Chapters 1-2 Summary and Analysis

Mrs. Paley is a kindergarten teacher in a mixed-race school. Mrs. Paley is white and has often struggled with how to deal with the racial differences between her black and white students. Mrs. Paley has used many approaches to this subject and shares her struggles to find the appropriate approach in this book.

In the preface, Mrs. Paley was having lunch with a student teacher who asked why she talked so much about the black children. Mrs. Paley was surprised by this question. The student teacher suggested that Mrs. Paley was less confident in her judgment where these students were concerned and this was why she reacted as she did. Mrs. Paley thought this through and realized she did not discuss other differences among the children as readily. As a result, Mrs. Paley began keeping notes about her classrooms...