Part of teaching for social justice is noticing the “social” in the lives of our students and giving them opportunities to explore the “justice” in those experiences and encounters. In anticipation of Halloween and potential concerns with costume choices, I facilitated lessons on argument writing related to Halloween costumes before students selected their costumes and before they chose their own research topics.
As I have written recently, we spend a quarter of our writing class time with quick writes; students write about whatever they wish and share these pieces on Fridays. One day in early September, one student presented a piece about Halloween, which prompted a class discussion about how junior high celebrates Halloween. Will we have a class party? Will there be a costume procession? What fun activities will I plan for them? When I explained that, in our junior high, we do not celebrate Halloween in class but our PTSA does organize an after school dance, the students had mixed reactions. On one hand, a dance is great, but on the other hand, well, they seemed to recognize that what Halloween meant for them was changing just like their bodies, their friendships, their relationships with their parents. Ah, junior high.
When we published our biographical sketches, it was early October. Argumentative writing was next, so I thought I could model the process of an argument research paper with something related to Halloween before setting them off on their own argument projects: Should teens dress-up for Halloween?
Research involves so many inquiry skills: search terms, sourcing, note-taking (direct quote/paraphrasing), synthesizing sources, works cited formatting, transition words, reasoning. So we worked through the process a little each day after our quick write time. Here is a table we used to work through the research process and, below, an example of our notes.
Here is one student’s notes:
To synthesize the ideas, I modeled four thinking-through-writing moves including how to use transitional phrases to integrate source information. Gerald Graff’s They Say, I Say offers a helpful framework for supporting students through the process:
- synthesize the information for sources that support one side (on one hand);
- synthesize the information for sources that support another side (on the other hand);
- compare the reasoning of both sides for logic, values, credibility (while one says X, the other says Y); and
- now enter the conversation and say what you are thinking, how this relates to your world and understanding (in my view).
During class time, I modeled each move, writing on the whiteboard, talking through my thinking, inviting new sources. I introduced appositives as a way of identifying a source’s credibility, too. We learned and directly applied how to cite a source from a website, e.g. (para. 6). Students partnered to read aloud each paragraph and check for logic in the reasoning. When wrote the conclusion paragraph, students were in the conversation, navigating the “justice” of the argument; the day before our school Halloween dance, they chose their costumes. Here is an example from a seventh grade writer’s argument:
On one hand, experts that dressing up for Halloween is beneficial to children’s development. For example, in the article titled “10 benefits of dress-up play” the author, Sarah Baldwin – Waldorf teacher – writes “Children benefit cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally through dress-up play” (para 2). Baldwin also suggests that dress-up helps children take on different perspectives, which promotes empathy. Another way costumes support development is by engaging children in a long, long-standing tradition. According to “Dreamworks TV“, in their episode “Why do we wear costumes on Halloween,” Halloween dates back to the Celtic tradition of Samhain, in 900 CE, when people dressed up as animals to scare spirits and honor the dead. Therefore, children are exposed to this tradition and are a part of an ancient culture and can feel more connected to the different religions and traditions simply by wearing a costume. Another reason is that children also learn to be more authoritative. According to Naeyc in their article “Is Dressing up for Halloween Different Than Pretend Play?”. Here they state that children often use everyday items and incorporate them into play, as well as Halloween Costumes. They decide which object fits the role and they decide how it will be integrated to enhance their play experience. According to both sources, Halloween Costumes enhance children’s skills and is a big part of developmental growth for children.
Some experts suggest that Halloween costumes are problematic. For instance, according to one video source from Teen Vogue titled “My Culture is NOT a Costume”, claims that cultural Halloween costumes that represent a culture are completely out of context and are offensive to people of that nationality or race. They also believe that their cultures are mocked and they are expected to fit within a certain stereotype about their culture that might not necessarily be true. Thus, Teen Vogue believes that these costumes should not be worn on Halloween due to their offensive and stereotypical nature. In addition, according to the article Deseret Family News titled “How Halloween Costumes can promote gender bias” by Erin Stewart: ”Gender Equality is all about choice” (para 2). This argues that Halloween costumes can have an effect on different genders along with different cultures. Stewart argues that many costumes are “defined” in one gender or the other. For example, police officers, doctors, and firefighters are often found in the “boys” section, and princesses, fairies, and mermaids are often found in the “girls” section. Stewart says, that children should have the opportunity to choose their costume, not trying to conform to the common stereotype of Halloween costumes and have a place where both genders could have “common” costumes. In conclusion, both sources believe that Halloween costumes should not represent different cultures and specific genders
In consideration to both sides of the topic what seems most important to the people who support costumes and dress-up play is the fact that costumes stimulate growth and provide as a window to new roles for children. They give children the authority to make decisions and provide a way to connect to ancient traditions. As well as these points, the concern of people cautioning against certain costumes is the fact that they can oppress or create negative stigmas about certain religious groups that are often out of context. These costumes can also create untrue stereotypes that can promote oppression of certain religious groups.
When it comes to costumes is “imitation the highest form of flattery?” What is important to consider when answering this question is that several costumes can promote gender or cultural inequality. Some can also cause oppression and maybe even disregard ancient traditions and cultures. However, costumes are vital for the growth and development of children’s imagination and role-playing skills. They gain experiences of being someone whom they might not be familiar with. They are exposed to being connected to cultures and traditions that are as old as time itself. How I will use this information when picking out costumes in the future is that I will try to stay away from stereotypical costumes that could promote gender or even cultural bias. I enjoy wearing costumes for Halloween and I believe that the tradition is fun for kids of all ages, however, costumes that disregard one’s own culture and/or traditions can cause this holiday’s true meaning to be forgotten. Costumes are meant to be a fun way to celebrate this holiday, and I hope that this tradition continues without the isolation and stigmatization of another’s cultures and traditions.
For this student, the research questions changed as she wrote and uncovered the social and the justice, and that is the point, in my view — to start with a question and be open to modifying your thinking because of the research.
As a part-time junior high teacher, I teach college courses in the afternoons, so I was not able to attend the Halloween dance at school. I asked students how the dance was and if (gulp) they noticed any problematic costumes. They told me about a few, and we talked about how to or if they could or should tell other teens about how some costumes promote negative gender or cultural bias. I said very little. The students had a clear sense that navigating this terrain was not easy but was necessary.
The next day, students were ready to develop their own argument research questions.
I began this part with ten pieces of construction paper. I taped these around the classroom — gallery walk style — and added a topic to a few, e.g., health, science, technology, media, history, the arts. The rest did not have topics, inviting students to create their own categories of inquiry. In partners, students moved from paper to paper writing questions they’d like to research for their own argument projects. I offered students a few parameters (and am working on a flow-chart of this): 1) the answer to the question should be more complex than “yes” or “no,” and 2) it should be something you care about and are willing to spend a few weeks exploring.
The next day, I started a Google doc and gave the ten pieces of paper full of questions to several students who joined me on the doc to create a big list of research ideas. Here is what we came up with:
Argument Research QuestionsI posted this document on our Google classroom. Students spent the class period testing out possible questions by doing preliminary searches, which led to revised and new questions. By the end of class, I asked students to share three possible questions for their project.
Our students know they are part of the social. They are concerned with justice. They want to be a part of the conversation. I’ll keep you posted on the development of these argument research projects as we argue into the social and uncover justice.