This week I read the novel, George, by Alex Gino. The novel is about a young girl whose biological sex is male, but she identifies as a trans woman. The main character, George - or per her request, Melissa - grapples with the overwhelming and undermining actions and transphobia of those around her, simply because of her gender identity. Melissa is a victim of bullying from those in school and at home, but she also has an incredibly compassionate and empathetic friend and ally to the LGBTQ community. The novel beautifully and realistically tells the story of Melissa coming out to herself, her closest friend, and her family, all while beginning to understand how gender attribution can and does affect her daily. Please see the end of this blog post to find definitions for the bolded words in the post. All definitions were directly retrieved from the website listed below (Jorgenson & Collins). For more information and resources regarding gender, please visit the website below. https://sites.google.com/view/gendermultimodaltextset/home?authuser=0 Another additional resource that was incredibly helpful for me is Alex Gino's Q&A at the end of George (Gino, 2015). The author very clearly and throughly answers various questions related to the LGBTQ community and how they related to their novel, George. Contemporary Topics Around the LGBTQ CommunityThe LGBTQ community has a strong voice for advocacy and rights in America. Unfortunately, many rights for this community are still being fought for today. One area that does not have a loud voice is education for children of or in the LGBTQ community. Suzanne Evans, Susan Gilbert, and Thomas Doyle (2017) noted that children typically establish gender identity by the age of 5. What is so shocking is not this fact, but the idea that classrooms today are not breaking the stereotypical norms around gender which convey that gender merely means "boy" or "girl" often only in terms of biological sex (Stachowiak, 2018). Dana Stachowiak (2018) also noted that merely learning appropriate terms and definitions is "incredibly important in cultivating gender inclusivity because it provides context and clarity and opens a space in hearts and minds for all genders." This idea is vital for educators and students; however, many educators have trouble identifying just how to do this in their own classrooms. Children's literature dedicated to breaking stereotypes and norms around the LGBTQ community needs to have a place in every classroom. Books provide vehicle by which children can build accurate and respectful representations of this community. This is drastically important right now because "research indicates that schools remain unsafe and unwelcoming for the majority of LGBT students" (Hermann-Wilmarth & Ryan, 2015). So many classrooms today lack quality inclusive books, and the quality books they have often "affirm stereotypical gender roles" (Evans, Gilbert, & Doyle, 2017). Additionally, certain school systems and teachers make it much harder to include and implement this type of curriculum in the classroom (Hermann-Wilmarth & Ryan, 2015). However, by ensuring these children have access to quality, critical books, we as educators are providing mirros, windows, and sliding glass doors for our students (Bishop, 1990). Fostering Inclusivity in Your ClassroomI would like to propose three main ideas for teaching LGBTQ-inclusive ELA in a classroom. These three approaches come from Jill Hermann-Willmart and Caitlin Ryan (2015). They proposed that teachers can choose to address LGBTQ topics by 1) including books with LGBTQ characters, 2) reading "straight" books through a "queer lens, or 3) queering LGBTQ-inclusive books. The first choice is simply to ensure books in your library feature characters who are part of the LGBTQ community. These books can disrupt single story narratives that may exist for LGBTQ characters and provide this community with a newer, stronger voice. The second option invites teachers to encourage children to critically analyze books that lack characters from this community in order to form opinions around the current normalized system of gender. The last approach essentially combines the first two approaches into one, and, in my opinion, is incredibly important to consider. This approach brings light to privilege among some LGBTQ individuals and states this: "People who claim both an LGBT identity and other typically privileged identities are able to rely on their privilege to be culturally accepted, to the detriment of other queer people who don't share those identities. That is, they might use their privileged to be "acceptable" gay people, maintaining access to benefits other are still denied rather than changing the overall system." All of these approaches push students to think critically while they read and offer opportunities that can lead to meaningful classroom discussions. Other ideas for classroom discussions are discussion questions and extension activities. The Anti-Defamation League published George as the book of the month in June 2016, and they offered various ideas for including George in your own classroom. Here are some of my favorite discussion questions they proposed: 1. Why do you think it upset George when her teacher said, "I know you'll turn into a fine young man?" 2. Why was George so hesitant to tell her mom that she is a girl? 3. What was George and Kelly's friendship like? 4. What did George mean when she said, "Sometimes transgender people don't get rights."? What do you know about the rights of transgender people? 5. How do you think it felt to George that everyone thought she was a boy but she knows she's a girl? Here some other ideas the authors proposed: 1. Discuss Transgender Identity This would be a great way to integrate vocabulary instruction and multimodal texts to show students that the LGBTQ community is under-represented. 2. Reading Response Writing Activities a) Write the Next Chapter of the Book b) Diary Entry of Character c) Book Review or Book Talk All of these options allow students to do that key identity work and allow themselves to deeply empathize with a character that they may have never understood before, or even never wanted to understand. 3. Being an Ally Discussion I think this may be one of the most important activities. Not all your students will be a part of the LGBTQ community, but they will all interact with someone who is at one point in their life. Having a discussion around being an ally can slowly build empathy and encourage advocacy and activism in students. This discussion can also easily lend itself to George, as students could use example from the book to find examples and nonexampls of allies. Gender Terminology (Jorgenson & Collins)"Biological Sex – – (noun) a medical term used to refer to the chromosomal, hormonal and anatomical characteristics that are used to classify an individual as female or male or intersex. Often referred to as simply “sex,” “physical sex,” “anatomical sex,” or specifically as “sex assigned [or designated] at birth.” "Gender Identity – (noun) the internal perception of an one’s gender, and how they label themselves, based on how much they align or don’t align with what they understand their options for gender to be. Common identity labels include man, woman, genderqueer, trans, and more." "Trans*/Transgender – (adj) (1) An umbrella term covering a range of identities that transgress socially defined gender norms. Trans with an * is often used to indicate that you are referring to the larger group nature of the term. (2) A person who lives as a member of a gender other than that expected based on anatomical sex." "Ally – (noun) a (typically straight‐ or cis‐identified) person who supports, and respects for members of the LGBTQ community. While the word doesn’t necessitate action, we consider people to be active allies who take action upon this support and respect, this also indicates to others that you are an ally." "Coming Out – (1) the process by which one accepts and/or comes to identify one’s own sexuality or gender identity (to “come out” to oneself). (2) The process by which one shares one’s sexuality or gender identity with others (to “come out” to friends, etc.)." "Transphobia – (noun) the fear of, discrimination against, or hatred of trans* people, the trans* community, or gender ambiguity. Transphobia can be seen within the queer community, as well as in general society. Transphobia is often manifested in violent and deadly means. While the exact numbers and percentages aren't incredibly solid on this, it's safe to say that trans* people are far more likely than their cisgender peers (including LGB people) to be the victims of violent crimes and murder." "Gender Attribution - (noun) how your gender is perceived by others. This can change depending on the people you’re around, the country you’re in, or even the time period. For example, although we might consider dresses to be stereotypically feminine, ancient Romans wore dresses or “togas” regardless of their gender, and a man wearing one at that time would be perceived as masculine." SourcesAnti-Defamation League (2016). Book of the Month. Retrieved from www.adl.org/education.
Bishop, R. S. (1990). Mirrors, Windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6, ix-xi. Evans, S., Gilbert, S., & Doyle, T. (2017). Discovering their identity: Using gender nonconforming picture books in early education classrooms. Literacy Today, 20-21. Gino, A. (2015). George. New York, NY: Scholastic. Herman-Wilmarth, J. M., & Ryan, C. L. (2015). Doing what you can: Considering ways to address LGBT topics in language arts curricula. Language Arts, 92(6), 436-443. Jorgenson, E., & Collins, A. (N/A). Gender: Identity, expression, roles, & stereotypes. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/view/gendermultimodaltextset/home?authuser=0. Stachowiak, D. (2018). The power to include: A starting place for creating gender-inclusive literacy classrooms. Literacy Today, 28-30.
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Books have the power to connect readers to complex ideas and events they may have never encountered before. Books also have the power to indulge readers in activism and promote power among them. The two books I read this week, Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed and Malala: A Brave Girl from Pakistan, Iqbal: A Brave Boy from Pakistan by Jeanette Winter, promoted a sense of power in readers and invited them to take action in their own lives. Related ThemesTheme is like the driving force of any story. However, until very recently, I have only ever equated theme with author's message. That is, I've only ever believed theme is a hidden message from the author that I, the reader, need to find in order to fully understand the story. Theme is more than that. Theme is a codeveloped lesson that both the author and reader create together, which means that theme may look slightly different to each reader. That is why the two books from this week were so intriguing to read. As I was reading both books, I was constantly looking for hints from the authors so I could begin to develop some lesson I may follow throughout each book. I must admit, though, I found this very challenging this week. I started by reading Jeanette Winter's book and I noted places that stood out to me. By the end of the book, I came to the conclusion that both children noticed that they were fighting for something that was bigger than them. Other people had shared their oppression and their struggles, and these children were fighting for change to impact hundreds of people. As I read Aisha Saeed's book, I struggled to find activism in Amal. Starting with Winter's book, I was too focused on the larger implications that came from Malala and Iqbal. My thoughts were limited to, "Sure she spoke up, but is that activism?" YES. It became overwhelming clear that activism is so intimidating to so many because it can be overwhelming to try and enact change for the mass. Activism can be for the good of a small community so long as it means action is taken to change a current issue affecting someone in a community. Aisha Saeed so gracefully conveys this idea in her author's note and says, "We don't have to make headlines to help change the world for the better. Everything we do in our communities and beyond to impart good is important and matters" (Saeed, 2018). One small act can go a long way and create a ripple effect. This is true for all types of activism. Classroom ImplicationsActivism holds an important place in every classroom. Teachers need to have the tools to engage students in activism that is meaningful to those students. I personally believe that finding an in for students to take action can be the hardest part of promoting activism in your classroom. Anchor texts, like Amal Unbound or Malala: A Brave Girl from Pakistan, Iqbal: A Brave Boy from Pakistan, are ideal starting points for students to begin to grapple with activism, define what it is, and create their own wonders. After these books are introduced, literature circles (Edwards) or book clubs (Laminack & Kelly, 2019) are opportune ways to invite students to grapple with new ideas. Activism is often intimidating and misunderstood, and I think creating small, safe environments for students to ponder the concept of activism is important in setting children up to successfully engage in activism themselves. As Laminack and Kelly (2019) suggest, book clubs should have questions as guides for students while discussing, including some of the following examples:
SourcesEdwards, A. (N/A). Re-visioning the world through multiple perspectives. Worlds of Words.
Laminack, L. L., & Kelly, K. (2019). Reading to make a difference: Using literature to help students speak freely, think deeply, and take action. Pourtsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Saeed, A. (2018). Amal unbound. New York, NY: Nancy Paulsen Books. Winter, J. (2014). Malala: A brave girl from pakistan, Iqbal: A brave boy from pakistan. New York, NY: Beach Lane Books. This week, I read two picture books that centered around Critical Race Theory (CRT). Critical Race Theory, as defined by Elizabeth Marshall (2016), is the idea that "racism is mundane and everywhere... the majority of racism remains hidden beneath a veneer of normality and it is only the more crude and obvious forms of racism that are seen as problematic by most people." The two books I read that address CRT were Can I Touch Your Hair, by Irene Latham and Charles Water; and Separate is Never Equal, by Duncan Tonatiuh. Please watch my short vlog to find out more! VlogAdditional InterviewIn light of changing my blog up a bit, I decided to add one additional component to this book. Both books touch on integration of schools; Separate is Never Equal touches on it much more obviously, but Can I Touch Your Hair creates two separate narratives revolving around children of two different races in the same classroom. Based on this, I conducted an interview with my dad because he was in schools when integration took place. Take a look at his thoughts and memories on the topic: The Interview: How old were you when schools were integrated? “I don’t remember exactly when it happened. I went through until 6th grade without any black people in my schools. The neighborhoods around me were mixed, it was just the schools. Actually, the bussing was what was such a big deal. It was a big deal because people were having to be moved away from their neighborhood schools. When I was growing up, you went to the school you could walk to. Bussing changed that, so most of the kids that were bussed were black.” How did the integration of schools make you feel at that time in history? “I mirrored what my parents thought which was that it was unfair to force people to move schools. It was a lot of money to do something that didn’t seem necessary at the time. Forced integration didn't mean the races got along. We were still segregated in schools because we didn’t get along. I had a lot of black friends outside of school, but in school I sat with the friends I grew up with. Today it’s still quite segregated.” Did you notice any immediate changes besides the physical presence of people who were a different race than you? “No. Society as a whole was very much still living within their own groups. 90% of your day was still segregated. It was only when big events happened, like when Alabama schools called in the national guard to ensure the federal government made integration happened. My life revolved around sports, to me it didn’t matter what color someone’s skin was because we were a team. Society was already integrated in my mind but at this point in time the federal government was just forcing it in schools.” How did others in your school welcome or ignore integration? “Like I said before, the schools were still segregated inside after integration happened. But there was almost no fighting in schools until Martin Luther King died. On that day, I was in a riot at Acock where people were getting bloodied up and I was trying to protect myself. My black friends were mad at me only because I was white. That was a horrible day. I remember looking outside and seeing the national guard. They had to come to stop the fighting. After that, there were small fights that continued to happen over time.” Was integration something that was acknowledged in school? “I didn’t know it was gonna happen. It happened and then we had a conversation at dinner with my mom and dad about it. Bussing did not happen for another year or so and I remember knowing about that beforehand but not integration. That was a bigger deal because we knew about it for a year before it happened and my parents weren’t understanding of it. The neighborhood I lived in was a neighborhood that was not allowed for colored people. They were worried that the value of your house would go down if people of color moved into your neighborhood. In fact, when we sold your grandmother’s house, we found original documents from the house that explicitly stated that in the 1950s when she bought the house, it was a “whites only” neighborhood. That would have changed when legislation passed later on, but when she bought it that was the case for her neighborhood.” “I think if you did this interview with someone from North Hills this would be a totally different conversation. Enloe was 60% white and 40% black. I saw, in that education, that there was a diverse group of capabilities in that race which is not what I was told. It was just like white people. In the other school, there was a smaller population of black people, so there would be less variation and they might have a different idea of what happened at that time, or even their opinion of black people now.” “There was another thing to bring up if you’re asking what young people at that time thought about in terms of integration. At the exact same time, Vietnam was going on and lots of young people were being drafted and not coming back home, so Vietnam was on everybody's mind. Integration was on the back burner because our country was already divided over something else. There was a large partition in society over whether or not we should have been in Vietnam. That was right around the same time Martin Luther King got killed.” Commentary: This interview was significant to me because unlike other interviews, I knew the subject being interviewed well enough to know exactly what he meant the entire time. Using critical race theory, my dad and his family had the idea that integration in schools was not worth the trouble and money because integration was already present in all other parts of their lives. Today, I can look back and see that as blatant racism; but at that time in history, that was racism that was masked by the overarching, more crude racism at play because his family was not connecting the fact that integration was unnecessary strictly to the color of people's skin. Rather, they were attributing their racism to financial matters and government policy that they generally disagreed with. SourcesLatham, I. & Waters, C. (2018). Can I touch your hair?: Poems of race, mistakes, and friendship. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books.
Marshall, E. (2016). Counter-storytelling through graphic life writing. Language Arts, 94(2), 79-93. Tonatiuh, D. (2014). Separate is never equal. New York, NY: Abram Books for Young Readers. The Parker Inheritance by Varian JohnsonOver the past few weeks, I have had opportunities to read some of the best children's literature I have ever read. This week I read The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson. Holy cow. This book was one of the most heart wrenching pieces to move through. The story follows a pair of young, black, teens who are investigating an unsolved mystery in their hometown. As they uncover more secrets and clues, the story flashes back to another "colored" family from nearly 60 years before their time. The family has endured Jim Crow laws and the new freedom from slavery, but as time went on they also endured the civil rights movement, full of oppression and violence. The two sets of characters become more and more intertwined as the mystery continues to unravel, and the entire book is so captivating, it is hard to put the book down. In fact, I read the while book in one sitting. I couldn't put the book down because of the heartwarming moments between the main character, Candice, and her friend, Brandon. There are touching scenes between fathers and daughters and new relationships, but there are also scenes of absolute heartbreak from violence, mistreatment, and illness. This book has everything, and I truly think reading it has changed my perspective and made me a better person. Most of the value from this book came from the historical relevance it offered. The stories of these characters offered a point of view has been unheard and purposefully unobserved for too long. Not only that, but the stories took those perspectives and drew them out over time to focus attention on the prevalence of these seemingly civil-rights-era issues in our modern society. The stereotypes of black communities that we see today stem from pervasive treatment of these communities over time. As Brittany Barron described in her TEDx Talk (see link below) so well, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at a certain skill. In terms of the dehumanization and misrepresentation of black communities in America, our country has spent 294 10,000 hour unites practicing these awful skills. That means, we have become experts in these skills 294 times over a span of roughly 335 years. Because these archaic practices have gone virtually unchanged for centuries on end, we still see prejudices affecting the lives of one race. Varian Johnson wrote an article summarizing his purpose for writing The Parker Inheritance (Johnson, 2019). This book was deeply personal to this author because of his own personal experiences as a black man in American society. Johnson grew up in Florence, South Carolina, so this book was based on his own home town. In his article he referenced an experience as a teenager where he and his identical twin brother were called out by a police officer for suspicion of possessing drugs because they looked like they had "never met." This experience was only resolved after the officer searched their belongings and found nothing. After the search was complete, the officer walked away without apologizing. In The Parker Inheritance, the two main characters, Candice and Brandon, were scrutinized and accused of breaking into the school during off hours simply because of the color of their skin. These two events have strong parallels and are so meaningful because the author was writing about these personal experiences as a marginalized citizen in an own-voice perspective, and these experiences are the cause of historical mistreatment of race spanning centuries. The significance of this is that readers have a greater potential to interact with and glean meaningful truths from books of own-voice authors, and we need our students to begin to make and be the change for these marginalized communities. Connecting Themes Between TextsThe texts we give our readers must be purposeful so that our readers can gain as much insight and perspective of the world around them as possible. Varian Johnson's book, The Parker Inheritance, is one great text to help our readers develop insights and perspectives. Another thing I want to propose is teachers need to be strategic and purposeful of are the texts we pair with one another. One article by Fenice Boyd, Lauren Causey, and Lee Galda (2015) argued that the literature we give students needs to be culturally diverse, meaning that "teachers need more books that depict diverse lifestyles, opportunities, beliefs, choices, and worldviews in addition to books that focus on the status quo." Books that are culturally diverse eliminate the dangers of single stories because students learn to see their own perspectives represented, as well as others perspectives while also understanding how to empathize with those newly discovered perspectives. We can introduce culturally diverse books in several ways. An incredibly thorough feature article by Lisa M. Ciecierski (2017) defines the term "intertextuality" and then gives four examples of ways to practice this in a classroom. Intertextuality refers to the ability to analyze two or more texts. These texts may be analyzed in various ways, regarding both similarities and differences of the texts, but it is important to note that intertextuality enhances student learning from text due to the various perspectives given. In addition to the enhancement of student learning, teachers also begin to better grasp teaching connected texts, which is an outlined Common Core State Standard. This standard states that students must "analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches authors take." Intertextuality allows us as teachers facilitate this learning for our students. Here are some approaches to intertextuality that Ciercierski outlined in her articles realted directly to the The Parker Inheritance: 1. Companion Texts are texts that offer variations of one single story. Example: If Varian Johnson wrote a book from the perspective of any other character in this book besides Candice, I could pair that book with The Parker Inheritance as a companion text. A variation of the same story would be told, but from different perspectives. 2. Corresponding Texts are texts that are connected by THEME (not topic) specifically to bring light to the theme. Example: If I paired The Parker Inheritance with the TEDx Talk I referenced above, What Beyonce Taught Me About Race, by Brittany Barron. These two texts both discuss the social injustices of black individuals in America over large spans of time. A possible theme to connect these could be the hashtag I named this week's post: History As Modern Day. 3. Contradictory Texts are texts that have various perspectives on a given topic that contradict one another. Example: If I paired The Parker Inheritance with a summary of the Brown V. Board of Education case, these two texts would contradict one another. The Parker Inheritance very clearly illustrates the lack of integration even after legislation was passed to ensure integration was mandated; however, a summary of the Brown V. Board of Education case is a monumental supreme court case that integrated schools in America in 1954. If that were fully true, these text would contradict the time it took to integrate, not only schools, but a society, which is crucial information to understand and pick up while reading The Parker Inheritance. 4. Cluster Texts are texts that are paired together so readers can learn about topics in a "meaningful way." Example: If I paired The Parker Inheritance with an infographic from Living Cities (link in resources), these two texts would be cluster texts, because they expand on the topic of racism by explicitly defining where racism can occur. The Parker Inheritance does an incredible job at narrating face-to-face instances of racism; however, the infographic describes various areas racism can be seen and experienced in the lives of black individuals. Sources & ResourcesA Day in a Life Infographic: https://medium.com/@Living_Cities/a-day-in-a-life-how-racism-impacts-families-of-color-infographic-963354857dce
Tedx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDzj9vRw5yM&feature=youtu.be Boyd, F. B., Causey, L. L., & Galda, L. (2015). Culturally diverse literature: Enriching the variety in an era of common core state standards. The Reading Teacher, 68(5), 378-387. Ciecierski, L. M. (2017). What the common core state standards do not tell you about connecting texts. The Reading Teacher, 71(3), 285-294. Johnson, V. (2018). The parker inheritance. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc. Johnson, V. (2019). The story behind the parker inheritance. Retrieved from http://varianjohnson.com/books/the-parker-inheritance/story-behind-parker-inheritance/ Freedom Over Me by Ashley BryanThis week I read a riveting story full of persona poems from enslaved individuals, all connected by the plantation that was selling each of them. Ashley Bryan wrote Freedom Over Me to stop what's called a "damage only narrative" that falsely portrays the "lives and legacy" of African American people (Gardner, 2017). Damage only narratives are dangerous to students because they do not allow students to read and connect with the complex experiences of enslaved people; they only confine narratives to "pain and damage." One example of a book that challenges damage only narratives is Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Weatherford. Her story enlightens young readers on racial trauma and allows for conversations to take place around that without focusing overtly on the pain and suffering of slaves, but also on their small joys in life, dreams in life, and thoughts surrounding what they went through every day. Bryan's persona poems also did not confine or refine any of the characters in his book to pain and damage. In fact, he wrote these poems based on historical documents he acquired that read the names of real people who were enslaved on Fairchilds Estate in 1828. He created a life story for each of these individuals and dreams to keep all of them hopeful of a free life. The whole story was riveting because persona poems allow readers to take an "aesthetic stance," and read the literature while focusing on the "emotions, moods, intuitions, attitudes, and tensions" of the characters and the ideas of the book (Frye, Hardin, Bouwman, & Stumb, 2018). All of these points of attention allows the reader to "live through" the characters and experience their stories. Not only are the persona poems powerful, but the illustrations by Bryan are moving as well. For each person, there was a bland spread of them with their slave name and their price listed below them. The poem that accompanied that spread spoke of what they do on the estate for their slaveowner. The next page's illustrations and poem contrasts the introduction of the person entirely, with bright a bright and colorful spread, and a poem of their dreams related either to their present life or a their past. The use of the persona poems completely disturb the notion of damage only narratives, because they still acknowledge the pain of these individuals, but they also highlight the complexity of their own thoughts and feelings regarding their everyday lives and dreams. My Persona PoemAlong with Ashley Bryan's book, I also read a few articles that inspired me to write my own persona poem for a character in H. M. Bouwman's book, A Crack in the Sea (which I talked about in Week 4's blog post). I chose to write this poem from the perspective of Pip, a character who has a special gift that others do not understand, and that misunderstanding leaves him isolated and lonely in his world. Once he journeys to a new world and learns he was brought there to use his gift for the purpose of saving some to many people, his self-doubt and oppression begins to shift, which in turn changes the way the people around him view him. I wrote this poem using a template of a persona poem called the, "I Am" poem found in Frye and Hash's article, titled "The Voices of Children: Re-imagining the Internment of Japanese Americans through Poetry" (2013). This type of persona poem is formatted to allow the reader to become another person or character through "imaginative entry." As I was writing, I wanted to convey how much Pip grew as a character over the full course of A Crack in the Sea. I did that by using literary features, like bolding of words, to draw attention to the changing mindset of Pip over the course of the poem. The words I bolded are Pip's most inner feelings brought to life by the context of the poem. Another great way of putting that is the poem allowed me to walk into Pip's wardrobe to "try on and borrow" his attire so that I could walk through the sliding glass door of his life and be better outfitted to experience his truth (Frye, et al., 2018). To help me stay true to Pip, I referenced passages I had marked from A Crack in the Sea while reading it the first time that stood out to me. These passages were prominent to me because they showed deep thoughts and feelings of Pip, rather than what he did on an everyday basis, or what others assumed of him. Referencing these passages ensured that I was telling his truth, not assumed or masked truth. Personal truths, as I talked about in reference to Freedom Over Me, are vital to members of marginalized communities. One community in particular is the disability community. Throughout A Crack in the Sea, Pip resembled an individual with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He was quiet, but not to be confused with shy, incredibly skilled in one area, had trouble recognizing faces of others, and did not fully grasp some social queues. All of these traits can be attributed with ASD: variations of verbal communication, savant like skills or knowledge, trouble reading facial expressions, and difficulty in some social situations. Defining Pip's truths for me was vital to the way others understood his capabilities, dreams, and wants in life. Writing this poem forced me to question, not only Pip, but all of the characters in Bouwman's novel, as well as the worlds. I questioned whether Pip was really "different" or if he was just the only one on that world with that gift. How are other people with gifts viewed? Why were his loved ones so afraid of his failure; that wouldn't be the case if Kinchen were in Pip's shoes, would it? All of these questions lead me to one larger, overarching question: If there is someone else in the world like you, are you really, "different"? These questions may have surfaced when I was reading, but when I was reading, I was doing just that: READING. My point being, students have various levels of comprehension. We can develop comprehension before they read with activities like forming predictions questions based on viewing isolated passages. While reading, students are forming plot lines in their minds, trying to follow where the characters are, how the characters are feeling, connecting the events to their previous predictions, and simply unpacking what the text is offering them. After they read, that comprehension develops even further based on what we as teachers provide them with. I propose providing guidelines and models for writing a persona poem. I have never developed the same empathy I did while writing a persona poem, because I had to think about every aspect and personality trait of the character in a book, and students need that same opportunity. Writing persona poems gives students opportunities to develop empathy for those who are similar to them and different than them, all while developing their own self identities because they will be constantly comparing themselves to and their own experiences to characters in books, and potentially their classmates given appropriate opportunities for discussion. SourcesBouwman, H.M. (2017). A crack in the sea. New York, NY: Puffin Books.
Bryan, A. (2016). Freedom over me. New York: NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Frye, E. M., Hash, L. A. (2013). The voices of children: Re-imagining the internment of japanese americans through poetry. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 25(4), 30-32. Frye, E. M., Hardin, B. L., Bouwman, H.L., Stumb, A. E. (2018). Walking into the wardrobe and through the sliding glass door: Writing persona poems with a crack in the sea. Voices from the Middle, 26(2), 36-52. Gardner, R. P. (2017). Discussing racial trauma using visual thinking strategies. Language Arts, 94(5), 338-445. Weatherford, C. B. (2016). Freedom in congo square. New York: NY: Little Bee. Stories of Hope in FearThis past week I dove into two stories of immigrants, refugees, and slavery. All of these topics tend to carry with them somber stories, and although these books did hold darkness, one more than the other, they both also shared hope. Dreamers by Yuyi Morales is a book that tells the author's story of immigration from Mexico to San Fransisco with her infant son, and how books helped her connect and find a voice in a strange new world. A Crack in the Sea by H.W. Bouwman told three connected stories of families that underwent risky journeys across seas because of slavery, immigration, or seeking refuge. I want to point out two distinct features I found in these books: the illustrations of both books and the afterword of A Crack in the Sea. I will start by looking at the illustrations of these books. Both of these books included breathtaking illustrations; however, Dreamers illustrations, done by Yuyi Morales, took my breath away because of the beauty in the illustrations; A Crack in the Sea, done by Yuko Shimizu, took my breath away because of the heartbreaking realities the illustrations painted. The image below to the left is from Dreamers. It beautifully depicts the happiness between the characters and their ability to express themselves. What is so significant to the story is the characters learned to express themselves after reading many books and transferring that knowledge of language into speech and their own writing is a symbol of strength and growth that could not have been met without books. The image below and to the right is from A Crack in the Sea. The image accompanies a story based on a true historical event, the Zong slave ship, where 133 shackled slaves were thrown overboard for the purpose of collecting insurance money for loss of "property" because slaves were not seen as human. So again, I want to point out the power of the illustrations found in both of these books. H.W. Bouwman wrote an afterword in A Crack in the Sea that was almost as powerful by itself as the whole book. The author's afterword briefly included her process of writing the book, where she detailed how the plot pieced itself together as she wrote. The most significant part of this afterword however was the way the author related the story to true historical events. This was how she introduced the relationship between her book and the Zong slave ship from 1781. The events leading up to the slaves being thrown overboard mirrored her book: disease among the slaves, disease among the crew, and an elongated journey. However, Bouwman created a narrative after they were thrown overboard where these people found a new world that welcomed them and allowed them to have new beginnings. her afterword also discussed how the world we live in can attain that same hope if we simply "...have courage, and take action." A particularly powerful excerpt from the author's afterword read as follows: In light of this pain, what can a fantasy novel offer? It can ask us to consider alternatives and possibilities. What if we lived in a world where people didn't die in chains, where people didn't drown trying to escape from war and persecution, where somehow love, like magical water, surrounded us whenever most needed and help us all up? What if we lived in a world where kraken weren't terrifying monsters - but simply people we do not yet know? A world where we could be bigger than we are, and where we could always offer a home to the stranger and dispossessed? Where every new unrecognized face could one day become the face of a friend? The truth is we do live in a world where these things are possible. We simply have to choose to make them happen. And sometimes, I think - I hope - a book can help us see that, and have courage, and take action. SourcesBouwman, H.M. (2017). A crack in the sea. New York, NY: Puffin Books.
Morales, Y. (2018). Dreamers. New York, NY: Neal Porter Books. Inclusive Stories and Classroom PracticesEvery educator should not only have all three of these books in their classroom library, but should integrate them into their classroom instruction. This past week I read Rescue & Jessica by Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña, and Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall. Every one of these books told a story of how "disability," or lack of privilege should never be seen as a deficit in our society, but a beautiful way to grow and find one's self in life. These three books create a strong text set that could be used in any classroom: elementary school general education, middle school resource room, even high school self-contained classrooms, and so many more. Each text represents a different viewpoint of how ability levels and social class might be seen, but also how those populations really feel in our society. Rescue & Jessica tells the story of a girl who is called a "double amputee," but is learning to live the same life she had before her surgeries with her new service dog, Rescue. Red: A Crayon's story tells the journey of a crayon that has been told he's red his whole life but learns he is really an excellent blue crayon. Last Stop on Market Street tells the narrative of a young boy who questions why he does not have greater amenities in life and his Nana helps him see the beauty in what he already has. Each one of these stories turns disability or lack of resources into a beautiful story of growth and opportunity for each of the characters. Before I diverge into classroom practices, I want to note one special detail from Rescue and Jessica. Scott Magoon, the illustrator of this book, did a fantastic job at depicting the relationship of a service animal to the owner and the family of that individual with the service animal. I once watched a documentary on Netflix called Dogs, and one episode focused on a family with a young girl who applied for and welcomed a service dog into her life. The documentary examined how the young girl's siblings were affected by this change. They had a hard time understanding how this animal would be welcomed into their family, but would not be the family dog. Service animals are working animals. This means they are working for their owner, an individual with a need for that dog's services. As a result, that animal typically becomes a part of the individuals self-identity. For example, many individuals with a service animal would introduce themselves as "[Their name] and my service animal [their animal's name.]" Much like a wheelchair, it is highly disrespectful to touch or move the wheelchair of someone else because it is part of their own identity. It is much the same for individuals with service animals. Physical contact or sometimes even strong or intense emotional bonds with these animals are inappropriate unless that individual has invited you to pet or greet the animal. Scott Magoon's illustrations so perfectly depicted that relationship between Rescue and Jessica and her family. Rescue was always with Jessica, and her family was always in the background with a loving, supportive smile. As a special educator, it is important to me that we do not have units on inclusivity in our classrooms, rather we should incorporate inclusivity in our classrooms everyday. I do, however, believe that there are more opportune times than others to explicit discuss and bring up inclusivity, but it should still not be limited to one single unit. It should be dispersed throughout multiple units the entire school year. In my classroom, I would use these texts to engage students in conversations around not only inclusivity, but a discussion that would challenge the notion that "disability" and low social class are negative things in our society. I think each of these texts could so easily be connected to other texts from various units (some of which could be found as suggestions in Teaching Critical Literacy (McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004)), and each of these three books would be perfect for a read aloud to start the unit and indulge students into a specific mindset for the remainder of the unit. I would use each of these stories for read aloud and use a think-aloud approach to model for students the many connections I could make with the stories. This modeling is important because so many students may not feel like they have connections to these stories if they are not in the disability community or of a lower social class. But that is precisely why it is so important to model that we all have connections to these stories and characters. Once I conducted that read aloud, students could then take time to divulge into the "Connection Stems Strategy" (McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004). This strategy entails that students can create prompts orally, in writing, or by sketching about connections they made to the text. Examples can include prompts such as, "The reminds me of...," "I remember when...," If I were that character I would...," etc. These stems could be done in small groups or in partners as readers reengage with the text after a whole group read aloud. Once students finish their connections stems, the class can come back together and the teacher can facilitate a whole group discussion that allows all students to share their connections with the stories in hopes that all students would break their preconceived notions of disability and lower social class. Once an introduction like this to a single unit is fulfilled, it can become a common practice in a classroom to engage students into a unit, help motivate them to learn by understanding the magnitude of the topics and themes in the unit, and ultimately bring inclusivity into the classroom on a regular basis. Sourcesde la Peña, M. (2015). Last stop on market street. New York, NY: Penguin Group.
Hall, M. (2015). Red: A crayon's story. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children's Books. Kensky, J., & Downes P. (2018). Rescue & Jessica: A life changing friendship. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G.L. (2004). Teaching critical literacy. Critical Literacy: Enhancing Students' Comprehension of Text, 34-58. New York: Scholastic. Her Right Foot & My Two BlanketsThis week I had the pleasure of reading two very unique picture books. One was titled Her Right Foot, written by Dave Eggers and illustrated by Shawn Harris; and the other was titled My Two Blankets, written by Irena Kobald and illustrated by Freya Blackwood. Her Right Foot is a nonfiction text that tells the story of how the Statue of Liberty came to existence. The book includes her birthplace, how she travelled across the world, even how she has oxidized over time. However, the book centers around one main point: her right foot is in motion. She is going somewhere. As the story progresses, she is beautifully painted as an immigrant herself, which creates a seamless transition into such a difficult conversation for our society right now: immigration. The story depicts the United States as a land of freedom and immigrants as brave individuals with the courage to create a better lives for themselves. In the end, the statue of liberty is seen "walking" toward immigrants arriving to the U.S., and she is eager to welcome them. Similarly, My Two Blankets is a story of immigration but it is a fiction text that narrates the journey of young girl that is navigating a new life in the United States after a war has invaded her homeland. Particularly, this story focuses on language and the social implications that come with it. This young girl is scared and overwhelmed in a new land, full of people who do not speak the same language as her. She uses her native language to comfort her through the process, like a blanket. As she meets a friend, she slowly begins to learn more words and find comfort in a new blanket. This story is incredibly touching, but also eye-opening for so many of us who may not have this shared experience with her. Language is a huge barrier. One particular feature I want to focus on from these stories is the concept of time. First, I would like you to quickly look over this spread from Her Right Foot while considering the concept of time. What do you notice? I chose to analyze this spread because although the idea it portrays may be easily construed through these pictures, I think its message runs deep. These pictures display various modes of transportation over time, starting with a sail boat, to passenger ships, to assorted planes. Additionally, next to each picture are the groups of immigrants that used the correlated mode of transportation to migrate to the United States, as well as the numbers of immigrants in those groups. As I mentioned, I think the idea was very perfectly portrayed in this spread; however, the idea that our country has welcomed such great numbers of immigrants for centuries has large implications for our society that we may be forgetting today. As Amy Edwards discussed in Revisioning the World through Multiple Perspectives (2017), critical literacy focuses on sociopolitical issues, promotes social justice, and interrogates multiple viewpoints, which is what each of these pictures books has done. Immigrants are not "invading" our country like news outlets may say. Immigrants are bravely finding refuge in a country that allows them and their families to grow and prosper. Her Right Foot patriotically reminds us of the history of immigrants and parallels that to modern time, while My Two Blankets emotionally reveals the fear and struggle that modern day refugees face upon arrival. To expand on that, learning a new language is something so many of us do not fully understand. High schools do not require foreign language credits to graduate anymore. Four year colleges only require two language credits upon acceptance. Two language credits are intro 1 and 2 to said language. When I was student teaching in a middle school resource room, I had 4 students who were beginning to learn English. Without extensive knowledge in English, how can we as teachers expect them to keep pace in school? Not only that, but how do we challenge them in content, not language? Cartwheel from My Two Blankets was such an inspiring book because it depicted those students I had in a much more confident and relatable light. WishtreeIn addition to the two picture books I read this week, I also read a novel by Katherine Applegate titled, Wishtree. This book told the story of a neighborhood tree that was 216 rings old. Red was the tree's name, and all the observations of humans over time were her forms of knowledge. As a new Muslim family moved into a house under her shade, she watched as they struggled to assimilate to a new culture. As the story progressed, May 1st quickly approached. This was a significant day to the neighborhood because all its residents got to hang a wish from Red's branches. It was a long standing tradition for the neighborhood that in the end created friendship and saved Red's life. The story highlights the judgment and scrutiny that immigrants can face in a new culture. Not only will they endure loneliness, but they may be further isolated by hateful actions from the community they are living in. This book analyzes and narrates a story that humans have a hard time talking about because the narrator is a tree. Trees are often paired with wisdom and knowledge in fantasy texts, so what better way to share some wisdom about human interactions on such a difficult topic? I think this story could very easily promote class discussions and push the boundaries of young learners opinions because it shows an unbiased outsiders view on the way we treat new members of our communities. Revisiting the idea of interrogating multiple viewpoints (Edwards, 2017), that perspective could not come from a human in any story. Regardless of how careful the author might be about keeping a character unbiased, if they are human, the reader will have their own bias toward that character. So again, this is such an incredible narration of such a hard topic. How do these texts connect?Each of the three books were unique in their characters and genres, but all of the books also held significant similarities. In fact, these books would create a strong text set that could be used to introduce and facilitate conversations around a very prevalent sociopolitical conversation in America: immigration. Students need to learn how to not only contribute their own thoughts to these discussions, but also truly listen to the other perspectives they hear. Every one of these books focuses on immigration. Her Right Foot discusses the historical prevalence of immigration in America while telling the biography of the Statue of Liberty; My Two Blankets discusses the experience of a young immigrant learning a new language in a foreign land; and Wishtree tells a story from the perspective of a tree watching a new immigrant family struggling to assimilate in a new community that is seemingly full of oppression. These books are all written in third person point of view, but present different perspectives to discuss one large topic. Although all of these books aim to present immigration in a much more inclusive light, each of the books also creates a unique perspective that individual children can find empathy in. Some students may connect with the historical contexts of immigration in Her Right Foot if their families migrated from other countries. Others may be fellow refugees and have strong empathy for Cartwheel in My Two Blankets. SourcesApplegate, K. (2017). Wishtree. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Group.
Callow, J. (2017). "Nobody spoke like I did": Picture books, critical literacy, and global contexts. The Reading Teacher, 71(2), 231-237. Edwards, A. (2019). Connections from the classroom: Revisioning the world through multiple perspectives. Worlds of Words. Retrieved from https://wowlit.org/on-line-publications/stories/storiesi2/15/ Eggers, D. (2017). Her right foot. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. Kobald, I. (2014). My two blankets. Australia: Little Hare Books. What makes a good children's book?A children's book has to be authentic. They need to draw readers in and they need to make the reader feel connected to the text. To me, really good children's books include...
The Girls and the WolfThe Girl and the Wolf is a children's novel written from the perspective of a child. This child and her mother are walking through a forest at dusk, and the little girl wanders off. She finds herself in an unknown part of the forrest and scared because her mom is nowhere in sight. When her fear starts to overwhelm her, a wolf appears and guides her through the forrest. That is, he simply asks "what are you going to do?" The girl replies, "I don't know," and he responds calmly with, "yes you do," over, and over. The wolf's calming question was comparable to the little girl's inner monologue guiding her back to her mother. In the end, the little girl steps out of the forrest toward a familiar scene and finds her mother. Before leaving the forrest, the little girl leaves a tobacco tied in a red cloth as a means to say thank you to the wolf. Before reading this book, I read an article by Kathy G. Short, titled, "Story as World Making" (2012). The whole article focused on the central idea that stories are the way humans create meaning in our every day lives. Every single event that happens to us is stored in our memory and retold as a story. So each story holds significant perspective for the storyteller, but it also carries the weight and ability to share perspective to those around us. The Girl and the Wolf is a story told by the young girl about a time when she was uncertain of her surroundings and uncertain of her own judgment. Her thoughts are so beautifully depicted by this storyline of a calm, patient, and wise wolf easing her through her stress and allowing her to come to make her own decisions. This little girl was empowered by an inner-monologue that was externalized through a very typical antagonist in children's stories: a wolf. To me, this young girl's agency is developing over the course of the story as she is using her instincts and her past experiences to empower her own judgement in a stressful situation. Whether the wolf is meant to be a reality in the story or a means of communicating her own thought processes, I think the whole point of this story is for the reader to indulge in a journey with this young girl, and understand her fears and her strength. The Wild Robotsocial The Wild Robot had to be one of the best books I have ever read. This novel was emotional, relatable, humorous, and so touching. The story depicts a robot that is washed onto the shore of an island after a hurricane blew the cargo off track. The robot, Roz, is activated there and does not know anything but this island. Roz adapts to the world around her and learns what it takes to survive on this island: she has to be "wild." As she navigates this world, she becomes fluent in the language of the animals, a savvy camouflager, and even a mother to an orphan gosling. Over time, she befriends the animals around her, cares for those in need, and begins to learn what it means to "feel." The story is action packed, and full of surprises to keep readers on their toes, but the story is also incredibly attuned to historical and contemporary social controversies. Before I dive into those awe-inspiring themes, I think it's worth mentioning another article I read to preface these books. "Readers Can do Anything," by Colby Sharp (2018) held a brief discussion about the value and importance of reading for children. Sharp coined the phrase "the joy in just-right books," where he remarked that it is so incredibly important for children to have positive reading experiences where they can connect with texts and want to read more. The Wild Robot is an incredible text because it can be that "just-right" book for SO many children. This book discusses language barriers between different animals, or in our case cultures, differences in social behaviors, and deep routed oppression. These topics came about by the main character, Roz. She reminded me of so many of my students and I felt she could relate to them. Her astute observations and gains in language remind me of my ELL students. Her hardships with fitting in to a land that she was born on remind me of my students who may be immigrants. And perhaps the reminder closest to my heart as a special educator was her social interactions reminded me of my students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Specific to ASD, Roz did gain social awareness and practice by conversing and building relationships with the animals around her. What a wonderful depiction that regardless of your background, you can learn and you can succeed. It also discusses hard topic that have always been around like, motherhood, monsters, purposes in life, and death. Needless to say, all these themes were magnificently intertwined within Roz's story of her life. In fact, each of these topics was resolved almost as soon as it was brought up in the story. Roz's agency was acquired and then developed as she navigated and adapted to each of these barriers. For example, when she could not effectively communicate with the animals, she observed them and learned their language so she could converse with them. In doing this, she gained their trust. She not only gained the trust of the animals around her, she gained the ability to make decisions in her life that positively affected herself and those around her. What Connects these Texts?So what do these two texts have in common? Consider this: Have you ever thought about what a monster really is? Maybe even if they're real? Both of these children's books challenge the common notion that monsters are evil or even that monsters carry any meaning other than an offensive slang. In each book, there is a stereotypical "monster." For The Girl and the Wolf, the monster would most likely be the wolf. As a reader indulges themselves in a book about a young girl lost in a forrest, a wolf suddenly appearing is very unsettling. Wolves, more often that not, are the bad guys of children's books. This book, however, challenged that as the wolf was a kind guidance for the scared young girl. Similarly, in The Wild Robot, Roz was a new and odd individual in a developed society - the island. She looked different, talked different, and acted different than everyone there. Because of this, she was a "monster." Peter Brown wisely challenged that notion by creating a character that was brave and willing to listen to the indigenous individuals of the island, even though they did not understand her. She was able to not only befriend those who called her a monster, but she created a nurturing family within that island, and was a highly respected mother to her gosling son. SourcesBrown, P. (2016). The Wild Robot. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
Sharp, C. (2018). Readers can do anything. Literacy Today, 35(6), 40-41. Short, K. (2012). Story as world making. Language Arts, 90(1), 9-17. Vermette, K. (2019). The Girl and the Wolf. Penticon, Britich Columbia: Theytus Books. |