Laxmi's Mooch

Laxmi's Mooch
Author: Shelly Anand
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 34
Release: 2021-03-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1984815652

A joyful, body-positive picture book about a young Indian American girl's journey to accept her body hair and celebrate her heritage after being teased about her mustache. Laxmi never paid much attention to the tiny hairs above her lip. But one day while playing farm animals at recess, her friends point out that her whiskers would make her the perfect cat. She starts to notice body hair all over--on her arms, legs, and even between her eyebrows. With her parents' help, Laxmi learns that hair isn't just for heads, but that it grows everywhere, regardless of gender. Featuring affirming text by Shelly Anand and exuberant, endearing illustrations by Nabi H. Ali, Laxmi's Mooch is a celebration of our bodies and our body hair, in whichever way they grow.

Rebellious Read Alouds

Rebellious Read Alouds
Author: Vera Ahiyya
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2022-02-10
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1071876783

Spark meaningful conversations about race, identity, and social justice in your classroom using read alouds as an entry point. Students need to see themselves and their peers in the books they read, and to engage with varying viewpoints. How can educators create a safe and nurturing space that inspires young children to explore diversity and ask curious questions? In Rebellious Read Alouds, author Vera Ahiyya—beloved by educators worldwide as The Tutu Teacher (@thetututeacher and @diversereads on Instagram)—empowers teachers to encourage classroom conversations about important and culturally relevant topics using daily read alouds as an entry point. Presenting a broad range of read aloud lessons around current, diverse picture books that can ignite deep conversations and learning about self, others, and the world, this wise and joyful guide prepares educators to tackle "hushed topics" with young children. It includes: Booklists, tools, and recommendations for building an inclusive classroom library of titles written or illustrated by people in traditionally marginalized populations Tips and resources for facilitating diversity conversations in a way that’s developmentally appropriate — and meets ELA and social justice standards 45 complete lessons plans around children’s books, with prompts and recommended stopping points for conversation, and suggestions for inspiring discussion and scaffolding deep thinking Interviews with educators and parents who offer advice from their experience doing rebellious read alouds Suggestions for partnering with administration, parents, and colleagues on this important work Spark the rebellious reader inside you and lead your students toward creating a more just and equitable world.

Social Justice at Storytime

Social Justice at Storytime
Author: Shannon Adams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2022-09-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1440876401

Youth librarians and early literacy educators will find this book a helpful tool for making storytimes more inclusive and better representative of their community and the world at large. Written by two experienced librarians from one of the nation's most diverse metroplexes, Social Justice at Storytime provides a real-world, hands-on guide to storytimes that will help young people become more socially aware, empathetic, and confident. Storytimes can be a welcoming space for all members of the community. Anyone presenting storytime to young children can use these suggestions to broaden children's understanding of the often-confusing situations they see and hear around them. It is possible to discuss race, gender/sexuality, and diverse abilities in a child-appropriate way. Making social justice a part of an existing or new storytime practice provides an early literacy approach to including children in timely conversations. Readers of this thoughtful book will not only become more socially aware and empathetic, but they will also be equipped to choose diverse books and songs, make thoughtful and inclusive language choices, become more in tune with their diverse communities, and handle concerns from caregivers or administrators.

Reading With Purpose

Reading With Purpose
Author: Erika Thulin Dawes
Publisher: Teachers College Press
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2023
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0807781800

From the authors of the popular blog and resource for teachers, The Classroom Bookshelf, this book offers a framework and teaching ideas for using recently released children’s and young adult literature to build a culture of inquiry and engagement from a text-first approach. Reading With Purpose is designed to help K–8 teachers tap into their inner reader, to make intentional text selections for their students, and to create joyful and purpose-driven literacy learning experiences. The heart of the book is organized according to four purposes for selecting and using literature: care for ourselves and one another, connect with the past to understand the present, closely observe the world around us, and cultivate critical consciousness. Each chapter includes classroom stories, accessible research, reasons for why this matters now, and criteria for selecting for this purpose. A final section provides teaching invitations that pair with suggested books but can also be used with any high-quality book teachers may already have in their classrooms. Book Features: Builds on important work from thought leaders urging teachers to create their own reading identities to help them do so for their students.Describes a simple, sustainable framework teachers and teacher educators can use immediately to make more purposeful text selections.Provides myriad teaching ideas, narrative anecdotes from diverse classrooms, student work samples, and reflective questions.Offers a list of recommended, recently published children’s and young adult literature.

Revitalizing Health Through Humanities: Foregrounding Unheard Trends

Revitalizing Health Through Humanities: Foregrounding Unheard Trends
Author: L. Santhosh Kumar
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 481
Release: 2024-11-28
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1040268889

Health Humanities in contemporary times has enabled exploration of the unexplored chartered terrains in literary paradigms. Scholars in the field of Humanities and Sciences have been engaging with the praxis of applying concepts from both disciplines revising the approach towards Health Care and Humanities. Due to interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary methodologies of reading literary texts, they have been reinforcing a paradigm shift from the conventional understanding of narratives in Literature and Health Care. Traditional discursive boundaries between the disciplines of Health and Humanities are collapsing due to a comprehensive and nuanced interpretation of the shared ontological foundation between the two – Humanism. Terminologies like Displacement, Dislocation, and Disjunction unite Health and Humanities and they also make the unknown, known. Health Humanities explores the different multitudes of narration in the literary arena and it represents diverse voices of literature. It also showcases the importance of re-reading a text owing to its autotelic status. The authors who have contributed chapters for this book have meticulously selected diverse texts and contexts, embedded in the dynamism of Health Humanities. This book is an impetus for academicians from the field of Humanities and Sciences who desire to venture into new epistemes towards Health Humanities.

Teaching Challenged and Challenging Topics in Diverse and Inclusive Literature

Teaching Challenged and Challenging Topics in Diverse and Inclusive Literature
Author: Rachelle S. Savitz
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2023-01-31
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1000829685

This groundbreaking text provides practical, contextualized methods for teaching and discussing topics that are considered "taboo" in the classroom in ways that support students’ lived experiences. In times when teachers are scapegoated for adopting culturally sustaining teaching practices and are pressured to "whitewash" the curriculum, it becomes more challenging to create an environment where students and teachers can have conversations about complex, uncomfortable topics in the classroom. With contributions from scholars and K-12 teachers who have used young adult literature to engage with their students, chapters confront this issue and focus on themes such as multilingualism, culturally responsive teaching, dis/ability, racism, linguicism, and gender identity. Using approaches grounded in socioemotional learning, trauma-informed practices, and historical and racial literacy, this text explores the ways in which books with complicated themes can interact positively with students’ own lives and perspectives. Ideal for courses on ELA and literature instruction, this book provides a fresh set of perspectives and methods for approaching and engaging with difficult topics. As young adult literature that addresses difficult subjects is more liable to be considered "controversial" to teach, teachers will benefit from the additional guidance this volume provides, so that they can effectively reach the very students these themes address.

Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms

Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms
Author: Noreen Naseem Rodríguez
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2023-12-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 100382871X

Asian American voices and experiences are largely absent from elementary curricula. Asian Americans are an extraordinarily diverse group of people, yet are often viewed through stereotypical lenses: as Chinese or Japanese only, as recent immigrants who do not speak English, as exotic foreigners, or as a “model minority” who do well in school. This fundamental misperception of who Asian Americans are begins with young learners―often from what they learn, or do not learn, in school. This book sets out to amend the superficial treatment of Asian American histories in U.S. textbooks and curriculum by providing elementary teachers with a more nuanced, thematically driven account. In chapters focusing on the complexity of Asian American identity, major moments in Asian immigration, war and displacement, issues of citizenship, and Asian American activism, the authors include suggestions across content areas for guided class discussions, ideas for broader units, and recommendations for children’s literature as well as primary sources.

The Race-Wise Family

The Race-Wise Family
Author: Helen Lee
Publisher: WaterBrook
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2022-05-17
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0593193962

A timely resource to equip Christian parents to better understand the roots of racism and provide practical guidance on addressing issues of race within their families “This is a landmark work for our generation!”—Dorena Williamson, bestselling author If you wonder how to help your children understand today’s racial dynamics and respond in God-honoring ways, you’re not alone. Practical and engaging, The Race-Wise Family offers immediately applicable action steps to help you raise kingdom-minded kids who will stand against racial injustice as an outpouring of their relationship with God. Deeply rooted in Scripture, The Race-Wise Family includes • key biblical insights for understanding a theology of race • discussion questions, prayers, and conversation starters for your whole family • age-appropriate ideas for discussing current events with your kids and teens • guidance for addressing the roots of racial bias in the world and your own heart • activities and resources you can use with kids of all ages to be part of hope and healing in your community The Race-Wise Family helps you and your kids celebrate the diversity of God’s kingdom as you take small steps at home today that can make a difference in the world for generations.

Pursuing Practical Change

Pursuing Practical Change
Author: Heather Dean
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2024-02-27
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1475862822

Today’s educators are aware of the need for social emotional learning in their classroom and can share the tenets of a culturally responsive pedagogy. However, what they lack is the practical strategies for implementation of these pivotal classroom practices. Pursuing Practical Change: Lesson Designs That Promote Culturally Responsive Teaching is an answer to this need! This book goes beyond just providing theory and data, but delves into the actual practices needed to be successful in today’s classroom. Within the chapters of this book, both novice and veteran teachers will find support through the lesson plans of practitioners, their reflections, and various strategies for classroom instruction.