February is Black History Month. Will you be celebrating black history in your classroom?

I am a white teacher and I taught at a predominately white school. I am being very vulnerable here when I tell you that I felt uncomfortable teaching black history. I was scared that I would say the wrong thing, choose the wrong book, or offend someone. I wanted to be culturally sensitive, but I wasn’t always sure how to go about it.

Have you ever felt that way too?

I hear ya.

On this episode, I had the opportunity to sit down and chat very Vera Ahiyya- also known as the Tutu Teacher. Vera is a kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn and she is passionate about helping teachers to be more diverse in the classroom.

Some of my big takeaways from this conversation with Vera:

• Black History Month is a great time to celebrate the history of blacks and not just a time to talk about civil rights and slavery. Share stories of the beautiful and not just the hardships.
• Use books as a platform to have conversations about black leaders and heroes such as artists and musicians. Black History Month is a great time to start the conversation, but then you can think about how you can weave more stories into the curriculum throughout the year.
• Your job is to teach every student and be inclusive. Even if you teach at a predominately white school, you still have an obligation to include all of the people of the world. You can’t help kids to be better if you are exclusionary.
• If you are uncomfortable with teaching black history then you must educate yourself. Vera recommends that teachers read the book Stamped by Jason Reynolds.
• Never have students reenact or do a role play of enslaved people. It is offensive. Slavery should not be made into a board game.
• Vera recommends using the resource Teaching Tolerance.
• Do a survey of your classroom library!

I also asked Vera to share some of her favorite culturally sensitive picture books that teachers should add to their classroom library. Here are links to the books that she recommended.

• Mae Among the Stars
• Undefeated
• Carter Reads the Newspaper

Sometimes it is uncomfortable to have conversations about topics like this. But being uncomfortable is an opportunity for growth. Ignoring black history would be a shame.

If you want to learn more about Vera, you can find her on Instagram:

• Tutu Teacher
• Diverse Reads