a collaborative ICARE project with The Rensselaerville Institute

What is ICARE?

Project Summary

While student bodies across the country become increasingly diverse, many of our bookshelves and teaching staffs have not. Who better to represent our future leaders than young scholars themselves?!

The Windows & Mirrors Virtual Library exists to increase racial representation in classrooms through read-alouds and original pieces by students of color. In her essay titlted "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors," Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop compares books to windows and mirrors "to explain how children see themselves in books and how they can also learn about the lives of others through literature. Dr. Bishop makes the point that it’s crucial for children from marginalized groups to view themselves in the books they read. When books don’t serve as mirrors to children, Bishop says, 'They learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in society.' In addition to acting as mirrors, books can also serve as windows that give readers a glimpse into the lives and experiences of others."

As contributors to the virtual library, Black, Indigenous and People of color (BIPOC) scholars will practice technical and literacy skills while gaining confidence in their specific identities. As patrons of the library, all scholars including white students will deepen their understanding of perspectives outside their own, encouraging healthy introspection, empathy and connection.

A trip to the Windows & Mirrors Virtual Library is a trip to oneself and to the world. Join the team!

Sources:

http://readingwhilewhite.blogspot.com/2017/01/have-you-ever-used-phrase-mirrors-and.html

https://humaneeducation.org/windows-and-mirrors-and-sliding-glass-doors-ensuring-students-see-themselves-and-others-in-literature/

Project Goal

By August 2021, 40 students of color in grades 3-6 at:

Tiffany Park Elementary School

Talbot Hill Elementary School

Nelson Middle School

Risdon Middle School

will publish “own voice” read-alouds or original stories and poems in the Windows & Mirrors Virtual Library resulting in more racial representation in at least 4 Renton school communities.

Note:

The above is a target statement designed for grant purposes, however scholars who do not attend the 4 schools/grades listed are also welcome to participate.

Why is this project important?

Rudine Sims Bishop

author of "Mirrors, Windows & Sliding Glass Doors"

Biography

Rudine Sims Bishop is Professor Emerita of Education at The Ohio State University, where she has taught courses on children’s literature. Her books include Shadow and Substance: Afro-American Experience in Contemporary Children’s Fiction (1982), Presenting Walter Dean Myers(1990), Kaleidoscope: A Multicultural Booklist for Grades K–8 (1994), Wonders: The Best Children’s Poems of Effie Lee Newsome (1999), and Free within Ourselves: The Development of African American Children's Literature (2007). In Free Within Ourselves, Dr. Bishop takes the reader on a historical journey, from the earliest works written about African American children (W.E.B. DuBois' The Brownies Book) to John Steptoe's Stevie to the contemporary award-winning writer Christopher Paul Curtis and his Bud, Not Buddy, winner of both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

Dr. Bishop has been recognized with numerous awards, including the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Outstanding Educator in English Language Arts Award and the Arbuthnot Award, and has been on the selection committees for both the Caldecott and Newbery Medals. Her life's work has been built on the foundation "that all American children, but especially Black children, need to learn the story of African Americans' struggle on the journey." Read her essay Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.

In 2017, Dr. Bishop was awarded the Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award pays tribute to the quality and magnitude of beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton.

Source: https://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/experts/rudine-sims-bishop#bio

Essay: https://www.readingrockets.org/sites/default/files/Mirrors-Windows-and-Sliding-Glass-Doors.pdf

Local Student & Teacher Demographics

Source: https://washingtonstatereportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/ReportCard/ViewSchoolOrDistrict/100216

Racial Representation in Books

Source: https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=an-updated-look-at-diversity-in-childrens-books

Racial Representation in Animated Films

Soul, Pixar's First Film with A Black Lead, Has Some Fans Concerned: is this going be a "Princess and the Frog" situation?

Published March 14th, 2020

Written by BET Staff

It’s been 11 years since a major Disney animated film has had a Black lead, and fans are both excited and concerned for the release.

Soul, which stars Jamie Foxx as a middle school music teacher whose soul is separated from his body following an accident, is helmed by Pixar mainstay Pete Docter (Inside Out, Up) and is slated for release later this year. But while fans are eagerly anticipating the film, a look at the trailer has some concerned:

Some are pointing out that Soul falls in the same trap as other major Disney animated films featuring leads of color: namely, that the leads are often morphed into animals or other creatures early in the film, thereby taking away their real-world identity. It happened in The Princess and the Frog, when Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose) spent much of the film as a frog, and even in a Coco, when its Mexican lead Miguel was a skeleton in the afterlife for most of the film.

funny how brother bear, princess and the frog, coco, and pixar’s new movie soul all include people of color turning into something else for the majority of the movie 😐

Do you agree that Pixar’s latest has problematic elements?

Process & Materials

English: Student & Family Sign-up

Español: Registro para estudiantes y familias

Somali

Students & family members are welcome to participate!

Screen Cast-0-Matic Tutorial.mp4

Read-Aloud Tutorial

Click above to learn how to use FREE recording software.

Our gift to you!

ICARE is happy to partner with Estelita's Library to gift each student who publishes in the Windows & Mirrors Virtual Library a physical book of their choice from the bookstore's online site. Please complete the Student & Family Sign-up form above to learn more.

note: up to 2 gift cards per student