The Fire Within: A Social-Emotional Novel Exploration Project

Abstract

From an academic and social perspective, it is widely accepted that representation matters. Simply having a diverse teaching staff can offer a reduction in bias, raise expectations, and connect cultures. One can make a strong argument that offering Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIOPIC) readings will deepen cultural connections, further reduce bias, and allow educators to continually raise expectations for students’ depth of understanding. As Flannery notes (2020) the continued importance of offering students diverse readings. Such readings allow for the development of empathy and voices to be heard. According to a University of Wisconsin Cooperative Children’s Book Center (2019) there was an increase of Black, Hispanic and Asian characters. Reflective of the general population there was a 1% growth of Indigenous characters. However, often these works are under-utilized in classrooms across the United States. This impacted the decision to utilize Indigenous authors like Angeline Boulley, Kim Rogers, Gwen Nell Westerman, and Elizabeth Woody with the MVHS’ ELA and ELL student population.