Article Summaries:

"Colorblindness is the New Racism" By: Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman

If I had to pick one thing from this text that I would say is the most prevalent, I would say it would have to be identifying and naming privilege and power. Armstrong and Wildman argue that "Society cannot battle a phantom that it cannot recognize and name" and that essentially means that we won't get anywhere with changing the powers that be until we can recognize that they actually exist. More importantly, it is important to continue to try and make these changes. For example, just because we had one black president, that does not mean that every race problem in the country is solved. 

"Inclusivity is Not A Guessing Game" by Chelsea Vaught

The big picture of this article is that everyone's culture, backgrounds, beliefs, and religions needs to be thought of and recognized in the school systems. As teacher's, it is our job to learn about or students, and also encourage them to learn about themselves. If model an interest in other people's culture, kids will follow suit. Teaching students that we can all be different, and celebrate those differences, is so important. It will raise a generation of inclusive and kids adults, and hopefully will begin to make the much needed change in our world. For the purpose of my final project, the majority of the content came form this article. When talking about this with my students, the dialogue will look a little like this:

"Do we all look the same? Do we all celebrate the same holidays? Have we learned everything there is to know about all the kids in this classroom? No way! There is so much we don't know about where everyone's families come from, what they celebrate, and what they look like. For this project, we will be talking about everyone's families and what makes them the same and different from our own. You will be getting the chance to ask your own families about your culture and background. Some stuff you might already know, and that's great! We all want to learn about you and can't wait to hear what you learn from your own family!"