In the summer, I do a lot of reading and writing, but as the school year gets going, I gradually replace my personal literary work for the work of the classroom. I spend more time planning lessons, listening to students, and reading student blogs, and …
“Last week I cut my hair, bought some boys’ clothes and shoes, wrapped a large ACE bandage around my chest to flatten my fortunately-not-large breasts, and began looking for a new name.” Some reviewers on Goodreads have written that Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger is unrealistic because of …
“When we confirm someone, we identify a better self and encourage its development. To do this we must know the other reasonably well. Otherwise we cannot see what the other is really striving for, what ideal he or she may long to make real.” — …
How do you respond to a student’s response? What do you say that indicates you are hearing the words and the being who is before you? This came up in a higher ed course last term when we were practicing some mini-lessons. It occurred to …
When we read literature about lives that seem too distant from our own, how do we minimize our tendencies to “other” the unfamiliar? In the middle school reading classroom, I have found that if we begin with the process of telling our own stories — …
When I was in high school, I kept a diary. It was where I spoke my truth, my inner most thoughts, but also where I wrote poems to boys who didn’t even know I existed and dreams for my life beyond the dungeon of my …
As teachers, we bear witness to the lives of students every day, and in journals, blogs, seminars, and over lunch, we read the lives of students as well. Because of teachers, students’ stories endure. We are a witness to their lives.
It is Friday morning, and I am not in school but writing about it. For now I feel like I am in some dimension of utopia, but I realize we, our schools, have yet to arrive at some utopian destination. Indeed, we are far from the sort of schools our students deserve, and yet there are teachers who create these wonderful communities that make possible many of the points listed above (conversations with students, feedback over grades, and learning over testing). Utopia doesn’t have to be a work of fiction. We can imagine utopia as a direction — a direction I intend to keep running toward when the “real” school year begins and elements of dystopia loom.
The beauty of Akata Witch is that readers discover alongside Sunny, a strong female protagonist, who she is becoming. Readers feel her anxiety, frustration, and confidence as she finds comfort in her beautiful (and transforming) skin and as she learns to navigate and integrate two very different worlds.