River Teacher: Learning to Do Better

Image may contain: text that says 'IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO BE QUIETLY NON-RACIST, NOW IS THE TIME TO BE VOCALLY ANTI-RACIST.'

I decided I wanted to be a teacher when I was 8 years old. At the time, I had a wonderful teacher who made me feel special, loved, and excited about learning. I always enjoyed school, but that year I decided that I wanted to grow up and be just like her. As I got older, I had other teachers who made strong impressions on me and showed me more reasons why I should pursue that profession and what kind of teacher I wanted to be. I also had teachers who taught me about what I DIDN'T want to be, of course.

One such teacher, although great in many other ways, discounted my race because I didn't look "Indian enough." Because I didn't fit into his stereotypical image of what and Indian should look like, there was no way I could be one. This completely discounted my family history, my upbringing, my culture, and my spirituality. He wasn't the first or the only one to say such things to me throughout my life, but I at least knew that when I was on the river with my people, there was no doubt, there was no pressure to be anything but myself. On the river, people knew me, knew my family, and knew I was one of them. It always felt like home because I just fit.

Thankfully, I finally did move to the river when I was in my mid-twenties after all of my schooling and some work in the big city in Oregon. I get to teach kids whose culture I am a part of. I get to teach kids who both look like me and some who don't. I get to include our culture in the classroom and I am very fortunate to be in such a place.

BUT, not all my kids are Native. Not all my kids have the same kind of background that I do. Everyday, I am faced with the fact that there is so much more that needs to be done in our community to raise strong, healthy, and productive members of society. I also realize that my own outlook has been clouded by the fact that I teach mostly Indian kids on and Indian Reservation. We are so isolated here, that it is even MORE important that I expose my students to the realities of our Nation's problems. I need to do a better job of teaching about the systemic racism, not only towards Native people, but towards Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc. Without teaching about all races on a regular basis in my classroom, many of my students may grow up to enter a world that they know too little about. They may grow up to think of those "others" as somehow different or inferior because they don't know enough about them.

Basically, what I am realizing is that I need to do better. I have been researching a lot of books lately for talking about race with kids and am looking forward to the conversations I can have with my students this next year. I have made several Book Rooms with links to some of these books on Youtube and book lists to shop from. If you are interested in checking any of these out, you can use the links below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bitmoji-Book-Room-to-Facilitate-Conversations-About-Race-and-Racism-5644524

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Strong-African-American-Women-Bitmoji-Book-Room-5648699

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/African-American-Childrens-Stories-Bitmoji-Book-Room-5656864

We are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom

Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

White Flour by David LaMotte

Soccer Fence by Phil Bildner

Let's Talk About Race by Julius Lester

Shining Star by Paul Yoo

Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh

My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi A. Cabrera

Viola Desmond Won't be Budged! by Jody Nyasha Warner