Week 5: Toward a Social Justice Ethic: What is an American Anyway?
As a
teacher, mother, community member, sister, daughter, and wife I see it as my responsibility
to help all people “feel visible, included, and valued” (Ezell & Daly, 2022,
p.35). These qualities are the heart of
all humanity and do not change no matter the culture. However, people lose value, are left out, and
are unseen when humanity puts selfishness, pride, preferences, and themselves
ahead of others. In my classroom, I
often see these characteristics because my students are still learning how to think
of others (A lot of adults still struggle with this!) and see the value of another
perspective.
This is where
using multicultural texts comes into play because they help students to learn, understand,
and appreciate difference. Thus, allowing
for inclusion, worth, and being seen as a person. Ezell & Daly (2022) talk about how multicultural
texts allow students to look at themselves (the mirror), observe relationships
(window), and connect personally to new experiences (sliding glass door). I appreciate the analogy of the mirror,
window, and sliding glass door because this is a visual that I can use with my elementary
students as we read a multicultural text.
I would like to project a picture of each of these on my Promethean
board, have an oral discussion with my students about what these represent, and
as we read a book use them throughout to have discussions.
Ezell & Daly
(2022) pointed out that students who have privilege should “use their power to
end discrimination and oppression” (p.36).
I could see this being what I would focus on in my classroom because our
district has less than 1% of the national average of minority students. I would couple that idea with the thought
that students can be “change makers and critical, compassionate community members”
(Ezell & Daly, 2022, p.36). I see
this playing out reading multicultural texts that focus on “identity, power,
and equity” (Ezell & Daly, 2022, p.36) and talking about how we can use
those characteristics now and how they can be used as the students grow
up.
Since I work
primarily with lower elementary students I liked the idea of using the identity
web as a whole class and using the example given in Table 1 (Ezell & Daly,
2022, p.40). I would use the book The Colors of Us by Karen Katz. We would
make a web and discuss at the same time.
We would talk about our differences and commonalities and how these
characteristics give us value, include each other, and give us each a voice.
References
Ezell, S.,
& Daly, A. (2023). Honoring multiple identities using multicultural
literature (Vol. 9, pp. 35–41). Texas Association for Literacy Education.
That was the good thing about teaching younger children is that they really were great listeners and cared about other people's perspectives. As children get older, they are exposed to things like you said such as selfishness and do lose their value. That is why using multicultural texts in the classroom plays a big part in student's being able to be heard and express their identities.
ReplyDeleteYounger children definitely better listeners, see others value, and allow for people to give their perspective. I do think the family unit plays a big part into selfishness and people losing value because I do see it in young children. So sometimes it feels like a tug of war. The multicultural texts would definitely help express identities.
DeleteEmily,
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of teaching your students the analogy of the mirror, window, and sliding glass door. Asking students while they read a multicultural text about how it might be a mirror, window, or sliding glass door would be a great way to keep discussion flowing. With the increasing diversity in the United States, it is very important to help students become compassionate community members and to try to decrease negative stereotypes by giving students more experiences when they read multicultural literature.
As I read I try to keep in mind how I can apply these ideas to lower elementary students because that is who I teach. Having visuals while teaching is best practice so that's the first thing that came to mind as I read the article. Giving more experiences definitely help students have better understanding with the use of multicultural text.
ReplyDelete