Rethinking Our Beginning of the Year Read-alouds

Hello, all!

     As we're gearing up for another school year, I like many of you have been searching online for beginning of the year activities and read-alouds, thinking, "What should I keep from last year? What can I change to make the beginning of the year more successful for my students?"

     Looking through all of the back-to-school read-alouds, I was struck by something I honestly should have noticed long before this...they are all written by white authors with primarily white characters.  And I got to thinking, "Has the practice of beginning the year reading books depicting white students and authors given my students the impression that school success is for white students only?  Have I (whether consciously or unconsciously) been telling my students of color that my classroom, and maybe school in general, isn't really for them?"

     That's not to say that the books listed on the typical back-to-school read-aloud list aren't good books. Many of them are. I personally love First Day Jitters, The Recess Queen, Enemy Pie, and Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun. However, in the same way that high school literature teachers are looking to rethink the "classic" texts long thought of as required reading in order to include great literature written by women and authors of color (see #disrupt texts movement), shouldn't elementary school teachers also be rethinking what we consider to be "classic" read-alouds? 

     For myself, the answer is, of course, yes. I did a little digging online and in my local library and found some great beginning of the school year read-alouds featuring diverse characters brought to life by diverse authors.  (One of my pet peeves is "diverse" literature written by middle class white Americans. Just because we went on a mission trip in a different country, grew up in a diverse neighborhood, or have a spouse/best friend/other family member of color does not qualify us to write from their point of view or tell their stories. Sorry.)

    So, here are a few great stories that I will be adding to my repertoire of back-to-school read-alouds.  I hope you'll find a few that speak to you.  Diversity adds to all of our lives and opens us up to new experiences and different points of view that enrich our souls and help us better understand our fellow human beings.

 Click on the pictures to find out more about each:

                            

                                   

                                           

                                  

Enjoy!!  And best wishes for a successful start to the new school year!!

Jacquie  

Hi, all!

     It's been a while!!  I moved to Florida last year, and spent the last school year as a fourth grade classroom teacher.  It has been 14 years since I was a classroom teacher, and the standards have changed a lot!  Luckily, the majority of my students were ELL's (21 out of 25), so at least some of my ESOL experience was helpful!  Now that I've moved to Florida and am a classroom teacher, rather than solely an ESOL teacher, I need to learn more about teaching all of my students; most especially my US-born students of color.  Luckily for all of us, there are many educators out there who have been doing the work of researching and writing about the issues that impact students of color in public school classrooms. Our job is to listen, learn, and incorporate what these educators know in order to elevate our practice.
     

     With that, here we go! 

     I have some suggestions for a starting place for those of you just entering the world of social justice and education. For those of you that have been in this world for a while, you probably know most of these amazing educators already!

     Many fantastic educators impart their wisdom on twitter. I have several suggestions for you to follow. You'll get links to articles and books that will aid you on your journey to becoming a more culturally responsive teacher. I'll be talking about many of those resources here on my blog, reflecting on what the information in them means for me as a teacher as well as for my students. (This is not an exhaustive list, and people are listed in no particular order.)

     Anyway, here are some people to follow (you won't be disappointed!):

• Laura M. Jimenez
• Marian Dingle
• Ebony Elizabeth
• Christopher Emdin
• Jose Luis Vilson
• Shana V. White
• Val Brown
• Xian Franzinger Barrett
• Lynell Powell
• Sara K. Ahmed
• Mariana Souto-Manning
• Leigh Patel
• Kim Parker
• Sabrina Joy Stevens
• Cornelius Minor
• Dulce-Marie Flecha
• Kelly Wickham Hurst
• Julia E. Torres
• Clint Smith
• Rosa Perez-Isaiah
• Rebekah Cordova
• EduColor Movement
• Teaching Tolerance
• HipHopEd
• Teaching for Change
• All Y'all Social Justice Series
• Rethinking Schools

     

Anyone you follow that is not on my list?  Please share!!

💜 Jacquie

So, this Muslim ban...

Sudan

Like most of you, my news feed has been filled with articles and op-ed's about Trump's immigration ban that targets seven majority Muslim countries--Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, and Libya.  If you're reading this blog, I assume you have some ties to ELL's, and so you probably know immigrants from at least one, if not all, of these countries.  If you teach ELL's, as I do, you probably also have students from at least one of these countries, and you're outraged and hurting for your students and their families, as well as your friends and neighbors who are impacted by this executive action.

Maybe you've written e-mails or postcards, made phone calls, donated to causes, or attended a rally in opposition to this action.  I hope you have. Want to do something? Click here to find out who your representatives are.  Need to contact your Senators?  Click here.

Anyway, last night while I was trying to sleep with my mind repeating the news cycle in my head, I realized that while this anti-Muslim action is upsetting to me personally, it is so much more so to my young students.  I'm heartbroken and ashamed by the actions of my country, and I'm mature enough to fully understand the ramifications of this action.  However, my family and I are in no danger of being forced to leave our homes, nor do we fear for the safety of loved ones in other countries.  My students are not able yet, at their young age, to understand all of the information that has been in the news, and they and their families ARE directly impacted by the immigration ban.  So, my thoughts shifted to how I was feeling towards what can I do to help my students through this painful and scary time?

I got up out of bed and started doing some research.  I'm not a counselor, so I'm not in a position to determine the best ways to talk to students about the ban and how it affects them.  I began my search by looking for tips from professionals on talking to young children about tragedies in the news.  I found a wealth of information that not only supported my instincts for how to proceed (I do have a kid, so I'm not new to this!!), but I also found some helpful tips that I hadn't considered.

I read and reflected, and then compiled a list of what I felt were the most useful and pertinent tips for helping younger students (elementary and middle school aged) work through the immigration ban:

1. Do not bring up the immigration ban.  If your students raise the issue, proceed!
2. Ask your students what they already know.
3. Ask your students what, if any, questions they have. When answering questions, be careful to only answer with information you know for sure to be true.  It's okay to tell children that you don't know the answer.  Also, begin with the basics.  Children may not be ready for the full details, so start small.  If your students have additional questions, they can continue to probe until they're satisfied, but we don't want to overwhelm them with information.  Again, we don't know a lot of information yet about the ban and how it will all shake out in the end, so only give answers you know with certainty are true and verifiable.
4. If you feel comfortable, let your students know that you also feel sad about what is going on and that you are happy that they and their family are here with us in the U.S.  They have probably heard, if not experienced, the hateful rhetoric currently being spewed in our country. Let them know that you are on their side and that their school family supports them 100% (if this is the case. And I hope it is.)
5. Reassure your students as much as you are able.  Let them know that there are grown-ups working very hard on the issue, and that there is hope that things will be okay.
6. Most importantly, listen.  If a student honors you with their trust, sit quietly, listen, and validate their feelings.  It's important to clear up any misunderstandings, but it's also important that we not belittle their feelings with a trite, "It's all going to be okay. Don't worry." 

I know, as educators and as parents, this is a tall order.  How do you reassure your students when so much of our country's current political climate is eroding their sense of safety and belonging?  The answer is that there is no easy answer.  We need to surround them with love, make sure they feel safe and welcomed while they are at school, speak out if we hear hateful misinformation in any area of our lives, and continue to give our students the education they deserve so that one day they can be in a position to make sure actions like Trump's immigration ban don't happen again.

Here are the articles I pulled information from:

Talking to children about tragedies and other news events

How to talk to children about difficult news

Helping children cope: Talking to children about tragedy

When bad things happen: Tips for parents and educators

Yours in solidarity,

Jacquie

Making connections: Reading Wonder during Ramadan

Wonder, by RJ Palacio, is a book about a boy named August (Auggie) with a facial deformity.  He begins attending school at the beginning of fifth grade, hoping to be accepted for who he is, rather than ostracized for his face.  The book switches between Auggie's point of view and the point of view of his classmates and others.  The main theme of this heart-wrenching and brutally beautiful story is the importance of empathy, compassion and acceptance.

So, why Wonder and Ramadan?  It happened very naturally for me, as I was using Wonder in a book study during Ramadan.  I wanted to find a way to help students really connect with the text.  Several of the students I was working with were Muslim and the connection happened very organically.  As we continued to explore Wonder through the theme of Ramadan, I watched my Muslim students, especially the girls, gain a new sense of their worth in the classroom as ambassadors of their culture. The other students, I hope, learned about empathy, compassion, and acceptance not only through the medium of the text, but also as their classmates shared pieces of themselves and their culture during our discussions.

Some background on Ramadan:
Each day of Ramadan, every person over the age of 12 is expected to fast from dawn until sunset. The translation of the Arabic word "to fast" is "refrain." This means not only refraining from eating and drinking, but also refraining from idle gossip or unnecessary speech and unkind words and thoughts. The goal of Ramadan is spiritual purification. Many Muslims pray more often during this time. They ask for forgiveness of past sins, focus on positive acts for the benefit of others, and ask God for guidance for future living. The fasting is supposed to induce feelings of empathy for those who are less fortunate, as well as a sense of inner peace.  For more information, try this website, or go to an even better source: your students and their families.

Ramadan is also a time of fellowship, and people will often invite friends and family to share in the sunset fast-breaking meal, the Iftar.  I've been blessed to have been invited to share in many Iftars, and if you get the chance, I highly recommend accepting this invitation.  Not only will you eat some amazing food, but the bonds of friendship and community you'll make are life-long bonds.

As you begin the book study with a focus on Ramadan, modeling making connections will help students frame their own connections.  While non-Muslim students may be tempted to make connections between the book and their own culture, I recommend gently encouraging them to stick to keeping connections linked to Ramadan--especially if the other students are of the mainstream culture.  Muslim culture gets such little airtime in U.S. classrooms, so if you've made the decision to give your Muslim students the opportunity to really use their voices and be heard during this book study, be sure to keep that space open to them.

Some possible connections to make while modeling are:

Page 46: Precepts: rules about really important things

Page 47: What kind of person am I?

Page 48: When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.

Page 65: Your deeds are your monuments; we are remembered for the things we do

Page 77: Other students talking about August

Happy reading,
Jacquie