Appreciating the nuanced conversation around Which One Doesn't Belong.

Christopher's post reminded me of the #WODB that I use to bring some tensions to my classroom.

A story about naming things... https://twitter.com/Trianglemancsd/status/1338874658653937668

One of the first times I used this #WODB set, a student said "5 doesn't belong because it's black", and when I tell you that phrasing had all the kids looking at me like

I couldn't believe how tense they got! I made joke about it and refocused the group, but I was intigued.

So I tried it a few more times in different settings (once at a staff meeting) and waited to see how the room felt.

Canadians generally do not contend well with Blackness, and this was a few years ago, so it was awkward to name most of the time.

So ridiculous, so interesting.

I started using it intentionally to see where a particular group of students were at - would there be tension? If there was tension would someone make a joke or name it?

I LOVE these moments of tension in my classroom beause they point to important things that are going unnnamed

So I name it. I name the fact that we are stumbling around the word black and wonder aloud what we must think about the word that we can't even call black things black.

Or someone says "that's racist" - because they're teenagers - then we talk about that.

It's such a small example but the combination of "Black" + "not belonging" could cause tension even when humans weren't invovled - THAT is important.

I love these conversations because naming taboos & surfacing subtext is critical work in building a safe community to learn in.

Naming things is especially important in places like Canada & cities like Ottawa that value politeness/civility to the extent that much of the racism you experience is a kind of quiet exclusion & palpable social tension.

You are told you don't belong without anyone saying a word

It is not polite to name things, it is not polite to say Black.

So I name hesitation, if it's there. Then I say that I'm Black and they can call me Black because that's part of my identity. I want us to name our identities in our classroom, because our identities are valued.

It's not a long conversation, just a quick few words to set the classroom tone early.

Another tale to add to the #WODB discussion :)

This also came to mind after reading @edifiedlistener's much more instructive thread on talking about justice in phys ed https://twitter.com/edifiedlistener/status/1338472600964653059

Funny thing that Black folks in Canada can all tell you is how someone was so uncomfortable saying the word Black that they have used "African American" as a racial descriptor...about Canadians...in Canada...

When we say Canada has a long way to go...

Reading this back and still tripping about how wild it is that so many kids felt weird saying black in front of a Black person

Folks want to have courageous conversations but this is where my city is at. Still trying to wrap my head around this level of silence & repression.