Critical Identity Work in Elementary Classrooms through Powerful Picture Books
by Rabia Khokhar
The author is presently working in ESL classrooms in Toronto District S.B. as well as a consultant and popular speaker on equity issues. Her inquiry question frames the research, lived experiences and recommendations in this paper, “How will I, a teacher with positional power, ensure that the ESL program is equitable and inclusive for my Multilingual language learners?” A valuable Picture Books Appendix caps off Rabia’s paper.
Rabia Khokhar is a teacher in Toronto and an education and equity consultant at Rabia Teaches. She is also a PhD student at the University of Toronto. Rabia believes that the school library plays a key role in helping all students feel reflected, represented and seen through an asset-based lens. Rabia is the receipt of the Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario’s 2021 Anti-Racist and Equity Activism Award, the 2022 Professional Learning and Curriculum Development Award and the 2022 Angela Thacker Memorial Award. She enjoys sharing her teaching and learning
@Rabia_Khokhar1 and
www.rabiakhokhar.com
Thank you for showing us such wonderful picture books -- powerful and relevant for all classrooms (especially for those classrooms and communities that are not diverse).
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Dianne for reading my paper and for your comments! :)
DeleteRabia, I really liked hearing about your own experiences as an ESL student, and your aspirations for leading change as an ESL teacher. I took an ESL AQ course way back in the early 1990s. I don't remember a lot about it, but I'm sure there's quite a bit to "unlearn".
ReplyDeleteTwo things really struck me about your paper. The first is the concept of asset-based pedagogy, which you describe as being focused on recognizing that all students bring strength into the classroom community. I have heard you talk about this before, and the concept has really been an "aha moment" for me. I remember the frequent tone of staff room conversations being about dealing with concerns about a student from a deficit perspective. Well-intentioned, but potentially detrimental. I am hopeful that as Canada opens its own eyes to its history and embraces diversity that asset-based pedagogy may come to dominate professional culture.
Love learning about the picture books. There is still much to be done, but the wealth of choices available now is so impressive. "Back in my day" (she says, feeling very old), this diversity of voice was just not available. Positive steps.
Thanks Anita for reading my paper and for all of your comments! Yes! I really believe that asset based pedagogy can help us transform the ways in which we talk about/with students as well as how the learning that students engage in is designed. I agree, I really think the children's literature industry is making small steps in representation which will hopefully impact many students and young people! :)
DeleteHi Rabia,
ReplyDeleteExcellent work as always. I finished the paper and immediately sent it to our ELL lead teacher to send out as it contains so many great ideas. Our high school TLs have been pushing picture.books into the curriculum in English Language Arts. You easily get blinders on about how to do things and I never thought to approach the ELL teacher about using them.
Thank you so much Joseph for reading and your kind comments! Thanks also for sending it off to your colleague. This is so interesting! I am really really interested in using picture books in secondary classrooms. I think it could be a really great way to bring relevant and responsive topics to them. Thanks again! :)
DeleteThis is a beautiful paper, both in content and form. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I was drawn to your paper because of the equity theme but also a shared love of picture books. You and bell hooks are right that they can truly change the world.
ReplyDeleteAfter reflecting on your own ESL experience, you said "I wanted the program to be relevant, responsive, asset based and centered around the identities and lived experiences of the students and school community I would be serving." This is such a noble goal and it sounds like you did a wonderful job of implementing practices that supported it. The shift in comments from your students really say it all - it was heart breaking to read the initial ones and heart warming to see the sense of empowerment in the latter ones. We have a long way to go, but teachers like you are having a big impact on future generations.
My wonder is how long you spent focused on the theme of identity; was it a full year? How often did you see your students? I ask because I've been trying to plan for a year in the LLC with conceptual themes (identity being one of them) and I struggle sometimes to feel like it's meaningful when we see classes once a week. Thank you for your insight and beautiful book choices!
Hi Beverley, thank you so much for reading my paper and your kind comments! They mean so much to me! Your questions are so valid and time was also something I really struggled with. I would see the students once a day for 1 or 2 periods sometimes so it was not a whole lot of time. I think because I did not see them for the whole day, the theme of identity in different ways was able to sort of become extended. I sort of had the main inquiry questions which were themes and I approached all learning through those throughout the entire school year. So students would be building on those. Something that helped was having specific weekly questions related to the theme or what I wanted to teach students and then reinforcing it throughout the week with a story to springboard and then connected activities. I was also doing a lot of scaffolding through the books and discussion question and it helped to somewhat focus the conversation but still allowed room for flexibility and their voices to shine. Also since the students were not really in my class for the whole day, I used moments like yard duty and connecting with their families to get to know them better which I know is hard to do in a LLC position since you are serving the whole school. I mention this because to some degree this also helped me bring those themes to life. I found out that my students all went to a park on the weekends and so that became something I brought in through story and reflection. All of it really was based on who they were and their evolving lives. I would say that use the conceptual themes as a framework and do all things through them and sort of keep coming back to them. For example if September and October are Identity, then have books and activities related to that. If the next theme is Family or something then sort of build on the idea how our families are part of our identities. Maybe have your conceptual themes visible for you and the students so they feel connected or interconnected. I am sorry, I'm not sure if I answered your question but if you have ideas or further questions, I would love to hear them! Thanks again :)
DeleteAs usual Rabia, you have provoked my thinking to new places. As a secondary educator I feel really in awe of the work that primary teachers do. I suppose there is some envy too at times because you are setting foundations for school culture that will last their lifetime. In your book selection I was wondering if you could talk me through the priority list of your book selection -- Is it more important that the author is from the Canadian context or that they represent an authentic voice? I noticed that many of your references date back to times and places that definitely didn't represent my academic context but their messages are trending now -- why didn't we notice them earlier in the Canadian diaspora? Are their initial ideas evolving by academics, like yourself now, into further development of pedagogical strategy and how do we measure cultural shift? I'm wondering a lot more about metrics now and how we can show evidence that this work is having the desired effect.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Alanna for your comments! I think in the ESL program, it was important for me to try to represent as many voices and experiences as possible so I just looked for authentic authors writing and telling these stories. Your questions are so great! I think it would be really amazing to see how our collective measures are creating change. I think this is something I really want to think about but I think sort of showing or centering student voice will definitely need to play a role in this. I guess the question is how do we do this in a way that centers and honours student voice without just extracting? Thanks so much for your thoughts!
Delete