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Teaching Diary 26: Bias in Curriculum
Dec. 4th, 2023 10:59 amWe are reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis in my 7th grade English class. I picked it because there is a novel unit on CommonLit for it, and I love how thoroughly CL scaffolds its units. I've found it to be very helpful with my classes full of ESL students (even if they are in "mainstream" classes). While most of the book revolves around the protagonist, Kenny, and his relationship with his brother Byron, there are plot elements about racism and segregation, as you can guess from the title. In fact, the plot includes a fictionalized account of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing in September 1963.
Well, as we were reading and talking about segregation and the Green Book (the actual book, not the movie), one of my kiddos raised his hand to ask a question.
"I don't mean to sound racist," he says, "but why is it that books with Black main characters are always about racism?"
I was really surprised that this kiddo paid close enough attention to notice, but I was also impressed! It gave me the opportunity to talk a little bit about bias in publishing and in curriculum. We talked a little bit about why I chose this book anyway (limited access to materials, especially teaching a US curriculum outside of the US). We even got to talk about how this same narrow focus happens with books about Jewish characters, how the vast majority of the stories are about the Holocaust, and even worse, how the vast majority of protagonists are not even Jewish but saviors, and how these narrow views of marginalized groups further marginalize them.
And then we had to get on with the business of finishing the work.
But I will say that in general, the Common Lit curriculum has done a pretty good job of expanding the range of voices and perspectives available to students through the literature units and texts. The first unit I taught to the sophomores, a unit called Science Fiction and Social Commentary, had some great texts from authors like Anita Roy and E. Lily Yu alongside classics from Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood.
Small steps.
Well, as we were reading and talking about segregation and the Green Book (the actual book, not the movie), one of my kiddos raised his hand to ask a question.
"I don't mean to sound racist," he says, "but why is it that books with Black main characters are always about racism?"
I was really surprised that this kiddo paid close enough attention to notice, but I was also impressed! It gave me the opportunity to talk a little bit about bias in publishing and in curriculum. We talked a little bit about why I chose this book anyway (limited access to materials, especially teaching a US curriculum outside of the US). We even got to talk about how this same narrow focus happens with books about Jewish characters, how the vast majority of the stories are about the Holocaust, and even worse, how the vast majority of protagonists are not even Jewish but saviors, and how these narrow views of marginalized groups further marginalize them.
And then we had to get on with the business of finishing the work.
But I will say that in general, the Common Lit curriculum has done a pretty good job of expanding the range of voices and perspectives available to students through the literature units and texts. The first unit I taught to the sophomores, a unit called Science Fiction and Social Commentary, had some great texts from authors like Anita Roy and E. Lily Yu alongside classics from Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood.
Small steps.
