Using Texts to Build Relationships
The habit of building community can face some real challenges in the reality of our classrooms. We serve a diverse population of students, many of whom do not share similar stories to ours. Racial, cultural, socio-economic divides exist and play an important role in how easy or difficult it is to make every student feel safe, valued, seen, and heard, and whether we're able to create an authentic sense of community that nurtures and builds on this work. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, it feels like we're just not connecting to some of our students. It's not for lack of trying but is often due to the disconnect in our stories. We don't come with the same knowledge or understanding that our students have. And THAT has to be addressed before true community-building can happen.
This month, we are sharing resources that we hope can help you begin to hear and understand the voices and stories of your students and use this new knowledge to create the healthy, nurturing communities that breed resilience.
Change Starts With Us
Before we can do the right work for and with our students, we have to take a look inside ourselves. What is keeping us from REALLY SEEING our students? When we have an understanding of that, then we need to shift our way of thinking to support the narratives of our students. We have to see things through their eyes, hear things through their ears, and recognize their realities. Only then, can we hope to begin the work of equity.
A bunch of teachers here, they think they know what's wrong with us. But they don't know. If people want to help us, they have to see what we've been through, not from what their own experiences tell them.
— BILLIE, A LAKOTA TEEN SPEAKING OF THE TEACHERS AT HER HIGH SCHOOL
Identity, Storytelling, and Culturally Responsive Teaching
Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors
Identity, Storytelling, and Culturally Responsive Teaching - Global Learning - Education Week.pdfMirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf
Student Choice, Student Voice -We Listen, We Learn
What if we used the texts that students choose to help build our knowledge of them?
What if we intentionally crafted conversations with our students about what they were interested in reading, in the texts they chose, in the words that best portray their experiences?
And then what if we used that knowledge to guide how we built the type of community that benefited us all?
I Don't Have Books That Represent My Students' Voices
Most of us do not have classroom libraries that adequately reflect the diversity in our classrooms. We don't have enough mirrors to offer our students. Explore the resources below as you work to connect students with texts. And remember - text does not always mean words on a page in a book.
