Ep. 81: Thinking About Reading as Mirrors and Windows

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Sheeba Jacob’s blog post caught our attention when she wrote, “While I could see myself in some of these books because of universal experiences like grief and love, limiting the reading experience to a few specific voices subconsciously taught me that only certain voices mattered.” 

Two things are true: Texts are at the core of literacy instruction with our students, and the world is our school. How can we engage students by helping them see themselves and the world through texts? Sheeba’s Achieve the Core blog post, titled Helping Our Students See Themselves and the World Through the Books They Read in Our Classrooms: The impact of text selection on students, shares tips that educators can consider and implement. 

A few tips include  “...a) getting to know who they [students] are and what they care about, b) providing them mirrors of who they are and windows into other worlds through the literature they read, and c) engaging them in conversations about the world around them and the events impacting humanity. Ask them what they want to read about, allow them to question injustices occurring throughout the world, have them write autobiographies about their lives, celebrate their stories and larger histories, make their identities come alive in class the way schools should do for students.” 

Additional resource mentioned: 

• Facing History in Ourselves

Sheeba’s Spotify EP Let the Magic In 

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