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The CLA Blog

Hiatus Announcement

6/9/2020

 

BY XENIA HADJIOANNOU & LAUREN AIMONETTE LIANG

When the Novel Coronavirus upended our personal and professional lives way back in March, CLA created this biweekly blog “to help and support our members and the greater education community who are using children’s literature in their newly online or remote settings” (3/21/2020 Blogpost by Lauren Liang). Since then, we have been grateful for the generous willingness of CLA leaders and members to contribute timely and informative posts on various topics, ranging from annotated listings of online resources for children’s literature and related content, to curated book-lists, to recommendations for a wide array of literature response engagements. We have also been humbled by the positive responses to the CLA Blog and by its growing readership. 

Following the school-year cycle, the CLA blog will be going on hiatus for the summer break and will resume operations in early August as a weekly blog. We anticipate that the coming academic year will bear enduring challenges as a result of the continuing uncertainties and concerns precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to be a helpful resource in responding to these shifting educational contexts. We also hope that the coming academic year will be a pivotal time for honest, critical conversations about racism and the injustices it births and sustains, and for engagements valorizing the lived experience of minoritized communities. As our nation and the world mourns for the death of George Floyd, we stand in solidarity with efforts to expose and counter racism and systems of oppression, and aspire to meaningfully contribute to them. 

We remain in awe of the dedication, instructional agility, and deep professional knowledge of our teachers and librarians. We look forward to joining together with you in August back in this space.


Contributing to the Blog

CLA Members: Interested in writing a post for the CLA blog? Please email Lauren Aimonette Liang. We welcome posts written this summer for fall publication, and are especially interested in posts from CLA members teaching in K-12 classrooms.

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Takes A Stance Against Racism

6/4/2020

 
In response to the recent events surrounding the death of George Floyd, NCTE's Presidential Team has released a letter taking a stance against racism. Below we, the Children's Literature Assembly of NCTE, provide this important letter in its entirety.
This statement was written by the leaders of the NCTE Presidential Team.

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) denounces all forms of racial violence and brutality. We grieve with the family and friends of George Floyd and with all who are suffering during these devastating times. As we seek justice, we stand in solidarity with demonstrations and protests that raise awareness of, and that call for action against, systemic racism in this country. Because we treasure our First Amendment rights, we also denounce the arrest and mistreatment of journalists, especially journalists of Color, who work tirelessly to keep the world informed about what is happening in our various communities.

Injustices and acts of brutality are real. In fact, they are revolting. Racist acts keep recurring, and systems of oppression continue to exist, proving the need for systemic and structural change. That change can begin with protests, but ultimately it must happen through action. As educators, we are poised to lead the way through our teaching.

NCTE’s vision and long-held commitment is “to apply the power of language and literacy to actively pursue justice and equity for all students and the educators who serve them.” As literacy educators, we are concerned for our students and their families. We pledge to continue our efforts to create equity inside classrooms. We celebrate theGary B., et al. v. Whitmer, et al. settlement: students in Detroit and elsewhere “have a fundamental right to education.” And we applaud the New Mexico Yazzie/Martinez decision “to provide all students with a uniform and sufficient education . . . .”  Equity in classrooms for teachers of English and our students is paramount. It is through education that we believe we can make a lasting difference.

This includes educating about the right to vote. As Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has advised, “ . . . if you want change in America, go and register to vote. Show up at the polls.”

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We cannot stop there. As literacy educators, our aim is to help students and communities to imagine a better, more humane world and to take the steps to achieve it. As advocated by NCTE’s Statement on Anti-Racism to Support Teaching and Learning, we must be active, both collectively and individually, in “counteracting racism and other forms of bigotry in teaching materials, methods, and programs for the teaching and learning of English and the language arts.”

As the nation’s oldest organization of preK through graduate school literacy educators, NCTE has a rich history of deriving expertise and advocacy from its members’ professional research, practice, and knowledge. We are stronger by looking to one another for wisdom. Some of our NCTE members have already begun to speak on recent events, such as the Early Childhood Education Assembly, which recently released its powerful Call to Action Countering Anti-Blackness in Society & Schools. We are grateful for this work, and we know that other NCTE members are also finding ways to address these issues and to provide resources.

NCTE’s publications serve as important resources that can guide our thoughts and actions during this time, and we recommend them to you. The following materials may also be helpful:
  • Resources from the Committee against Racism and Bias in the Teaching of English
    • What Anti-Racist Teachers Do
    • Qualities of Anti-Racist ELA Curricula
  • NCTE Statement on Anti-Racism to Promote Teaching and Learning
  • From the Early Childhood Education Assembly: Call to Action Countering Anti-Blackness in Society & Schools
  • CCCC Statement on Effective Institutional Responses to Threats of Violence and Violent Acts against Minoritized and Marginalized Faculty and Graduate Students

Also, we remind members that NCTE continues to offer opportunities such as the online Member Gatherings and author-led talks as ways to ensure that we support, encourage, and uplift each other. Know that we are committed to motivating action, working for educational equity, and standing in solidarity, together.

Leah Zuidema, President
Alfredo Celedón Luján, President-Elect
Valerie Kinloch, Vice President
Franki Sibberson, Past President
Emily Kirkpatrick, Executive Director


Editors' Note

Many organizations, newspapers, book creators, literacy scholars, teachers and bookstores have created compelling antiracist booklists for different age groups, which are widely available on social media and on websites and blogs. We encourage our members and other readers to explore and use these lists with the children in their lives.
Image by Orna Wachman from Pixabay

Online Resources for Diverse Children’s Literature

6/1/2020

 

BY GRACE ENRIQUEZ & DENISE DÁVILA

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In the emergency shift to remote learning, educators and parents sought and found a plethora of video read-alouds and digital libraries of children’s books. This heartened us, as these resources offered access to reading material that many children wouldn’t be able to obtain otherwise.

Now that the school year is winding down, and the initial rush to cobble together online books has abated, we take a moment to reflect on the range of online books and resources available for children. Specifically, as educators committed to social justice, we wondered where we could turn to (a) continue sharing children’s literature with our students to support our goals of diversity, inclusion, and equity, and (b) learn more about recently published youth literature created by and for members of minoritized groups.  It wasn’t surprising that what is currently available online reflects the massive gap in books about, for, and by diverse communities and underscores the greater need for more diverse books for children overall. In an attempt to close that gap and promote understanding about why diverse books matter--especially now during this global pandemic and in light of the systemic racism, police brutality, and health disparities that our country is currently facing--we have curated a list of online professional guides, blogs, conversations, and other resources.


WEBSITES,  BLOGS, & PODCASTS - IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

A Diversity & Cultural Literacy Toolkit
"A list of recommended resources, including articles, videos, and other content, used in our various in-person and virtual training sessions and workshops on diversity and cultural literacy for librarians."

American Indians in Children's Literature
"Established in 2006, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society."

Asian/Pacific American Libraries Association
“APALA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing leadership opportunities through informed dialogue that addresses the needs of Asian/Pacific American librarians and those who serve APA communities.”

The Brown Bookshelf
"A group of authors and illustrators who came together to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers."

CBC Diversity Committee
"The CBC Diversity initiative was founded in 2012, as part of the Children’s Book Council’s commitment to promoting diverse voices in literature for young people. We believe that all children deserve to see their world reflected in the books they read. We recognize that diversity takes on many forms, including differences in race, religion, gender, geography, sexual orientation, class, and ability."

De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children
"De Colores reviews and critiques children's and young adult books about Raza peoples throughout the Diaspora. "

Disability in Kid Lit
"Disability in Kidlit is dedicated to discussing the portrayal of disability in middle grade and young adult literature. We publish articles, reviews, interviews, and discussions examining this topic from various angles—and always from the disabled perspective."

I'm Your Neighbor
"I’m Your Neighbor is a project which promotes the use of children’s literature featuring “new arrival” cultures and groups to engage the entire community in a discussion of commonalities and differences. The project features a recommended list of books and an evolving list of engagement projects for educators, librarians, and community organizations who seek to build bridges."

International Children’s Digital Library
“A Library for the World's Children.”

Las Musas
"The first collective of women and non-binary (identifying on the female spectrum) Latinx middle-grade (MG), picture book (PB), and young adult (YA) authors to come together in an effort to support and amplify each other’s debut or sophomore novels in US children’s literature."

Latinxs in Kid Lit
"Exploring the world of Latinx YA, MG and children's literature."

Minorities in Publishing
"MiP is a podcast discussing diversity (or lack thereof) in the book publishing industry with other professionals working in-house as well as authors and those in the literary scene."

Mirrors Windows Doors
"An online magazine whose aim is to draw attention to the riches of children’s and YA books from across the world that highlight cultural and multi-cultural diversity."

More Diverse
A student-started database which helps readers find "diverse alternatives to standard texts."

The Pirate Tree
"A collective of children’s and young adult writers interested in children’s literature and social justice issues."

Reading While White
"Allies for racial diversity and inclusion in books for children and teens."

Rich in Color
"Rich in Color is dedicated to reading, reviewing, talking about, and otherwise promoting young adult fiction starring people of color or written by people of color."

School Library Journal - Diversity and Cultural Literacy Syllabus
Links to articles and other resources on reading and evaluating diverse literature.

Social Justice Books: A Teaching for Change Project
"The best selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, YA, and educators."

We Are Kid Lit Collective
"The We Are Kid Lit Collective works to create materials and opportunities to recognize the humanity of Indigenous and People of Color (IPOC) in youth literature."

We Need Diverse Books
“Our aim is to help produce and promote literature that reflects and honors the lives of all young people.”
 
Welcoming Schools 
“HRC Foundation's Welcoming Schools is the nation's premier professional development program providing training and resources to elementary school educators to embrace all families, create LGBTQ and gender inclusive schools, prevent bias-based bullying, and support transgender and non-binary students.”

Grace Enriquez is a Professor of Language and Literacy at Lesley University and a past recipient of the CLA Research Award.
Denise Dávila is an Assistant Professor of Language and Literacy Studies at the University of Texas, Austin and a CLA member.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

    Authors:
    CLA Members

    Supporting PreK-12 and university teachers as they share children’s literature with their students in all classroom contexts.

    Disclaimer
    The opinions and ideas posted in the individual entries are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of CLA or the Blog Editors.

    Blog Editors

    Xenia Hadjioannou
    Lauren Liang
    Liz Thackeray Nelson

    contribute to the blog

    Instructions to Authors

    If you are a current CLA member and you would like to contribute a post to the CLA Blog, please read the Instructions to Authors and email co-editor Liz Thackeray Nelson with your idea.


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