Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction: Let's Start With Not Knowing Where to Start

Section I: Two Tips to Give You a Solid Start

Solid Start Tip 1: Let’s Try Listening to Each Other

Solid Start Tip 2: Let’s Make Room for Discovery

Section II: Your Flexible Four-Step Road Map

Step 1: Three Words to Help Keep Student Learning at the Center

Step 2: How to Decide What Really Matters in Your Classroom

Step 3: Create Boundaries that Support You and Your Students in the Classroom

Step 4: We All Have This. Pay Attention To Yours

Section III: Seven Connection Strategies to Help you Navigate Classroom Conversations About Race

Connection Strategy 1: A Quick Talk About Uncomfortable Moments in the Classroom

Connection Strategy 2: Read This if You Feel Completely Overwhelmed

Connection Strategy 3: You Have This Choice to Make When Students Start Trusting You

Connection Strategy 4: Lists for When You’re Worried Everything Will Go Wrong

Connection Strategy 5: Try This When You’re Not Sure What to do Next

Connection Strategy 6: Mini-Conversations for When Time is Tight

Connection Strategy 7: Make Tiny Tweaks in Your Classroom

Afterword: For When It Gets Tough

Where to Find Me: Want to Talk With Me Face-to-Face?

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Krystle Cobran creates conversations about race that open the doors of connection. Her work helps us weave our stories together so we can connect more and fear less. Krystle draws on her Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School; her Master of Public Policy from the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy at the College of William & Mary; her experience creating, developing, and teaching two conversation-driven undergraduate courses at the intersection of race and the law (Race & the Law and American Courts, Race, and Social Issues); her work as a speaker, consultant, and writer; and her love for human stories to transform seemingly impossible conversations about race into genuine dialogue that propels us forward. Her work begins with listening—to you. You can drop Krystle a note by visiting krystlecobran.com.