Introducing Alma and How She Got Her Name to a seventh-grade class
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Disclaimer
This blog, this post, and all related accounts are not an official Department of State publication, and the views and information presented are the Grantee’s and do not represent the Fulbright Program, ECA, the Post, Fulbright Commission, or the host country’s government or institutions. I tried something new in the classroom: I shared a read-aloud on YouTube.
Read-alouds are one of my favorite activities to lead in classrooms. I love to observe students’ curiosity when they encounter a meaningful, engaging book. I love hearing students’ ideas, questions, and takeaways in post-reading discussions. But most of all, I love bonding with students over a shared admiration for illustrations and characters. However, I have only shared books in their physical form. While in Montevideo, I challenged myself to create an accessible guide on choosing and using children’s literature for Uruguayan English teachers. Many Uruguayan public schools do not have a school library in which teachers or students can borrow books to use in the classroom. There is limited access to physical books and literature resources. Therefore, I thought outside the box of strategies for sharing high-quality literature in Uruguayan schools. YouTube and audiobooks were the answer. Across all the schools I visited across Uruguay, most had access to a television, internet (with sometimes spotty connection), and computers (every student has access to one due to their one-child-one-computer policy). Therefore, teachers could project a YouTube video read aloud on the classroom television. Through this media, they could still practice read-aloud strategies and engage students in listening activities. To promote reading comprehension and English understanding, teachers could type the book’s transcript and share it with students on Crea, their online class platform. Although YouTube read-aloud sounded effective in theory, I wanted to observe one in practice. This idea led me to plan my first YouTube read-aloud of Alma and How She Got Her Name with my seventh-grade students in Maldonado. For context, the class had discussed family vocabulary for the past couple of weeks. This read-aloud quickly transformed into a class project.
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Whenever I travel, I intentionally avoid tourist traps. And I am not just talking about the tacky souvenir shops overflowing with snow globes and other plastic knick knacks with the bold “Made in China” label lazily plastered on the bottom.
Most of the items purchased in these exhibitionist stores will either be thrown away, gather dust on a shelf next to a family photo, or be packed up in a box for the holidays. (The only really worthwhile items to purchase at tourist traps are postcards –a category of the lost art of letter writing, or free art to nail above a bedroom mirror– or a magnet, which will lay on your fridge until the end of time.) As I roam the cobblestone or concrete streets of a new city, I filter out inauthenticity or a strategic sales pitch – anything that aims at settling rose-colored glasses on the bridge of my freckled nose. Tour guides, brochures, or a shimmering paper weight that shove something beautiful in your face to distract you from the complex, dark, and haunting reality of an advertised “historical” city. Travel is a privilege, just as access to diverse perspectives, storytelling, and historical sources is a privilege (although, thanks to social media, intersectional voices are more readily available within a simple swipe). It is an action of intentional displacement, of exploration. Travel is a choice; how, where, when, and what of the itinerary is also a choice. Specifically, how you travel matters. 
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The Substitute Chronicles
This series features the reflections after each of my shifts as a substitute teacher. I candidly disclose my complex emotions, reactions, and experiences in a job that changes every day. Follow along as I process the absence of routine and the ups and downs of working as a guest teacher! It is hard to believe the dramatic change in weather and the foreshadowing of snowflakes that fell at sunrise. As the maple trees commenced their yearly metamorphosis to produce luscious maroons, clementine orange, and daffodil yellow leaves, I floated among schools, grade levels, and districts. In one month, I traversed through preschool, kindergarten, and third grade, assisting as a paraprofessional and leading as a teacher. I returned to my former second-grade classroom, bridging connections with a different generation. In the hours dedicated to facilitation and on-the-fly simultaneous decisions, I spun through routines and around unfamiliar rooms, like a lost leaf in the wind.
After each shift, each milestone, I sat on my soft leather couch and wrote everything down. Every story, every frustration, every question, every lesson. So that ten years from now, when I stand in my own classroom with established rules and community, I can reflect on these few months of disorder and enlightenment. Substitute teaching presents the challenge of overcoming insecurity and foraging confidence when I am the most out of place. This job is a provider of second chances and a platform to practice, strategize, and most importantly, learn. 
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This blog, post, all related accounts are not an official Department of State publication, and that the views and information presented are the Grantee’s and do not represent the Fulbright Program, ECA, the Post, Fulbright Commission, or the host country’s government or institutions.
. . .Welcome, Fulbright applicants! You are about to embark on an extensive application process that (hopefully) will lead you on your next international adventure! The deadline is approaching in a few short months (October 10th, 2023)!
(I forgot to mention: it is free to apply to Fulbright. . .yippee!). I hope this post provides reassurance and guidance throughout the turbulent next few months of preparation, submission, and anticipation. I am a grantee/finalist for a Fulbright ETA scholarship to Uruguay. To view a timeline of my application process, scroll down to the end of this post. Please note, I am sharing this guide from an ETA (English Teaching Assistantship) perspective; therefore, the recommendations on essays and application requirements are geared towards an ETA grant. 
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This year, the typically joyful and celebratory exclamation, "Happy Pride!" is shouted with a somber, apprehensive tone. A month that began as a commemoration of the Stonewall riots has always been a month of celebration of queer and trans love, self-expression, and identity. However, this Pride month reminds us --LGTBQ+ people and allies-- that the first was a riot: a fight for queer and trans liberation.
Every day, trans and queer lives are threatened by proposed legislation which attacks access to gender-affirming health care, eliminates LGBTQ+ history and people from literature and curriculum, and strives to silence queer and trans expression and voice. The history of the LGBTQ+ movement, including Stonewall, continues to be whitewashed and misrepresented in the mainstream media. The past few years mark an epidemic of violence against queer and trans people. In 2023 alone, over 500 anti-trans bills have been proposed in the United States; twenty-seven of those proposed bills are federal. These bills target not just trans folks' access to health care but also gender affirmation through pronouns, birth certificates, and driver's licenses; participation in athletics; expression through drag; and representation through storylines, history, and literature in schools. The following are statistics from the Trans Legislation Tracker regarding these bills: "2023 marks the fourth consecutive record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation in the U.S. In just one month, the U.S. doubled the number of anti-trans bills being considered across the country from the previous year. (para. 6)" Hate speech, violent threats, and derogatory language are rampant in comment sections, news articles, and in daily interactions. Homophobic, racist, and transphobic politicians, school board members, and legislators spread messages defying the basic human rights of queer and trans people. In a cis-heteronormative society, LGTBQ+ people and content creators fight to simply survive and exist as their true, authentic, nuanced, beautiful selves. Many use their platforms to protest, share resources, and be a light for their community: (often) uncompensated labor to amplify their voice. The LGBTQ+ community experiences threats, hate, and violence 365 days per year. Pride month is a necessary call to action and protest as well as a celebration. Queer, and especially trans, folks have the right to define their personal celebration and/or observance of Pride. On the other hand, allies to the community must step up --although we must engage in year-round committed action-- in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. For systemic hate and legislation to end, folks within and outside the community must take measurable action and SPEAK UP! Change, specifically systemic change, does not occur through sharing Instagram posts, wearing rainbow, or contributing to corporate rainbow washing. Change does not occur by "playing it safe" or standing to the side in a terrorizing wave of aggression against the LGBTQ+ community. Change occurs through hard work, perseverance, protesting, education, difficult conversations (yes, with family and friends too!), self-reflection and criticism, and mistakes. Straight, cisgender, white people must use their privilege and voice to speak in rooms where queer and trans voices are excluded and silenced. As trans content creator and actor James Rose states, "Cis-het folks started this, so y'all have to end it." 
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Hang on to your hats and coffee mugs, folks! You are entering a hub center with hyperlinks galore and impassioned information dumping from your fellow children’s book nerd.
That’s right! I am taking on the oddly-complicated-but-seems-like-it-should-be-simple task of recommending a good children’s book. There are so many genres, topics, and areas to explore that define the ambiguously coined “good” book. Poetry, realistic fiction, wordless, nonfiction, concept. . .ok I’ll stop now. So, be prepared to adventure to other websites, hubs, and resources. But trust me -- you’ll be in good hands. So, where should we begin? I really should have thought this through before excitedly writing this introduction. Let’s start with the basics. |
AuthorMeghan Hesterman (she/her) is an aspiring educator, storyteller, and traveler. Through regular posts and commentary, she candidly reflects on her evolution as an educator and young adult. Categories
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