How can we introduce social justice topics to young learners in a meaningful way? In this episode of Teaching Channel Talks, Dr. Wendy Amato sits down with Dr. Shelby Kretz, founder of Little Justice Leaders, to discuss the importance of teaching social justice at the elementary level. Discover how Little Justice Leaders’ curated educational boxes empower teachers and parents to guide children in understanding diversity, inclusion, and other significant themes. As she reflects on her own journey, Dr. Kretz explains how early exposure to justice paves the way for impactful, lifelong change in communities.
Our Guest
Dr. Shelby Kretz is the creator of Little Justice Leaders, an organization that provides social justice education resources for educators and families. Little Justice Leaders offers a monthly subscription box for parents and teachers that provides resources each month to learn about social justice and has sent over 17,000 learning kits to parents and teachers around the world. Shelby earned her Ph.D. in Education from UCLA, and her dissertation explored social justice education at the elementary school level. Over the past decade, Shelby has worked with thousands of parents, teachers, and school leaders to bring social justice education to elementary-aged kids.
Connect with Little Justice Leaders on Instagram.
Our Host
Dr. Wendy Amato is the Chief Academic Officer at Teaching Channel’s parent company, K12 Coalition. Wendy earned her Master’s in Education and Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Virginia. She holds an MBA from James Madison University. Wendy began teaching in 1991, has served as a Middle School Administrator, and still teaches at UVA’s School of Education. She has delivered teacher professional development workshops and student leadership workshops in the US and internationally. Wendy and her family live near Charlottesville, Virginia.
Resources for Continued Learning
In this episode, Dr. Wendy Amato and Dr. Shelby Kretz discuss how educators and parents can introduce social justice topics in ways that resonate with young children. To continue this journey and bring practical, impactful tools to your classroom, we encourage you to explore these valuable resources.
Start by diving into the Creating an Inclusive Classroom Culture Mini-Course. This course offers educators step-by-step guidance to create learning spaces where every student feels represented and valued.
Looking to enhance the diversity in your curriculum? Little Justice Leaders’ comprehensive Checklist to Deepen Classroom Representation can help you evaluate and broaden the materials and voices included in your lessons.
Make complex topics approachable for students with the “Explained for Kids” YouTube series. Designed to break down intricate social justice themes into kid-friendly explanations, this series supports teachers and parents in sparking meaningful discussions.
Finally, engage your students with hands-on learning by trying out 3 Activities to Teach Kids About Social Justice. These activities provide a fun, interactive way for children to explore important concepts while building empathy and understanding.
Podcast Transcript
Dr. Wendy Amato: Welcome to Teaching Channel Talks. I’m your host, Wendy Amato. And as often as I can, I jump into conversations about topics that matter in education. What’s more important than social justice? It’s my pleasure to welcome Dr. Shelby Kretz of Little Justice Leaders. Shelby brings social justice to elementary students.
Thanks for being my guest.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Thank you so much for having me, Wendy. I’m very excited for this conversation.
Dr. Wendy Amato: You’ve spent more than a decade working with kids and families to facilitate learning experiences. What inspired you?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah, great question. So I started off actually studying psychology in my undergrad and ended up kind of stumbling into creating a non profit organization for Supporting girls and through an after school program, and that’s actually
Dr. Wendy Amato: nobody stumbles into creating Profit where what’s your drive here?
You’re you’ve got a mission centered way of being
Dr. Shelby Kretz: I do I’ve always been very driven by Trying to do something meaningful and useful in the world, I think, at least in a very small corner of it. And it was actually a conversation with two friends, both, uh, all three of us had grown up in different countries around the world.
And we were just talking about our experiences as women and decided we want to do something. And that’s kind How it blossomed.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Okay. So you started a nonprofit. Tell me about that.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah. So I ended up, um, working with my co founders and running that for a few years and it really just made me fall in love with education.
We were working in some of the lowest performing schools in the state of Ohio and just seeing the brilliance, the creativity of the girls that we had the chance to work with and knowing how much our school system was failing them really drove me to say, This is my life’s work. I want to, I want to work in education.
Dr. Wendy Amato: So at that time, that was an after school program for girls.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yes.
Dr. Wendy Amato: And now you’ve evolved into the Little Justice Leaders. What is that all about?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah, so Little Justice Leaders is a separate and new initiative. No, it’s been about six years. And what we do is we help parents and teachers educate their elementary school kids about social justice.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Define social justice for me, because I suspect it means different things to different people.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: It absolutely does. So we focus on, um, teaching kids to be kind, be compassionate, value diversity, genuinely appreciate the need for representation and inclusion, and recognize the value of everyone and all the different unique identities that they bring.
So that’s how we think about it in terms of, you know, the elementary schoolers.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Shelby, help me understand what kinds of topics and themes are explored in the boxes that you all develop.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Absolutely. So we cover a wide range of themes, pretty much anything under social justice, you can imagine. Some specific examples of our recent boxes include climate change, refugee experiences, celebrating neurodiversity, civic engagement, Black changemakers, caring for our mental health, and more.
bodily autonomy, celebrating pride, understanding systemic racism, fighting for what’s right, indigenous resistance movements, digital media literacy, and colorism are some of our recent ones.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Wow. Okay. So this is a wide range of topics. There’s going to be something for everybody, something maybe that they identify with or have had experience with, and certainly something that would help them expand their understanding of the needs of others.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: That’s the goal. So we want kids to see themselves represented in the boxes and also learn about folks who are different from them.
Dr. Wendy Amato: That’s perfect. Now, when you explore these topics, you’re creating boxes. What’s included in a box?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah, great question. So every box is going to have a kid’s book that is going to approach the theme, obviously, in an accessible way for young people.
It’s going to have a set of information cards for the adult to educate themselves and feel confident. Those cards are going to include things like, Conversation starters with kids and tips for adults before you get started so that you can feel really confident going into this topic even if it’s not something that you’re very familiar with.
It’s also going to include a hands on craft project for the kids, a piece of art which is going to be a sticker, a magnet, a poster, something fun like that, and access to a bunch of digital resources that include lesson plans for teachers seamlessly into their classroom. I
Dr. Wendy Amato: hear you describing the box contents with something for the student, something for a care provider, and something for an educator.
That’s a lot.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Absolutely. It is. And we hope that the teachers and parents will use the pieces that are most useful to them because it is a lot and it can be very overwhelming. So it’s really to provide lots of options so that they can use what they need and then come back to it in the future as well as their kids grow.
Dr. Wendy Amato: There seems to be a growing trend related to subscription boxes, things like snacks from around the world or, um, pencil cases that really, like, the, the variety is spiking. Amazing. Talk to me about why your boxes are different and how they’re special.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah, it’s a great question. So we went with the subscription model because simply what I said before, there are so many topics to cover and we’ve never run out of topics so far in almost six years of doing this.
And so that’s why it is subscription. Now, how we’re different. We are not going to say that we’re stuffing 200 worth of products into a 50 box. That’s not our goal. Our goal is education. The value of this box is in the content is in simplifying very complex and difficult topics, bringing in experts. So you don’t have to do all that research.
You don’t have to figure out, how do I talk about this with a third grader? Because we’ve done that for you. And so it’s really not about, you know, how much value, how much stuff can I get in one box, but it’s really more about, you know, how can I create a learning experience that’s meaningful for my students and my kids.
Dr. Wendy Amato: People probably appreciate having resources that have been curated by people who have taken time to have deep understanding of controversial issues. How does your team decide what gets in and what’s left on the floor?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah, great question. So we work every month once we’ve determined the theme. Now determining the theme is a mix of looking at current events.
What are people talking about? What do they care about? We have a very strong pulse on what’s going on in the social justice community. And Also, what’s important, right? Just because people aren’t talking about a topic doesn’t mean it’s not important. So we’re paying attention to all of those things when we choose our themes.
Once we’ve chosen the theme, we always identify what we call our content leaders, and these are folks who have lived experience and are actively fighting for justice in that area. So for example, if it’s a box about disabilities, these are going to be folks with disabilities who are also disability advocates.
So, these people are very close to the issue. We have multiple of them so that we have multiple perspectives, right? Two people with disabilities are going to have two different ideas about what should be taught. So then we bring these multiple folks together and get everyone’s ideas and pull them together into a curriculum.
Everyone approves it, kind of, you know, it’s a lot of back and forth working together to determine what stays in and what’s left out.
Dr. Wendy Amato: I wanna ask the tough questions right now, Shelby. Okay. And it really boils down to this thought of, are we exposing young people to topics that are too mature for them? Or are we planting seeds, uh, lines of thinking before a student’s brain?
Is there naturally, how do you manage that? When people say, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is too much.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: So many people think that kids are too young for these topics, and I completely understand that concern because we don’t want to, you know, do too much too soon, and we certainly don’t want to plant seeds of bias that they might not have had.
One thing is that research shows kids as young as three and four are already developing gender and racial bias. So, to think that we’re kind of, beating them to it. Unfortunately, we usually are not. They probably are already developing these biases subconsciously, even if you’re raising them in a very progressive environment.
Now, that being said, still, the reality of today’s world is that kids have access to media like never before. So, Even if you are limiting your child’s screen time, they’re likely hearing about what’s going on in the news at school from their friends from the neighborhood kids, even if you try really hard to protect them.
We all know when we open TikTok or Instagram or any social media app. We’re seeing lots of things that are going on in the world, and we have to assume our kids are seeing those things, too. And so the reality is, no matter how much we want to protect them and shelter them, they’re probably already hearing about and seeing these things, and if we’re not guiding the conversations, then it’s likely to lead to misunderstanding, confusion, bias, and in the worst cases, even hatred.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Okay, so you’re saying that students at all ages, children of all ages, are exposed to more than we may believe. How do we know that you’re treating the topics in an age appropriate way?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Good question. This is so important because we have to think about how young people’s brains develop when they learn, and this is the case for all educators.
We are, A team of education experts, so I have a PhD in education and our team is made up of educators who are always thinking about, you know, how is this going to land for a 5 year old for a 7 year old for a 10 year old. So we’re very, very mindful of brain development. Child psychology and how to make sure to give the tools and resources to educators and parents so that they can do it in a way that’s going to meet children where they’re at.
And a lot of times it just starts with asking the kids, Hey, what do you know about this topic already? Because that gives you a lot of information about where to start and, um, you know, where they’re ready to go and where they’re maybe not ready to go.
Dr. Wendy Amato: You have a Ph. D. in urban education from UCLA. How does that inform the decisions that you make in an educational way?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Absolutely everything. So that program, um, you know, through my learning there, I was able to work with so many different educators, schools, students, and parents, and, um, just, you know, learn from all of the stakeholders in education settings. And I started my research in, um, working with high school age students, young people who were involved with the juvenile justice system.
So very different population, um, Before that, I was working, like I said, in afterschool programming and as a school counselor. So kind of just through all of those different experiences, I’ve kind of built this understanding of how kids learn and how parents and teachers are able to support kids and what they need in order to be able to support kids.
Dr. Wendy Amato: I appreciate that. I think that the advanced studies and holding that terminal degree really should give people some assurance of the quality of the materials that you’re sending out. There’s a deep understanding of what influences learning brain based learning theories of understanding how to tackle tough issues.
And that makes a difference.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: I hope so. I really do.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Shelby, talk to me a little bit about how home and school work together. Do you make recommendations?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: So in an ideal world, parents are reinforcing lessons that teachers are bringing to the classroom and teachers are reinforcing those lessons that kids are learning at home.
But we know we’re not living in an ideal world. I would love for parents to be using the same box at home that their teachers using in the classroom because kids need reinforcement and it helps with learning. Just to see things in different contexts, different settings. That’s a huge aspect of learning.
Now, the reality is a lot of parents don’t have access to these resources for a variety of reasons. And a lot of teachers don’t or can’t use these resources in their classroom for a number of reasons. So I say, you know, if we can reach a child either at home or at school, that’s a win. And. Long term, absolutely.
This should be seamlessly integrated in their lives because social justice, it’s not a lesson, right? It’s not where you have a 45 minute session on, you know, one specific type of topic. It’s really something that they live. It’s values. It’s morals. It’s how they see the world. And so ideally, it is seamless between school and home.
Dr. Wendy Amato: One of the great advantages I can imagine would be shared vocabulary. You could have Well, a home environment conversation and a school environment conversation intending to explore a shared concept. But if the language doesn’t match up, sometimes that can leave a disconnect for the learner.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: It definitely does.
And what we see sometimes is our learners correcting their parents or correcting their educators because they have learned the language and they have learned, you know, how to talk about these topics. And most of the time it’s well received, right, to see, uh, your child. Calling you out for, because we all have biases, we all have things that we could change and improve in our language and, um, things that should be acknowledged.
And so, you know, I’ll hear from grandparents whose, you know, grandchild was correcting them on something that they said about gender. And I think those moments are actually really great because it also reminds us that we’re not the only ones educating our kids. Our young people can be educating us too.
So I think it kind of creates this environment where the kids have some. Some knowledge that maybe the adults in their life don’t have.
Dr. Wendy Amato: I want to take a moment and invite you to brag about the amazing team that you’ve assembled. Talk to me about some of your team members, the work that they do and the things that make you proud of them.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah. So we are a small, but mighty team. We’re all, um, part time contractors, but, um, They’re incredible. So our administrative assistant Sonali does absolutely everything for the team. Everything behind the scenes that you can imagine. Sonali is on top of it. She’s amazing. We have a curriculum writer, Katie, who’s a parent and former educator and does tons of social justice curriculum.
Absolutely brilliant when it comes to that work. And then we also have content creators who create content for free that goes out online to make sure that everyone can access these resources, even if they can’t get the box subscription right now. So we have some absolutely incredible, um, folks who create that free content online.
So thank you. Like I said, super small team, but we’re very proud of the group that we’ve assembled, um, very diverse, different perspectives coming from different, um, places in the world and different experiences. And so, you know, all together, we’re able to bring a lot of different perspectives to the table.
And then of course, there’s the content leaders who we work with every month. So every month we have. between three and five, usually content leaders. And so, you know, each year you can imagine we’re working with around, around 40 or so. Um, and so those folks also bring brand new perspectives to the table.
And so it’s, yeah, kind of just this huge interconnected web of folks working together with very diverse, um, perspectives and experiences.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Talk to me about your website. Imagine that you’re offering some guidance to somebody visiting the website for the first time. What might you recommend for their initial exploration?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah, for the initial exploration, we do have like a one minute video on there that kind of gives you a bit of background if you don’t know much about what we do. It’s a great place to start. And you’ll see you can subscribe to the boxes right there on the website. So you’ll see, you know, subscribe now and you can learn more about the boxes.
We also have a blog That has a lot of really good and useful information on there, um, on all different kinds of topics that you can imagine. So I really would highly recommend checking that out. And if you are, you know, ready to bounce over to Instagram, um, we have even more free resources there, um, that can help support parents and teachers.
So, you know, if the box isn’t going to be the best option for you at this moment, go Go to our Instagram and get lots of free resources and just content all the time. That’s going to help you, you know, take baby steps and start to move in the direction of justice.
Dr. Wendy Amato: You and I are speaking to the education community.
So when you say free resources perk up, that’s fantastic. I think even on that website, you can scroll down and get a set of right away resources.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Yeah. So on, um, if you go to our Instagram and you go to the link in our bio, you’ll see lots of different kinds of resources there. If you join our email list, which you can do that on our website as well, you will get weekly resources with information, ideas, activities, suggestions, just right to your inbox that you can, you know, start to put into practice right away.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Shelby, beyond the boxes themselves, we’re talking about really important issues. What difference is it going to make? Aren’t we up against really huge obstacles like immovable objects, unstoppable forces? Why bother?
Dr. Shelby Kretz: We are up against huge obstacles, and that is why, for me, it’s so important to start at the elementary school level, just to start having these conversations, because once we get to middle school, high school, college, we all know how hard it is to change our minds.
We all know how hard it is to reverse bias, to reverse ideas that we’ve held our entire lives. So we need to start young, educating folks about justice, because what happens is, or what our goal is. is, is that, you know, our young people who go through this program or learn about social justice in any capacity will grow up not just to be activists, but they’re going to grow up to be doctors and nurses, educators, police officers, business people, and they are going to bring that knowledge, that awareness of Diversity, justice and inclusion to those spaces.
And that’s how we see long term change, I think, because then we have folks inside every institution advocating for change and advocating for what is right. So that is the long term goal.
Dr. Wendy Amato: In your words, I hear the joy that I feel when I think about how amazing young people can be. The things that they take for granted about everybody having value, or the way they can love unconditionally, the kindnesses, the generous gestures.
It really is an amazing thing to see and to encourage.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: It really is. Kids just have that, that sense of justice and fairness and kindness. And what we’re just doing is bringing that out, showing them it matters and, you know, helping them see how it fits into the world around them.
Dr. Wendy Amato: Let’s keep reinforcing some goodness out there.
Shelby, thank you for being my guest.
Dr. Shelby Kretz: Thank you so much, Wendy.
Dr. Wendy Amato: To our fellow educators, thank you for joining us in this great conversation. If you’d like to explore more or see some of the resources that Dr. Kretz and I were talking about today, please check out the show notes at teachingchannel. com slash podcast.
Be sure to subscribe on whatever listening app you use. It will help others to find us. I’ll see you again soon for another episode. Thanks for listening.
