Teach Out Final Project - Theory in Practice

COLOR

 INSIGHT for Children  

“Colorblindness is the New Racism” by Armstrong and Wildman shook me to my core. I have always stood behind the “facts” that we are all created equally and our outsides don’t matter. I was proud of my stance on the issue. As a small child, I can remember my father saying things like, “I am not prejudice, but…” and “I am not a racist, I work with a (insert derogatory term here),” but yet, when a Black child came home from school with my sister, we had to eat off plastic utensils. I was eight when that happened and it was then that I made the conscious decision that I was not going to be like him! I was going to accept people and treat everyone equally. “Colorblindness is the New Racism” made me realize that colorblindness is not the answer to eradicating racism. According to Armstrong and Wildman, “Color insight serves to promote equality and emphasize nondiscrimination among races.” Acknowledging our differences and focusing on each other's strengths is a much better practice than pretending everyone is the same. 

In the Rethinking Schools article I chose, “Race and Respect Among Young Children,” author Tenorio states, “Researchers have found that between the ages of 2 and 5, children not only become aware of racial differences but begin to make judgments based on that awareness.”

For this project, I intend to TEACH OUT color insight to four and five year-olds. My goal is to have children acknowledge similarities and differences in a group of items, such as construction trucks, while highlighting that each truck has a job to do and is an important member of the crew, just like each race is an integral part of society. I plan to use colorful images and 3D models of trucks to help keep the focus of the children. Once the children have a basic understanding of the concept, I will then tie it back to race using additional images.