The past week has been a sea of emotions. Last Thursday, I
was reveling in my role as a school librarian. As an first-time attendee of the
National Conference of African American Librarians (NCAAL) in Atlanta, Georgia, I had the chance to meet authors that my students and
I had talked about on numerous occasions. Not only did I have a chance to
meet Sharon Draper, Nikki Grimes, Susan G. Flake, Carole Boston-Weatherford,
and Jason Reynolds, I was able to talk to them and ask questions.
The conference was also a
chance for me to meet with librarians in college libraries and public libraries.
I was in heaven as we discussed ways to build communities within our library
programs. I was entranced whenever someone shared new initiatives in their
library spaces, and I was ecstatic when we could just sit down and talk about
the various challenges we faced as librarians. In each encounter, there was
honest conversation and a desire to make a positive difference in the lives of
others. I felt empowered.
Cut to last Friday. I saw a
few images on Twitter and I decided to skip the updates related to
Charlottesville. I wanted to continue to bask in the glow of positivity at the conference. On Saturday, the glow of positivity changed. By 2:30 pm, there
was news of an incident. Without knowing the details, I prayed that there
were no life threatening injuries. By that evening, there were reports of three deaths. The talk at the conference turned to Charlottesville. We worried about those who were harmed. I prayed for those who had lost their lives.
On Sunday, as I listened to news reports. I grew even more concerned about the
state of the world we live in (more specifically the state of the world my
students live in). Just two days prior, I had asked a group of strangers to
pray for the children growing up today. Now on a bright, Sunday, I was faced
with the realization that we needed to pray for our nation and the world in
which we lived. Young and old, we all had some work to do.
The past few days, we have been
inundated with images, press conferences, tweets, and news reels. Each
image a carrier of emotions for the speaker. Each word a carrier of emotions for the viewer. The question then
becomes, what do we do with those emotions? How do we filter through the
chaos and come through singed but not burned to a nothingness? How do we ensure
that we don't fall into a state of decay?
Yesterday, a hashtag appeared
on my Twitter feed that gave me a bit of hope. #CharlottesvilleCurriculum
appeared and I could have a moment of clarity. Educators can make a difference
(if they choose) in their classrooms by trying to provide students with the
necessary tools for empathy. A variety of resources from the International Literacy Association (ILA) to EdWeek seem to be stepping stones for those who wish to discuss the incidents in Charlottesville with their students.
The idea of empathy in the classroom is not
a new one. Last year, several teachers in my school building suggested
that building a culture of empathy would be valuable for our students. Last year, I
had numerous conversations with my students to encourage them to put themselves
in the shoes of others. This morning, I read an article which quoted
a former colleague and his desire to instill empathy in his students. Empathy in
the classroom is not a new idea; however, today, after the recent events in
Charlottesville, is obvious that it is a topic that should be discussed.
Below this post is a Twitter
Moment which highlights resources that educators may find helpful as they look
for resources related to the #CharlottesvilleCurriculum. Here are a few preliminary resources I gathered using
Destiny Collections (I also created a Part 2). If anyone has any other ideas of resources,
please let me know and we can share them with others.
“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.”
Chinese proverb
Let's involve our students in a solution. Let's involve ourselves.
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