Since this is black history month, I have been thinking a lot about incorporating culture and diversity in our classrooms. Last semester, I was able to use book clubs in my classroom as a way to allow my students a chance to read about other cultures, races, ethnicity and their history. A book club invites students to have many small group discussions about what they are reading, so it made sense to use graphic novels to help deliver some sensitive subject matter. I created a presentation to introduce each graphic novel to the students so they could pick the top 3 that peaked their interest. I made a list of the books that they got to choose from with a brief description at the end of this blog.
A book club invites students to have many small group discussions about what they are reading, so it made sense to use graphic novels to help deliver some sensitive subject matter.
As you can see, there were a variety of stories to choose from. Once I got my students’ top picks, I created small book clubs (4-5 students). My hope was this would allow the students to have a chance to really talk deeply about the events and struggles in their books. Of course, I took some time to talk to the whole class about our room being a safe place where everyone is mindful of the seriousness of the topics being discussed. After all, Art Spiegelman uses a swastika on his cover of Maus to depict the grueling and hateful tone of the war and genocide of his people. In March, the n word is used to again make sure that the reader understands the discrimination and derogatory language used against black people during the Jim Crowe era.
With all that being said, I want to express the importance of having those uncomfortable, unknown, and hard conversations with our students. If we don’t talk about culture, racism, or history in the classroom our students may not get an opportunity to listen or be heard. Even more important, we need to guide our students on how to respectfully and empathetically have conversations about hard topics with each other.
The students worked in small groups via their book clubs which included reading together, asking questions, researching history and historical figures, and sharing personal stories. The students had to collaboratively annotate the books using what I call Think Notes. Students tend to read graphic novels a lot quicker than a classic novel. For the first two weeks, the students read in their book clubs for 3 days a week. The other 2 days were independent working days where students could self-assess using choice and voice. In other words, they got to choose how they would show their understanding of certain ELA standards that connected to their graphic novel. For example, they discussed the topic of their protagonist’s coming of age within their small groups. Independently, they took that discussion and made a personal connection (they are teenagers) in a creative writing of their choice. For example, they might write a poem or a short story about a moment that was memorable to them and, in their opinion, was a time that made them grow a little or come of age.
The summative assessment was done as a small group with their book clubs. Each club created a movie trailer for their graphic novel. Students had to consider the theme and tone of their book. In their self-assessment, the students had researched the events mentioned in their books. For example, students reading one of the March books would look at Congressman John Lewis’ website. The beauty of the trailer is that students were able to freely express their emotions by primarily using music and images similar to a graphic novel.
March 1 Student Trailer
I want to hear about ways you, as educators, are incorporating these types of conversations and lessons into your classroom. If you want a FREE lesson, subscribe today for the book club self-assessment discussed in this blog.
See You Real Soon,
Erin
Send me a message for a FREE PDF of the book club self-assessment discussed in this blog.
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Jin Wang starts at a new school where he’s the only Chinese-American student. When a boy from Taiwan joins his class, Jin doesn’t want to be associated with an FOB like him. Jin just wants to be an all-American boy, because he’s in love with an all-American girl. Danny is an all-American boy: great at basketball, popular with the girls. But his obnoxious Chinese cousin Chin-Kee’s annual visit is such a disaster that it ruins Danny’s reputation at school, leaving him with no choice but to transfer somewhere he can start all over again. The Monkey King has lived for thousands of years and mastered the arts of kung fu and the heavenly disciplines. He’s ready to join the ranks of the immortal gods in heaven. But there’s no place in heaven for a monkey. Each of these characters cannot help himself alone, but how can they possibly help each other? They’re going to have to find a way―if they want to fix the disasters their lives have become.
Maus by Art Spiegelman
A brutally moving work of art—widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written—Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats. Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author’s account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history’s most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit. Marjane’s child’s-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a stunning reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, through laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.
March One by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
Book one spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall. Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1958 comic book “Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.” Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.
March Two by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
After the success of the Nashville sit-in campaign, John Lewis is more committed than ever to changing the world through nonviolence — but as he and his fellow Freedom Riders board a bus into the vicious heart of the deep south, they will be tested like never before. Faced with beatings, police brutality, imprisonment, arson, and even murder, the movement’s young activists place their lives on the line while internal conflicts threaten to tear them apart.
March Three by John Lewis and Andrew Aydin
To carry out their nonviolent revolution, Lewis and an army of young activists launch a series of innovative campaigns, including the Freedom Vote, Mississippi Freedom Summer, and an all-out battle for the soul of the Democratic Party waged live on national television. With these new struggles come new allies, new opponents, and an unpredictable new president who might be both at once. But fractures within the movement are deepening … even as 25-year-old John Lewis prepares to risk everything in a historic showdown high above the Alabama river, in a town called Selma.
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