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A little bit about the resource. As always, feel free to skip to the bottom to the resource if you prefer.
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The next scheduled post was planned for Wednesday, November 6, but it felt important to post before the election on Tuesday. For this newsletter, I move beyond the local. I hope at least one of these resources are helpful to you as you navigate the days ahead.
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On October 25th, I was at a Night of Remembrance for Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, the American shot in the West Bank in September by the Israeli Army after a peaceful protest. Rachel Corrieās family spoke during the second half of the program. Rachel is an American who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 while protesting in Rafah outside of a Palestinian family home to stop its demolition. At the Night of Remembrance, Rachelās mom Cindy talked about how every action we take towards justice is cumulative. I keep thinking about that.
I prepared this post during the weeks before the election. A lot is on my mind as I am sure is on yours. My brain is a jumble of words and feelings. Things like how this all feels eerily too familiar. How the last few years, every week it felt like I was responding to Day Ofs and Day Afters in the classroom, in a flailing institution. It was exhausting and heartbreaking. I am still exhausted and heartbroken. I know many of you are too.
I felt alone, many times, as a teacher. My hope is that one of the resources or ideas below help you feel not so alone during this time. I know there are some of you out there who have been told by your districts and schools to explicitly avoid the election. The next few things are shared with that in mind. I also have no idea what the ārightā thing is to do right now. And, it feels important to do something.
I keep thinking about what Cindy Corrie said ā¦ how every action we take is cumulative and moves us closer towards justice.
Here are three potential resources.
One. Checking In
About a week before the election, I got a call from one of my former teaching partners and she wanted to talk about how to set up a class meeting for a check in after a deluge of horrible news. We started with how we were doing and what we were doingā¦ I had a terrible nightmare the night before with a bad stomach ache and reflected that maybe it was related to the state of the world.
Have you taken a moment to check in with yourself? Have you checked in with your students or youth in your life?
A lot is going on in the world. How are you?
Maybe given your context, all you can do with your students is pose a journal entry, letter to you, or an exit ticket with the above question as a prompt. While it may feel small, checking in is really important.
For ourselves, I know that time is most often not on our side. We are all carrying so much. And knowing all this, before Tuesday evening and before Wednesday morning, still try and do your own check in. From our plant teachings, maybe take a moment to revisit a dandelion teacher or pause for a few minutes to hold your hand to a trunk of a nearby tree thanking it for its gifts, strength and beauty.
Two. Sharing and Reflecting on In Lakāech by Luis Valdez
I know some of my former students use this poem in their classroom. If you have it or havenāt had a chance to share it, now is a good time to (re)visit it.
Design by Melanie Cervantes and available from Just Seeds website
After taking time to review to review the poem consider starting a classroom meeting or a pair share, opening it up to the wider class
In this moment, what do you think about when you read this poem?
How can we show care, love, and respect for one another?
What ways are we doing this? What ways could we do more/better? What commitments can we make to one another in our community? (If the world feels too big right now for this question - start with each other in your classroom.)
Three. Introducing Jessie Little Doe Baird
Lastly, if you are wanting to take on content as we face this moment, here is another pictorial you can adapt for 30 minutes, a class period, or longer.
In addition to November being election month, it is also Native American Heritage Month. Topics around Thanksgiving and Indigenous experience in the United States are always there, whether or not itās brought up in the classroom. November can be a painful month for Indigenous students and terrible things can be asked of students in schools.
As a teacher I have tried to teach about survivance. Some scholars talk about survivance as survival + resistance of Indigenous people.
Enter Jessie Little Doe Baird. Baird is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which also means āPeople of the First Light.ā The Mashpee Wampanoag are one of three remaining tribes from the original Wampanoag Nation of 69 tribes in what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Some people know about the Wampanoag through the United States Thanksgiving story. Jessie Little Doe Baird is a linguist, cultural teacher, and works on language reclamation. And, her birthday is also in November.
I first learned about Jessie Little Doe Baird from the documentary We Still Live Here (2011), which chronicles her tribeās efforts to bring back their language over a 100 years after the last fluent native speaker died. The work Baird and other tribal members have embarked upon is a powerful example of language reclamation and survivance. What can Bairdās work and efforts teach us in this moment?
In times of pain and violence, I think learning and teaching about people like Jessie Little Doe Baird, help all of us move closer to justice too.
Onward.
Notes about this pictorial: Similarly to The Mighty Dandelion, this is a Project GLAD style pictorial. You often draw these lightly in pencil before teaching about the topic, and as you teach content to the students, record what you share on the anchor chart with ink/color. I put in as much content as possible but you could easily edit this down if you were working with primary grades or were limited with time. You also donāt have to teach it all at once; doing a portion each day for 5 minutes. You can also have students learn something about her each day and ask them what should be added to the pictorial.
Resources:
Jessie Little Doe Baird, Indigenous Language Preservationist. MacArthur Foundation: Class of 2010
Jessie Little Doe Baird Receives Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences, Yale
A Language Out of Time, Cultural Survival
The language had gone quiet. Remarkably, she brought it back, saving far more than just words, USA Today
Jessie Little Doe Baird, Linguist | MacArthur Fellows Program, PBS
The next posting will be on November 20th. Sending care to you all for these next few weeks.