Help me give my students access to two of the finest novels by African-American writers in the 20th and 21st century, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead.
Our school enjoys the name recognition that comes with a famous zip code, but the school itself receives no Title I funds and thus is one of the most underfunded in San Diego Unified School District. LJHS students are bright, inquisitive and pleasant, albeit somewhat sheltered, and about 90% go on to 2 and 4-year colleges. About 35% of our students are bussed in from Southeast San Diego and while we pride ourselves on providing an orderly environment conducive to learning, we have a long way to go in providing an inclusive school that ensures all student are well-provided for. Furthermore, sometimes we have to go begging for textbooks and supplies because the perception is that since we’re a “rich kids” school, we have everything we need. Some of our core subject textbooks are twelve years old, and thanks to duct tape and bailing wire, are holding up, but the journalism class has no textbooks whatsoever.
My Project
Both prescient of today's #BLM movement and evocative of their specific times and places in American history, I wanted to immerse my 11th grade and 12th grade AP English students in two novels that speak clearly to social justice issues facing African Americans and all people of color in today's society.
Literature is both a mirror and a window.
Like many career English teachers, I am trying to reframe which texts a privileged and taught in today's high schools. While I do not consider myself a political activist, over the past few months I've come to the conclusion that teaching is in itself a political act, and I owe it to my students (both BIPOC and white) select and teach high-quality texts that are both engaged and engaging with the issues that face America today. I cannot prepare them to enter into the national conversation as engaged citizens without having the courage to teach texts that may make them (and their parents) uncomfortable, because it is high time we had these conversations about race in a country as deeply divided as our is in 2020. Where better to learn and explore concepts like justice, racism, and the American Dream in 2020 than through books? I am willing to center these conversations in my classroom, but having high-quality literature both facilitates and deepens the curriculum by helping teenagers to foster empathy for their peers, how to disagree without being disagreeable, and examining the many facets of power, both within our school and within our society. I may be causing trouble by teaching these books, but in the words of the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis, is is "good trouble. Necessary trouble."
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