Fort Worth Christian school encourages students to ‘see color’ when reading about race
Lake Como elementary school Rivertree Academy’s newest diversity-based literacy program challenges the notion that inclusion in schools means being blind to race and skin color.
“If you tell a kindergartner, first-grader, ‘We don’t see color,’ they have a hard time really understanding and processing that because they do. They see their differences,” said Justina Jenkins, head of school at the independent Christian school.
“We See Color” is a combined literacy and anti-racist program where each student gets two age-appropriate books that share an overlapping theme: respect each other’s differences. Teachers conduct exercises with their students about themes and lessons in the books, and students have take-home activities and read the books with their families.
Students started reading the books this semester.
Among the list of chosen books are “The Crayon Box That Talked” where a box of different-colored crayons don’t get along until they see the colored picture they created together. And “The Day You Begin”, a story about a student who looks different from the others in her class and the similarities she finds with them after sharing what she did over the summer.
“We’re trying to make the message concrete intentionally because that’s age appropriate for our students,” Jenkins said.
All of the books demonstrate “harmony through diversity,” Jenkins said.
Rivertree hosts students from 3-years-old to fifth grade that all attend on scholarship. The student demographics mirror the ones in Como with around 70% Black, 25% Hispanic and 5% white students, Jenkins said.
Jenkins said hearing the student discussion after reading the books is the most joyful part. Students often reflect on their own experiences based on the characters’ experiences in the books, she said.
“It gives them an opportunity to voice the questions and the concerns and things that they’ve heard in their homes,” she said. “We can help frame their thoughts and answer their questions in a more unifying way.”
Fifth grade teacher Taniesha Prescott said her class’ discussions of “The Day You Begin” have resulted in a lot of conversation.
“Everyone had a great deal to say,” Prescott said in an email. “My students have so many questions related to all these topics, and I want them to see how all their questions and concerns are connected to what we are learning in class.”
But she said students have varying responses.
“Some students are wondering why do we need to talk about this. Others are saying that their parents are talking about race all the time, and they are glad we are talking about it in class. Some are even stating that their parents don’t think we should talk about these things in school,” Prescott said.
The books are funded by the North Texas Community Foundation’s Fund to Advance Racial Equity (FARE).
“FARE is proud to support the academy in their efforts to begin forging race conversations with families and the community,” said Donna James-Harvey, FARE liaison at the North Texas Community Foundation.
But Jenkins distinguishes the proactive anti-racist initiative from the highly-debated critical race theory.
“I personally believe that has become very divisive,” Jenkins said. “I wanted to make sure that we’re not ignoring what is happening in our society and community. We’re not ignoring our history, but we’re teaching it in a way that brings unity.”
The theory that teaches American history’s connection to racism isn’t a part of Rivertree’s curriculum. But Jenkins said that doesn’t mean teachers and students don’t have discussions about race.
“Our students, they see differences. They hear it on the news. Their parents are talking about it,” Jenkins said. “To ignore it, I honestly feel like is an injustice; it’s an injustice to them, and it’s injustice to what they are witnessing at some level in their community.”
