Access
Students and their families have been exposed to people, programs, resources, and connections that can open doors for them, and they are able to navigate and access those opportunities.
INTRODUCTION
While many of my 7th grade students have traveled outside of Tennessee, most of them have spent their lives going between Memphis and Mexico with their parents, visiting family members during school breaks and holidays. In being fairly well-traveled compared to their adolescent counterparts at other schools, I assumed that many of my students would likely have a strong perception of the world outside their classrooms; however, I quickly learned that my students were still very stuck within the confines of the cultures in which they have been raised, and many of their parents faced a language barrier that prevented them from knowing how to advocate for their children. With this knowledge, I created a reading curriculum that would expose my students to people and cultures all over the world. Through literature, my students have traveled from Denmark, to Sudan, to the Dominican Republic, and many places in between — using the characters they have meet and the places they have gone to develop and inform their worldviews, while at the same time expanding their perspectives and opening their eyes to the endless possibilities of their futures.
Through research and experience, however, I know that simply reading a text is not generally going to be a transformational experience for 12- or 13-year-olds. They need to see their teacher is passionate about providing them with access to opportunities; they need to feel support from their parents who also understand the value of those opportunities; and they as individuals need to learn how to discover and navigate opportunities for themselves. My goal as a transformational teacher is to instill in my students a curiosity of a world they have just learned existed, a sense of empathy for people whom they do not understand, and an ability to navigate between the worlds they know and the worlds they want to become part of. To do this, I have provided my students and their families with the opportunities to meet new and different people, to become involved with programs aimed at changing communities, and to explore and navigate resources to further extend their curiosity and investment.
Explore the links below to gain insight into some of the opportunities I have provided outside of the confines of a unit or classroom and the impact those events had on my students, as well as to examine the research and planning that made each possible.
University of Mississippi Campus Tour
This section explores the research, planning, and implementation put into arranging a campus tour to my alma matter, the University of Mississippi, for my 7th grade students, as well as diverse reflections from students based on their experiences and interactions during the tour.
Guest SpeakerS: Thon Dot & Abraham Thonkjang
See this section to examine the impact guest speakers and former Lost Boys of Sudan Thon Dot and Abraham Thonkjang had on my students following their novel study of A Long Walk to Water. Explore the lasting effects this interaction had not only on the students’ investment in the novel, but also on how they view the disparities facing others in the world.
Pen Pals
In this section, I outline and introduce Pen Pals, an enrichment club I began at my school for 6th-8th grade students. Explore this section to see the research behind this organization, as well as the lessons students learned about writing letters and engaging with children in different countries.
CONCLUSION
By providing my students with an extended, interactive campus tour, introducing them to guest speakers they thought existed only in a book, and facilitating their new connection to students in another country, I have been able to expose my students to people, programs, and resources that can open doors for them now, as well as resources and connections they have learned to navigate in order to open doors for themselves in the future. Most of my students thought college was simply harder, longer classes — by providing them with the opportunity to explore classrooms and the Student Media Center, my students have a greater understanding of the additional resources in college that can prepare them to be successful in the workplace outside of a classroom. Additionally, by showing my students that the characters and cultures in our novels reflect real people, facing real problems, in very real and different parts of the world, my students were able to practice empathy, and the experience ignited in them the desire to work toward change as an adult. My Pen Pals enrichment club was a unique experience that allowed my students to connect to learners in their age group in Canada, ask questions about a culture they knew nothing about, and share their own cultural identity with students who had questions of their own.
When I set out to teach four years ago, I wanted to be an adult my students could learn from beyond a textbook or multiple choice exam. I have found ways to turn what we learn from on paper to having a face, a building, and a voice. My students now know that there is a world that exists beyond their neighborhoods, and they are eager to access that world through the opportunities they plan to create for themselves in the future.