In the spirit of Culturally Responsive Collaborators, who aim to hold space for educators of all backgrounds and areas of expertise, we will be highlighting various educators. We are all better together, and frankly teachers need other teachers! That statement has never been Truer.
Please read about our next Educator for the Spotlight, and enjoy her offering towards our Culturally Responsive Collaborators!
Click here for Teaching Guide for Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan
Without further ado, please meet Lisa Ulibarri Miller!
A little about me. I've been teaching nearly 10 years, over if you count my years in a private preschool. Elementary is my speciality. I have taught K, 1, 4 and 5 including full inclusion in K and 5. Each group of students bring new challenges and celebrations.
Over my career, I've begun to learn what it really means to bring culture into the classroom -- cherishing both the differences that make us each unique whole embracing the threads that bring us all together. It is my observation that students growing up submersed in the digital world benefit from support in how to embrace kindness. This is where my work with Save Me a Seat began.
I found the novel the first year I taught 5th grade. My students were solid scholars, but they struggled to treat each other with patience, kindness and tolerance. We had an ELA unit on character traits and point of view. This novel fit perfectly.
Save Me a Seat is a story of two boys. One who has struggled throughout his school career. He is labeled, stands out from his peers, and struggles to belong. The other boy is new to the school and new to the country. He was a star student back at home and cannot understand why he is now being excluded and labeled.
The story goes back and forth with each character describing the same event through their personal lens. The account highlights how teachers and student alike interpret accents, cultural food, academic abilities and make shallow assumptions. The novel highlights things many of us have been guilty of at one time or another.
The surprise in the book comes as one of the boys realizes his former self was exactly the person he now loathes.
Upon further study, the book becomes even more contemporary in terms of learning about social justice and equity. The characters highlight labeling, injustice, and prejudice. However, a short study of the authors reveals that they are perceived differently at least in terms of the recognition for the novel. Frankly, the masterpiece of the novel was achieved because of the dedicated collaboration of the authors.
In order to begin to unravel and understand social justice and equity, I think it is important we understand and come to terms with our own identity. Who are we and how does our schema or experiences mold our identity? Can we change our identity?
I have taught this book through many lenses and I feel that there are many others I haven't considered.
This book has been wildly popular with my students. I had two copies stolen, it was often checked out at the library... and maybe because I used it as a read aloud and have been known to shed a tear on occasion... it has inspired at least two of my most struggling readers to effortly read this novel. The power of paper and type allows us to glimpse into the pond of who we are and who we can become.
At the end of the novel study, I challenged my 4th and 5th grade students--- what can you do to change the world? How can you change the world? Each year, they have risen to the challenge in ways I could only imagine.
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