churches, schools and neighborhoods are still often segregated. Lastly, what we are fed online ensures that our filter bubbles are pretty air tight. Don’t see this as an accusation. It’s simply our harsh, segregated reality.

Making Way for Change

So what’s the plan? What do we change to move toward real integration (because we want to, not because we have to)? How do we keep learning when our plates are already overflowing? What educational and legislative shifts are needed to keep these incidents from happening time and time again?

• Diversify your own circle.
• Don’t stop learning. Use the resources here and on reputable sites to broaden your cultural knowledge base.
• Ask your students whose narratives are centered and whose stories are missing. Ask them if they know why certain stories might be missing. STAY NEUTRAL. Let student led discussions land where they may.
• Use your voice to advocate for legislative change–or to fight against it.

It’s easy to look at someone else’s behavior and see how bad it is. It’s much harder to change our own behavior. Again, let’s do the hard thing–one small bite at a time.

NOTE: If you are enjoying the preview of Finding Your Blind Spots, please join me for my birthday bash and book launch on December 3rd. RSVP below.

Oh so NOW you’re mad? You want to try, judge and jail a teacher for being ‘racist’? You want to say with surety she did all that stuff we saw in the video with malicious intent? 

Was it bad? Yes. Was it an offensive and insensitive display mocking the sacred traditions of a community this country has already taken from over and over again? Yes. But before we go casting stones:

Could we have made the same mistake?

Have you ever watched a Western?

Did you watch Pocahontas without having conversations about the real daughter of chief Wahunsenacawh? 

Have you ever celebrated Columbus Day or Thanksgiving without telling your children and students the truth about the Taino and Powhatan?

On the flip side, have you ever organized or even participated in a protest against legislation that restricts multiperspectivity in classrooms?

Have you voted in every local election and researched stances of the candidates who sit on your school boards?

Are you willing to teach truth even if it means losing your job?

Between ignorance and appropriation

The teacher in California made a really bad mistake, one I wish she’d had the education not to make. But: let he who never celebrated Halloween with a “hula girl”, an “Indian”, a “hobo”, or a “gypsy” cast the first stone (fyi, all inappropriate terms and costumes). As an applied researcher, I spend countless hours learning things I should have learned in 18 years of schooling. Unfortunately, like this teacher, the education I got did not arm me with the cultural capital and historical truths to be knowledgeable and empathetic towards diverse populations.

It’s easy to feel self-righteous because you know how wrong and hurtful this is; but it’s much harder to do the work to ensure that everyone in this country understands that this is wrong and hurtful. 

Now’s the time to do the hard work and leave the stone casting to those pretending to care.

What you can do

Find out about your local politics here.

Find out how to contact your elected officials here.

Find an organization and get involved here.