Literacy Now

Brown Girl Dreaming. (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014)
By Jacqueline Woodson
Grades: 5-12

Brown Girl Dreaming is Woodson’s memoir in verse of her early life. However, it is so much more than this—it is the record of how a young girl discovers her voice through writing and grows to become a beloved author for children and young adults. Later, she uses her voice to reach out to others and to speak for the underrepresented.

Woodson starts from her birth and traces her family and life up through fifth grade, when her teacher Ms. Vivo says to her, “You’re a writer.” Although she was born in Ohio, Woodson didn’t spend much time there, but rather her life was punctuated by years, and later summers, in South Carolina with her grandparents and life in New York City. Her time in Greenville, SC, brings her face-to-face with the civil rights movement and life in the post-Jim Crow south. Life in the North, in New York City, brings Woodson experiences of diversity, including a Puerto Rican best friend, Maria.

Woodson writes of her brothers and sister, her grandparents, her aunts and uncle, her mother and her father, who has not been a part of the family since she was very young. She tells of her time spent in Kingdom Hall and going from door to door as a Jehovah’s Witness spreading the message of salvation. Woodson shares her struggles with reading and the comparisons made between her and her sister, who was an avid reader. She reveals how the telling of stories or the creation of songs came to her easily and how she felt a comfort and rightness in the space between the words she put together.

Cross-Curricular Connections: Social Studies/History, Geography, Biology

Ideas for Classroom Use:

The “Roots” of Stories in Life Experiences

Readers of Brown Girl Dreaming who are familiar with Woodson’s books will make many connections between her life and the experiences described in many of her books. Woodson states on her website, “My work is not always physically autobiographical. But it is always emotionally autobiographical—every feeling my characters have had is a feeling I have had. The small and big moments in my life aren’t necessarily my life once they reach the pages” She even provides examples of three books, Locomotion, Coming On Home Soon, and Behind You, that are “emotionally autobiographical,” with explanation on how.

In this activity, gather as many of Woodson’s picturebooks as possible (We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past, The Other Side, Our Gracie Aunt, Visiting Day, Pecan Pie Baby, This is the Rope: A Story From the Great Migration) and ask students to identify the “roots” of the books in Brown Girl Dreaming. A list of potential picturebooks to use in this activity are provided below. As an extension, ask students to look at their own lives and what experiences could serve as the “roots” of stories for them.

The Origin of Names

In the poem, “A Girl Named Jack,” Woodson explains why she was named Jacqueline. Her father’s name was Jack and he wanted to name his second daughter after himself. Woodson’s mother resisted Jack or Jackie and wrote in Jacqueline on her birth certificate. In this activity, students will research the origin of their own names by asking family members how they came to be named as they were. Students should be encouraged to talk to several family members as the viewpoints and stories may vary. Students can then write a poem or a story about their own name.

The Impact of “History”

Throughout Brown Girl Dreaming Woodson references historic events and figures that parallel and impact her life. The possibilities of this activity are numerous and can be expanded or contracted based on need and desired outcome.

• Woodson’s Timeline: Students can create a timeline of Woodson’s life along with the historic events and figures she mentions in Brown Girl Dreaming. This can be extended by having students add additional historic events to the timeline. Students can also write about the impact of these events and people on Woodson’s life as evidenced in Brown Girl Dreaming, other sources or as speculated.

• Personal Timeline: Students can create a personal timeline that features events in their life as well as important events and people during their lifetime. This can be extended by having students select some events or people to write about in regards to the impact on their lives.

• Researching Historic Events or People: Students can be divided into groups and assigned people or events mentioned by Woodson in Brown Girl Dreaming to research. To extend the use of timelines, one can be created for an historic figure or event tracing how the person came to be “historic” or what led up to an event.

Family Features

Several times in Brown Girl Dreaming, Woodson refers to physical or personality characteristics shared by family members. For example, the gap between front teeth shared by many in her family, including Woodson and her younger brother, Roman. In this activity, have students trace a physical or personality trait amongst family members. For older students, this could be used in a biology class to discuss genetics.

Family Map

Woodson describes a great deal of traveling between parts of her family, particularly between New York City and Greenville, SC. In this activity, students can create a map of Woodson’s family instead of a family tree, which Woodson already provides at the beginning of Brown Girl Dreaming. This activity could be extended by having students create their own family maps.

Name Graffiti

In the poem “Graffiti,” Woodson describes getting caught by her uncle as she starts to spray paint her name on a wall. She describes how graffiti names don’t have to be your real name and how they are often stylized to represent personalities. In this activity, students can create their own graffiti “tags” that represent them.

Additional Resources and Activities:

Jacqueline Woodson’s Official Webpage

Woodson provides a wealth of information about herself and her books on her official webpage. She is aware many students are assigned author studies and has provided all the relevant information she can here. The pictures of Woodson at varying ages are one of many great aspects.

“Jacqueline Woodson on Being a ‘Brown Girl’ Who Dreams”

This is an NPR piece by Kat Chow for “Code Switch” and played on Morning Edition Sept. 18. Chow spent a day with Woodson and interviewed her about Brown Girl Dreaming. In addition, Chow accompanied Woodson to an author event and listeners get to hear Woodson read some of the poems from her book.

A Video Interview With Jacqueline Woodson

This is a 13-part video interview with Jacqueline Woodson. There are links to the different parts of the interview as well as a written transcript of the interview.

Aimee Rogers is an assistant professor at the University of North Dakota where she is a member of the reading faculty and teaches children’s literature courses. Aimee’s research interests include how readers make meaning with graphic novels as well as representation in children’s and young adult literature. She can be reached at aimee.rogers@UND.edu.

Nakeiha Primus felt drawn to education, but studied to be an editor. After realizing shortly after college that she belonged in the classroom, she also dove deep into curriculum and now research. She presented some of her ideas at the IRA 59th Annual Conference in May when she talked about what she learned surrounding boys and literature learning. Today, she continues to work on her doctorate of education and is an assistant professor of education at a Pennsylvania college. Her research merges interests in curriculum theory, literary theory, and socio-cultural approaches to learning. Visit her blog, mid/scribble, and follow her on Twitter (@docpr1me).

How did you begin your career, and what led you to your current position?

Ahh...I guess I started my career like many educators. I was the go-to person for babysitting, tutoring, and that sort since early adolescence. I was a camp counselor/director, so I often found myself in "classrooms" of sorts. The truth is, however, I never wanted to be a teacher. I set out as an English major to be an editor one day, but even in college the lure of interacting with students never left. After college and while working with kindergarteners in a New York City afterschool program, I stopped fighting the pull and decided to begin my formal career as a teacher.

How long have you been a member of IRA? How has membership influenced your career?

I have been a member for almost five years, I think and my membership has been a tremendous asset to my career. Early on, and as a graduate student, the IRA's Teacher-As-Researcher grant allowed me to refine a dimension of my practice that hadn't always been seen as an asset. Sure, I could teach and I was effective with students, but the grant project allowed me to reflect intensely on my work in a very formal way. I learned curriculum was a type of story worth studying.  With major characters, plot twists, antagonists, and themes all interwoven into the time/space of "our class," I was able to shed light on why I made certain choices and how my students (as co-authors) influenced our learning each day. In addition, IRA has offered great resources, forums for idea exchange, and real support. The IRA membership is definitely a relational one; it allows you to connect and interact often.

What was your experience at IRA’s 2014 conference as a presenter? Had you presented in a setting like that before?

Presenting at IRA 2014 was a great experience. Though I've presented at other conferences, I was able to encourage other teachers to see their work as their expertise. Too often teachers get caught in the mire of the day-to-day and do not see what they do as worthy of serious conversation, acknowledgment, and rigorous research. I had an opportunity to "steal" (as all good teachers do) from phenomenal educators across the United States, and spend time doing nerdy things like read for pleasure. 

How have you balanced a PhD program and a career?

Balancing a career and PhD candidacy has its challenges, but because I've been blessed with administrators/colleagues who value my work and see its direct impact in my classroom, the benefits far outweigh sleep deprivation and juggling workloads. I have great family and friends who read drafts of papers or help me grade. My students eagerly volunteer "to be studied," and often ask, "When are you going to be Dr. Primus?" Each member of my support team prompt me to keep working. Because of them, I know I'll be better able to empower teachers, advocate for students, and improve teacher education.

What are you reading (personal, professional, or even children's/YA)?

 I’m currently reading Half a Yellow Sun (Chimamanda Adichie) and Izzy the Indigo Fairy (Daisy Meadows) with my daughter.

What do you consider to be your proudest career moment?

Hmm. That's tough. I think my proudest moment, so far, occurred when I received an email from a former student who told me she'd just started teaching. She was in one of my first classes ever and I was so proud of her. Outside of that, any moment with the boys and Primus Hoops is a pretty good time, as well.

What advice would you give a new teacher that either you received or wish you had?

Don't ever stop looking for the moments your students teach you. Anticipate them, relish them, and thank your students for them.

To mark the release of her new book, Be Fabulous: The Reading Teacher’s Guide to Reclaiming Your Happiness in the Classroom, Jennifer Scoggin, a.k.a. Mrs. Mimi of the education blog It’s Not All Flowers and Sausages, shares her advice for how to take a step back and remember what’s important.

So we’re back at it again. Summer flew by and back-to-school season will soon be a thing of the past. Is there a new trend-du-jour at your school? Does it have a fun acronym? Does it necessitate many meetings? Does it make you feel crazy and as if you are being asked to toss aside everything you know and love to make time for “The Hot New Thing” that you, personally, aren’t too sure about? Or maybe you are sure of it, but are being asked to do it all, like, yesterday, and you already feel as if your restful summer never happened.

Inspiration meets overload

Can I take you back a bit? Back to the summer when the days were long and time was your own? To be nerdily honest with you, I actually relish summer as a time to read a professional book, catch up on back issues of The Reading Teacher, or browse through online articles that make me reconsider my own practice. It is my form of self-selected professional development … but with cocktails or a cup of hot coffee … or bathroom breaks. All of the above seem luxurious to a teacher.

My learning journey this summer focused on close reading, particularly what it can look like in the lower grades, with an emphasis on making cross-curricular connections. I managed to read two amazing books (complete with vigorous head nodding and rampant highlighting), and a handful of both print and online articles that felt really practical and classroom-oriented. Toward the end of the summer, my nerdy reading carried me off into the world of educational apps and how to add a technological spin to my thinking about close reading. As I share this with you, it all sounds very inspiring, professional, and productive—you know, very what’s-hot-in-education-right-now.

But in reality, these moments of professional growth and reflection have been punctuated by moments of sheer panic. I worry about how to fit it all in. I feel frustrated by my actual resources and their potential to thwart my best-laid plans. I am curious if these new strategies will actually make a positive difference in my students’ ability to read. I consider what I can take out of my day to make room for these new ideas. Before I know it, these questions can quickly lead me down a shame-spiral of self-doubt in myself as an educator. How did I not integrate more technology this year? Why didn’t I think of this before? Ugh! I should have used this new amazing app during my social studies unit in March … what was I thinking? Cut to me dissolving into a puddle of self-doubt. And this is me all by myself on my porch in the summer. Not me at work under pressure and knee-deep in beginning-of-the-year paperwork and administrivia.

It’s all about confidence

Friends, this line of thinking and rampant self-doubt are not what is hot in education right now. As a result of my own panic, I would like to propose the following: Let’s make confidence in our own ability as educators what is hot this year. We already know a great deal about best practices and what is right for our students. We have read many professional books and come a long way in our own methods. We have taken tidbits away from various professional development workshops or conversations with colleagues.

We know things. This is step one in having a bit more confidence in ourselves as educators—recognizing that we have come a long way from where we started (whether you started last year or 20 years ago) and, therefore, possess a great deal of professional knowledge already. It is time to own what we know!
Of course, because we are professional and amazing, we also want to further ourselves and improve upon our practice. Teachers are notorious for having a continuous need to add new ideas to their instructional toolboxes; it is one of my favorite things about us. We just have to find a way to do this that doesn’t make us want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

So step two in having a bit more professional confidence is taking the time to consider our own priorities and beliefs as educators. Which new ideas are in line with your goals for your students? Which new strategies work well with or pump up the volume on practices you already have in place? Which new reading helped you further shape your beliefs about the teaching of reading and, therefore, needs to find a place in your instructional day? There is no need to throw out all you have done in the past to make room for the new hot trend in education. However, there is a need to consider the new hot trend in education to determine how and in what way it might find a place in your classroom. How can these new ideas help you on your journey to becoming the teacher you have always wanted to be? It is time to own your beliefs about what it means to be a teacher!

Time management is key

Finally, no matter how confident we are in what we know and where we are going as educators, time is always a force to be reckoned with. Sometimes I want three more hours with my little friends and, other times, I cannot get out of the door fast enough. It is what it is. There is a temptation to let our new ideas run wild; and as our professional goals run wild, so does the proverbial To-Do List. I have created To-Do Lists of such staggering proportions that they have actually sent me into a catatonic state of un-productivity, meaning there are so many items on the list that I don’t know where to start and already feel as if I have failed.
So, rather than letting our plans for self-improvement become too big too fast and blow our confidence out of the water, let us consider step three: Set small goals for yourself. What piece of this fabulous new idea of yours can you accomplish next week? What piece can you accomplish next month? What piece should you put off for next semester or next year? Write these goals down. Don’t overpromise or do more than you can realistically handle. It is OK to move slowly and to celebrate small successes. It is what we want our students to do and so it should be good enough for us, too. It is time to own that we are human.

So to sum it all up, remember this: Own what you know. Own what you believe. Own that you are human. What is hot in education this year? You.

Jennifer Scoggin (a.k.a. Mrs. Mimi) is the director of the Connecticut branch of LitLife and a consultant in schools. She holds a doctorate in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University, and has been an IRA member since 2011. This column originally appeared in Reading Today magazine. Members can read the rest of the magazine in digital form and non-members can join IRA here.

photo credit: Planet Takeout via photopin cc

One of the best safeguards against censorship is having a policy and procedure—a recipe—in place for almost any situation. A step-by-step guide and a list of required elements, aka ingredients, guide the process. There are a lot of players involved in any book challenge so it can be helpful for all to be working with the same instructions. Staff and administration will feel more confident if there’s a secure policy as a foundation. In a school environment, often there is more than one supervisor. It could be a department head, a principal, the school board or the superintendent. That’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen. And sometimes they don’t always cook well together.

During Banned Books Week, the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom hears from many school librarians and teachers who are dealing with a challenge to a library material, instructional material, or reading list. Sometimes one or all of the supervisors or administrators will be supportive of the book, and a united front can be created to protect the First Amendment for the students of their community. Think raspberry soufflé.

But other times, it may be the administration denouncing the value of a resource, or possibly responding to a challenge without following procedure and overstepping the policy set in place. Think chocolate chip cookies with no sugar.

In fact, this week we received a call where the situation is just that. A superintendent recalled a book assigned to students by an English teacher. His action was based on an email from a parent and not the consequence of a board-approved policy decision. How should a teacher react in this situation?

My first step is to refer to the soon-to-be-published 2015 Intellectual Freedom Manual. There’s a sidebar in the challenges section that specifically talks about the possibility of the process being subverted or undermined.

When the Reconsideration Process Is Subverted or Undermined
If after discussing the legal and ethical reasons for following the reconsideration process, the principal or library director does not follow policy and removes the challenged resource (or one about which a concern has been raised), how far should a librarian go to defend a library resource?
      This is a personal, ethical decision, and the librarian must weigh what else can be done. If the director or principal is adamant, the librarian may be forced to evaluate the risk of retaliation from his supervisor or losing a job against the merits of continuing to oppose censorship by a supervisor. After considering the situation carefully, he may come to acknowledge that he has done all that is possible at this time, or he may decide that taking a principled stand is better for him.
      The process can also be compromised if the concerned individual or group goes around the policy structure to speak directly to a higher authority such as an alderman, school superintendent, or school board members. Although the public official or school administrator should remind the challenger that there is a review process in place, this does not always occur.

The second step is to document everything! Obtain copies of relevant policies and procedures. Make sure to keep every email and to log phone calls and verbal conversations. Write down as many details as you can remember. Take screenshots of social media. A challenger could brag that after speaking with an administrator, a specific book was removed. Documenting evidence of not following policy doesn’t mean you have to act on it, but it’s there if you need it or if a second or third offense occurs.

The third step is to seek counsel. Call the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom if you’re unsure of what direction to take. Call your teachers’ union. Call the ACLU in your state. It doesn’t hurt to ask questions.

I heard a colleague advise a teacher that sometimes a misstep of procedure by administration can be “walked back” if proof of the misstep is available. If you give your administrator a quiet moment (or day) to realize the error of his ways, he might thank you in the long run. You could pretend that it was all an innocent mistake, and pride and jobs will be saved by all. Even the best chefs overbake the cake at times.

For more information on Banned Books Week, book challenges and censorship, please visit the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom’s Banned Books website at www.ala.org/bbooks, or www.bannedbooksweek.org.

Kristin Pekoll is the assistant director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Throughout the school year, my English Language Arts students practice and apply research skills while studying a variety of topics.  Along with brainstorming, evaluating sources, and drafting, a skill I work extensively on with students is note taking.  Note taking is an important skill, and is included in the Common Core Anchor Standards for Writing under “Research to Build and Present Knowledge.”  The teacher’s guide for our writing series calls for students to record their findings and details on notecards, which can then be sorted into topics and arranged in an outline.  While this may be the traditional way to develop a research paper, my
classroom is 1:1 Chromebooks, and I wanted a way for students to be able to work on their research outside the classroom, collaborate with peers, and not worry about losing any (or all!) of their work.

After searching for a web tool that fit my goal of collaboration and online access, I decided to use Padlet.  Padlet (formerly known as Wallwisher) is a free, app/online space or corkboard that can be used for collaboration, brainstorming, and note taking.  Signing up and creating walls are easy and teachers can embed Padlet walls into a class Symbaloo, blog, website, or make it a QR code.  Within a Padlet post users can insert text, images, documents, and website addresses.  These features matched my purpose for students to assemble their research digitally in the cloud, and I created a wall for each country being researched.

As they begin their research, my students have Padlet open in their Internet browser and as they comb through digital and print resources can add notes, images, videos, and citations on individual posts.  There is no limit to the number of posts that can be placed on a board, so students are free to gather information without concern of running out of space or having too much paper to keep track of.  Once notes have been compiled, my students move their posts into categories by dragging the boxes into related groups.  These categories then form the sections of the research paper.  Students may also use the posts to create mind maps and outlines before drafting their writing.
Using Padlet helped my students organize their notes throughout the research process. Students were not intimidated by digital note taking on Padlet, and even students who would have been resistant to reading and transferring information from a text to paper, did not seem to mind doing so in a digital manner. Finally, the biggest improvement I saw was students taking time to evaluate the amount and quality of information they were finding, and ultimately take pride and ownership of their work.
If you are looking for ways to incorporate technology into the research process, and would like a web tool that allows collaboration and cloud access, I encourage you to check out Padlet.  Your students will enjoy having an easy to use format to gather their notes.

Stephanie Laird is an Instructional Coach in the Southeast Polk School District where she works alongside teachers to impact student learning through the areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.  She holds a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instructional Technology from Iowa State University, and is the International Reading Association’s 2014 Technology and Reading Award Winner.