I will first start out by saying... I had so much fun teaching a braiding lesson and helping out with the stamp lesson on Thursday at the African American Read In. I was exhausted by the end of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the different groups of 1st graders. I fully believe that it is extremely important for students to be exposed to African American authors and illustrators and for our African American kids to see that there are authors and illustrators out there that look like and share the same culture as them. I had the opportunity to work with many great elementary education volunteers, and they were extremely helpful when making sure that everyone got the help they needed. I found that if the large demonstration didn't fully make sense to all students, it worked well when we could give small demonstrations over while they were practicing braiding on their own. All kids ended up with at least one bracelet. We also found it helpful to reexplain with their own braid, basically letting them do it as one of us explained how to do it. Here is a page from the book if anyone is interested it's titled, "I Love My Hair".
I had the opportunity to have a conversation with a little African American girl where we talked about braiding, where she learned to braid, and how that fits into her family culture. She explained to me that she can't braid her own hair, but she spends time braiding the hair of her cousins and sisters. I think about how important hair is to African American culture. I read a book about this little African American girl loving her hair and the different styles that her mom fixes it in. It made the little girl I was able to have a conversation with so proud that she could already braid. She ended up making like three different braided bracelets. The thing that I took from this interaction is how important it is for my students to feel cultural representation and making it personal for them. I got to see the effect of this first hand and it will be a moment I won't forget.
Diversity matters. Feeling supported and represented matters. I knew going into Thursday that first graders had an amazing imagination, but their ability to listen to the book in the stamp making session and make a stamp based on something so emotional and still be able to be imaginative - The birthday cakes, horses, and scenes drawn and colored were amazing. I loved listening to the stories based on what they interpreted and imagined from the book. They are able to handle a book like that talks about slavery and to be honest I didn't know that they could handle a book that was so emotional. It was such a great experience talking to many students and what they came up with for their stamps. The room was full of some pretty great little artists. ♥️
I think you did an excellent job Denae, and I was so pleased with your hard work, professionalism and kindness. It is so important to make cultural connections and hair is an important part of African American culture. Braiding has a cultural history back to times of slavery. It can also have sentimental connections as children's hair is often braided by a parent or relative and since it is a long process, often times, stories are shared and good conversation occurs. We need to have these experiences and make these connections in our curriculum to validate African American student experiences and I think you did a great job of recognizing this.
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