Zion's Blog

The book that I chose is called "the other side" by Jacqueline Woodson. This book is narrated by a little girl named clover who is African American. The book is set during segregation times so the reader gets to see how society was set up through the young eyes of clover. The book shows how clover and her white neighbor Annie, despite being told by both of their mothers to not go over the fence that separates the two families property, gradually became good friends through verbal and non-verbal communication. The fence represents segregation and how they are not suppose to engage with each other but the book shows how the two girls ignore what everyone else says and find a compromise to be friends by sitting on the top of the fence together. The other side shows a great example of anti-racism by depicting young girls making their own decisions to be friends not based on how they appear but their personality and how kind they are. There isn't anything to be warned about be...

 For this blog I chose to reflect on the article Using picture books to explore identity, stereotyping, and  discrimination   https://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-picture-books-explore?tab=4#tabs  . I love when books are used to help students draw a deeper meaning into things and that's what drew me to pick this article. I like that this lesson plan is separated into different sections and allocated time is dedicated to each. Reading through I noticed that the sessions bounce off and correlate with one another even though different books are introduced in different sections and I think helps students reflect on the thinking about stereotypes and identity having those connecting pieces. I love how the lesson plan relies on a lot of student participation with answering questions and them giving their thoughts because I feel like this gives students a chance to reflect and gather all the ideas floating in their head about identity, ...

  The book I chose is called “Red: A Crayon’s Story” and it is about a crayon that is mislabeled as red but is actually an entirely different color of blue. Even though the crayon isn’t actually red and doesn’t feel red, everyone preserves them to be red. In the summary of the book, it was interesting to see how the crayon and the others around saw that another color was being produced but still was putting the label of red on the crayon. Later in the book, the red crayon finds friends and gains a  new perspective about his identity and is true to what he feels like he should be labeled as. This book can teach students about how society and those around us might pick and choose identities for us that we don’t agree with and that it is okay to deny those identities and be true to what you individually feel is your identity whatever that might be. Most of the times the identities put upon us are stereotypes or assumptions and reading this book can reinforce for students that the...

  I First want to say I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am or who I am without my parents. My family is originally from a small town called Monroe, Louisiana and it isn't the best place to thrive in. My mother moved to Texas for a few months by herself staying with a family member, while my dad stayed behind with me and my 3 siblings so that we all could moved to Grand Prairie, Texas. My parents have shown me all my life what it's like to be strong and independent and that is a big part of my identity today. I also feel like my desire to be a teacher came from how I was raised and the compassion I was taught to have for others and my want to help tour future minds is also an important part of my identity. The identity that people can see that I strongly voice is that of an African American female. Since Texas State has a small black population I often feel out of place unless at events put on by black students. My identity of being African American has given me a unique o...