Aiding journal 5

Oakes, J., Lipton, M., Anderson, L., & Stillman, J. (2013). Teaching to change the world (4th ed.). Boston
[Mass.: McGraw-Hill College.

When we worked on a project of making a Roy G. Biv, with a face and colorful hair, in the beginning I
had some doubts with the faces and the colors. I know that when I went to school, students would
always want their own flesh color for the face. For the Roy G. Biv, there was only two white faces.
There were other faces that were tan, and others that were darker skinned. When I made the example I
used one of the darker skinned. When I passed out the faces, I was surprised that there were many
students wanted the darker faces and wanted to be like the example. It made me wonder if I used a
lighter skinned head color what would have happened. I thought it was amazing to have first graders not
worry what color head they used and enjoyed the craft. It was such a difference experience and I
thought it was amazing that there was no fighting about head colors and that the students chose and
worked hard for the amount of time they had.
In the Oakes and Lipton book, it says, Most scientists now agree that race cannot be a valid scientific
category, because the genetic differences between races are insignificant compared to those within
them (pg 55). I think that there is not as much racism as there was in the past. I just thought due to
personal experience with the choosing of the face color that more students would want the skin closer
to theirs, but once I did this craft I realized how wrong I was. I think it is amazing to have students that it
did not matter to have a certain color. I think it is a good lesson to say that race is not a scientific
category and also that a student can do a craft with different colored skin and its ok.