Explore the World of Books

This week, we were asked to keep up with our unit study of Crenshaw. We looked into a few hyperdocs, and I was assigned part 2 of the book. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1roW_9esrAi5aFYyySF4yvuZhaeLnpCxLCnvAjcpuNDo/edit?usp=sharing

The first resource that caught my eye and I just HAD to watch right then, was the video by Kid President. Kid President is fantastic at talking about issues in a way that keeps in light hearted, and is memorable for the students. This video by Kid President gives the statistics, that 1 in 5 children in the U.S. alone, are hungry. I would use this video to shed light on how real this issue is, and add this new information to our discussion of the food insecurity issue in Crenshaw. In my experience, students LOVE Kid President, so this would be a great way to teach them some of the facts while also keeping them interested and smiling for part of it, too.

https://edpuzzle.com/assignments/5738d8f7b873499d61cccd2a/watch

The next thing I watched was “Sera’s Story: Growing up Poor in San Francisco.” This video made me cry! Sera, the sweetest little 11-year-old, tells her story of living with her mom and sister in one room, with very little food, and waiting and praying for bigger housing. For many kids, this would be a hard video to watch, ESPECIALLY if they were going through a similar situation themselves. Therefore, depending on the students in my classroom, I would be very cautious about showing this video. If I knew of a student who was in the same situation as Sera, I would consider their personality and how I think they would handle the video before showing it. However, I would LOVE to share this video with other teachers in my school as part of a PD class. I know that many teachers struggle with money as is, but being able to provide a small snack for a child in need, or helping the family find resources in the area if needed, is such a big part of being a teacher. While I know that I will not make very much money, I plan to set aside at least $10-15 a month for cheap snacks in my classroom, and another small amount for students who many need shoes or a coat to stay warm. This video really opened my eyes to that fact that many kids whoa re in need are some of the most positive kids around. Sera needs many things to help her and her family, but she finds the best in everything. My goal is to not ignore the needs of my students, and to be sure to find out their situation as much as possible rather than assume they are okay because of their positive attitude.

What else would I add to the hyperdoc?

One thing I would love to see as part of the hyperdoc for other teachers to use in their classrooms, is a list of books that go along with Crenshaw. For part 2 specifically, I found a link with 10 books about imaginary friends, (http://www.readbrightly.com/books-that-celebrate-imaginary-friends/), that could be very beneficial for teachers to read to students, regardless of their age. In the book, Jackson is worried about having an imaginary friend at his age (5th grade). While many students in our classrooms will, also, still have imaginary friends at the age of 11, they will probably not admit it to their classmates. They may begin to worry about their imaginary friend still having around, too! Reading books like Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and Emma Kate by Patricia Polacco, students can begin to see that imaginary friends are fun, and it is okay to embrace theirs if they have one.