Based on the latest research on race and early education, Teaching for Love and Justice: Learning About Race and Racism Alongside of Young Children lays out a roadmap for educators who are striving to integrate anti-racist teaching into their programs. The book explores the critical role that early childhood educators play in supporting children’s healthy racial identity development and in addressing issues of racial justice. Drawing on interviews with twenty-seven early childhood teachers based in New York City and working in a variety of settings, including Head Start Programs, independent preschools, and public schools, the book offers vignettes from the teachers’ classrooms as well as their perspectives on the joys, challenges, and necessity in addressing these topics. Their insights provide readers with a framework and strategies for doing this vital and complex work well.
"Kirsten Cole provides early childhood educators with a clear and compelling vision for teaching about race and racism in the early years. Teaching for Love and Justice provides a solid rationale for why we must do this important work and amplifies the voices of early childhood educators on how this work is done. My pre-service teachers will benefit greatly from this book that is not only easily digestible but also immensely powerful." —Denisha Jones, PhD, JD, Executive Director, Defending the Early Years
"Kirsten Cole's Teaching for Love and Justice is not a how-to manual with easy answers—and that's exactly what makes it invaluable. Engaging with young children around thorny social issues like race and racism is complex, vulnerable work, and Kirsten honors that reality by sharing the authentic voices of 27 early childhood educators who open their classrooms and share both promising practices and instructive missteps. In this important book, Kirsten deftly surfaces the deep questions, constant tensions, and boundless joys we experience when we engage our hearts and minds in this critical work. At a time when anti-racist education is under attack, the book offers what educators need most: honest portraits of the work, practical strategies they can adapt, and the inspiration to join children in building a more just and loving world." —Fabienne Doucet, PhD, Executive Director, Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools
"Using clear language and real-world examples, Kirsten Cole provides teachers with crucial resources that can help children make sense of race and develop positive feelings about their own racial identity and that of others. Coles encourages teachers to examine presuppositions about race; purposefully plan age-appropriate activities; respond thoughtfully as classroom situations arise; and prepare for open communication on the topic with families. In these ways, teachers can aid all children in gaining the attitudes and skills necessary to becoming confident and respectful participants in a classroom, and citizens in a diverse and democratic country and world." —Julie Diamond, Retired early childhood educator and author of?Kindergarten: A Teacher, Her Students, and a Year of Learning