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Silence speaks volumes. Our students are listening.

Dare to dream big about what senior year could be.

This teacher argues that educators can’t shy away from discussing the current political climate. Students need to learn how to navigate explosive, emotional conversations in ways that nudge the discourse back toward civility.

Prepare yourself to discuss race, racism and other difficult topics with students.

A young language arts student teacher directed her class to “close your eyes and imagine what your characters might look like.” I was observing her second-ever presentation to one of the classes where she would practice-teach for the next few weeks. “Details are very important in descriptions,” she continued, “but you can’t write about them if you can’t see them. Maybe you want to write about a beautiful young girl. Think about the details. She’d have big blue eyes and long blond hair, and her hands would be slender and delicate.” As she spoke, I watched her seventh-grade students. They represented the lower-middle-class school’s racial and ethnic mix pretty well: About half of them appeared to be Hispanic, almost a third could be considered African-American and the rest looked Caucasian. I didn’t see a blond hair or a blue eye among them. Most also had round, soft bodies.

Careful planning, thoughtfulness and alliances will help educators avoid the pitfalls of Black History Month.