Sprucing Up Your Shelves!

a guide to transformational reading in the

Catholic (or any!) classroom (or any room!)

Mike Macaluso

FACE to FACE

December 2, 2020

Overview

• Typical approaches to reading in the classroom.
• Resources for good, contemporary books!
• Not to miss titles!
• Questions, comments, discussion!

Typical, Standards-Based Approaches

• Close-reading, literary analysis grounded in figurative language and literary devices (like characterization, symbolism, plot, etc.)
• Nothing wrong with this approach, but it could reinforce certain beliefs about the book, the teacher, the reader:
• The text is an objective authority; meaning is fixed/found within.
• The teacher is an expert.
• Learning is transmissive, from text to teacher to reader (student).
• Messages of the book are often taken for granted.

Typical Standards-Based Approaches

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This approach CAN be problematic, however, when:

• It’s all students know (and especially IN school).
• It’s used with texts that tend to support monocultural, even dominant, perspectives and common cultural narratives.
• What might these be?

The texts most commonly assigned/read in U.S. secondary classrooms, ranked in order of popularity -- "The Canon”

In the Catholic classroom...

Pope Francis: “The Church is not a group of elite, it does not regard only a few. The Church has no closure, it is sent to all people... It is the only Church that is present in the smallest parts [of the world].”

USCCB: We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers and sisters keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. At the core of the virtue of solidarity is the pursuit of justice and peace. Pope Paul VI taught that if you want peace, work for justice. The Gospel calls us to be peacemakers. Our love for all our sisters and brothers demands that we promote peace in a world surrounded by violence and conflict.

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In the Catholic classroom...

Pope Benedict: “The unbreakable bond between love of God and love of neighbour is emphasized. One is so closely connected to the other that to say that we love God becomes a lie if we are closed to our neighbour... love of neighbour is a path that leads to the encounter with God, and that closing our eyes to our neighbour also blinds us to God.”

~ Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) #16

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Bishop Barron: “Social Justice is moral rectitude at the institutional (social, political, economic) level. In short, it is a commitment to upholding the common good.”

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CHOOSING WHAT WE READ

& HOW WE READ IT IS A MATTER OF SOCIAL JUSTICE

IN OUR CLASSROOMS, IN OUR HOMES, IN OUR LIVES...

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There are other ways to read, including...

• reading against texts
• to take on other perspectives
• to disrupt
• for empathy -- windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors around identity/ies
• to elevate other voices and counter-narratives
• for socio-emotional skill development

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The Good News -- WHAT we read

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From 2013 to 2017, YAL sales increased 11.3%, representing 3.67 billion dollars and accounting for 14% of the entire publishing industry’s revenue (AAP, 2018).

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Need, awareness, and rise of multicultural and diverse YAL

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

#OwnVoices

#DisruptTexts

Cooperative Children’s Book Center from the University of Wisconsin

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A Small Sample of the

Current Literary Scene!

The Good News!

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Contemporary YA/MG “speaks to the greater human condition, not just to the specific teen experience…” (Thomas, 2013).

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[It] expands literature “beyond race, ethnicity, and language to aspects such as physical and mental disabilities, socioeconomic status, language variations, dialect differences, and religion. Various family structures, such as foster families, and sexual and gender identity are also culturally diverse characteristics included in literature. All of these characteristics are not separate from race, ethnicity, and culture; rather, they are intertwined” (Boyd, et al., 2014).

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• Thus, there is potential for contemporary texts to speak against or add to or nuance monocultural perspectives and common cultural narratives.

Resources!

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*quick note here….

Goodreads Lists!

Social Media Campaigns

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

#OwnVoices

#DisruptTexts

Project Lit Comm

Relevant Awards

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Printz Award

Newberry Award

National Book Award

Social Justice Books

Titles!

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*Caveats:

• Recent
• Readers

So what?

“Our students need to be invited into [critical conversations] not only to have a place to read about themselves and learn about others but to recognize ways of dealing with troubling situations and experiences. Our students need teachers who take responsibility for addressing equity through difficult conversations. Teachers who use YAL to address issues being discussed at home, in the news, or on social media provide a safe place to question… and to investigate other narratives… Teachers who create this type of classroom environment not only teach their required content but also provide the means for complex and critical thinking that leads to social-emotional learning and social justice” (Savitz, 2019).

Thank you!