Wait time

Thoughts on education, reading, and youth. 

[celestetrimble]

Diverse Books for Native Youth!, a project from Ms. Trimble

My students need more books by Native authors so that their Native identity is represented in literature, but they also need to expand their world view and open their eyes global cultural diversity. Students in my school are in grades 7-12. Located in southern Arizona, 99% of students are enrolled tribal members, and 85% are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Because the literature that they...

Part two of this project is now live. As the books from Part one are rolling in, students have immediately picked them up to borrow and read. Some of these students have not expressed interest in much else so far, but immediately took to Robopocalypse and Code Talkers. So, with Part two, I included more books by Native authors that I couldn’t fit in the first project, but I have have also inclluded books by a diverse selection of American and global authors to add a variety of perspectives to this new collection.

This collection of books is already making a difference in these students’ lives. As this collection continues to grow, the students will continue to grow in their love of reading, fortifying their identities as readers. Thanks!

[celestetrimble]

When I sit on the bus to write, I am not writing with the assistance of my coverless 1937 Roget, or the ever awake etymonline. So, I am at the mercy of my memory and the thoughts that build from there.

As a teacher, I am disturbed by the verb to learn. So much of professional development is to ensure that students learn, that they grasp concepts, that they acquire new knowledge. And, while this is not offensive in a singularity, when the repetition of the word became overmuch, I thought I ought to figure out what learning is, or what the word says it is.

To learn has an etymological relationship with to ponder, and yet their connotations are remarkably different. Learning is like eating; it is consumption. Learning is that kid who has never been to a buffet before and worries he will never see food again. Learning is colonialism, taking something, calling it your own. It is violent because it is mandatory. It is force feeding the hunger striker, the quiet and prayerful dissenter.

To ponder is this wide-open desert that has been rained on all day. It is the smell of creosote in the air, even though the rain hasn’t reached you yet. Pondering is staying with a thought that might be interesting, like sitting on your grandmother’s bed even though she is still resting, waiting to offer her a glass of water. Pondering is just that, standing in a pond, maybe up to your knees, maybe the frogs are croaking around you and maybe there is some mud between your toes. But you don’t go anywhere, you just stand there, being in the pond. Pondering.

Learning is a rush, a competition, a gamble. Maybe you have time to think, or maybe you just move on, losing your shoes in the hallway as you hurry to the next learning opportunity. But pondering is standing still, holding onto the questions like a green and shiny dried up beetle, being careful not to break it.

I want to tell my students to let the questions carry them, rather than the answers. And maybe that’s just it, learning looks for answers, but pondering lets the beauty reside in the questions.

[celestetrimble]

Native Books for Native Youth!, a project from Ms. Trimble

My students need culturally relevant books so that they can see themselves in literature, helping them see that they, too, can be readers and writers. Students in my school are in grades 7-12. Located in southern Arizona, 99% of students are enrolled tribal members, and 85% are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Because the literature that they...

I began a new job this July as an English teacher at a reservation high school near Tucson. The first day I had to wander around the school, I went to the library and was surprised to find very few books written by Native authors, and a few questionable books about by non-Natives (think When Legends Die). Thinking that maybe the books I sought were somewhere else, in individual classrooms, or in the multiple copy rooms, I began a search. Fiction was nowhere to be found. I did find a class set of Ishi: The Last of his Tribe (!), as well as a few other non-fiction titles. Finally, I found a class set of Silko’s Ceremony and one of Tapohonso’s Blue Horses Rush In.

 But, for a school with about 300 students, all Native American, I became very worried. Looking at the textbook that was has been in use the last few years, I found excerpts of fiction by African American, Chicano, and Asian American authors. None by Native authors.

 So, thinking that maybe the physical artifacts of past student reading of Native authors might be missing, but that they may have been reading photocopies or e-books, I asked.

 “Have you ever read anything by a Native author?”

 The answer was a resounding, “No,” with the exception of about 4 students who had read Sherman Alexie. A few students wrote about Leonard Chana, a Tohono O’odham illustrator.

 So, I have created a DonorsChoose project to bring a wide variety of Native literature to this school. Some are for the library, some are for classroom sets. The list for DonorsChoose is partial, but it is a first step. This school district has recently adopted a Data Driven Initiative, which, in my mind, does the opposite of creating a love of reading. Hopefully, with a larger collection of Native authors, a bit of enthusiasm and motivation born from a successful fundraising project, and the knowledge that not only having culturally relevant literature, but having role models for Native reading and writing, we will together combat the destructive effects of data driven education and teaching to the test.

 Please help share the power of Native American literature with these Native youth. Thanks.