Guiding DEIB Work Through Student Voices

By DEIB Director Leslie Sinsay

A few years ago, I began doing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) work in earnest with children. I approached it vigorously, determined to teach children about justice and injustice. I read books, listened to podcasts, attended conferences, and followed the advice of learned people in the field. Afterward, I felt the urgent need to bring that knowledge directly to students. I believed that if I wasn’t robustly incorporating DEIB-related activities and readings, I wasn’t serving children. 

In my early efforts in teaching DEIB, I reverted to a mindset that children needed concepts and ideas poured into their heads. As a progressive educator with over 30 years of experience teaching in progressive schools, I knew better. I also knew it was 2020, and a strong sense of urgency around DEIB work made it feel fundamentally different from other subjects.

As someone who understands the link between emotions, emotional safety, and cognition, I worried I would fail students if I didn’t convey the urgency surrounding DEIB work. I thought that if I taught with a sense of urgency and emotion, children would develop the same feelings around the lessons. In that process of thinking, I temporarily lost sight of a fundamental truth: the best learning happens when children feel connected to the work that they are doing. And what I remembered was, you can’t force a connection. I needed to allow them to be more than just receivers of information. We often learn from our students, and our success as educators lies in remembering that simple fact.

I co-teach Justice/Fairness and Social Emotional Learning in Early Childhood through 4th Grade biweekly with Counselor Megan White Schneider. This school year, we focused on identity and power by exploring the natural curiosity children bring to these topics. Organically, children wonder who they are and what power they have as they begin to notice the world around them, encountering power dynamics on the playground, at school, and at home. When children feel a natural and emotional connection to a subject, they are more eager to explore it and dive deeper. Research has shown the link between emotion and cognition, highlighting the importance of fostering emotional connections in learning. 

I recently finished As We Begin by Tia Henteleff, an Early Childhood teacher and lead researcher at the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. Henteleff writes, “We cannot view emotion and cognition as two separate aspects of learning and development. Emotions are not just by-products of the learning that happens in a classroom. They are directly related to cognitive performance, academic achievement, [and] health.” We strive to help children connect emotionally to all subjects, however DEIB work draws out a particularly profound response because it centers on caring for others as well as themselves. We especially encourage children to explore and be attentive to that.

In DEIB work, we do provide direct instruction, helping children navigate real-world events and complex topics. However, the deepest learning occurs during reflection, as students explore both the topic and the emotions it evokes. They don’t come to this work as blank slates—some have more exposure than others, but all children are naturally critical and analytical thinkers. This inherent readiness allows us to meet them where they are and build on their understanding.

When I first started engaging deeply with DEIB education, I focused on what I could teach, but this year has reminded me that real growth happens when we create space for children to feel, connect, lead, share, and learn.