What cultural beliefs should we be familiar with in order to truly understand the story? Cultural beliefs are ideas or stereotypes that are commonly held in a community or society.Are there laws or policies relevant to this story that we should know about? Are there social movements that have focused on the issues in this story?.What historical events do we think are important to know about for us to really understand what’s going on? Let’s think about what has happened in the past leading up to this story.What data/statistics should we know to really understand what’s happening in this story?.What are basic terms/concepts relevant to this story that we all should understand first?.
Remember that not all resources need to be for students, but can be used to help educators deepen their understanding as they prepare for lessons on complex social inequality issues. To “zoom out” on any text, ask the following questions and collect resources (in collaboration with your team). One clear way we can support them is by helping them learn to see the social context surrounding a story, whether that story is in a picture book or YA novel. Students, like everyone else, need to practice this skill. We cannot prepare them for engaging in complex conversations if we avoid the tough stuff in our classrooms. When we lean into the complexity of a book, young people can be exposed to tough realities, with our support, before experiencing those issues in their own lives.
If we use our lessons to only focus on the characters or the craft, we miss an important opportunity to help them understand the world around them. In our quest to provide diverse and inclusive texts to our students, we must also be intentional about how we use texts that address social inequality issues.
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