I have found Anne Sibley O’Brien and Dr. Andrea Breau’s protocol to be highly effective in deepening our classroom conversations around race. 

My school’s literacy curriculum, Mossflower, teaches into great interactive read aloud practices that promote students noticing, wondering, and thinking deeply about the picture books we read. That being said, but I hadn’t facilitated conversations that explicitly named racial differences, until after learning this protocol. 

Because the protocol was modeled with Someone New, that was the title I first tried the RENEW protocol with. Students right away named the differences they noticed about the students on the cover – their skin color, hair, clothing, body language. Then, as we read, there was so much power in making connections and identifying the similarities between emotional responses we have also felt in an unfamiliar space, surrounded by unfamiliar people. Next, we named things we could do that could help make someone new feel welcomed – what we would want, if the roles were reversed. Finally, we brought it back to our MLS school values regarding being kind and welcoming to all. 

I’m looking forward to continuing to use this protocol with the remainder of the IYNB we will read in the classroom.