A couple of years ago, during a lesson, one of my students said, "Not to be racist, but she was white." It wasn't the first time a student had mistakenly thought that naming race was racist. However, it was still one of the bigger wake-ups I had about the need to talk more directly to my students about identity, diversity, justice, and action. And it was about more than just ensuring my students had the understanding and language to discuss these very real issues. Teaching elementary students about identity and diversity also teaches empathy, perspective-taking, and bullying prevention.
Teaching Elementary Students About Identity
Students must be aware of their own identities and be able to understand and respect the identities of others before they can move on to justice. The skills and attitudes related to identity and diversity provide a needed foundation for perspective-taking and empathy.
Your students might already have a great sense of their identity and respect for diversity from their caregivers and classroom teachers, but you may also need to help lay some of this groundwork. When students are proud of their own identities and recognize how they are unique individuals, they are better able to care about the identities and experiences of others.
Identifying commonalities, valuing diversity, and developing a respectful curiosity for differences helps children feel connected to people who are different. It also helps children develop a sense of concern and desire to help.
Keep Your Stakeholders in the Loop
One of the biggest concerns counselors have is about parent complaints and pushback - and rightfully so. There has been more than one story in the news about teachers who take a lot of heat for trying to talk to students about these issues.
Something I noticed missing in those stories was any mention of keeping the grownups in the loop. What if you proactively shared information about the lesson with students' caregivers before or after the lesson(s) that gives some more information about the lesson?
This would make it clear to them precisely what you discussed and your objectives. Below is an example from a lesson on identity and from a lesson on justice/injustices where the main ideas of the lesson, activities, and any books read are listed:
If you still get parent pushback, you need your bosses to have your back. Of course, this is, in part, a function of your relationship with them, but it can also be easier for them if you let your admin know about your plans ahead of time. Maybe they don't want to look at your lesson plans, but having something written up that maps out your lessons and objectives and ties them to your standards can show them what you're planning and explain your rationale.
The American School Counseling Association's ethical standards, position statements (the equity and cultural diversity ones in particular), and student mindsets & behaviors all support you doing social justice work within the school, including delivering social justice lessons to elementary students.
Helping Teachers Include it In Classroom
Elementary students need repetition and reinforcement for anything we teach them. That includes understanding identity, valuing diversity, identifying injustices, and standing up for others. Even the best lesson might just be planting seeds.
One way to continue the growth, though, is through teacher extensions. Even a daily follow-up question for a week after the lesson can help to expand and cement the learning.
Of course, if we want teachers to do this, we must make it quick and easy for them by providing them with the prompts. Below is an example from a lesson on understanding justice and identifying injustices.
Read Children's Books About Identity and Diversity
Like with any other big topic we want to tackle with our students, books can help us make an impact and help our students connect with the lesson. Sometimes, talking about the author of a book and their story can also be powerful, like with Sonya Sotomayor's Just Ask!.
The books you choose will likely be specific to the demographics and needs of your students. There are a million and one lists out there, and Googling can be overwhelming. Here are my favorite curated lists on these topics:
The Conscious Kid: Antiracist Children's Books
The Responsive Counselor: Books to Teach Kids About Identity, Diversity, and Social Justice
Include Relevant Examples about Accepting and Celebrating diversity
Besides having a positive relationship with your students, making learning relevant to them is the most powerful strategy for student engagement. Teaching Tolerance discusses the importance of students understanding the history and historical impacts of injustices.
I agree. However, counselors have limited time and often need help incorporating historical and modern-day relevant examples. Focusing your social justice lessons with elementary students on examples that your students can connect with makes them more powerful.
For example, most students are already aware (or are becoming aware) of stereotypes related to types of dogs, like pit bulls versus golden retrievers. This non-threatening example provides scaffolding before moving on to gender and age, other identities students can relate to hearing (or having) stereotypes about.
Most schools host at least one fun evening event to which parents are invited. And most students have at least one friend whose father isn't able to be super involved. Examples of injustices like a "Daddy Daughter Dance" are thus examples they can connect with.
Or examples where a student with academic struggles (and maybe a disability) is excluded. This doesn't mean you can only use super relevant examples. You can expose them to situations they are less familiar with, too. It helps to include at least a few that they will "get" immediately as you scaffold their learning.
So that you know, your examples need to be relevant without being triggering or isolating. If a student in a class has a parent who was deported, an instance with that might not be the best fit.
You also don't want an example that seems to single someone out. For example, a scenario about an accent if only one student in the room has one. Of course, you know your students and what is best for them - those are just some things to think about.
Teach Them the relevant Social Skills
A lot of the learning within identity, diversity, justice, and action is about self-awareness and knowledge acquisition. And that is super important! However, it is also essential that students learn some specific social skills they can apply to make their classrooms, schools, and communities better places.
One important skill is knowing how and when to talk and ask about differences. Provide them with sentence stems and then different scenarios to practice with!
Another skill to explicitly teach and model is being an upstander, speaking up when they see or hear discrimination/unfair treatment. You can practice different statements together and then role-play using them in relevant situations.
Quick concluding note: Delivering classroom guidance lessons related to social justice is just one part of our work as counselors. There is more to developing anti-bias schools and helping students develop critical and compassionate thinking. I highly recommend exploring the Teaching Tolerance website and continuing to do your learning to unpack your biases and better understand systemic injustices (Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? is one great place to start).
Other Confident Counselors blog posts you might find helpful:
How do you teach these skills to students?
Share your tips below!
