Part of the teaching joy I experience every day is combining my classroom teacher position with being the Diversity Liaison for my building. In this position I am responsible for being a resource to the staff regarding diversity and inclusive education ideas, dispersing district level professional development at staff meetings and, my favorite part of the position - working with the A.C.E. Advocates. The A.C.E. Advocates is a small group of students who meet with me each Friday to learn about diversity, culture, inclusion and community service. To inspire these young leaders to be the change they want to see, I use literature to spark thinking and discussions. Here, in no particular order, are the books I've chosen to start the year as we work to understand the concept of friendship, empathy, teamwork and acceptance:
Stacy McNaulty is quickly becoming a new favorite author of mine. I won one of her chapter books, The Dino Files, in a contest she was running this spring. Excellent Ed is her new picture book and tells the story of Ed, the dog, who is searching for his place in his family of humans. Through trial and error, Ed learns the importance of just being himself.
Beautiful hands is a concept book by Bret Baumgarten and illustrated by Kathryn Otoshi. "What will you do with your beautiful hands today?" was the question Bret asked his young daughter each morning.
This book celebrates friendship and teaches the lesson of how to add a new person to an established partnership.
This series of books by Nicholas Oldland is just plain funny! My students love to revisit these books and read the stories of these three friends. They are a great addition to a classroom library to teach lessons on teamwork, flexibility, perseverance and critical thinking. If you've students who are obsessed with Elephant and Piggie, these titles will be sure to please.
One of the best books I've come across that addresses the idea of inclusion. It is a beautifully illustrated book complimented with a gently worded text that communicates the message of how to include everyone.
I've used this book for a number of years to facilitate discussion on gossip and secrets. It is one of my fist reads of the year.
Thank you for taking the time to stop by my blog! It's been on the back burner for the last year and this is my first post to restart bloggin on a regular basis!
