Exploring Inclusivity in Writing Workshop

A Backstory

When my oldest daughter, Wren was much younger, I remember bringing home a box of skin-colored markers for her. Our family is multiracial and I wanted to make sure she had the right colors to accurately represent the people in her life in her drawings. I have scoured my photos, looking for a snapshot of what Wren drew that day with the markers. I can’t believe I didn’t snap a picture, but it is etched clearly in my mind. Wren quickly grabbed a tan marker and got to work. She drew a wobbly circle for her head and a wobbly oval for her body. There were sticks for her arms and legs. Then, right in the middle of her body was a dot for her belly button. Of course, she had to draw herself naked and maximize the amount of skin showing if she was using skin-colored markers!

Every year, when buying school supplies, I always purchase a skin-colored set of crayons for each of my three daughters. I want to ensure they have the tools to represent themselves and the people they choose to include in their drawings and writing. 

Why It Matters

In the 2023 Kindergarten Unit of Study, Launching the Writing Workshop, authors Lucy Calkins, Katrina Davino, and Amanda Hartman include an entire session to teach students that writers choose “just-right colors.” Similar to the way we could coach students to reach for the color to best match their hair or eyes, we could also encourage students to do the same when choosing the right colors to match skin tones. “Research shows that babies as young as three months notice differences in skin color, hair texture, and other physical traits (Sullivan, Wilton, and Apfelbaum 2021). When we avoid talking with children about these differences, we can send a message that there is something wrong with being different from one another” (p. 21). We need to give students the tools and the vocabulary to represent themselves and the world around them, in pictures and words.

As a Coach

As a literacy coach, I want to ensure that our school fosters a culture where everyone feels that they belong and are welcome. Here are some ways that I am thinking about this work as it pertains to writing workshop:

• Provisioning Writing Centers: At our school, all of our writing centers have skin-colored tools, including crayons, colored pencils, and markers that students use as they work to choose “just-right colors.” 

• Mentor Texts: I am always looking for quality mentor texts that can serve as windows and mirrors for our school community. I want to ensure that all students see themselves in the books on our shelves and the books we choose to read aloud and study as mentors. As we work with students, like our kindergarteners, to select “just-right colors,” we can observe how the authors of the books we read do that same work.

• Modeling: Last year, I realized that when I modeled writing or did shared writing with students, I often left color out of my work completely. Now, I’m thinking about modeling and naming for students how I choose the right colors to represent the people in my stories accurately. I’m also trying to model stories with more diverse characters. I hope this will help students feel comfortable bringing more of themselves into their writing and also to create opportunities for our community to engage in conversations about what makes us unique.

Go Deeper

Bellen’s More Than Peach Project: If you haven’t read Bellen Woodard’s picture book, More Than Peach, you should check it out. Bellen was a student who recognized a need for crayons that better represented a variety of skin tones. Her story is a great mentor for students’ voices and the change they can inspire.

Raising Race Conscious Children: The goal of Raising Race Conscious is to facilitate conversations between children and the adults in their lives about race.

Reference
Calkins, et. al. (2023).  Launching the Writing Workshop. Heinemann.