This resonates with the ideas of "white is right" and white saviorism. But this is an ideology based in the deficit perspective that needs to be shattered. Sprinkling whiteness to an issue is like putting a band-aid on a viral infection, the problem is deeper and not surface-level. And if it is not stopped, it will quickly spread.

This section reminds me of "Linguistic Justice Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy" by April Baker-Bell when she discusses the importance of Black students understanding Black English and it's history, and the nuances of "flava" in speaking AAVE that do not exist in White Standard English.

This is a strong statement showing that students will continue to be there, no matter how technology changes or what new methods are created, they will write their stories, share their thoughts, and be heard.

We generally hear how history books are often told from the perspective of the "winner" and how they see the other party as lacking something or being uncivilized. However, in this comparison, it is interesting that a Bible story can have the same end result of perpetuating racism and be seen as a "truth."

This is why I always try to find stories that include characters who reflect my students AND characters who do not reflect them. There are many different people outside of the classroom and it's important for young learners to know that yes our classroom is a community, but outside of the school walls and beyond the borders of their country, people come in all shapes, shades, and sizes.

A strong claim, yet highly accurate! The damage this can cause is deep-rooted.

Again, I argue that it should reflect the world and society at large, not just the classroom. If a class is limited in its racial/cultural make-up, they need to be aware of what exists outside their classroom as to not build a sense of superiority or inferiority to others who they have yet to encounter.

This is an example of the "modern weaponry" mentioned earlier in this section. Weapons have evolved past the limits of physical abuse and into the mental and psychological realm of creating damage. The inclusion of Disney movies has my mind running to how the enslaved status of the princesses took a physical form (Belle and Rapunzel), a symbolic form (Snow White, Aurora, Ariel), or was inhibited by their sex and the roles deemed appropriate by society (Mulan and Jasmine).

This is an interesting argument to make, one that I would like to dive into. I would also want to argue that WHEN is an important factor as well.

Easier said than implemented.

I have recently gotten into the idea of social reproduction and how certain factors influence education and curriculum leading to the question if we are truly in a democratic society as the core principles of a democratic society are in direct competition with a capitalistic society.

Counterstories are under utilized within the schools and can greatly help students gain perspective and deeper understanding on issues or events.

Based on what I learned in other books, this is something that we cannot force upon our students. We simply extend the invite for them to share their experiences through literacy (reading, writing. story-telling, etc.), and it's the students' choice to witness, then create their own testimony/testimonios.

I love this! Students are still developing their identities as they enter our classrooms, so this demonstrates an effective way to get students to add to their identities as writers, and students in general.

This also relates to the book I read for class - The Vulnerable Heart of Literacy. Writing is used as a doorway to testimony and witness for our students' traumas, as well as our own.

This is how I viewed writing throughout most of my life until I took education classes in college. If I felt this way, I can't imagine how other parents or community members felt, especially if their child was doing poorly. Throughout my high school years, we were trained to write in a particular fashion to adhere to certain styles, but not necessarily from a radical standpoint.

I think this is a great idea. Growing up, I always had a weakness in history, but if I was offered the chance to tie in my past experiences with my learning, I would have made much more progress.

This relates to the book I just read: *The Vulnerable Heart of Critical Literacy where students are extended the invitation to discuss their experiences and traumas, which allows us as teachers and their fellow peers to be critical witnesses.

This made me connect to the movie Freedom Writers. Once Erin Gruwell stopped teaching by certain objectives and standards, and tended to the support and needs of her students, they started to care about their own learning.

As educators, how can we make this possible when we are depended on to follow the standards and meet certain expectations ourselves?

The movie, The Great Debaters, is a excellent example of this.

In a connection to "Cultivating Urban Literacies on Chicago’s South Side through a Pedagogy of Spatial Justice," I never considered creating a unit based on the industries in a student's community. Chicago, yes, but never about the explicit context and setting of our neighborhood. This would be a great way to engage students and help foster a sense of agency.

I wonder if the administration ever looked at the data to see if their policy was working or not? Did tardies go down after they began to implement this policy? If not, what else did they do?

This is an example of critical literacy and also literacy across disciplines. I wish more curriculum included this stance.

This reminds me Engineering design process!

This unit would coincide really well with Social Emotional Learning lessons!

I like this idea of counter narrating. Too often I feel like I am giving my students my narrative instead of fostering their sense of agency. Journaling could used much more purposefully in this way.

I love that we have a nonfiction text as well as a multimedia component. I found this to be a very engaging teaching strategy that also aligns to the standards. Just ordered this book!

I wonder what the specifics of quality food is? Are we taking into account cultural foods? Does this unit touch on the emotional connections we have to food or cross examine mental health with obesity trends? I love the range and endless possibility this unit has.

This frames the students' counternarratives as valuable knowledge and expertise.

And, in school environments, whose accounts are believed and upheld? Whose positions hold value?

I can imagine this was a very rewarding feeling for the students that partook in this collective action plan. One of the many things I am taking away from our work this semester is how important it is for students to see their work come to life--whether their work results in social change and transformation or is published or shared across various contexts and platforms. Just as students' learning processes should connect their experiences both at and out of school, so should the culmination of their learning.

Yes, and for many students, particularly students of color, this feeling of voicelessness may already exist and be rooted in various contexts. As Pedraza and Rodriguez state, many students have relatives that are incarcerated or work under unsafe and unfair working conditions. We should keep this in mind when working with our students...yes, they are experiencing this at school right now, does this connect to their experiences outside of school? How can we best support them?

This reading as a whole demonstrates the power and impact of language. As Pedraza and Rodriguez mention throughout, the word "sweep" has different connotations and functions, evident in their text examples by Julia Alvarez, Sandra Cisneros, and others. For these reasons, we as educators should be extremely mindful of the language we use--with our students, to describe our students or our classes, and more.

The irony! Instead of working with working communities, to meet and address needs, we have systems that purposely work against them.

The value here is in the students' recognizing their potential to have a positive impact on a policy that affects not only themselves, but others.

This is very real. I teach at an urban high school and I can see all too often that students will graduate and often be right back in their neighborhoods they grew up in struggling to obtain or maintain social mobility. I talked to one student that is at the community college and he is working a full time as stock worker for Wal Mart and a part time job for the high school. He has school from 8AM-2PM, then comes to the school to work from 3-5:30 and then has work from 9 PM til 5 AM. This schedule does not include time for him to work on school, let alone sleep. He is just one example of many low-income non-white students.

Interesting at my school, we still call them "Hall Sweeps." However if a student is swept, then they can get held for processing and potentially miss the entire class period. Many times I have had students miss entire periods of instruction because they were a minute or two late.

This is what I believe many teachers want from the students we teach. We want students to find their voice to address their needs and wants as they are on their journey of life. The manner in which we go about it is different and the ways we try to create student agency may be different upon the context but I believe the goals many students have is the same.

I worked in two elementary schools (k-8) in the Chicago Public School system, both schools were on the south side in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Both schools had uniformed Chicago Police officers working security. Kids were terrified of getting arrested and the officers were used as a threat by teachers who lacked appropriate classroom management skills. My children attended two Chicago Public Elementary Schools in predominantly white and Latinx neighborhoods where there was no security, let alone a police officer. This practice is a waste of money and sends all the wrong messages that children should be receiving from their teachers. The negative impact on the communities due to the practice is unsurmountable.

Students who are able to gain a voice in the school can fix stestemic or problematic policies. Students can get a voice in how to change something to make them more culturally relevant. This could be something like restorative justice polices.

This is all cultural groups who are not white. Especially in the huge influx of immigrants during the 20-40s They were forced to speak English so many of these future generations lost their home language. Hundreds of languages have gone extinct since the 1900s. Especially in the United States a students achignvemt can be drastically effected if they don not speak English

History can often have two different interpretations of what happened. EX. The War of 1812 and The Civil War. Often because history is written by the victor. The losing side may feel like they won or misinterpret the facts of what started/ fighting for. Thus potentially changing what students learn and how they interpret what happened in history

This is similar to the BLM protests were some of them ended riots. Those protesters were met with riot police. Which had a larger portion of African American participants. This is stark contrast to the shutdown protests which had a larger white portion of participants. Even though some of those protesters had assault rifles and stormed the Michigan capital. They were allowed to protest and were not met by police. In the media they tended to show the riots more than the peaceful protests that happened. Creating a sense of fear and chaos even when 99.9% of the BLM protests were peaceful.

These steps are really helpful in beginning to think about how to implement YPAR in the classroom. I remember reading about this method in the Hansfield book, but this article clarifies it for me.

This is a good example of a teacher changing what they are teaching based on meaningful conversations with students. Students often question school policies, but usually don't get an answer. This demonstrates how powerful a lesson can be when student voices are listened to.

One thing that I really liked about the unit that this teacher created was how students were able to directly see how their actions resulted in the name being changed. This is a good example of civics in action in the school environment. These students can take this lesson and use it in the future when there is a policy or name they disagree with.

We as teachers, and also schools have so much to learn from our students. They bring a wealth of expert knowledge to the classroom and we need to celebrate it, not silence it.

This documentary was very eye opening. The students in the film were incredibly engaged in their learning and it just emphasized the importance and need for kids to learn about their own backgrounds in school, instead of just the dominant narratives we regularly get in school. We live in such a diverse society, and this should spill over into our education more and with intent.

A common theme I have noticed in the readings and readings from other classes is how harmful the way we label things in schools can be. An example that comes to mind is how important it is to use the term" Emergent bilingual" in place of "English language learner".

This reminds me a lot of practice we use at my school called restorative justice circles.

It is so fun seeing everything come together through all the units. Here we can see a connection to Unit 1.

I am intrigued by the Inside-Outside Circle. I needed another example, so I found one online

http://www.theteachertoolkit.com/index.php/tool/inside-outside-circles

This is so important. The Tardy sweeps assumes students as disposable and that they must not care about school which is why they are late. Offering solutions considers the fact that they are still kids learning how to time manage! I love this line because the goal should be to help kids not punish them.

I feel that this really connects to the "Precious Knowledge" documentary connection mentioned above where the point between students having a dysfunctional relationship to school vs. students having a dysfunctional relationship to learning was made; students love learning. It is the harmful structures and feeling of voicelessness they are left with that causes them to have a dysfunctional relationship with school, not learning.

This is critical for students to consider because it demonstrates the impact that social structures and systemic racism, among other oppressive systems, impact different areas of one's life, including healthy foods, their accessibility or lack of, and consumption.

I really appreciate how she designed this entire unit to encourage her students to think and act critically. This is how we can not only make the world a better place in present time but also in the future as they grow into responsible young adults who will continue to look at their world critically. Having participated in this class, these young people now know how to be change agents for more positive future.

One of the amazing things to come out of the pandemic is the Love Fridges on the west and south sides. These refrigerators are set up to provide free healthy choices such as fruits and vegetables in areas that have been determined to be food desserts. Check out the website and consider helping out. Also, make sure to let students and families know especially if they may be experiencing food insecurity. https://www.thelovefridge.com/

The example of how perception is reality.

This is a great example of student led and student centered writing. This project is designed to get students to think critically about their surroundings and then write about this from personal experience on top of synthesized information.

Having students switch their perspectives about themselves and their role in our world is critical.

Can anyone further explain this definition? I think this is describing the idea that context matters and determines spatial justice.

I really like how this lesson connects local and global issues. It makes me think of how in Pose, Wobble, Flow, the authors challenge teachers to reflect on if their lessons allow students to engage critically with the world as they experience it. This unit is a good example of that.

There is a great organization in Chicago called the Urban Growers Collective that is focused on the South Side and is a "Black- and women-led non profit...working to build a just and equitable local food system." I thought about them as I was reading this piece. https://urbangrowerscollective.org/

Counter narratives are something my group is really excited to use for our final practice.

Students as agents of change has been a common and inspiring theme I have recognized throughout this entire semester.

This phrase reminded me of a lot of conversations I had with my Unit 2 group about how bias a lot of curriculum is. It reminds me of how important it is for educators to recognize this.

This phrase makes me really excited for developing our practice, as students using their knowledge of their own neighborhoods is a positive theme I have seen across readings. This is something we will also be using for our final project.

This can be really powerful for students. They can see how maybe the increase in violence in their neighborhoods could be attributed to the lack of resources or having to fight for them.

This can get students to realize what food places are around them. It can get them to think deeper about what healthy food is or is not around them.

She is helping students realize that they can make an impact within their community. This is crucial for students to realize they can be change makers within their communities as well as in broader spaces. Doing this can help them change their communities

This is fantastic that students are getting to think critically about a topic. She gave them an opportunity not only to write something but also to preform it. This can help to give ownership of their written The students have the ability to express feeling or thoughts they have about the community. The students feelings seem similar to the perceptions that they get from media and from other people in the city.

Video: I thought it was really powerful how Kara spoke about this portrayal of the south as trauma inflicted on her students. She spoke about their spoken word and their personal appreciation of place narrative projects as avenues to collective healing and repositioning. While they also did town halls, petitions, spoke with stakeholders, etc. I definitely agree that the discourse and personal appreciation of place as a means of healing is just as important, if not more, than that immediate action step.

I think this really rings true for Chicago and its varying neighborhoods. Each neighborhood really is its own complex system. From an outsider's perspective, they can be lumped together when they are really quite different and have unique needs, histories, and inequities.

The issue of equity in schools has been brought to the courts many times. People have fought over equitable financing of the schools, language equality (Lau v. Nichols), and racial equality (Westminster v. Mendez and of course Brown v. Board of Education). It is appalling the number of times these issues have been brought to the courts and still, our education system is still unequal. Check out this list of landmark cases related to education equality https://edeq.stanford.edu/sections/landmark-us-cases-related-equality-opportunity-education It is sobering to think we are still in this position after all of these fights.

This reminds me of the Young Chicago Authors' annual poetry festival, Louder Than a Bomb, which features student voices which often challenge mainstream narratives about Black youth and their literacies. https://youngchicagoauthors.org/programs/education-partnerships

These should be foundation questions that should guide teachers in their practice

This kind of answers my thought to the DuBois quote earlier in the article. It is only when marginalized people tell their stories that then it begins to challenge the people in power (or that is the way I am interpreting it).

We have an opportunity and a responsibility to encourage and support our students' greater engagement in their communities, especially if our goal is to help students successfully navigate the world outside of school.

Yes, I completely agree and could not emphasize this enough. This is something all educators should keep in mind as they cultivate their classroom space and environment, alongside their students.

This is powerful. It demonstrates the multimodality of literacy and the different ways in which one may already be engaging with literacy, especially those that may be deemed as "non-traditional" because they are not occurring in the classroom.

This made me think of Black Boy by Richard Wright, an autobiography in which Wright details his upbringing and experience as a Black man in the Jim Crow South. Similarly to Khaleeq, and consequently to racism and oppression, Wright details the ways in which he positions himself within society and how/where others position him.

This reminds me of a scene from the documentary "Precious Knowledge," which I highly recommend. The school's teachers are in a meeting and one of the school's white teachers states that the students are damaged, "culturally damaged" and describes how learning has become irrelevant in their lives. Another teacher in the meeting, a Latinx man, responds by describing how students have a dysfunctional relationship with school and not learning, primarily because of the ways in which the educational system (and the structural inequalities in place, as stated in this reading) do NOT serve Black and Brown students.

Both the scene from the documentary and this statement demonstrate how the blame is put on the students and not the racist and oppressive systems that push them out.

"Precious Knowledge"

This is so real for me. There are so many articles and statistics so support this but on a personal and practical level I rarely see Black men in my Advanced Placement and Honors classes and the narrative around a lot of Black adolescent males (if it is not centered around their athleticism) is centered around the lack of qualities they have to "make it in the real world."

I am curious in what DuBois meant when he said "keep broad ideals?"

This quote is very powerful to me. It gives the obvious statement of the power of education, but it argues that the lack of quality education to all will challenge our very way of life. I feel like this is not true in some aspects because the lack of quality education is designed ignorance and controlled social mobility. However, on the other hand, it is through the inequality and inequity that we see misrepresented people fighting to challenge and dismantle the unfair education system.

This was demonstrated so well in the Christensen article. In the community that she taught in, she used examples of gentrification to teach critical literacy and show students how they can change the story that is told about their community. If more schools recognized that school is not enough, students would learn more and have more opportunities to explore areas that they might be interested in.

Some of the resources listed in the other articles for this week (the Reese and Young articles) could be a good place to start to begin create a counter-narrative in classrooms through books that students read.

This is a good reminder of how teachers need keep the way they define literacy and learning in mind when they plan lessons and curriculum. Most teachers would argue that literacy goes beyond decoding and simply understanding what a text says; learning is a socially constructed, active process. Curriculums don't always match this belief and this is one reason why many students are not able to demonstrate the full range of their literacy skills.

I love this phrase and will continue to research and apply this. This also reminds me of a text to media connection, these boys who challenge the school to prison pipeline in the Netflix show Grand Army.

In reflecting on my own experiences, I don't think school was enough for me even as a middle class white person. By the time I was a junior in high school, all I wanted to do was get out and be in the "real" world. The extra curriculars, the sense of community and leadership, the exposure to cultures outside my bubble is what kept me going. My cohesive family unit also kept me on the straight and narrow, for the most part, along with white privilege. More than ever schools need to focus on creating an inclusive community with partnerships and programs, leaders and options.

My students just read articles about this case and speeches from Chief Justice Earl Warren in 1954. He stated education was, "a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment." That lesson turned into a teachable moment about pronouns. Then looking at a photograph of the Little Rock Nine, my students referred to the screaming white women in the background as Karens. If we really want to disrupt the school to prison pipeline and liberate our students, they need to know the history in order to confront our situation today.

I feel like I could talk for days about access to quality education as a teacher in a Chicago Public School, who nannies and tutors children from the private school of Parker, and who worked at a private international school in Honduras. I have seen education across a spectrum, so I agree, this is the civil rights question of our time and it frustrates me to no end.

This makes me think of civic literacies and how it can be an example of those ideological literacies often missing from school.

This is a very powerful statement that captures how school can be a place of disconnect where students feel suffocated vs. empowered or liberated.

I realize that there are still some teachers out there doing this, I sincerely hope they are getting pressured to stop. I have not personally seen this since my oldest was in kindergarten which was in the mid 1990s, that being said - it is much too late in our country's history to still be depicting these false narratives. On the flip side, there is a definite lack of authentic, honest education about Indigenous people. Therefore, the goal should be to replace this insulting practice with actual education. Schools, administrators, parents, and teachers need to push everyone in the education community to do better.

This is so helpful! I foresee myself using this in much the same way I use the Coretta Scott King award - as a litmus test of what is a good book that authentically depicts that culture.

YES--language is powerful and the language we use matters!

We must introduce and teach texts that are written by the "insiders." These stories should be written by individuals who form part of the culture that is written about. As educators, we need to be critical of texts we introduce to our students--who are they written by, what are they about, and who are they written for?

This reminds me of Paulo Friere's "read the word and the world."

These questions can be used in all aspects of literacy. In a lot of instances, it shows a white mainstream Euro-centric perspective. This is why the history of many minority cultures (and specifically tribal nations) do not exceed a chapter in the history books.

I found this very interesting, as I had just read the chapter on Folktales and Folklore in "The Bloomsbury Introduction to Children's and Young Adult Literature" by Karen Coats. The chapter spoke to the ideologies surrounding what folktales are and who "decides" . This part of Reese's article really stood out to me, because I never really realized that most books/stories written by/about Native people are only considered as "folktales" when in reality these stories are also creation stories (for example). It has made me want to take some time to really look into the ideologies surrounding what constitutes as a folktale and what doesn't and why European literature is often afforded different "titles" then those of other groups of people.

I dont think this is just the case for Native writers. This should be for all culturally relevant writers. Having those authors within the classroom gives them a sense of ownership. It is important for those cultures to be represented within their classrooms

Teachers and schools should make every effort to have culturally relevant text written by authors from that culture. This gives a more accurate representation of the culture and the people within in.

and yet most classrooms curriculums do not recognize or rarely acknowledge Indigenous tribal history. In history if it is taught, it usually starts around the time the settlers arrive. Most people do not know if there is any tribes near them.

Yes. Individuals need to know and be aware of the vastness of indigenous people across the United States. The term "Indian" was created around the time of Columbus because he though that he landed in India and wanted to quantify the people that he saw. We need to refer to Indigenous people by there tribal name and not as one solid group. Since there are differences between each tribe.

Adding this to my list of resources!

The American Museum of Natural History in New York has an exhibit that challenges how Native Americans were represented in paintings by placing them along side historical documents and pointing out errors to rectify misrepresentations.

I never thought about how libraries, in their organizational patterns, could contribute to misrepresentations and promote a dominant culture in this way.

I wish there was a professional development called "What I Do You Really Want To Teach." I would spend days looking for text, visuals, and artifacts, then align them to standards and making them accessible to my students' diverse range of reading levels. I would teach about the indigenous people I met in Honduras - the Garifunas, the women of Peru, and the Cholitas of Bolivia. If anyone has any middle school resources, please share. Thanks!

I have bookmarked this site (and the books suggested in the article) to use as a first step in using books by Native writers all year round. I really appreciate having reviewed book lists to when adding books to my classroom library.

These suggestions are so helpful when curating texts to use in the classroom. It can be difficult to select texts that are valuable and representative from so many choices, and I will use this as a way to evaluate native stories used in the classroom. In situations where a classroom might have problematic texts, these ideas can be taught to students so they can see why that text is harmful.

this is incredible. We need to be way better about bringing and honoring these tribal nations in schools!

This a question we as adults need to be asking ourselves about the stories we consume as well, whether it be literature, tv/film, news, etc. We tend to accept narratives that reflect our own experiences and opinions. We must therefore actively seek out voices and stories that aren't a part of the mainstream. The more we are able to do this personally, the more we'll be able to do it for/with our students.

These questions are so important because they provide a useful strategy in deciding if a narrative is accurate or harmful. I wrote these down to also use with my students in their readings about immigrant experiences.

I think this specificity is important because it allows students to be critical in indigenous literacies which can then enable them to be critical in other pursuits and literacies as well when questioning why people, places, etc get "lumped" together in the first place.

I feel this inadvertent locating of Native Lives in the past also happens on Indigenous peoples day unless intentionally planned to break past that mistake. For example, if we merely do a land acknowledgement and mention the land in Chicago that has Native origins, or was lived on primarily by native peoples, without paying mind to the struggles of indigenous communities today, then aren't we just situating natives in the past? What happens if we don't speak about reparations or current issues and actions we should take? Their lives are here today, and this something that comes as a surprise to some students.

One valuable resource in diversifying the representation of Native peoples in classrooms could be Matika Wilbur's Project 562. From the website: "Project 562 is a multi-year national photography project dedicated to photographing over 562 federally recognized tribes in The United States resulting in an unprecedented repository of imagery and oral histories that accurately portrays contemporary Native Americans." http://www.project562.com

I get where they are going with this name and I've seen similar projects with similar names in other texts, however, The word counter feels negative - why not corrected fairy tales? The definition of counter as an adverb is: in the opposite direction of; in conflict with. The conflict lies within the original fairy tales. People should not have to engage in creating conflict in order to see themselves in literature.

I recall reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in high school in the 1980s. As one of only a couple of white kids in the class, I missed the significance it must have held for my classmates - especially those that were female and Black. Looking back, I see my privilege in play long before there was a term for it. I connected to the book and appreciated the story immensely because of my own life experiences. Now, all these years later, I am thankful that a teacher was so thoughtful to provide my classmates with such a great literary experience. As a point of comparison, all of the other books we read in that class had been written by old dead white men (Shakespeare, Hemingway, etc)

This makes me think of student choice and voice. For example, in order to decriminalize literacy for Black girls, it would be great to give students the opportunity compile a collection of literacies by and for Black girls. Just as Marley Dias created the resource guide #1000BlackGirlBooks, what can our students do to decriminalize literacy and claim/reclaim their narratives?

As part of CFT and CRF, this would also serve as excellent opportunity for storytelling in the classroom between the students. Are there intersections between the students' stories? Do they reflect their lived experiences? How do they counter or respond to the dominant and privileged White narratives?

Not only should we include these authors and texts in our classroom, but we also need to be critical about the lens through which we approach and teach them.

This is so real. When you crush and distort the dreams of an enslaved person...their dreams and ideas of freedom will also become crushed and distorted. What they will fight for, believe in, and resist will be changed as well.

In the high school where I teach, people refer to the class as "English" and the official title of the Language Arts classes are "English." This immediately gives superiority to those who can master White Mainstream english or are familiar with grammatical terms according to white mainstream English.

One example: When reading the book about the Salem witch trials. Often the story is taught from the lense of blissfully ignorant white girls who accuse other white women of witchcraft which resulted in their executions even though they were innocent. However when the story brings up Tituba, a slave accused of witchcraft, she is portrayed as a women who is potentially evil, dangerously mysterious, and promiscuous so the taking of her life seemed more justified.

This is another reminder that the stripping of language and culture has happened to Black people for centuries. Society and education has continuously invented (and reinvented) ways to dehumanize Black people and specifically Black women.

This helps students connect to their learning. It can empower them as well because they feel that their culture and themselves are valued/ represented. Representation is important because it makes the students feel like their voices are heard.

Currently, we are focused on bringing in student culture by studying Black and Latinx authors, scientists, mathematicians, and influential figures that are “breaking barriers” in our society. However, we do not spend a lot of time focusing on communication, or language barriers rather, that we have traversed. Maybe now more than ever, teachers are presented with either a burden, as some would see it, or an opportunity, as we should take it, to address students’ written language as well as the oral tradition of story telling.

I was wondering if the CFT model would be relevant in middle school for 7th or 8th graders. This strategy reminded me that we used venn diagrams to compare and contrast the book to movie of The Outsiders, which is an all white male cast. Although my students related to these characters' socio-economic status, I was aware of the lack of representation in race. This reminded me that we could do re-writes with this model, even if it's not a fairy tale, it's still a classic. We could even add a research component to find out how minoritized groups were played a role in the culture of 1960s Oklahoma.

Today we read an article about how Black Women were not allowed to contribute to the Civil Rights Movement to the extent that men were. In addition, we also study speeches by Black women about the intersectionality of race and gender, which I think both need to be discussed and read about in the classroom.

https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/women-in-the-civil-rights-movement#line-2

I think Starr from The Hate U Give is a great example of changing the narrative here, while still allowing Black girls to connect with her pain and restoration.

This connects well with the Haddix article because it shows how school curriculums often limit the talents that students can demonstrate. The combination of students being taught a limited view of what writing is with texts that don't include them, really shows me how classroom literacy practices are falling short.

This makes me think of Pose, Wobble, Flow and how the authors emphasized how teachers really need to be reflective of what texts they give attention to. Resources like this can help teachers create collections of books that affirm the identities of their black female students and help build classroom conversations around books with black, female protagonists.

The ubiquity of fairy tales and the use of the oral storytelling model mean that this activity could be introduced to significantly younger students as well. I could see a version of this being successful for early elementary school students.

Powerful framing of awareness as a form of literacy. Are we as educators really teaching and engaging with literacy if our curriculum only allows a narrow definition of knowledge/value, especially if the curriculum ignores the experiences and identities of our students?

Educators need to be intentional about providing that space and providing opportunity in literature to give these women and girls texts that share their lived experience. Curriculum needs to be reevaluated and the texts and stories as well.

I believe these author's need to be elevated we need more diversity in author's, books, poetry and literature in the classroom that reflects the students in front of us.

This is a great question that can be posed by the teacher that enforces skills and reading strategies while validating the reader's experience. It also makes space for being critical of the original story.

I really appreciate this because it sums up a major shift I have made in my approach to teaching language arts this year. I no longer refer to it as ELA or English Language Arts because my bilingual students are pulling from multiple literacies and language repertoires, so why would I refer to something so complex as just english language arts? I agree that it is a white patriarchal term.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdabgOGEm8s&feature=youtu.be

The Marginal Syllabus conversation with the authors was very eye opening. One thing that was really stressed in the conversation was the fact that students (specifically young black girls) come to school with stories to tell, and we really need to tap into those stories.

While this article is mostly geared towards literacy in adolescents, I feel that there is a lot to learn from it for those of us who are elementary teachers. Having books in our classrooms that students can see their own lived experiences in is important.I think we can all take an active role as teachers in growing our classroom libraries (and our mentor texts) to represent a much broader variety of people.

I've often wondered about the double standard associated with riots after sporting events as opposed to civil unrest related to injustice. This definitely clears up my understanding of this hypocrisy, I thought is was just me that was irritated by this double standard.

I never realized this, but it makes sense. This type of metacognition is what I hope to teach my students, but I'm worried that I don't practice this analysis skill enough.

Are we including social media in the distinction of "mainstream?"

To further understand this sentiment, I recommend reading Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, or watching the movie Just Mercy.

Currently, mainstream media is approximately 77% white in Chicago, and that is is the audience they are playing to. I think "reinforce white supremacy" is a hyperbole, and "have a white bias" would be more accurate.

What a powerful and necessary acknowledgement. And what an example this provides for our students, to admit that we are not experts in everything and don't have all the answers, and that our students' knowledge is insightful and deserving of respect as well.

As Dr. Baker-Bell argues in "Linguistic Justice," anti-Black racism both infiltrates and affects the classroom as well as American society in general. The two cannot be separated, and we cannot adequately address racism in one area without also considering and affecting change in the other.

I can definitely see this as a way to add onto a curriculum and make it more personal for students. Students analyze language when reading novels and teachers can supplement curriculums with news clips and articles to show what language reveals in everyday life. I think if parts of these lessons appeared regularly in classroom lessons, students would continually be critical of media and engage regularly in responding to it.

This is so important. I think back to Haddix article and how she described school writing vs. out of school writing. Writing as a form of social activism can change what it means to be a writer for students while helping them challenge media narratives.

I kept thinking about Pose, Wobble, Flow as I was reading this piece too! This research and writing suggestion would really contribute to a participatory culture in the classroom where students are actively responding to what they read and see. I think an authentic example like this would really demonstrate media bias and how passively consuming media is not be an option.

I really like this idea, and it reminds me of a point that is made in Pose, Wobble, Flow by Antero Garcia and Cindy O'Donnell-Allen. How we can encourage our students to take their work to the next step? What are ways in which their work in the classroom can lead to change in the classroom and beyond? For example, the students could hold a school assembly to present their protest signs or post them on a social media platform. That way, their voices and work are able to reach others beyond the classroom and keep the conversation going.

I completely agree with this statement and do think critical media literacy should be viewed as a tool that Black youth can use to do just that--deconstruct and rewrite narratives. Additionally, I think critical media literacy would also support students in their critical thinking of the media they consume and produce. What is the intended message? Who is the targeted audience? Who created this piece of media? Is this piece credible? As mentioned throughout, the media that is shared with the public, particularly the media that to pertains to the Black community, is framed very strategically and intentionally to harm, stereotype, and criminalize, and this is something we should all be extremely mindful of.

I love the idea of starting these lessons with a motivational quote and also a motivational question. I think both are great tools to engage students in an inquiry mindset when doing critical literacy work.

I believe this is important for us as educators to be transparent. If we can talk about the way that we grew up, what affected us growing up, ways we struggled or excelled in school (literacy autobiographies) as well as be open to where we are now then that will help deconstruct bias that students have about the teacher and help them understand their surroundings in racial inequality more.

This is a example of coherence theory where showing dehumanizing portrayals of Black people to be organized around the assumption of what really matters how Black people have (not) mattered.

This taps into many peoples funds of knowledge. We have been fed by these notions of racial superiority for so long that it has been tied to peoples cultural experiences and the way that they look at other cultures (specifically Black people).

It is interesting how the United States has a fascination with serial killers (who throughout recent history are mostly white) but look down upon gangs, gang members and gang violence. There are so many serial killer TV show series and documentaries but yet we do not have the same fascination and interest in African Americans who are murderers.

This may be controversial but I think think there should be a perspective citing both her actions and how she was victimized but placing emphasis on the way she was victimized as a result. If she would have gotten out of her seat, there would have been a strong likelihood we would have never heard about this story. However, due to the fact that she did not and the officer used excessive force to remove her, clearly making her a victim in the situation.

I could equate it to driving. If you stop at a stop sign for less than three seconds, that's against the law. Say one stops at a stop sign for less than three seconds but due that action they get involved in a hit-and-run accident that leaves them inquired. Could stopping at that stop sign for the full three seconds changed the outcome? Possibly, but being involved in the accident doesn't make them any less of a victim.

An important note as we are life long learners.

How can we incorporate this thinking into our practice/project paper for CI450? Is this something that could be authentic and based on lives experiences of students/families?

This right here. This is definitely the charge educators have. This strays from the behaviorism theories that focus more on isolated skills that lack critical thinking or an expansion into different literacies. I think before even being able to see themselves this way, educators need to take time to understand the inherently sociopolitical nature of being an educator and look beyond our roles as authority figures imparting knowledge and into facilitators and co collaborators of these healing and transformative spaces.

I recall waking up the next day after the election was called in Trump's favor and walking into the school full of children who were already visibly traumatized and worried about what the future held for themselves and their parents. Myself and the paraprofessional that worked in my room at the time decided that rather than ignore the elephant in the room, we would hold a community circle so everyone could share their feelings. She and I had no training in this sort of thing, we just winged it and did our best. We cried with the kids that day. Four years later I can't say things are better, in fact, I'm sure they are worse. We need training to help us help our students through this collective traumatization brought on by politics. This editorial on how Trump has uses his rhetoric as a strategy and how if effects all of us was interesting and enlightening https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-trauma-family-separation/

Even today in 2020, kids are still suffering from the politics of our country. In my SEL block the week of the election, my students (half of which are Dreamers) were nervous, upset, and completely stressed. Twelve-year-olds should not have to worry about politics this much.

I completely agree with this. I think in order to continue to have classrooms that address trauma, healing and politics, teachers need opportunities for ongoing professional development to prepare them. Students would have a much more positive school experience if they had a curriculum that encouraged healing.

This is so important. From my experience, SEL skills are often taught as an isolated concept. I think it would be so much more powerful if SEL skills were purposefully ingrained into the existing curriculum, across all content areas.

The instant access we have to information globally, allows students to not only be concerned with domestic natural disasters but hurricanes in other countries as well. Whereas the media can choose to exclude other narratives from places like Ghana and Honduras, young people through social media can be informed of global disasters and contribute to the relief efforts.

At what point should one students trauma not impede others in the classroom?

So often teachers feel the pressure to teach the standards, but in critical literacy theory, we should be focusing on bringing out our students identity through our teaching. Taking the time to acknowledge real world events and our reaction to them makes our learning experiences authentic.

Acknowledging bias - text to self connection - my students talked about the candidates for this years election in my virtual classroom yesterday. It was a difficult conversation being virtually in the homes of families through Google Meet, and having to acknowledge family beliefs instead of students forming their own within a physical classroom space outside of the home.

Yes, this is a great reminder. Healing isn't quite a destination, nor is it a singular journey, as the reading mentions. It is ongoing, continual, and more challenging at some times than others. This is something we must remind ourselves and our students of.

I completely agree with this statement, and it reminds me of a critical point made in Pose, Wobble, Flow by Antero Garcia and Cindy O'Donnell-Allen that teachers cannot be apolitical in the classroom. In order to create a safe space in the classroom, we need to recognize who we are creating this safe space for and from who/what, and why we are creating a safe space. We cannot do this without acknowledging the social, political, and cultural factors that impact our students' lives--something that can be very much political, and for some, even controversial.

This is a great definition/exploration of privilege; are classrooms safe spaces, and to whom? How did the 2016 election change this and/or bring it to the forefront?

I am reminded of the book "The Vulnerable Heart of Literacy" by Dutro as well. Where testimony and witness are practiced to reframe what we know about trauma.

I think this happens a lot because teachers at times feel ill equipped to do this.

Can someone explain the last part of this sentence?

This also goes into transactional reader theory. Each student can experience the same trauma but how they write and talk about that event will be different.

This practice appears to be rooted in emergent literacy theory and transactional reader theory. It focuses how students understand reading and writing processes and how they use these literacy skills in meaningful and contextualized ways of how they matter. This is also is having students bring their own schemata to bear meaning they construct from texts.

Many teachers are unequipped to deal with trauma leading up to and following elections for a number of reasons. They have to understand the events they are experiencing, their own biases and feelings regarding the same events, their students viewpoints and the community they serve, as well as understand how history has played a role in influencing peoples ideas. This very complex to understand to deliver to students over a some days or weeks.

The way loose and symbolic rhetoric built on the schema of individuals, I had never experienced as a teacher or individual. The communication and rhetoric specifically by our current President made it hard to communicate with students clearly on the messages that were being conveyed. He skillfully used tapped into peoples schema of racism, homophobia, elitism, sexism and many other concepts that people were either drawn to or despised.

I remember when this happened four years ago. I was in my third year teaching and that Wednesday I had no idea what to do or say with my students. I was not ready for the conversations and questions they would bring as well as I was fighting my own feelings. Not only did I not know what to say that day but I also felt lost in how I would teach moving forward as well.

Based on my interactions with other teachers, I think first what needs to happen is teachers simply understanding that students identities ARE politicized. In addition, they need to realize their own identities are politicized as well in different ways...what I have found is that many educators believe in the meritocratic narrative, and if students aren't performing it is because of their own deficits and not an external influence. Many teachers don't want to bring these political conversations into the classroom because they do not yet recognize the sociopolitical and sociocultural context of schooling and classrooms. It can be an uncomfortable thing to do, but it is necessary.

I think this is a really important and critical stance on SEL. Social emotional learning needs to be cultivated in the classroom, but if there is no action step or means of "repair", then it is lacking and it might be more of a decoration or ornament vs. a vehicle for change.

This to me shows the danger of labeling students. There could be many underlying reasons why the student was disengaged. Instead of focusing on the deficits perhaps focusing on the strengths of this student's blog, and music lyrics could be harnessed to empower his/her writing.

Once again, this reminds me of Dutro's emphasis on the importance of a teacher having a critical understanding of how these issues affect the lives of our students in ways they may or may not affect our own. Young people are affected by these issues, and we need to create opportunities to be critical of these issues in literacy.

Yes! It is imperative for students to see their teachers as writers and even witness or take part in some of their writing practices. By doing so, these writing practices may appear more accessible and less intimidating to students. This may also challenge the students' idea of who a writer is and what they look like, encouraging them to embrace their writer identity and use this representation as a driving force.

This is a great way to begin exploring one's identity as a writer, especially for youth who simply may not see themselves as one. For students who may not see themselves as writers, we can then ask, "How do you define writing? What kinds of writing practices do you engage in everyday?" By posing these questions, we are also challenging their perceptions of writing and encouraging them to view writing as something that also happens outside the classroom.

As educators, we should definitely work towards creating these spaces for our students in the classroom, but we should also recognize that these spaces may already exist for our students outside of the classroom. With this in mind, students should be granted agency in creating and designing this space--one that meets their needs, allows them to explore their identity as a writer, and more. This could be a collaborative effort between the teacher and students.

I think this is extremely powerful and demonstrates the role that writing played in his life. It would be interesting to learn why or which part of the writing process led him to feel this way about writing.

Seeing yourself as a writer- you would think would be intrinsic, however I do not think it always is. This guiding principle brought me back to one of my first years of teaching when we had a Writers Workshop PD (in elementary), and we had to brainstorm ideas that we could use as "seeds" for modeling in the classroom. I remember it being really difficult, but once I got in the swing of it, it actually made my teaching better- because I was using MY stories, and not just the example story that was in the book. I think we need to constantly be pushing ourselves to remember we are all writers.

I think as teachers we need to be reflective and understand that we are lifelong learners as well. In order to best serve the kids in front of us we need to reflect on our practice constantly.

Many students have so many stories and experiences to share. I think it is dangerous to focus on the label of "disadvantage" instead of looking at the whole child

What does this term mean "disadvantaged students". Are we creating a harsh label or acknowledging there are students that have circumstances beyond their control. What do we as teachers do with this label? Do we get hung up on a label?

In other words, as out in the vulnerable heart of literacy, they bare critical witness and testimony to one another while learning skills. Love this.

I really appreciate this "Want" for students. This is a powerful example of critical race theory as a means for students to identify and challenge these power imbalances that are often discreet in literature. Students should talk back about about books and the monoliths and stereotypes they often reproduce.

This is a really powerful sentence. There are so many ways we can increase our capacities to better engage students; if students are not engaged, then there is a high chance it is something the teacher needs to change or adjust. This reminds me of the Vulnerable Heart of Literacy and how Dutro asks educators to increase our capacity to be vulnerable and bare critical witness and testimony in the classroom in order to use student testimony as an entry point and tool for literacy. This is a way we can work on ourselves as educators.

I appreciate that the author frames the read-around in the classroom as a living room. It makes the classroom sound and, as I can imagine, feel like a safe space for students to learn, grow, and share their stores. This is extremely important, especially when students are sharing such personal and influential moments from their life.

This reminds me of the "mirror-window" element that multicultural literature may bring into the classroom. Students are given the opportunity to see themselves represented in a text while learning about the lives of others. This would allow students to identify the intersections between their lives and stories to those of others, as this reading mentions.

As educators, we need to view ourselves as learners. The exchange of ideas, opinions, and perspectives that occurs in the classroom should be a collaborative effort between the teacher and students. When we've made this realization and enact such collaborative efforts, only then will we be able to view our students as capable to produce and share knowledge.