Thank you so much for creating the following text-sets in Newsela: "A Mile in Our Shoes". Because of these text-sets, we were inspired to write a grant to match each diverse perspective on your site to a fictional novel. This unit started as a way to teach central ideas and text structure, but the students gleaned so much more than that: they learned how to build empathy for one another and gained a more meaningful understanding of the world in which we live. Ultimately, we learned what it is like to walk in someone else's shoes.
All 7th grade students in the grade chose one of the books from the grant to read as a book club with other students in their class. Applying Kylene Beers' new reading strategy BHH Reading, students asked themselves, "How will this book help me be better"? This helped them see a perspective which was different from their own in order to build a more inclusive, empathetic point of view. Here's a snapshot of the students' responses:
"There is more kindness than meanness, and it will always overpower even if it takes time...it always will."
"My actions will change because I will not be so quick on judging someone, and, instead, I'd take the time to get to know them."
"Skin is just a color. Race is just a label."
"It helped me to learn that teasing other people, even for the smallest thing, can really impact them in a negative way. I learned that acceptance is a much stronger force than hate."
The books that you funded also brought our school together to celebrate diversity. When our principal heard that our grant was funded, he joined the Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team by Steve Sheinkin book club. Because of his presence in the room, the students saw that reading matters; in fact, reading about diverse perspectives matters even more. In addition, our guidance counselor read Ugly by Robert Hoge. It was a perfect fit because it's a book about a boy with a physical disability who overcomes many hardships. The group met and discussed what it's like growing up with a disability, and how we can build an inclusive, supportive environment in school, with the expertise of our guidance counselor sitting beside them in the classroom. Furthermore, a social studies teacher read many of the books purchased from the grant and often talked to the kids about them throughout her classes. She even attended a book club for the following book: I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosin. Because the book was about Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile, she was able to help bring background knowledge into the discussion, so students had a better understanding of the time period. Finally, as a culminating project, we collaborated with the art teacher who had her advanced art students draw various shoes, so our students could display their thinking on identity, diversity, justice, and action. These shoes captured the experiences of the people they read about and what we, as a community, can do to support individuals in that group.
One of my favorite quotes from Ugly, a book you purchased, stated the following: "Humans are like legos. We connect together with families. We build lives with friends. On our own, we're just one piece. When we come together in groups, we make amazing things" (Hoge 27). I do believe we, like legos, came together and made amazing things happen for our students at our school. Thank you for being a part of this journey, connecting kids to powerful literature, and allowing different groups to come together to share their thinking and build a better, more connected world.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Snevily and Mrs. Mullan