Welcome to #BookCampPD 's chat - I am Meredith Johnson, your moderator. I am thrilled to have @SaraKAhmed join us as our guest author to discuss her book #BeingtheChange Let's start this chat out w/ you introducing yourself and sharing a positive thought! Thanks for being here.
Congratulations to BreAnn Fennell @PlayYay and Michelle Howell @kmichellehowell who showed the greatest participation during our FAR - Friends and Reading focus on #BeingtheChange Please DM me the book, from our Fall Focus, that you would like sent your direction. #BookCampPD
Good morning from Bangkok, Thailand #BookCampPD. Thanks for your tweets & messages and thank you Meredith for having me!
Positive Thought: There isn't a day in about 16 years that a S hasn't made me laugh at school. They are simply the best. :)
Welcome to #BookCampPD 's chat - I am Meredith Johnson, your moderator. I am thrilled to have @SaraKAhmed join us as our guest author to discuss her book #BeingtheChange Let's start this chat out w/ you introducing yourself and sharing a positive thought! Thanks for being here.
Q1. How do we take the first steps to engage in vulnerable conversations with students where risks are high but the payoff could be even greater? #BookCampPD
A1. My first step was to read the book, "Being the Change" #BeingtheChange and learn some of the excellent strategies @SaraKAhmed explained in detail. #BookCampPD
A1: I am always incouraging students. Letting them know that I know the work is hard, I'm just asking that they try their best. Let me know what is a frustration and we will continue to move on. #bookcamppd
A1. It was also important for me to admit that I needed to learn more about being a socially literate person as my skill set was lacking and I often steered clear of these conversations. #BookCampPD
A1: I think we try to make our classroom spaces a safe space where listening and asking questions comes first. #BookCampPD - Joy from IL here - LOVED #BeingTheChange!
Q1. How do we take the first steps to engage in vulnerable conversations with students where risks are high but the payoff could be even greater? #BookCampPD
My hope is that the message of engaging in conversations where we feel vulnerable ourselves--first--was loud and clear in #BeingtheChange That is the ultimate first step. Often what we see as "difficult conversation" kids are ready/wanting to tackle. #BookCampPD
Q1. How do we take the first steps to engage in vulnerable conversations with students where risks are high but the payoff could be even greater? #BookCampPD
Q2. What are the benefits to creating Identity Webs, Name Stories, and "Where I'm From" poems? Have you tried this with your students? What questions do you have before you begin? #BookCampPD
A1: I believe it's important for our students to really feel that we care about them. They must feel like they matter to us and to our school. THIS will open doors and make students open up to us and learn more about them.
#bookcamppd
A1: It has to start w/relationships & culture. Ss have to develop trust w/ their T & feel safe in their classroom & at school to be able to engage in these conversations. We can model showing vulnerability as well.#bookcamppd
A1: Social comprehension requires being equally as intentional as when teaching academic comprehension - create safe environments for all kinds of teaching and learning #BookCampPD
Q1. How do we take the first steps to engage in vulnerable conversations with students where risks are high but the payoff could be even greater? #BookCampPD
Q2. What are the benefits to creating Identity Webs, Name Stories, and "Where I'm From" poems? Have you tried this with your students? What questions do you have before you begin? #BookCampPD
A1. I’ve never been nervous about having hard conversations with my students. My strategy is to empower them to speak up and ask questions. A lot of times they would begin the conversations themselves. #BookCampPD
A1 Learn a name. KNOW beyond the situation. When people (kids) believe you have an interest in them first it opens the door for other possibilities. #Transparency-->#Vulnerability--->#Risk#bookcamppd
A2. These activities can be a tremendous starting point into talking about who each of us are as individuals and what we have in common with each other. During a chat we begin by introducing ourselves and often this results in learning more about each other. #BookCampPD
A1 I think the only way to do this is to take the first step by engaging Ss in these conversations through literature. There are great books out there that will help us talk w/Ss about these difficult topics. #BookCampPD
A2: GETTING TO KNOW others helps build empathy. Noticing and talking about how we empathize more with those who share part of our identity is so vital. I'm excited to do this w/students again and share often what makes us US, so we can make connections to EACH OTHER. #bookcamppd
Q2. What are the benefits to creating Identity Webs, Name Stories, and "Where I'm From" poems? Have you tried this with your students? What questions do you have before you begin? #BookCampPD
For sure! Someone asked me once, Why do we introduce ourselves? Why not just start asking the questions? Getting to know others is another step towards empathizing and helping us reach our goals. #bookcamppd
Preparing for the students we anticipate is where we start => but then adapt and change for the students we KNOW solidifies trust and relationships #BookCampPD
A1. In elementary, this can be very tricky. But, I let them start the conversation. Kids are pretty remarkable with what they notice. A KG student yesterday noticed the “We can do it!” In Rosie Revere Engineer. And knew what it was about. Let them lead the way. #BookCampPD
A2: The more we get to know about what's in our Ss 2nd backpack (the one with everything from outside of school), the more we will understand about them and who they are. Also shows them how interested we are in them & how much we care about knowing all about them. #bookcamppd
A2: There are so many benefits in providing opportunities for our students to share their story...
Most importantly, it helps them embrace who they are!!
Acceptance!
#BookCampPD
Writing about it has giving me more (good) questions, and has gotten me to notice way more than ever before. I needed to see what I'm not seeing. Reading #BlindSpot now... Thanks for starting me on this journey! 😘 #bookcamppd
Yes. These conversations are more difficult for us than for our Ss, I think. They are ready to talk. They just need the safe space in which to do it. Listening, as someone already said, is key to this process. #BookCampPD
#bookcamppd A1: In my writing classroom, I started with photos of every student on the first day. We spent first week interviewing each other and writing an “About the Author” book jacket that went with their pics on a wall. They loved seeing their faces on that author wall.
Q3. Microagressions are comments relating to someone's identity that leaves a lasting, negative impact on the receiver. Why and when should we teach about microaggressions? #BookCampPD
A2 The more you know! Build a more complete picture of these very complex entities we call students. They are PEOPLE first. With fears, hopes, desires. They are not their behaviors, their home life. See Deeper #bookcamppd
A2. It’s beneficial to allow teaching time to create identify webs and where I’m from poems bc it gives the Ss a sense of belonging and validates the fact that they are a part of the classroom family. It also allows for Ss to develop empathy & love for each other #BookCampPD
#bookcamppd A2: Encouraging students to share their story helps them acknowledge & celebrate everyone’s story. Loved doing this & also fun personality quizzes. Older kids like 16 Traits, even.
My knowledge of stacks is limited compared to the wealth of knowledge & resources I have seen edus sharing with the lessons from #BeingtheChange For me, it's one of the coolest things to come out of the pub of this book. #BookCampPD
Good morning!!! Building relationships is a continuous process! Simple things - greet every S every morning, End everyday with a handshake, make time to talk with every S about something that isn’t about school, infuse their own unique interests into their school work #BookCampPD
A3: Microaggressions happen when we don't know ourselves and are close minded to other identities.
We HAVE to make the conscious effort to LOVE our identity and LEARN/ACCEPT/EMBRACE other cultures.
Then we'll think twice when saying something negative!
#bookcamppd
Q3. Microagressions are comments relating to someone's identity that leaves a lasting, negative impact on the receiver. Why and when should we teach about microaggressions? #BookCampPD
It was especially helpful for me to read @SaraKAhmed 's suggestions if a student was "stuck" and didn't begin one of those great activities you mentioned. #BookCampPD
A2. It’s beneficial to allow teaching time to create identify webs and where I’m from poems bc it gives the Ss a sense of belonging and validates the fact that they are a part of the classroom family. It also allows for Ss to develop empathy & love for each other #BookCampPD
A3: 7th graders often don't have a filter (like some adults, as well), and to share with them this definition would be another step towards helping them stop and think prior to speaking. It might help them listen with a different lens, too. #bookcamppd
Q3. Microagressions are comments relating to someone's identity that leaves a lasting, negative impact on the receiver. Why and when should we teach about microaggressions? #BookCampPD
#bookcamppd Agree!!! Often safer to talk about tough, real-life things through the lens of a text “world.” Easy transition to connecting it to students’ worlds.
A1 I think the only way to do this is to take the first step by engaging Ss in these conversations through literature. There are great books out there that will help us talk w/Ss about these difficult topics. #BookCampPD
A2 They help Ss think about who they are, who their classmates are and helps them see each other. Identity is a very complex topic. Some of us spend our entire lives trying 2 feel comfortable w/who we are, where we came from and how we present to the world. #BookCampPD
A2. I haven’t done it—YET—but the benefits in kids seeing the things they have in common would be beneficial in building classroom culture. But when they see where their strengths lie, and how they can use those strengths to help each other, WOW! #BookCampPD
A2 who you are is so much more than first impression. Writing helps us craft those “things” that make us us into something others can learn about. Often students will tell more in a story than out loud. #BookCampPD
Q2. What are the benefits to creating Identity Webs, Name Stories, and "Where I'm From" poems? Have you tried this with your students? What questions do you have before you begin? #BookCampPD
#bookcamppd Absolutely! I wrote with my students, so they knew all about my kids, my fears, my childhood, my goals. I was as real with them as I wanted them to be with me. Their compassion was astounding.
A3: need to teach abt this both proactively AND restoratively! Even most challenged Ss will pick up on these nuances! They're extremely perceptive! We have used restorative practices w/success to address these types of concerns. We also remind ea. other of this as Ts. #bookcamppd
In order for some educators to get started with writing a blog posting it helps to "dip their toes into the water" and write a guest blog post for #BookCampPDhttps://t.co/AAAObdC9nT
A2: Our Ss are more than just academics => they are human beings who come to school with genuine human identities => identity webs helps us know who they are outside of our walls #BookCampPD
Agreed. I think we have to be vulnerable ourselves in order to create a safe, authentic environment for Ss to explore these sensitive topics. #BookCampPD
#bookcamppd A3: This term is new to me, but self-descriptive. I would talk about this from the beginning. The Safe Zone trainings for schools start with understanding the vocabulary & connotations for words students may not completely understand.
Facts, Elaine. We have to send the message we want to know more about the identity of our students before we start asking or assigning them to put themselves in someone else's shoes. #BookCampPD
A2. It’s beneficial to allow teaching time to create identify webs and where I’m from poems bc it gives the Ss a sense of belonging and validates the fact that they are a part of the classroom family. It also allows for Ss to develop empathy & love for each other #BookCampPD
Q4. Sara Ahmed is here to answer your questions. What do you wonder about when guiding conversations with students about what is in their "news" or other social comprehension topics? #BookCampPD
A3: I think “microaggression” is a term kids need to know/understand stat so they can name it and call each other in when they hear harmful language and have the language to explain it. It’s just easier for all to discuss problematic comments with shared language. #BookCampPD
Thanks, Elisa and Julie! We also have be mindful of what we are calling controversial or difficult topics, because students see themselves in those very "topics" #bookcampPD
I agree, Elaine! Don’t brush these convos under the carpet because they make you uncomfortable or they don’t fit where you are in the curriculum. This is where you can build relationships that will last a lifetime with our babies. And they will always be our babies. #bookcamppd
Q4. Sara Ahmed is here to answer your questions. What do you wonder about when guiding conversations with students about what is in their "news" or other social comprehension topics? #BookCampPD
This shows that human beings are complex. Our Ss come from multiple backgrounds, may have lived in more than 1 place, speak or are exposed to more than 1 lang @ home and have multiple individual and hybrid identities. We need to see and honor that in our classrooms. #BookCampPD
Q3. Microagressions are comments relating to someone's identity that leaves a lasting, negative impact on the receiver. Why and when should we teach about microaggressions? #BookCampPD
A3 I always wondered how they felt. To me, the emotional well being of my Ss was always priority. Learning can’t occur if a child doesn’t feel comfortable, safe, or cared for within a classroom. #BookCampPD
A3: I think “microaggression” is a term kids need to know/understand stat so they can name it and call each other in when they hear harmful language and have the language to explain it. It’s just easier for all to discuss problematic comments with shared language. #BookCampPD
Many thanks to @SaraKAhmed for joining our chat this morning!
In appreciation of all of you who have followed #BookCampPD month after month. Hope you will be able to join us Sunday evenings at 7:30 EST beginning Sept. 2
A4. I wonder where the line is between just enough information and too much information. Do you watch your audience? Don’t want to cross that line, but also don’t want to give canned answers. You have to be genuine with kids. #BookCampPD
Like planning ahead? Here are the two books we will discuss during Sept. and https://t.co/09lJF4QHO2… <-- Calendar of Events lists all of our Fall Focus. #BookCampPD
