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The Boggs School Oral Project: Linking Youth and Elders to the Past, Present and Future 

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The Boggs School Oral Project: Linking Youth and Elders to the Past, Present and Future 

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Cassandra Van Dam co-authored this post. Cassandra, a junior at the University of Michigan, is studying Women's Studies with a minor in Community Action & Social Change. She hopes to obtain a masters in social work and continue to pursue the field of alternative education once she finishes her degree.

Front (left to right): Nova Thomas, Laverne Albright Ethridge and Lucia Putnam; Back (left to right): Rene McLemore, Na'Kyah Adjuman, Michaela Jenkins, Angel Baker, Athena Baker, Eliza Baker and Maya Wheeler.

On Detroit's east side, a school exists that offers an alternative vision to the future of education. Named after James and Grace Lee Boggs, the school promotes the revolutionary teachings of these significant Detroit activists. Its core values include community empowerment, trusting authentic relationships between teachers and students, and high levels of critical thought, creativity, and learning. Currently serving 79 students, K-5, the Boggs School is a community-based school in a predominantly Black neighborhood that is creating future change makers who have pride in where they come from and possess the skills necessary to transform the world around them.

On Friday, December 5th, The James and Grace Lee Boggs School hosted "The Sophie Wright Celebration Day" to honor the stories of neighborhood residents through a collection of interviews and celebrate the legacy of the building the school resides in. The event also recognized the work that the Boggs School Oral History Club did to conduct and document interviews. The idea for this event was sparked by door-to-door, community conversations, initiated by the Boggs School's summer interns, which revealed the fond memories that neighbors have of the Sophie Wright. Settlement houses emerged in the U.S. during the 19th century and were a nexus for political activism and social service delivery, offering skill building workshops and helping to meet the basic needs of their communities (http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/immigration/settlement.html). The building continues its tradition of activism and community empowerment with the Boggs School.

At the event, a "Then and Now" photo exhibition revealed the building's continuing tradition of community empowerment by juxtaposing old photographs of community activities with current pictures of Boggs School students in classes and on field trips. A short film that compiled and honored the oral histories of community members was played. To make this history come alive, The Oral History Club, a student group, formed in October. The Oral History Club (Angel Baker, Na'Kyah Adjuman, Lucia Putnam, Maya Wheeler, Michaela Jenkins, Athena Baker, Nova Thomas, Rene McLemore and Eliza Baker) conducted community interviews after school and explored the importance of history. These students themselves defined history as a connection to their ancestors, information about why the world is the way it is, and hope for their future. Lucia Putnam, a second grader, says, "I love to learn what it was like back when the Boggs School was Sophie Wright."

Through conducting interviews, students discovered how the building was used as a settlement house, what effect the settlement house had on the transformation of community members in their youth, and how the neighborhood has changed over time. Laverne Albright Ethridge, a community member who was interviewed, said "I enjoyed sharing my stories and knowledge with the students at the Boggs School, who were very excited to learn about the history of the building." Athena Baker, a second grader, reflected on how the Oral History Club allowed her to "learn about the kind of history [she] needed to learn." In the process, the students made personal connections with local history and the lived experiences of community elders, which they valued as an important source of knowledge. Jackie Bell, a grandparent of a Boggs student, said "As a senior myself, I think it is important that children appreciate the seniors in their community and the knowledge and wisdom they have to share." This is reflected when Na'Kyah Adjuman, a third grader, says "I joined the Oral History Club to learn about my ancestors and what they experienced, so that I can learn from what they have done and it can help me do things in my future."

The Boggs School implements a place-based model of education, which incorporates local heritage and culture into the curriculum. In this way, students are taught to respect and learn from the community they live in. Maya Wheeler, a second grader, says "I learned more about people's history." The event brought students, families, staff and community members together. Fran Dorn, a community member featured in the film and grandmother of Boggs School students, encouraged students at the event to have conversations with their relatives and learn about their family history. Regarding the event, Janice Fialka says, "Children who may not readily take risks, stood in front of the audience to share. Older folks felt listened to and shared their stories with pride. So many lessons were learned at deep levels. History matters, stories matter, the past matters, community matters, artists matters, the future matters, we matter, and on and on." This event created a powerful space that engendered the kind of education that is transformative, humanizing, community-centered, and nurturing of a beloved community.

Grace Lee Boggs often asks, "what time is it on the clock of the world?" We are living in a moment when the crisis of racial injustice demands a new vision and a new way forward. Rich Feldman, a Boggs School board member, said "At a time when fear is so dominant in the hearts and minds of mothers and grandmothers because of the recent murders of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the total failure of the "justice system" it is so important to feel the safety and the love at the Boggs School for the children, the staff and the parents." The space the Boggs School has created for students to feel safe and learn skills they will need to change and transform our world is an important piece to creating a new paradigm. One of the ways the Oral History Club students defined history is "hope for our future." These students understand that being "solutionaries" (how they often refer to themselves) to the problems of our time requires an understanding of the past. Angel Baker, a 5th grader, says "I care about my history, others' history, and our kindergartners having a better future." Mama Hanifa Adjuman imparts this reflection,

The Oral History Club is a powerful example of the importance of intergenerational dialogue between our youth and the elders. It is the knowing of what has been -- not simply what is -- that informs the limitless possibility of what can be; the elders are the link that bridges the past to the present and provides the vision for what can be.

A short film of community interviews conducted by the Boggs School Oral History Club can be found here: http://vimeo.com/113865923.

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The Boggs School Oral History Project: Linking Youth and Elders to the Past, Present and Future

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Cassandra Van Dam co-authored this post. Cassandra, a junior at the University of Michigan, is studying Women's Studies with a minor in Community Action & Social Change. She hopes to obtain a masters in social work and continue to pursue the field of alternative education once she finishes her degree.

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We Are The Leaders We’ve Been Waiting For: Grace Lee Boggs

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We Are The Leaders We’ve Been Waiting For: Grace Lee Boggs

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We are the leaders we've been waiting for.

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In 500+ words or equivalent video response of 10 minutes, consider using the readings and the videos in your future teaching.

-How will you integrate this thinking and work around justice into your class and potentially your greater school community?
-What specific strategies or actions will you utilize?
-How will you keep yourself grounded and accountable for this type of work?

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Embracing Differences: Visual Thinking Strategies 

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Embracing Differences: Visual Thinking Strategies 

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Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a collaborative, student-centered teaching method that improves critical thinking skills and fosters inclusive community-building dialogue through facilitated discussions of visual images.

You do not need any special art training to use this strategy. The goal of VTS is not to teach the history of a work of art but, rather, to encourage students to observe independently and to back up their comments with evidence.

The Instructor

The role of the instructor in VTS is to facilitate the discussion. This is accomplished through questioning and facilitation techniques.

After taking a moment for the group to look silently at the image, these three questions are essential to the strategy:

What's going on in the image?

What do you see that makes you say that?

What more can we find?

Discussion facilitation techniques:

Paraphrase comments neutrally - words like "correct", "wrong", or "good" should not be used.

Summarize student responses using conditional language ("Sam thinks this could be..."). This keeps the conversation open to other interpretations.

Physically point to the area being discussed in the image.

Link contrasting and complimentary student comments.

Some tips for doing VTS:

Avoid inserting information. Let students look closely and reason out their responses, rather than discussing the facts.

If a student comes to a factually incorrect conclusion, gently correct if absolutely necessary during your classroom lesson, not during the VTS conversation.

Allow the conversation to go where it will, even if it gets off topic. Remember, the goal is not to share information, but to encourage critical thinking.

The Student

The role of the students in VTS is to:

Look carefully at the image

Talk about what they observe

Back up their ideas with evidence

Listen and consider the views of others

Discuss many possible interpretations

Why Does It Work?

VTS is a rigorous and fun research-based approach with measurable growth in all learners across all areas. VTS is an effective teaching method because it:

uses visual images to engage, puzzle and intrigue students while building ability and confidence in decoding complex and diverse material

is inclusive and fully respects all learners

is easily mastered because it uses existing strengths, interests and experiences

sparks motivation and curiosity

is easy to transfer the verbal reasoning skills and strategies to other areas of study

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Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a collaborative, student-centered teaching method that improves critical thinking skills and fosters inclusive community-building dialogue through facilitated discussions of visual images. You do not need any special art training to use this strategy.

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What’s Going on In This Picture: NYT Article 

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What’s Going on In This Picture: NYT Article 

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Updated: Jan. 6, 2015 Students
1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:

What's going on in this picture?

What do you see that makes you say that?

What more can you find?

2. Next, join the conversation by posting a comment below. (Please remember not to post your last name.)

3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the @ symbol to address that student directly.

Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students' understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. On Tuesday, we will reveal more information at the bottom of this post about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?
More? Updated: Jan. 6, 2015
This week's image comes from the slide show "2014 Year in Pictures". The Times caption reads:

A boy from Honduras watched a movie at a detention facility that the United States Border Patrol opened to temporarily house underage immigrants.

The full caption by Getty Images and John Moore, the photographer, reads:

A boy from Honduras watches a movie at a detention facility run by the U.S. Border Patrol on September 8, 2014 in McAllen, Texas. The Border Patrol opened the holding center to temporarily house the children after tens of thousands of families and unaccompanied minors from Central America crossed the border illegally into the United States during the spring and summer. Although the flow of underage immigrants has since slowed greatly, thousands of them are now housed in centers around the United States as immigration courts process their cases.

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What's Going On in This Picture? | Jan. 5, 2014

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On Mondays, we publish a Times photo without a caption, headline or other information about its origins. Join the conversation by posting about what you see, and why. A live discussion is offered from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time.

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The Eyes Have It: Potent Visuals Promote Academic Richness

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The Eyes Have It: Potent Visuals Promote Academic Richness

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Today, a Monday in July, the conversation is taking place at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, in New York City. The "students" are forty teachers and museum educators from around the country who use VTS with children and have come for advanced training. They're looking at Diego Rivera's fresco Agrarian Leader Zapata.

There's revolutionary fervor in the room, and it's not only coming from the image onscreen. People talk of VTS as transformational -- for their students and themselves. "It's just like magic," says Audrey Morton Miller, who introduced VTS in her first-grade classroom at Hamilton in fall 2007. "It's an exciting way to get students talking, observing, making inferences, and backing them up. And it's had a big effect on me as a teacher. I've gone from being the expert, the one who always has the knowledge, to being more of a facilitator."

This would be a lot for any curriculum to accomplish. It's remarkable for a program that consists of a mere ten lessons a year, including one at a local museum. Students view art from different cultures, eras, genres, and media -- two or three works in a forty-five-minute session. Then the kids say what they see.

"It's a very powerful tool that can really change how we educate ourselves and each other," says Oren Slozberg, executive director of VTS. "What it basically does is get people to look and think."

No Right or Wrong

On the student side, the discussion seems more free floating than most lessons they will ever have; rather than receive or spout information, students are meant to discover meaning. For the teacher, however, VTS is rigorously structured. The curriculum specifies what images to show, at what age, in what sequence. VTS scripts the teachers' questions, down to the verbs, and spells out what they do -- and must not do -- as a student speaks.

To focus the group's attention, teachers point to whatever children talk about, and paraphrase their comments to elevate articulation, introduce new vocabulary, and convey that they understand and value every response. Teachers link children's comments to deepen the discussion and enable students to learn from one another. Throughout, they are carefully nonjudgmental.

Many teachers say that's the hardest part to master -- perhaps no surprise in an education culture in which the cheer "Good job!" has become a tic. But the dogged neutrality is also what many educators seem to appreciate most about VTS. This, too, is not surprising in an era of high-stakes testing under the No Child Left Behind Act.

"In our school curriculum today, everything is so focused on right and wrong, there's a fear about speaking out and getting the wrong answer," says Maite Iturri, principal of El Verano, an elementary school with 420 students -- about 78 percent of them English-language learners. "With this program, there is no wrong answer. Students who normally sit in the back quietly are now talking. It's a breath of fresh air."

VTS grew out of the research of cognitive psychologist Abigail Housen. After publishing a theory in the early 1980s on stages of aesthetic development, she formulated the idea that children should be taught to make meaning from images, just as they are taught to build meaning from letters in a book. In collaboration with museum educator Philip Yenawine, Housen created a systematic, inquiry-driven method using stage-appropriate art to teach visual literacy. The approach marked a huge departure from the way schools and museums had always taught art: Show kids Starry Night and feed them facts about van Gogh.

"We spent so much time telling kids stories about art, in fact, that we were training them to be good listeners," says Margaret Burchenal, curator of education and public programs at Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. "It's as if you always read aloud to kids and never let them read on their own."

Actually, it was as if you always read Tolstoy aloud to kids instead of working up to him over the course of years, starting with Dr. Seuss. A VTS paper describes what happens when teachers stop telling stories about art that children are not developmentally ready for, and students start "reading" art that they have the capacity to understand: "Over time, students grow from casual, random, idiosyncratic viewers to thorough, probing reflective interpreters. They go from finding only personal connections -- which is appropriate when they begin -- to searching out the intentions of artists and dealing with elements of styles."

But growth doesn't stop there. As teachers adopted VTS as an art program, they reported anecdotally that students applied their newfound analytic capabilities to other assignments. Housen and Yenawine began testing VTS as a way to strengthen general learning. In a five-year study in the Bryon, Minnesota, school district, Housen found that VTS developed critical-thinking skills that transferred to other settings -- from group discussions to individual writing, for instance -- and to other subjects. In 1998, when the first class of VTS veterans took the state's eighth-grade achievement test, Bryon scores jumped twenty-three points over the previous year, two and a half times the average state increase, Housen reported.

Small Commitment, Big Impact

An independent evaluation of VTS in a very different district -- in Miami-Dade County -- found similar results. Students in the program for three years showed significantly higher growth rates in visual literacy than a comparison group that didn't receive VTS, and this growth correlated strongly with reading and math gains. The program also promoted cooperation, respect, and tolerance for various viewpoints. The 2005 report further noted that VTS was effective for students with limited English proficiency, helping boost vocabulary and writing skills.

VTS, which started in grades 3-5, now spans K-8, and Housen and Yenawine are developing curricula for prekindergarten and high school. About 80,000 students will participate this year; at a time when the focus on reading and math is squeezing out the arts, VTS is growing.

"It's a minimal commitment, with an amazing impact," says Barbara Young, the recently retired superintendent of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, in Sonoma, California.

The district piloted VTS in grades K-5 at El Verano last year and plans to expand the program to all elementary schools by 2009. Although hard data on the El Verano experience is still two years off, Principal Maite Iturri says a comparison of pre-VTS and post-VTS writing tests shows striking improvement, both in the use of language and the volume. And VTS skills turn out to be transferable not only for the students. "Teachers now have that inquiry frame of mind," Iturri says. "They're using it in a lot of other subjects."

But for Iturri, the biggest payoffs of VTS may not come from higher test scores -- at least not directly, anyway. El Verano is a struggling school filled with low-income children who live in the shadows of the lush, lavish California wine country. VTS has lifted the spirit of the school, she says, as great art can do. "VTS builds confidence and community. It enhances language, communication, and inquiry skills," Iturri adds. "It levels the playing field. The teacher accepts and celebrates all the answers the students give. Everyone is a winner."

Fran Smith is a contributing editor for Edutopia.

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The Eyes Have It: Potent Visuals Promote Academic Richness

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Today, a Monday in July, the conversation is taking place at the Bronx Museum of the Arts, in New York City. The "students" are forty teachers and museum educators from around the country who use VTS with children and have come for advanced training. They're looking at Diego Rivera's fresco Agrarian Leader Zapata.

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Visual Thinking Strategies is a popular teaching method initiated by teacher-discussions of art images, and is commonly documented for having positive effects of teachers and students.

Today, VTS is used in museums, schools, universities and health institutions around the world, and as an organization, provides workshop training for educators.

A Brief Intro to VTS

"Visual Thinking Strategies" is an inquiry-based teaching method created by cognitive psychologist Abigail House and museum educator Philip Yenawine. In Yenawine's latest book, he defines VTS as the use of art to teach "visual literacy, thinking, and communication skills."

The official Visual Thinking Strategies website, vtshome.org, describes how art is imperative: "Art is the essential first discussion topic because it enables students to use existing visual and cognitive skills to develop confidence and experience, learning to use what they already know to figure out what they don't; they are then prepared to explore other complex subject matter alone and with peers."

The main aspects of VTS teaching practice include three key inquiries:

1. What's going on in this picture?

2. What do you see what makes you say that?

3. What more can we find?

For more information, watch this video capturing practical use of VTS in the classroom:

VTS and the Common Core Standards from Visual Thinking Strategies on Vimeo.

Lesson Plans for VTS

1. The Learning Network at The New York Times Blog

Every Monday, The Learning Network at the NY Times posts a new photograph with the question, "What's Going On in This Picture?" Participants are invited to join the conversation in the comments, and read what others have posted. VTS will lead a discussion on the comments from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

2. Integrating Technology and Literacy: Five Card Flickr

Invented by educator Alan Levine, this story-telling game using images from Flickr.com can be easily guided by the three core questions of VTS.

3. Various Sources via Pinterest.com

Social networking website Pinterest proves to be a valuable resources for teachers looking for creative lessons plans.

Good Resources for Learning How to Teach VTS

1. Visual Thinking Strategies: Using Art to Deepen Learning Across School Disciplines, by Philip Yenawine.

The book by the cocreator of the VTS curriculum details his experiences teaching elementary school age students. The stories show how VTS can be easily integrated into the classroom with structured discussions of visual art. Here's an excerpt from Chapter 1, " Permission To Wonder."

2. Cases on Teaching Critical Thinking through Visual Representation Strategies, by Leonard Shedletsky

This book compiles research from scholars and education professionals to provide more insight into student development through visual thinking.

3. Rutgers University Study: " On Using Museum Methods in the Classroom: A Case Study with VTS"

Teacher and museum educator Emily Monty examines VTS, a teaching method traditionally used in museums, and the challenges and rewards of translating it to the classroom.

Written and Compiled by Samantha DiMauro, Education World Contributor

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How to Teach Visual Thinking Strategies to Your Students

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Visual Thinking Strategies is a popular teaching method initiated by teacher-discussions of art images, and is commonly documented for having positive effects of teachers and students. Today, VTS is used in museums, schools, universities and health institutions around the world, and as an organization, provides workshop training for educators.

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Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture VTS Educational Video

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Visual Thinking Strategies and MFA School Partnerships

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Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) is a research-based teaching method that improves critical thinking and language skills through discussions of visual images. VTS encourages participation and self-confidence, especially among students who struggle. VTS is easy to learn and offers a proven strategy for educators to meet current learning objectives.

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Respond in a 250-500 word response that talks about how Visual Thinking Strategies can be used to create a deeper sense of connection to self, classmates, and the world. How will you integrate VTS into your classroom?

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Write a paragraph or two:  What are the differences between “culturally specific texts”, “culturally generic texts”, and “culturally neutral books”?  Do some research, look at the appendixes, research online, go to your bookstores and libraries and check out some new books!

Choose 10 new Culturally Responsive books, that you haven't used before, that you will integrate into your teaching.

Make an organized catalog with an outline of what the focus of the specific book could be and reflective notes for yourself after it is read/taught to help integrate new thinking for the future. This should be a growing document for you that changes over time and can be grown, used and shared with your colleagues.

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An assignment of your own choice with the instructor’s prior approval.

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Describe how you would use the readings and videos you just reviewed in your future teaching

Both the readings and videos presented in this assignment had valuable information for students and teachers. For my future 5th grade students, the article “Boggs School Oral Project” will be a great source to show the importance of connecting with the local community, which can have numerous outcomes and benefits for everyone that is involved, and that people of all ages can be part of. My school has traditionally paired 5th grade and kindergarten classes for book buddy activities. I would like to extend this collaboration beyond reading picture books and occasional interactive activities. 5th graders are ready to take more leadership roles at school and helping and leading the kindergarten with their words and actions are great examples of CRL that values such school culture. In addition, the video has a powerful message from an accredited activist Grace Boggs and used to start discussions on what and how each one of us in the classroom can contribute to being part of the school community. I would also share the video with my teaching staff to encourage reaching out to one another for more community based learning opportunities.

How will you integrate this thinking and work around justice into your class and potentially your greater school community?

I really like the idea of asking the question “What time is it now somewhere else in the world?” As I teach Japanese language half the day, it would be reasonable to display a wall clock indicating what time it is in Japan. It may only be a gateway, but as I teach a second language through teaching differences in culture and customs, it’s a positive way to engage students into conversations about different people and their culture in different parts of the world.
I think the challenge at my school has been and will continue to be how we support students of black and brown. Despite the low percentage of black and brown students at the school, the data always shows that more support is needed for those student demographics. Because of the uniqueness of our program and the large number of students that have some connections to Asian culture, it’s much easier to focus and promote cultural responsiveness on Asian culture and communities. We must be more intentional to be inclusive of black and brown students than merely talking about them on their heritage months.

At my school, we have an established international connection with schools in Japan that I think we should take greater consideration to promote CRL opportunities. Much like the story of “Black Ants”, I think we can communicate with people in Japan to pose questions and start conversations and discussions that expands an effort to understand about different cultures, and in that process I hope that all students will open up about their own culture, and encourage one another to want to learn more about their own and others culture.

How will you keep yourself grounded and accountable for this type of work?

It will be more challenging to keep myself accountable for this type of work, as I would have to find a space in our busy schedule to integrate it. The challenging part about this type of work is being able to accommodate all the needs and being ready to guide students for whatever direction they want to expand their interests. I think I would have to find out and try to connect with my students in the early part of the school year. Then create a checklist or chart for myself to keep track of who and in what order I want to reach out to, to make sure that I’m promoting CRL.

I feel that grounding myself to this type of work won’t be as challenging as keeping myself accountable. My personal background is different from today’s mainstream white American culture and for that reason I have moments during days or weeks where I sit down to plan how I deliver my lessons or guide them with content based or non content based discussions.

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The school that I work at is very much centered around visual arts. We are lucky enough to have an art teacher, so students have art class every week for an hour. Additionally, almost every teacher in the school teaches art to their students. As a fifth grade teacher, I can see myself using Visual Thinking Strategies to look at art that is centered around a social studies unit we will be discussing. I can envision using artwork depicting the first Thanksgiving and asking students to tell me what’s going on in the picture, what they see that makes them think that, and what else they see. Engaging in these discussions will help students see how pieces of art can create biases depending on who created the piece and what their perspective/opinions are of the subjects in each piece. These can naturally lead to discussion around other ways in which biases show up in our literature, social media, the things we hear on the radio, etc., which would hopefully, help students to look and think about information they learn and read more critically in order to understand whether what they are hearing or seeing is true or false information. This skill is extremely important nowadays, with the internet filled with information on anything anyone wants to look up and websites that support any opinion that people have about practically anything. To prevent our students from going down rabbit holes, they need to be taught critical thinking skills in order to differentiate between fact and opinion.

Visual Thinking Strategies can also be used to analyze the different murals that have been created in downtown Portland and other areas around the country, especially murals centered around Black Lives Matter and other messages of equity. It would definitely be interesting to hear the different opinions, assumptions, and conclusions students form through discussions about the different pieces they would analyze. These discussions would naturally lead to discussions about why artists feel the need to create murals/works of art that send important messages about equality and equity. The discussions can also lead to classroom meeting discussions about equity and equality in our school and communities.

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Culturally authentic texts are books/texts that realistically represent the norms, traditions, customs and beliefs of the culture in focus, including the pictures/graphics. Culturally generic texts are books/texts that reflect common cultural ground; features characters that are members of racial minority groups, but details that define the characters culturally are usually limited or nonexistent. Culturally neutral texts are books/texts that feature characters and themes about people of color but are usually about something else, traditional fairy tales and folktales are common examples in which characters are shown as people of color.

10 Culturally Responsive Books

1. Oh, Ellen. 2023. You Are Here Connecting Flights. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

This book is a compilation of 12 stories from 12 Asian American authors. Each story is centered around 12 different Asian Americans and their experience at the Chicago Airport right after the pandemic. Some of the fictional stories are based off of some of the authors’ real life experiences when they were younger.

1. Sugiura, Misa. 2023. Momo Arashima Steals the Sword of the Wind. New York: Labyrinth Road.

This book is about a young Japanese American girl and her discovery of the truth about her mom and her family. It is similar to the Percy Jackson series but the myths and legends that are spoken about in this book are based on Japanese mythology. The book speaks briefly of how hard Momo’s life has been as one of the few Asian Americans in her small school and also of how hard it is to fit in with the “cool kids” and how her the only other Asian American student in her grade level stopped being her friend to be more like the “cool kids” based on the suggestions of his adoptive parents.

1. Chee, Traci. 2022. A Thousand Steps Into Night. New York: Clarion Books.

This book is about a young girl in ancient Asian times (possibly somewhere in Japan). Miuko is too loud, has too many opinions, and is too outspoken for a young girl. However, all of these traits help her as she navigates her way through being turned into a demon while trying to hold onto her humanity. The way the book talks about how women or girls in Asian cultures is pretty accurate and the book shows how these things can be an asset to women and girls at any age.

1. Cherry, Matthew A. 2019. Hair Love. New York: Penguin Random House, LLC.

This book is about a dad’s struggle to learn how to do his little girl’s hair because her mom is sick in the hospital and she was the one who always did her daughter’s hair. She tries to watch the videos her mom made of how to do her own hair, but it’s too difficult for her. Her dad realizes this is important for her and he starts watching the videos and eventually learns how to do his daughter’s hair. This is a great book that teaches people about Black hair and how much work goes into styling their hair.

1. Lin, Grace. 2001. The Ugly Vegetables. Massachusetts: Charlesbridge Publishing.

This book is about a little girl helping her mom grow and garden at their house. Their garden looks different from all of their neighbor’s garden and the little girl asks why they can’t have a pretty garden like their neighbors. Her mom tells her that their garden is better and repeats her answers when the little girl asks a couple of more times. Toward the end of the book, it shows the different vegetables her mother grew and how their neighbors were drawn to the smell of the soup her mom made from the vegetables. At the end, the neighbors start growing their own ugly vegetable garden as well.

1. Lin, Grade. 2023. Chinese Menu: The History, Myths, and Legends Behind Your Favorite Foods. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

This book has not been released yet but my wife is excited to read it. She is Chinese and this will be great to read with our children so they can get more of an understanding of their Chinese background.

1. Khan, Henna. 2017. Amina’s Voice. New York: Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

This book is about a young girl who is trying to find her place as a Pakistani American who isn’t Pakistani enough according to her uncle who is visiting, but also struggles with being “American” enough, especially when the mosque is vandalized in her community.

1. Sepahban, Lois. 2016. Paper Wishes. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR).

This book is about a Japanese American girl and her family’s experience being taken against their will to an internment camp and the struggles they go through during their time at the camp.

1. Ryan, Pam Munoz. 2002. Esperanza Rising. New York: Scholastic.

This book is about a young girl and her family immigrating to the United States. Esperanza lived in a mansion in Mexico and her family was very wealthy until her father was killed and she was forced to flee with her mother and grandmother. The book tells us how it was difficult for Esperanza to learn how to do basic chores and live in tents/farming camps because she had had servants her whole life prior to going ot the US.

1. Mabalon, Dawn, Romasanta, Gayle. 2018. Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong. California: Bridge and Delta Publishing.

This book is a nonfiction book about the life and journey of Larry Itliong. It tells us how he helped to found United Farm Workers and his work surrounding reforms and change for farm workers during the Delano Grape Strike. This would be a great book to read during Filipino American History Month.

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The readings and video contained valuable information that would be incredibly useful for not just my students but also for my colleagues. The reading “The Boggs School Oral History Project” would be a great starting point for my 4th grade students to think about how they can truly connect to the history of where they live, where they individually come from, as well as connecting with each other in both how they are different and similar to each other based on their own (personal/familial histories). The reading would also bring awareness to the idea of learning from their elders and the significance of protecting the art of oral storytelling and the wisdom it brings to present and future generations. From “Black Ants and Buddhism,” I am looking forward to starting philosophical discussions each week with my students. I loved the idea of choosing a specific weekly read-aloud to jump start those conversations that validate their identities while simultaneously learning how to hold critical and respectful conversations with each other. It has always been a struggle to support students with demonstrating responsible actions; therefore, I would also like to align a personal responsibility campaign with our reading curriculum and social studies standards. Additionally, I would definitely share this article with my school staff and families to help further their understanding of the importance of teaching critically among our wider school community. Furthermore, the video of a real-life activist, Grace Lee Boggs, would help my 4th graders to think about actionable steps to contribute to and be a part of both our classroom community and our school community as a whole. I appreciated how Boggs said to ‘do something local, something real; however small’. Oftentimes, young people believe that they may be too young to make a difference or to solve problems; however, with Boggs’ advice, this may encourage them to take those first steps in creating a solution.

In terms of keeping myself grounded and accountable, I plan on sharing my curriculum map, lesson plans or ideas with my team as well as my colleagues of color who work in different schools. It’s challenging to do this work with an all-White teaching staff so it’s imperative that I hold weekly check-ins with trusted educators of color. I understand that doing culturally and linguistically responsive teaching work will come with many bumps in the road for a plethora of reasons (education system, administration, bigotry, etc.), and I expect to make mistakes along the way. Creating time to reflect in a journal, with a friend or  family member at the end of each day, week or 2 weeks, will be helpful for me to remain grounded. Too often as educators, we are overworked and hardly have time for ourselves. By creating and enforcing personal work boundaries, I hope to be able to improve the “balance” of home and work life without feeling guilty knowing that I am already on this journey of creating a more equitable society as a mother, teacher, friend, and colleague.

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Unfortunately, there are no art teachers among any of the elementary schools in our district, which makes the classroom teacher the art teacher. I look forward to teaching art each week; however, I do feel it is superficial since most of the time I am scrambling to find a video or pay for a lesson I found online that supplements what we are learning in class. I try to make it relevant to either social studies or ELA as much as possible. I have integrated art in the classroom for my 3rd graders in the past as a gateway to teaching nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, as well as using the images to practice making inferences. I appreciate Visual Teaching Strategies is more accessible to students due to the fact that the goal is not to reach a right or wrong answer, but to elicit critical thinking. As a current 4th grade teacher, I plan on using Visual Teaching Strategies by showing art that is BIPOC and class centered in both read-alouds in ELA and social studies lessons. For example, showcasing an art piece called “Gleaners” by Jean-Francois Millet, 1857, could open up discussions about the working class, living in poverty, and as well as reveal any prior opinions/biases they may have had about the topic. Our society has become more and more susceptible to believing anything and everything they see and hear, especially on social media. When students learn who created the artwork, what their background was, and what perspective they may have had when creating the image can help learners understand how one person’s idea of something can differ from others depending on their point of view.

I would also like to use Visual Thinking Strategies to examine local indigenous artwork created both by non-Native and Native artists. It would be quite interesting to hear the discussions around the differences of opinions/thoughts/assumptions, and how those may or may not change after having critical conversations about the artist, topic, or event. I can see students engaging in some sort of structured debate about the artwork providing evidence for their opinions related to the given topic/question. The debate could be showcased both in the classroom and a speech and debate event where families and staff are invited to come. By working together with my grade level team, we would all be held accountable for this work as well as share how the lessons/discussions/processes are going while also giving constructive feedback to one another. Consistent check-ins with educators of color and personal reflection will help me stay grounded while doing this work.

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Write a paragraph or two: What are the diﬀerences between “culturally speciﬁc texts,” “culturally generic texts”, and “culturally neutral books”?

Culturally specific texts are books that realistically and authentically portray people from diverse ethnic, racial, gender, and socio-economic backgrounds.

Culturally generic texts are books that contain main characters that are part of the non-white community and bring attention to common cultural ground rather than informing the reader of different cultures.

Culturally neutral texts feature a person of color but are used as a token character. Their stories are focused on topics outside of their culture, race, or ethnicity.

Choose ten (10) new Culturally Responsive books you haven't used before that you will integrate into your teaching.

1. Grifalconi, A., & Pinkney, J. (2010). Ain’t nobody A stranger to me. CNIB.

This book is loosely based on a former enslaved person, Orleans Finger, who was known to say and live by the words “Ain’t nobody a stranger to me.” A grandfather shares with his granddaughter about what he learned about friendship during the time of The Underground Railroad.

1. Mckissack, P. (2008). A friendship for today. Scholastic.

This book is based on the author’s real-life experience in Missouri, 1954. The main character, Rosemary, is African American and is the first to integrate an all-white school. During the school-year, she develops an odd friendship with a neighbor, Grace “the tasteless” Hamilton. Rosemary learns the importance of tolerance and perseverance with the support of the adults in her life and a rescued kitten. (middle school, use as a whole group read-aloud)

1.  Judge, L. (2007). One Thousand Tracings. Hyperion.

The author of the book was inspired to write this story based on the thousands of tracings of feet she discovered in her grandparents’ attic. Set in Europe after WWII, the story begins with the grandparents' grassroots effort in providing clothing for one family, which led to helping so many others in Europe find shoes for children and adults. Watercolor illustrations, photographs, tracings, and artifacts are interspersed throughout the story.

1. McKissack, P. (2008). A Song for Harlem. Penguin.

This book is about Lilly Belle, a young girl from Tennessee, who is accepted into a summer writing program in 1928. She travels to Harlem where she meets Zora Neale Hurston, her writing teacher for the summer. Not only does she learn about writing, but she also learns about friendships and who she is character-wise, as well as the character of others.

Harlem Renaissance and where ideas and voice come from when writing.

1. Hopkinson, D., & Jenkins, L. (2019). Sweet land of liberty. Peachtree.

This story is about Oscar Chapman and how he witnessed his black friends suffer racial injustices as a child. Later as an adult, he became the assistant secretary of interior under President Franklin Roosevelt, where he continued to witness racial injustice. When African American opera singer Marian Anderson was not allowed to perform at the  Constitution Hall, Oscar was able to move the concert to the Lincoln Memorial for 75,000 people.

Mixed-media collages illustrate connections between past and present, childhood experiences and works for civil rights and community good. Author’s notes provide more political history, making the book a great read-aloud for any grade level.

1. Sidman, J., & Zagarenski, P. (2014). This is just to say : poems of apology and forgiveness. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

I am very excited to use this book with my 4th graders this year. This book is actually a collection of poems apologizing to friends, family, and each other that are written by an imaginary class. People who received the poems respond with their own poems forgiving them. Written with deep emotion and feeling, some poems, like the one apologizing for euthanizing a pet dog, are very powerful and students will be able to connect easily.

Great book to connect to the reader!

1. Trinka Hakes Noble, & Ettlinger, D. (2013). The orange shoes. Zaner-Bloser.

This story is about a young girl, Delly Porter, living in a poor rural area with her supportive and loving family. In the story, Delly needs new shoes and with the help of her dad, she was able to get a new pair. She takes them to school where she proudly shows them to her classmates, who begin to tease her by calling her “Dirt-poor Delly” and stomping all over her new shoes. With her problem-solving skills and creativity, Delly is a delightful character to follow who discovers that the important things in life aren’t measured by how much something costs but by the care and love of the people around you.

A heartwarming story provides discussion topics such as poverty (what makes a person rich), bullying, and self-reliance.

1. Chang, V. C., Ortiz, A., & Yoh, E. (2023). This is not my home [Review of This is not my home]. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

This story follows Lily as her mom tells her that they are moving to Taiwan to care for her aging grandmother. She is devastated to leave her whole life behind, including her friends, school, and house. When Lily arrives in Taiwan, she has a hard time feeling like it’s home. Over time, she makes new friends and learns what her new home means to her mother. Soon, she realizes that her mom’s home can also be her home, too.

A great story to discuss topics related to: being new in school, moving, immigrating, culture, and how the different ways home means to people.

1. Vaughn Zimmer, T. (2011). Reaching for Sun. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

This book is told in verse and is a story about Josie Wyatt who was born with cerebral palsy. She tries to forget that she has a disability, but her mom continually reminds her of it. Her family’s small farmhouse seems to shrink as another huge house is being built. When a new neighbor moves into one of the new homes, he seems oblivious to all the things that Josie finds make her different then everyone else. Soon she discovers something in him: a friend and possibly something more?

For middle school. Great as a read-aloud.

1.  Gino, A. (2018). George. Scholastic Inc.

Gino, A. (2021). Melissa. Scholastic Inc.

[Retitled as Melissa in 2021]

This story is about Melissa, a 4th grade trans student who most people know as George, a boy. Melissa gets the courage to share who she really is to her mom by going for the lead role as Charlotte in the school production of Charlotte’s Web. Her teacher discourages her from trying out because George “isn’t a girl”. She and her best friend make a plan to switch roles in the play so she can play Charlotte, showing not only her mom who she really is, but also everyone else.

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These stories serve as both the “why” and the “how” of implementing social justice, criticality, and community empowerment into regular school learning. Even though I already value these things in education, I still benefit from reminders of why it matters: the context of fearful, divided times and the hope of positive change, or as Grace Lee Boggs puts it, “regaining our humanity.” Inspiration in this form can spark the desire to examine and revise my teaching practice, and the practical suggestions for how to do so serve as the fuel to keep the flame going.

Mary Cowhey’s story of the black ants in her classroom forced me to confront my own actions when faced with the same ants and other “disruptions” that frequent my days. What if I had asked my students to reflect on the reunification drill we performed as a school last year? Maybe they could have engaged with perspectives around community planning and safety in addition to their complaints/relief at the interruption of a whole school day. When conflicts occur between students in my class, I usually see my role as an upholder of our school and classroom expectations, and we don’t always reflect on what their takeaway is from the moment. What if I invited the students, both those involved and bystanders, to share and weigh solutions in accordance with the guidelines we’ve established? It could serve as a reinforcement of norms like don’t hit as well as a way to engage students constructively in building empathy, conflict resolution, and emotional regulation as tools in their toolbox of skills.

The story of the Boggs School Oral History Project was also practical and inspiring, in the way it showed how interviews with the elders in the community provided the talk and the walk of the school’s core values. Authentic, place-based, and intergenerational connections invited engagement with history, collective memory for freedom dreaming, and nurturing of relationships. This made me think about our science unit on volcanoes and how I could make some authentic connections to scientific, historical, and justice perspectives on the topic. I thought of the ‘I Survived’ series of books and how I could use the specific stories about Pompeii and Mount St. Helens to compare experiences of natural disasters. But then I questioned, “are those stories culturally general?” I know that the ‘I Survived’ series overly centers young, white, “innocent” protagonists. Would we be able to get to the critical questions of who is affected, whose story is told, and why multiple perspectives matter?If I really wanted to emulate the Oral History Project, I could find a connection to a real person who lived through the Mount St. Helens eruption and invite them to discuss with my class. Paired together with varied and culturally responsive readings, this is a start to a more justice-minded curriculum.

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After learning about the methodology of Visual Thinking Strategies, I realized that this had been a memorable experience from one of my favorite high school classes. As a ninth grader, I participated every week in Ms. Sohn’s extra credit assignment called “What’s Going On in This Picture?” during World Cultures class. Ms. Sohn would post a physical printout of a picture during the first class of the week, and I would study it for a minute as I was getting ready to walk to my next period. When I got home in the evening, I would search for details I noticed in the picture, guess where or what might be taking place, and comb through websites listing current events like BBC News or Al Jazeera. When I found the picture from the classroom, I would send Ms. Sohn a short email listing specifics of what was going on and why the picture was significant. It felt like a treasure hunt, a reward for my detective skills, even though sometimes the photos represented serious issues. This use of VTS introduced me to moments in history like the Arab Spring, criticism of Joseph Kony, and Australian wildfires. When Ms. Sohn would ask for someone to share the significance of last week’s photo in class, I couldn’t help but raise my hand. The practice furthered my interests in current events, cultural learning, sharing a process of thought, and empathy for others.

When I think about implementing VTS in my own classroom, I get excited about developing a regular routine to encourage critical thinking and consideration of multiple perspectives. It seems like VTS should have a shout-out in Dr. Hollie’s book because it fits with the other VABB-style activities highlighted in CLR methodology, routines like 4 corners and echo reading. Although the articles and videos about VTS suggest neutral rephrasing of student comments, I might use validating language and at the same time encourage multiple perspectives. Right now, my district-provided curriculum materials are lacking in instruction and space for ‘Do Now’ activities to get students jumping in on the lesson at the beginning of class. After completing this portion of the assignment, I plan to use a VTS routine at least once a week as a ‘Do Now’ because it doesn’t necessarily require extra materials, but can still serve as a meaningful, memorable learning moment.

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According to Dr. Hollie, culturally authentic or culturally specific books are the preferred type of text of a CLR educator. These texts, whether fiction or nonfiction, illustrate a particular cultural group’s experiences in an authentic manner, without reducing culture to one trait or treating race as an aspect of culture. In contrast, culturally generic texts and culturally neutral texts are both less preferred and more prevalent than authentic texts. Culturally generic texts feature characters of different identities (often racial identities) but the texts do not include many references to cultural specifics or authentic, meaningful portrayals. Culturally neutral texts, the least useful to CLR educators, might feature characters of “color” but they could be swapped for another racial or cultural group without any change to the story. Because these texts only offer dominant or mainstream themes, plots, and characterizations, they implicitly reinforce a lack of cultural knowledge, assimilationism, and isolationism. A teaching practice without culturally authentic texts not only misses opportunities to build connection and community in the classroom, it could be harmful in alienating students with a negative experience of school culture.

In order to generate a list of potential CLR texts for my science class this year, I used Index F of Dr. Hollie’s book, the Cooperative Children' s Book Center website, and Magic School AI.