Not Light, but Fire

How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom

By: Matthew R. Kay

Narrated by: David Sadzin

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' 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.

©2018 Matthew R. Kay (P)2020 Tantor

Eye Opening and Inspiring!

This book has made me rethink and assess how I’m teaching and put me on the search for a similar boom geared toward early childhood classroom. Thank you!

Leaving from way toward how

What struck me most about this book was the sheer practicality of it. You can tell that it is inherently focused on how to initiate race-based conversations in the classroom and what are the under lying foundations required to do so successfully and respectfully.

Great ideas for classroom discussions!

He gives lots of practical information that could be used in any good classroom discussion. Not just discussions about race,

Best teaching book I’ve ever read.

From intro onward and upward. Everything broken down to most nutritious essentials How to teach listening, what to do first. Be ready to be patient . And for success if you are pure of heart like Kay. A master piece. - teacher