Historically Responsive Literacy

 The podcast episode about Historically Responsive Literacy with Gonzalez and Muhammad was such a wonderful listen and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Muhammad goes a lot into education and the system, and her critiques about it. She says that the curriculum was never made with black and brown students in mind. The education system was grounded in racism and white supremacy, and that has never been dismantled and changed. They have created many program that are meant to be battling this racist system, but that still is just going around it and not directly changing it. Muhammad has made this model, Historically Responsive Literacy, which has 4 very important layers to it. Identity, skills, intellect, and criticality. I would like to take a look at each of these layers and connect them to ELA.

 

Identity-This is about letting, facilitating, and encouraging your students to learn about themselves and about others in a positive way. So many black and brown representation in media is shrouded in negativity, so that really messes up with someones identity. As an ELA teacher, I really love the "I am" poems that students can do. These poems are about yourselves and all of the different aspects that make up your identity. The most important part about doing the "I am" poems is inviting students to share their poems aloud to the other students in the class. This can help students make connections between each other and to see each other. 

 

Skills- This is something that is still the current focus for both curriculum and the standards. It is still important, but it is better when it is applied with the three other layers. For ELA this can be something like reading comprehension skills. This is something that we all need in our daily lives so it is an important skill to be taught in an ELA class. When doing reading comprehension it is important to check it before, during, and after you read any type of text. 

Intellect- This is beyond just gathering the facts, it is more about gaining knowledge. In an ELA unit it can be about learning the history surrounding certain texts. For example if you are doing a Frankenstein unit the class should try to learn about when it was written, who was it written by, and beyond that what was the cultural affect of the novel, how was it the start for horror and sci-fi? 

Criticality- This is about getting students to question what they hear and read about. Trying to get them to be anti-racist and anit-other ism's. This can be looking at specific texts that have to deal with oppression and the activism that follows it. Or maybe looking at texts and asking questions like, how does this play into racial stereotypes?, 'What is the author NOT saying?".

"We are our history"

 The documentary "I am not your Negro" written by James Baldwin is a chilling, deep, resonating, and personal reflection of his life and the world around him. Before watching this documentary I knew nothing about James Baldwin, or why he was so important. I was able to learn a lot not only about him but about the history that revolves around him. His words were so beautifully put together, everything he said hit deep. It was though provoking, and caused me to reflect myself.

                                                              

I thought about my own identity in America. I am a lower/middle white woman. In the movie Baldwin talks about how the white people have created a world were they excluded black people from on purpose. Today white people are still benefiting from the same systems, and black people are still disadvantaged. As a white person you have to become aware of this, and then you have to directly take action against those systems in any way you can.

As a teacher you can take that direct action. The movie talked about the segregation of schools, and the protesting of black students integrating. Something that is not a far away history for us. The same policies are still existing in schools that are from that time period, and still are racist. As teachers you have to actively change that. Specifically as an ELA teacher you can look at James Baldwin's writings and figure out why the FBI labeled him as a "dangerous individual". Looking at other black authors, and not only their writings but their history and cultural context of their writings. That way students can become aware of the struggles and the oppression that these writers faced. as Baldwin said "The story of the negro in America is the story of America. It is not a pretty story" and as an ELA teacher you can find the black American story in texts, and together as a class you can analyze them. Ask questions about text to self, text to text, and other questions.

The Neighborhood Project

 Taking a look at Barbara Comber's, Pat Thomson's, and Marg Wells' article about Critical Literacy and the neighborhood, we can see how effective teachers look at what is going around the students' lives and get them involved using writing. This article is about a 2nd and 4rd grade class looking at their neighborhood and the problems that they are facing. Poor housing, poor neighborhood conditions, and other worries the students are facing. The teacher asked them to draw (and write descriptions for the drawings) their wishes, what worries them, and what makes them angry. These students, albeit young, are aware of the issues that are happening around them. The teachers next step was going out into the local neighborhood and mapping out where they could fix these problems, adding housing, adding proper drains, and adding trees and plants. The students phoned and faxed local government, asking them to make changes and providing them with their maps. Maybe they didn't make immediate changes but the students learned something of value, that they can make changes and they can take action.

As a future secondary educator I wonder how I could implement and change this project for high school students. First, I would sit down and have a discussion with my students. In a similar fashion instead of drawing, bulleting what they wish for, what makes them worried, and what angers them. With those written points down we can as a class community discuss them and maybe even zone in on the issues related to the community/neighborhood. I would do this so I can understand what DIRECTLY is affecting my students. After learning about their concerns of the neighborhood, I would do independent research. What are the policies revolving around this issue? Are there any plans happening to fix said problem? What people or local governments departments are in charge of the problem? After gathering this research I would present the students with it, and invite them to write letters or contact the policy makers. 

I grew up in an mainly white and rich school in western Cranston, so thinking about it, its hard to pinpoint issues in the neighborhood. One problem I can think of is the ecosystem revolving around the local lake close to the school. Maybe students would want to get involved in fixing the lake, as it is polluted and overran with invasive plants. That could be the physical place, my students could go to and map out the issues and solutions they would take. Maybe getting in contact with the right people that can go out there and clean up the lake, the students could maybe join them and take part in the cleaning too. The students can see that even "small" things can be changed and apply it to the bigger problems in their community such as housing issues and maybe other environment issues.