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I wrote before about the concept of "windows" and "mirrors" and the importance of "window" texts in the classroom. Basically, windows in this analogy are texts--including videos and short reading passages and, of course, read-alouds and independent reading books--that help students' gain understanding of others' realities. Mirrors are texts that reflect the students' reality back to them. They are essential because they validate students' experiences and identities. White students--especially white middle & upper class students--are constantly mirrored in so many excellent texts. But students of color--including poor, immigrant and migrant students of color, indeed any student who is part of a marginalized group--are usually exposed to far fewer mirrors. This reinforces the marginalization they experience elsewhere in society. But, as teachers, there are so many ways we can work to make sure that the many facets of our students' different realities are represented in their classrooms. Here are a few! Given the choice, choose mirrors: Personally, I choose to buy a lot of books to use in my classroom (again, I don't have my own kids). Plus, there is a branch of our local public library, one stocked with tons of Spanish-language children's books, two blocks from my school. But even if you aren't able to buy or check out new books, it's possible to put emphasis on your existing mirror books. For example, one of the first books I'm going to read for our community helpers unit is Quinito's Neighborhood (from my favorite publisher, Lee & Low). It's a bilingual book about a boy walking through his neighborhood, observing and interacting with people at work. There are a lot of books about community helpers to choose from, but this one has characters and, critically, community helpers like pan dulce bakers, who reflect my students' experiences. As an added bonus, the author and illustrator are Latino. Simply telling students the creators' names and showing their pictures helps expand students' understanding of the possibilities open to them. Making your own resources: I'm not advocating abandoning functional resources we already have. But, on those occasions when the exact item I want doesn't seem to exist and I decide to make it myself, I try to use images that reflect my students. One example is this sort to help reinforce the differences between fiction and nonfiction. The visual that I chose to represent the attribute "has photos" (tiene fotos) is a photo of a Latino family. I could have chosen any photo from the internet; I took just a few extra seconds and chose one with people who look like my students. Include your actual students--and their families--in classroom texts: We create so many texts in our classrooms. We make anchor charts, we engage in shared writing, we model how to write the kinds of texts that students are creating in writer's workshop. All of these are opportunities for creating mirrors. I included two examples above: An anchor chart featuring an example of a focused reader, and a shared writing book to which each student contributed a portrait of his or her family. I also invited families to answer the prompt, "Our family is special because..." and included their responses on their students' page. The full book is now part of our classroom library. As teachers, each of our choices shapes our students' perceptions of the world.
We have so many chances to show them that they matter, that they have the power to shape the world itself. Cuando pienso en [nombre], todo es de color arcoíris, es mi luz, mi aire, mi todo. No imagino la vida sin ella. When I think about [name], everything is the color of the rainbow; she is my light, my air, my everything. I can't imagine life without her. -first grade parent Like many primary teachers, I opened this year with a name study. Names are an excellent early literacy tool. Your name is the word you are most familiar with and probably have most often seen written. It is exciting to recognize your own name, and then to learn to read--and even write!--friends' names. Several of my students have unique names that their parents chose specially for them. Almost all of them use two last names, following Spanish-language naming conventions. It's often hard for non-Spanish-speaking adults (most of the adults at our school) to learn to say students' names, and sometimes people take shortcuts, like leaving off the second last name. All of these facts can wear down students' pride in their names and in themselves. We read aloud three books in which characters were first made to feel shame in their names, but later--with help from friends and family--embraced their unique names:
Each student decorated their name and made an illustration to convey what it made them think of. We didn't get deep into the weeds of our name origins, because sometimes children do not live with the person who gave them their names, and they aren't able to ask. Instead, they asked their adults to answer the question, "What do you think of when you think of my name?" For me, this was the truly revelatory part of the project.
I do not yet have my own children. Each year I grow to love the kids in my class, but I know my teacherly affection pales in comparison to parental love. Reading parents' expressions of love for their children gives me a new appreciation for how precious the 23 little people in my class are. I expected the project to be cute; instead, it was humbling. Sitting before me on the rug--perhaps daydreaming, perhaps fidgeting, perhaps doing that ridiculous bubble face thing that Kindergarteners are taught to do--is someone's whole world, the light of someone's life, someone's reason for being. And they are entrusted to me every day. |
AuthorI'm Ms. Howland. I teach first grade in Spanish and English in a transitional bilingual model. Click any photo to learn more!
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