Not Light, but Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom
Do you feel prepared to initiate and facilitate meaningful, productive dialogues about race in your classroom? Are you looking for practical strategies to engage with your students?
Inspired by Frederick Douglass's abolitionist call to action, “it is not light that is needed, but fire” Matthew Kay has spent his career learning how to lead students through the most difficult race conversations. Kay not only makes the case that high school classrooms are one of the best places to have those conversations, but he also offers a method for getting them right, providing candid guidance on:
- How to recognize the difference between meaningful and inconsequential race conversations.
- How to build conversational “safe spaces,” not merely declare them.
- How to infuse race conversations with urgency and purpose.
- How to thrive in the face of unexpected challenges.
- How administrators might equip teachers to thoughtfully engage in these conversations.
With the right blend of reflection and humility, Kay asserts, teachers can make school one of the best venues for young people to discuss race.
Reviews (29)
This book is on fire
Matthew Kay's brand new book Not Light, But Fire: How to Facilitate Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom is one of the best books on teaching I've read. This book offers that powerful blend of big ideas and concrete applications/illustrations that mark the best pedagogical writing. While the examples all focus on race-related conversations, the book strikes me as directly useful for talking about other historically-difficult conversations as well--if not, in fact, any conversation that needs to be meaningful. As a result of reading this book, I see my work cut out for me in the years ahead as a teacher. But I also have been able to immediately implement certain practices in my classroom, such as scheduling in more time to help students make personal connections with the course and with each other. Probably the three biggest takeaways for me are: a reminder of how important it is to build community (versus merely declaring a "safe space"), an exhortation to push past the simple and obvious answers to get to the hard questions (we don't have to settle for everyone just trotting out the usual, predictable stances), and the practical insight of linking race-related conversations to larger threads that run through the entire course. Though Kay writes specifically about a high school context, almost everything in the book applies, with a little adjustment, for college as well, which is what I teach. I have always taught my courses for over ten years now with a heavy emphasis on discussion. In recent years, conversations specifically related to race have been an important part of many of my classes. I wish I had this book when I was starting out. I am glad to have it now.
Finally a book that tells you HOW to have conversations about race in the classroom.
So many books talk about the need for conversations about race in the classroom, and this book gives a solid foundation of HOW to have those conversations. I appreciate the author’s openness about what has worked and what hasn’t worked in his classroom. He also gives an important perspective of thinking about the purpose, planning and intent of having conversations about race with students. This is a great and important read for teachers in the classroom today.
A Pedagogical Necessity
In 25+ years of service as a classroom instructor and principal I must comment author Matthew R. Kay has developed a book that needs to be part of all teacher college preparatory programs, infused in Professional Learning Community’s, and on the shelf of every educator NOW. Not Light, But Fire provides not only pedagogical perspectives and methods of conducting crucial conversations on race it is filled with classroom strategies that can be implemented immediately. I purchased this book for myself and read it in 3 days; now I’ve purchased an additional copy for our Staff Professional Learning Library.
Very important resource for teachers!
I am probably not the main target for this book, (I am an elementary school math specialist) but I just found so much of the book relevant to teaching in general. I learned a great deal about specific race issues, and I am amazed by the way Mr. Kay facilitates these conversations with students. One of the parts of the book that resonated with me was about names. I have always felt strongly that it is important to make the effort necessary to correctly pronounce others names, as names are a huge window into culture and identity. I think it should and will become a staple on every middle school/high teacher's bookshelf. It is valuable in and of itself to better understand race in America.
The Real Deal
As educators, we walk a fine line between having students embroiled in heated arguments versus guiding students towards difficult yet productive discussions. Within this book Kay shows you just how to create a classroom environment that allows for the latter. That’s not to say he gives you an easy 1-2-3 step solution. Quite the contrary, Kay gives an honest rendering of his classroom in order to illuminate the many difficulties of trying to have these critical race conversations. He also shows the many positive moments that can play out and illuminate classrooms that are formatted to have such dialogue. Like any good coach, Kay does not stop at storytelling, he also offers up drills. In this way, he acknowledges that teachers have various muscles and skills that they need to strengthen along the way to work towards their goals of having meaningful race conversations. You are thinking: what the heck are you talking about drills? Well I can't tell you the details, you are just going to have to trust me and buy the book. As mentioned by other reviewers, if you have the opportunity to hear Kay speak: do it! He is invigorating and inspiring, just like this book.
So good
I was assigned to read this book for one of my classes at my graduate program for teaching English to secondary education students and I absolutely loved it. The first thing I’d like to comment on is Mr. Kay’s decision to split the book into two parts—the first part having to do with the necessity of establishing a classroom environment that would allow for students to participate in meaningful race conversations and how to create those environments and the second part having to do with how to actually have race conversations with students. I found this format to be extremely powerful because it is absolutely true that no meaningful conversations can happen if the classroom environment does not permit them. Therefore, I really appreciated that Mr. Kay spent the time acknowledging this fact and providing helpful tips and suggestions from his own experience and practice to help us think about how we might set up our own classroom for these conversations rather than immediately diving into how to have the conversations. Upon opening the book, I was immediately struck by Mr. Kay’s discussion about “safe spaces.” The term is one that I have often heard and often used even to describe my goals for my future classroom yet I don’t believe I have ever learned about how exactly I could create these spaces. Prior to reading this book, a safe space for me was a space that was simply comfortable and accepting; it was a place where students could be vulnerable and share their thoughts and feelings without fear of being judged. Now, however, I realize that a safe space is that but also so much more. As Mr. Kay writes in suggesting how we might create these spaces, a safe space is a space in which everyone listens to each other both actively and patiently. It is also a space in which students must be aware of themselves and their classmates and must take both into consideration in order to offer everyone the space to speak if they wish to. Furthermore, a safe space is a space in which there is trust and community to enable something Mr. Kay accurately terms “house talk” to be had which describes the types of conversations that can occur between people who are very close to each other—the types of conversations like race conversations. The four topics of conversation Mr. Kay discusses are the N-word, the cultural significance of names, cultural appropriation, and pop-up conversations. I don’t want to give too much away about what Mr. Kay discusses here in my review but I just wanted to say that I am so grateful that Mr. Kay has written this book because I know that these conversations are difficult and challenging even with a classroom environment that enables them to be had. Moreover, I already know that I will inevitably struggle and perhaps even mess up at times, so I really do appreciate having this book to guide me in my endeavors to have these conversations with my students. Great read!
Every teacher should read.
Please...if you are a teacher, read this book. It could change your experience in the classroom, and your students’ lives.
Good read
I think the author did a great job of giving concrete ideas for how to build relationships with students and to then take those relationships to have conversations about race. Many culturally responsive teacher trainings say we need to build these relationships but don't explain how. Similarly many ed books don't explain how to navigate these difficult conversations. Kay does both really well. I highly recommend this book to all educators - but especially to high school teachers.
Practical strategies you can use in class tomorrow and beyond!
Matthew Kay uses reflection about his own practice to arrive at some super practical strategies to lead conversations about race in the classroom. His reflections are vulnerable and make him an authentic voice to listen to, because you can tell he has been on the journey it takes to arrive in a place where these conversations happen more authentically. I appreciated the emphasis places on relationships and how he always returns back to this ever important point!
Dealing in Fire
Kay is detailed and offers examples and classroom structures in the HOW to talk about race. I felt a little dwarfed by his massive presence.
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