Rationale
The ELA curriculum leaves room for teachers to select stories they might see fit to teach the skill of the week. The district provides a list of books that will work with the skill; however, I have discovered that the books typically have the same story told over and over again. The books lack diversity in their images and storylines, and often fail to give students meaningful ways of talking about race and racism. It is my job to make sure that I expose my students to diverse stories and to introduce new reading practices that do not simply reproduce the colorblind model of reading. This makes the challenge for me to create a unit (and future units) that have a race-centered approach as well as for all students to learn early on more critical vocabulary of race.
The goal for this unit is to create an engaging experience for the students that not only incorporates basic writing and reading skills as well as develop critical thinking skills. This unit will include scaffolding as the students’ progress which will allow the students to learn on their level. This unit will also lead the continuous education of the students and staff in my classroom about culture, heritage, and race. The displays in my classroom will be reflective of the lessons covered. In addition, I plan to make sure this unit helps to encourage our school librarian to incorporate more culturally inclusive and allow students to see themselves in the stories we read. I will provide the librarian with lists of texts that will help to create this environment.
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