Introduction to the Social Justice Book Club

 

Social Justice Book Club

    This Wednesday starts a new journey for me. I can truly call myself a researcher, and begin working alongside students in libratory practices. The club will have four phases: 

1. Reading

2. Discussions and Dialogic Conversation

3. Research

4. Advocacy and Activism

    The goal of this project is to improve the Language Arts curriculum - to show that ELA teachers are capable of so much more than just reading books. Our standards and practices can be leveraged to create change and do sustaining work in the communities of our students. Ideally, this work will take place in the classroom, but because of grading and research, we are beginning this work as an after-school club. 

I've had some great help in advertising the club through the English department at my high school, and some teachers especially have helped advocate for attendance. I am very thankful for teachers like Dibett, who have really championed the club as a way to extend the work that her students are doing in Multi-Cultural Literature.

Last week, I interacted with a student I would like to share as an example of what I think will be possible with this club. 

    I responded back that I thought that this would actually be a great fit for our research-based social justice book club. One of the books we are reading is a multi-genre collection of Native American art, writing, and photography from women. It is called #Not Your Princess. I told her that this club would be a great way to explore and discuss Native voices and art, research her interest in greater representation at our school and in our community, and then create an advocacy project together. This could look like a protest, an awareness campaign, organizing, and planning teacher and staff training, and/or exploring the organizations already doing this work in our community.

    What excites and terrifies me about this work is that it depends on student engagement. While this is a great example of how the club can work to fit the students who are participating, it does take student participation for this to work.  What happens if students don't show up? As a novice researcher, what happens if LOTS of students show up? I have a theoretical idea of what I want to do, but in practice, I have zero experience. This is just one of the many reasons I have been allowed to do a pilot study before my dissertation. But I think it is important to raise these concerns and be upfront about them. These concerns are a part of the story of this project. I am sure that on Wednesday, we will have exactly the turnout we are meant to have, and the work we do together this year will be meaningful. 

    Wednesday will be about going over both the club and the optional study. Students who participate in the club do not have to participate in my research but will learn about what it entails. There will be two forty-five-minute interviews, and I will collect their research and field notes. Regardless of their participation in my research study, we will be doing this work together for the rest of the year. It starts on Wednesday, and I will publish as much as possible here on this blog as we go. I am creating some special labels specifically for study and book club-related posts. You will also be able to follow along that way too.