Scenario:
A conversation to have with my mentee early in the school year.
This brief plan/agenda would kick off a look at the AASL Shared Foundation: Include.
It's early in the year and it may take some time before you can set long term goals. In the meantime, before our next meeting, I'd love it if you could watch this TED Talk and/or read this essay. Even if you don't have time to do both, please make some notes about the one you do watch/read. We will be using these texts to begin asking questions about inclusion in your library. I'll be asking you to choose a small section (to start) and thinking about what you notice and wonder about your collection in light of the article and/or video.
The first text is an essay by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop who is often referred to as the "mother of multicultural children's literature." This essay titled Windows, Mirrors, and Sliding Glass Doors has been cited and paraphrased numerous times as an important entry point to discussions about diversity in literature for children and young adults.
The second text is a TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie titled The Danger of a Single Story. This video is 19 mins long. If you don't have time to watch the whole video, start at 3:00 and watch until 4:12, or, better yet but still shorter- until 8:20.
*Here are a few pieces examining the idea of the "problematic author."
Story First, Author Second: Drawbacks of judging literature by an author's character
Thank you for the context for introducing this scenario to engage your mentee into an inquiry about DEI in a school library setting. Defining the problem, and reflecting on personal bias is a marvelous entry point for digging deeper into cultural competency and inclusion. You have chosen two critical pieces that are thought provoking and engaging. Giving the mentee choices for learning and reflection invite responses that force folks to grapple with the current issues in today's world. Perhaps some of the stems for inquiry listed in the MM text will help you frame some questions about the impact of the two choices. It is tricky to tease out ideas and beliefs without seeming judgmental in a learning focused conversation, especially about deeply held beliefs. The idea is to to shift the deep thinking to the mentee, and to nurture the connections to the common beliefs of school libraries. I hope that you will be able to enact this scenario, and to give us some insight about how it went. Super!
ReplyDeleteI think that the MM questioning stems will be really helpful in structuring this conversation. I actually meant to add that in after I watched several of the other folks in the cohort mention it in their FlipGrid videos.
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