In the way that life can throw you curve balls, this year I'm not teaching third grade as I have been for the past 5 years. Our school has low enrollment for that cohort of students, so there is only one section this year. When school started I was initially really sad to not be with the students, but I've been adjusting and trying to structure my time productively. I excited to read some African literature during my time off (I read "Dream Counts" over the summer an loved it), so if you have any suggestions for that please send them my way!
Once I'm back at school (fingers crossed), I'd like to lead a workshop at a conference or write an article about ways to make cross-curricular connections to teaching about Africa at the elementary level. I'd also love to work with the Middle and Upper School teachers at my school to see if there are ways I can support them doing more with teaching about Africa.
Hi Christina! So good to read your comments. I hope this year of change is temporary and I enjoyed your calm and intentional choices for engagement and learning. I too loved Dream Counts! We just completed another wonderful novel with the book group: The History of Burning by Janika Oza - a multigenerational epic of Indians (or Afro-Asians) in Kenya and Uganda. Fascinating! Please join us for the next discussion on Jan 20th if you can. We will be reading Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah (I have not yet read it). For other good books, I recommend our list: https://www.bu.edu/africa/outreach/teachingresources/literature-language-arts/booksread/ I particularly loved the book "Happiness" by Aminatta Forna.