As educators I feel that sometimes we can get stuck in a rut of using the same lessons plans or avoiding controversial topics in our classroom especially in younger grades. Finding a door that will open up the discussion to controversial topics is a big challenge. Literature is a way to open those doors, cultivate meaningful conversations, and break down barriers between our classrooms and hard topics. This week I read Wishtree by Katherine Applegate, My Two Blankets by Irena Kobald, and Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers. These books paired well together because they open the door to conversations about immigration in various ways. Wishtree is FULL of lessons about friendship, environmental issues, diversity and so much more. This book alone has easy connections to social studies and science curriculum. For example, immigration and diversity are obvious connections to social studies curriculum that are present throughout the book. I also found smaller connections to science curriculum that did not span the entire book just portions of the book. These included life cycles, adaptations, animals, anatomy, and more. Wishtree is rich with vocabulary words! Written from the perspective of a tree, this book engaging students and opens doors to allow for conversation about serious topics which are present in our students' lives.
In an article titled “Nobody Spoke Like I Did”: Picture Books, Critical Literacy, and Global Contexts written by Jon Callow, it states "The beginning of students’ critical literacy starts with the realization that a creative choice has been made, leading to more complex discussions about power and social justice (Labadie, Wetzel, & Rogers, 2012 as cited in Callow, 2017, p.234). In the spread below from Her Right Foot many creative decisions were made about which images to include and in what order to place them in. The text says "The Statue of Liberty was not built to welcome just 1,886 immigrants from Italy on one certain Sunday in, say, 1886..." Beside each boat and plane Dave tells readers who else the Statue of Liberty has welcomed to the United States. Each boat becomes more modern and then Dave transitions to planes which also become more modern. This transition shows students how overtime the mode of transportation has evolved but the Statue of Liberty continues to welcome immigrants. When reading this page with students I would ask them what they notice about the page. This question would lead to a discussion about the different ways in which immigrants have come to America to find freedom and safety. Students would also notice how many countries are represented.
My Two Blankets is written from the perspective of an immigrant child and many students might be able to relate to her. Throughout the book the author uses a metaphor between the girl's blanket and her language. I think this book could help younger students understand immigration and how to handle it in a positive manner. Just because the two little girls do not speak the same language doesn't mean they can not be friends. The illustrations in this book really show the friendship development between the two girls. Finally, Her Right Foot, the only nonfiction text, was so engaging because the author spoke directly to the reader. Dave really created a page turner as the small amount of text on each page keeps moving the reader forward. The illustrator, Shawn Harris, created simple colorful spreads for each page. The simplicity of the illustrations help paint the story of the Statue of Liberty. This book pairs well with the two fiction texts because it helps connect social studies standards about monuments and symbols to a present day topic... immigration.
Amy Edwards, a 5th grade teacher, stated "The ability to consider multiple perspectives is at the heart of a democratic classroom for students to share their voices and to reflect on ways of thinking about the world beyond their own." These three books allow the teacher to create a safe space to invite students into conversations where they can share multiple perspectives about immigration. In her classroom Edwards worked with students to discuss topics using literature to open the door. She states "We considered information about the authors in the books we read, read a range of books on particular issues and used art to think about and share our views with each other. " Not only did they read the books a talk about them in literature circle sand Learning Lab but they explored who wrote the book and studied multiple books surrounding the same topic.
Professional References
Edwards, A. (n. d.). Wow stories: Connections from the classroom: Re-visioning the world through multiple perspectives. Retrieved from https://wowlit.org/on-line-publications/stories/storiesi2/15/