Learning Through Adversity - Eve Bunting Study

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

There is no education like adversity. I teach two 4th grade classes in a high poverty school of extraordinary students who are learning to read, write, and speak in English AND Spanish! Our small farming community has a very high level of poverty (80%) and struggles to overcome the distinctive barriers of immigrant families. Still, our students are incredibly resilient. Students are learning they can use their hardships, perspectives, and experiences as opportunities to grow, learn, and educate others; to prove that the stereotypes of immigrant and migrant families are false. My classroom is a community where students feel comfortable taking risks, sharing their ideas, and asking vital questions about race, poverty, and other critical social issues.

Our classroom theme this year is "Change Your World." When I introduced this theme, students were very eager to educate themselves about history, social issues, and opportunities to become involved, but lack they background knowledge needed to take action. Furthermore, district curriculum, pacing requirements, mandates like No Child Left Behind, and ever-diminishing budgets require a strict focus on reading and math; greatly decreasing content learning. My students need interdisciplinary units that integrate reading, writing, and social studies through the use of high-quality literature with a social message. If you have ever read Eve Bunting, you know she is the perfect author to study when looking for literary elements combined with social consciousness. Our school library is severely underfunded and does not provide the resources we need for an in-depth study of her books.

I have planned an author study that will spark student enthusiasm to be community activists, literary writers, and critical readers. I need 5 copies each of 8 titles by Eve Bunting that focus on social issues. Each day I will read aloud an Eve Bunting book. As I read students will record their thoughts and connections in their reading journals. Students will then break into 5 small cooperative groups to study the book in depth; identifying and illustrating the narrative elements, responding to the theme, and using the books as mentor texts to ignite their own narrative writing. Each group will have a copy of the book for reference, and one group will become the “experts” on a particular book. At the end of the unit we will: produce an incredible matrix of illustrations for each title and narrative element, reflect on and share our learning, identify opportunities for social action, and produce our own narrative story inspired by Eve Bunting’s incredible literary style.

I plan on teaching this unit every year. With your help, students for years to come will leave this unit with a deep respect for Bunting as an author, as well as an awareness of social issues not present in history books. They will become better readers and writers. They will be inspired to ask questions about equality, fairness, and freedom, and to take action in moving towards equal opportunities for all. Our students will RELATE, on a personal level, with Bunting’s books, and will derive hope in the face of racial and economic adversity. They will be empowered to make a difference in THEIR world, which, of course, is OUR world.