Spaces of Learning

This blog is intended to serve as a space to share
 ideas, book lists,
resources and more
 with middle school teachers
to use in the discussion of
Social Justice

(Be sure to click on "Older Posts"
at the bottom to view
additional resources &
Tech Tools)

 

When considering Social Justice issues, we sometime feel overwhelmed and wonder where to turn. 

Turn to your Teacher Librarian.

Your school library is a place where the
Teacher Librarian
will go our of his/her way to make a safe, inclusive and welcoming space for all.
S/he is there to help you and your students.

Through this blog, I will provide you with resources to successfully run Literature Circles focusing on Social Justice Issues and Awareness. I will be available and the library has been booked so discussions can take place in this space. 
There are additional resources available on this page to guide students who are interested in taking Social Justice Action.
In addition to co-teaching this unit with you, I will be more than happy to hold space for further discussion and action groups in the library space during breaks and at lunch. 

I look forward to working on this together.

Please feel free to comment on any of the posts if you have
additional resources or ideas to share

Social Justice and the New BC Curriculum

Social Justice Discussions are a remarkable way of guiding middle school students through the curriculum and have them meet many outcomes along the way.



Through ponderings, collaboration and discussions, there are many important points to consider when talking about social justice:

• Teaching lessons, engaging students, Teacher-Librarians providing resources that touch at the heart of empathy. From empathy comes and awareness of Social Justice and action can follow from there.
  
  
• When considering Social Justice issues, rather than jumping directly to action, it is important to discuss the root of the cause.
  An excellent article to read to help understand this is by Danielle McLaughlin (2014). The King of Denmark and the naked mole rat: Teaching critical thinking for social justice. Education Canada, 54(3)  https://www.edcan.ca/articles/the-king-of-denmark-and-the-naked-mole-rat-teaching-critical-thinking-for-social-justice/

I have created a Symbaloo WebMix with links to the BC Curriculum as well as several sites with excellent information and resources surrounding Social Justice. 

Social Justice Symbaloo

WHAT IS Symbaloo and how can it help me in my classroom??

Please scroll down to the "web tools" post to discover more about Symbaloo and other online "tech" resources.

Please feel free to comment on any of the posts if you have
additional resources or ideas to share

Critical Literacy and Social Justice

Heather Coffey describes critical literacy as the ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality and in human relationships.

Coffey goes on to say "teachers who facilitate the development of critical literacy encourage students to interrogate societal issues and institutions like family, poverty, education, equity and equality in order to critique the structures that serve as norms as well as to demonstrate how these norms are not experienced by all member of society.

If you follow this link to my

Critical Literacy Padlet

you will find additional resources to

assist in developing critical literacy skills

*****

     What is Padlet and how can it help me in my classroom?

 

 Scroll down to the tech tools post to learn more about Padlet. 

Please feel free to comment on any of the posts if you have
additional resources or ideas to share

Social Justice Quotes

Click below to link to my Padlet page with quotes that can be used as launching points for discussions into social justice issues.

Click Here

Please feel free to add more quotes to this Padlet.
You can also comment on any of the posts if you have
additional resources or ideas to share

Lit Circles - Getting Started

Faye Brownlie's book Grand Conversations, Thoughtful Responses - A Unique Approach to Literature Circles is a highly recommended resource for effectively bringing LitCircles into classrooms. The Teacher-Librarian plays an important role in this and can very effectively co-teach with the classroom teacher.

When selecting books for LItCircles, it is important to choose a wide variety in order to support all learners. There are several wordless books that launch students into creating their own stories, promote excellent conversation and make these students the leaders of the discussion group. Some students will stay in one discussion group for the duration of the LitCircle time (approx 3-4 weeks). Others will read through all the selections. There is no requirement for students to read more than one book or be part of more thaone discussion. There is a great depth of understanding and confidence developed in the students have who stay in one group.

Guiding Question:

One of the most thought provoking questions I find to get students started in their discussions and responses is "How do your decisions affect yourself and others" 

 Please link to the following instructional video for some tips on getting started with Literature Circles:

PowToon LitCircle Intro Guide

Following this post is a list of recommended
LitCircle books
with the theme of
Social Justice

Additional resources and student handouts are available

HERE

Please feel free to comment on any of the posts if you have
additional resources or ideas to share

LitCircle Books for Social Justice

The books we share with students go a long way in helping them develop their compassion for others.

Our libraries are places where students can find books that will serves as windows and mirrors. 

Windows into worlds different than our own world. Worlds our students cannot imagine, but must learn about in order to become empathetic citizens. 

Mirrors where we see ourselves; our own lives and how we may react in certain situations.

Books about social justice allow students insight into what it feels like to encounter racism, be a refugee, to fight for rights and freedoms which others take for granted. Discussing these books in LitCircles allows students to begin to understand the voices that are missing, contradictory views and taking action.

1. A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
   
   
   
   The New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours' walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya's in an astonishing and moving way."
   ***
2. Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate
   
   
   
   A man I helped to settle here
   taught me a saying from Africa.
   I'll bet you would like it:
   A cow is God with a wet nose
   
   Kek comes from Africa where he lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived. Now she's missing, and Kek has been sent to a new home. In America, he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter―cold and unkind. But slowly he makes friends: a girl in foster care, an old woman with a rundown farm, and a sweet, sad cow that reminds Kek of home. As he waits for word of his mother's fate, Kek weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.
   ***
3. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

   

   
   
   Berlin, 1942: When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move to a new house far, far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people in the distance.
    
   But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different from his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.
   ***
4. How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor
   

   Half of me was thinking, Georgina, don't do this. Stealing a dog is just plain wrong. The other half of me was thinking, Georgina, you're in a bad fix and you got to do whatever it takes to get yourself out of it.
   Georgina Hayes is desperate. Ever since her father left and they were evicted from their apartment, her family has been living in their car. With her mama juggling two jobs and trying to make enough money to find a place to live, Georgina is stuck looking after her younger brother, Toby. And she has her heart set on improving their situation. When Georgina spots a missing-dog poster with a reward of five hundred dollars, the solution to all her problems suddenly seems within reach. All she has to do is "borrow" the right dog and its owners are sure to offer a reward. What happens next is the last thing she expected.

   
   

   How to Steal a Dog is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year. This title has Common Core connections.
   ***
5. The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
   
   
   
   The first book in Deborah Ellis's riveting Breadwinner series is an award-winning novel about loyalty, survival, families and friendship under extraordinary circumstances during the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan.
   Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital city. Parvana's father - a history teacher until his school was bombed and his health destroyed - works from a blanket on the ground in the marketplace, reading letters for people who cannot read or write. One day, he is arrested for the crime of having a foreign education, and the family is left without someone who can earn money or even shop for food.
   As conditions for the family grow desperate, only one solution emerges. Forbidden to earn money as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a boy, and become the breadwinner.
   ***
   
   
6. Parvana's Journey by Deborah Ellis
   
   
   
   A war is raging in Afghanistan as a coalition of Western forces tries to oust the Taliban by bombing the country. Parvana's father has died, and her mother, sister and brother have gone to a faraway wedding, not knowing what has happened to the father. Parvana doesn't know where they are. She just knows she has to find them.
   She sets out alone, masquerading as a boy, her journey becoming more perilous as the bombs begin to fall. Making her way across the desolate Afghan countryside, she meets other children who are strays from the war - an infant boy in a bombed-out village, a nine-year-old girl who believes she has magical powers over land mines, and a boy with one leg who is so obnoxious that Parvana can hardly stand him. The children travel together because it is easier than being alone. And, as they forge their own family in the war zone that Afghanistan has become, their resilience, imagination and luck help them to survive.
   ***
7. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
   
   
   
   
   I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.
   August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. WONDER, now a #1 New York Times bestseller and included on the Texas Bluebonnet Award master list, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.
   ***
8. The Arrival  by Shaun Tan (wordless)
   
   
   In a heartbreaking parting, a man gives his wife and daughter a last kiss and boards a steamship. He's embarking on the most difficult journey he's leaving home to build a better future for his family. In this wordless graphic novel, Shaun Tan captures the immigrant experience through clear, mesmerizing images. The reader enters a strange new world, participating in the main character's isolation and ultimately his joy.
   ***
9. Fatty Legs by Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
   
   
   Eight-year-old Margaret Pokiak has set her sights on learning to read, even though it means leaving her village in the high Arctic. Faced with unceasing pressure, her father finally agrees to let her make the five-day journey to attend school, but he warns Margaret of the terrors of residential schools. At school Margaret soon encounters the Raven, a black-cloaked nun with a hooked nose and bony fingers that resemble claws. She immediately dislikes the strong-willed young Margaret. Intending to humiliate her, the heartless Raven gives gray stockings to all the girls — all except Margaret, who gets red ones. In an instant Margaret is the laughingstock of the entire school. In the face of such cruelty, Margaret refuses to be intimidated and bravely gets rid of the stockings. Although a sympathetic nun stands up for Margaret, in the end it is this brave young girl who gives the Raven a lesson in the power of human dignity. Complemented by archival photos from Margaret Pokiak-Fenton’s collection and striking artworks from Liz Amini-Holmes, this inspiring first-person account of a plucky girl’s determination to confront her tormentor will linger with young readers.
   ***
10. Refugee by Alan Gratz
    
    
    
    JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world . . .
    
    ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America . . .
    
    MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe . . .
    
    All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge. All will face unimaginable dangers -- from drownings to bombings to betrayals. But there is always the hope of tomorrow. And although Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud are separated by continents and decades, shocking connections will tie their stories together in the end.
    
    This action-packed novel tackles topics both timely and timeless: courage, survival, and the quest for home.
    ***
11. Mirror by Jeannie Baker (Wordless)
    
    
    
    Somewhere in Sydney, Australia, a boy and his family wake up, eat breakfast, and head out for a busy day of shopping. Meanwhile, in a small village in Morocco, a boy and his family go through their own morning routines and set out to a bustling market. In this ingenious, wordless picture book, readers are invited to compare, page by page, the activities and surroundings of children in two different cultures. Their lives may at first seem quite unalike, but a closer look reveals that there are many things, some unexpected, that connect them as well. Designed to be read side by side — one from the left and the other from the right —these intriguing stories are told entirely through richly detailed collage illustrations.
    ***
12. Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez
    After Tyler’s father is injured in a tractor accident, his family is forced to hire migrant Mexican workers to help save their Vermont farm from foreclosure. Tyler isn’t sure what to make of these workers. Are they undocumented? And what about the three daughters, particularly Mari, the oldest, who is proud of her Mexican heritage but also increasingly connected to her American life. Her family lives in constant fear of being discovered by the authorities and sent back to the poverty they left behind in Mexico. Can Tyler and Mari find a way to be friends despite their differences?
     
    In a novel full of hope, but with no easy answers, Julia Alvarez weaves a beautiful and timely story that will stay with readers long after they finish it.
    ***
13. Pride of Bagdhahd by Brian VaughanThe startlingly original look at life on the streets of Baghdad during the Iraq War inspired by true events arrives in a stunning new softcover edition. In this provocative graphic novel, superstar comics writer Brian K. Vaughan examines life on the streets of war-torn Iraq. In the spring of 2003, a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during an American bombing raid. Lost and confused, hungry but finally free, the four lions roamed the decimated streets of Baghdad in a desperate struggle for their lives. In documenting the plight of the lions, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD raises questions about the true meaning of liberation: Can it be given, or is it earned only through self-determination and sacrifice? And in the end, is it truly better to die free than to live life in captivity? This moving graphic novel is inspired by true events.
    ***
14. The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle
    
    
    It is 1896. Cuba has fought three wars for independence and still is not free. People have been rounded up in reconcentration camps with too little food and too much illness. Rosa is a nurse, but she dares not go to the camps. So she turns hidden caves into hospitals for those who know how to find her.
    Black, white, Cuban, Spanish-Rosa does her best for everyone. Yet who can heal a country so torn apart by war? Acclaimed poet Margarita Engle has created another breathtaking portrait of Cuba.
    ***
15. I Am Nujood by Nujood Au and Dephine Mainoui
     Nujood Ali's childhood came to an abrupt end in 2008 when her father arranged for her to be married to a man three times her age. With harrowing directness, Nujood tells of abuse at her husband's hands and of her daring escape. With the help of local advocates and the press, Nujood obtained her freedom—an extraordinary achievement in Yemen, where almost half of all girls are married under the legal age. Nujood's courageous defiance of both Yemeni customs and her own family has inspired other young girls in the Middle East to challenge their marriages. 
    
    Hers is an unforgettable story of tragedy, triumph, and courage***
16. Fish in a Tree by Linda Mullaly Hunt
    
    
    Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions.  She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her—and to everyone—than a label, and that great minds don’t always think alike.
    
    

    Please feel free to use the comment section below
    to suggest other books for this list.