Ep. 65: Throw Out the White Canon #DisruptTexts
EQ: Why is it important to interrogate our notions of a traditional “canon” and create a more inclusive curriculum (especially ELA)?
Guests today are Julia Torres, Tricia Ebarvia two of the amazing women who started the #disrupttexts movement.
To learn more about the work of Julia Torres
Vice-President and President of the regional NCTE affiliate–The Colorado Language Arts Society
To learn more about the work of Tricia Ebarvia
Literacy consultant & fellow for The Educator Collaborative.
Contributes regularly to Moving Writers and Write Share Connect
In our conversation we discuss the impetus for the creation and organization of #disrupttexts and why this is a critical movement for educators in 2020. When we asked which text had met the greatest pushback from traditional canon advocates, we thought for sure the answer would be Shakespeare or Lord of the Flies. Surprisingly, it is the stance against To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby that has met the most white fragility. Julia and Tricia remind us that what we value will be what is centered in our classrooms. The inclination for ELA teachers to hold tight to their ideals about the canon are completing rooted in a cultural canon constructed and perpetuated by a racist system. The notion of cultural capital is inherently white and we have to change that. We have to have the knowledge, will, and capacity to do what we can to change this system.
Other References & Resources:
James Banks Approaches to Multicultural Education
Carol Anderson We Are Not Yet Equal
Evette Dionne Lifting As We Climb
Ibram X. Kendhi Stamped From the Beginning
Tiffany Jewel This Book is Antiracist
Liz Ann Baez Aguilar “Having Courageous Conversations in the Classroom”
Val Brown “Clear the Air”
Champagne & Real Pain
👎🏻 👎🏻 Barnes & Nobles “Fake Diversity”
Do Your Fudging HW:
Hope: Go read some of the blog posts on #disrupttexts and then take ONE action to applying an idea in your current unit or build multiple steps into an upcoming unit
Annie: check out past #disrupttexts Twitter chats to see how educators are engaging with this awesome organization
Julia: a) Buy #disrupttexts gear and wear it or give it to a friend b) Read “hard history” and counternarratives--Indigenous History of the US, Stamped by Kendi & Reynolds, Evette Dionne Lifting As We Climb
Tricia: read all the things that Julia said and “The Racial Healing Handbook” by Dr. Singh
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