full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Liz Kleinrock: How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics

Unscramble the Blue Letters

So, a few yeras ago, I was beginning a new unit on race with my fourth-graders. And whenever we start a new unit, I like to begin by having all the students list everything they know about it, and then we also list questions we have. And I had the type of mnoemt that every teacher has nightmares about. One of my students had just asked the qoistuen, "Why are some people racist?" And another setdnut, let's call her Abby, had just raised her hand and volunteered: "Maybe some polepe don't like black people because their skin is the color of poop." Yeah, I know.

Open Cloze

So, a few _____ ago, I was beginning a new unit on race with my fourth-graders. And whenever we start a new unit, I like to begin by having all the students list everything they know about it, and then we also list questions we have. And I had the type of ______ that every teacher has nightmares about. One of my students had just asked the ________, "Why are some people racist?" And another _______, let's call her Abby, had just raised her hand and volunteered: "Maybe some ______ don't like black people because their skin is the color of poop." Yeah, I know.

Solution

  1. question
  2. years
  3. student
  4. moment
  5. people

Original Text

So, a few years ago, I was beginning a new unit on race with my fourth-graders. And whenever we start a new unit, I like to begin by having all the students list everything they know about it, and then we also list questions we have. And I had the type of moment that every teacher has nightmares about. One of my students had just asked the question, "Why are some people racist?" And another student, let's call her Abby, had just raised her hand and volunteered: "Maybe some people don't like black people because their skin is the color of poop." Yeah, I know.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
teachable moment 2
dark skin 2
topic taboo 2
teaching kids 2
young learners 2
mass incarceration 2
speaks volumes 2

Important Words

  1. abby
  2. asked
  3. beginning
  4. black
  5. call
  6. color
  7. hand
  8. list
  9. moment
  10. nightmares
  11. people
  12. poop
  13. question
  14. questions
  15. race
  16. racist
  17. raised
  18. skin
  19. start
  20. student
  21. students
  22. teacher
  23. type
  24. unit
  25. yeah
  26. years