“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of the worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange. These windows are also sliding glass doors, and readers have only to walk through into imagination to become part of whatever world has been created or recreated by the author. When the lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. literature transforms the human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and our experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.” Dr Rudine Sims Bishop
In July 2016, Educational Leadership, in their Numbers of Note column, published an infographic which asked a single question. Why did you become a teacher? The first five answers were telling:
50% because a teacher inspired them when they were young
66% to be part of those "aha" moments
71% to help students reach their full potential
74% to share their love of learning and teaching
85% to make a difference in the lives of children
Not for good work/life balance. Not for summers off. Not for the money. The thing that feeds our passion is the clear focus of our purpose. This work matters.
Why? Because stories matter. Andrew Stanton, the filmmaker of “Toy Story” and Wall-E” explains why in his TED Talk “The Clues to a Great Story.”
"Stories affirm who we are. We all need affirmations that our lives have meaning. And nothing does a greater affirmation than when we connect through stories. It can cross the barriers of time, past, present and future, and allow us to experience the similarities between ourselves and through others, real and imagined.”
It is through literature in all its shapes and genres that we receive our first mirror where we learn we are not alone; where we get windows into other perspectives and ways of being; where we are able to find sliding doors into lives far different from our own. It is here we learn Maya Angelou was right: we are more alike than we are different. This is the goal of literature. It is the tool to be used to build connection, empathy, and equity in our classrooms.
Join us on April 27th as we work in community to affirm our stories and our work as we explore how to offer that to our students as well. Together we are better.
Bishop, R.S. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom,6(3).
