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UNPACK YOUR IMPACT:

How Two Primary Teachers Ditched Problematic Lessons and Built a Culture-Centered Curriculum

BY Naomi O’Brien & LaNesha Tabb

REVIEW BY Kristy Leigh, Ph.D., Principal, Cedarwood Alternative Elementary, Columbus City Schools

Districts and schools across our nation have been impacted by the events of the past year with increasing calls for racial justice, equity and inclusion. It is felt deeply in my own large urban district community. As a result of the national attention, there is an increasing push for professional development to include discussions of equity and diversity in schools. One curricular area, social studies, is a natural place to begin this critical work.

Social Studies has taken a back seat to the high stakes testing areas of reading and math in elementary schools. As educators, we have an opportunity and obligation to embrace this time of heightened national unrest and lack of civil discourse and respond in ways that affirm our students and equip them for global citizenry. Naomi O’Brien and Lanesha Tabb give voice to one content area, social studies, that can provide a natural vehicle for the study of perspectives and stories, as well as a space to address the issues of present day in the context of our individual and collective pasts. They begin with a celebration of cultures present in the classroom and move on to show how sociology, history, economics, geography, and civics can be taught through experiential learning.

The book is written in a clear and simple voice which speaks directly to primary teachers and their young scholars. It is impressive to note that the authors, without edu-speak, weave in tenets of multicultural, culturallyrelevant and culturally-responsive pedagogy, global education, inquiry, and experiential learning in the social studies. All the best of what we know to be impactful social studies teaching and learning are captured here with rich examples and visuals. The simple act of getting out a map or globe unlocks students’ inherent curiosity and ensures engagement in their classrooms. As the authors note, every question a student asks and explores increases their knowledge of the world, and “real topics yield real experiences.”

Unpack Your Impact is a quick read packed with a strong underlying pedagogy of inquiry in social studies. Chapters bring to life the classrooms of both authors who are practicing teachers, and include personal reflections that call for meaningful and relevant instruction in the social studies curriculum and all content areas. This book is a must-read for primary teachers and principals who see the opportunity and urgency in educating our students to be global citizens.

SOLVING ACADEMIC AND BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS:

A Strengths-Based Guide for Teachers and Teams

BY Margaret Searle and Marilyn Swartz

REVIEW BY Matthew Stanley, Asst. Principal, Louisville Elementary Louisville City Schools

Sure the title seems to conjure images of teaching in a utopia; however, there is a practical approach to student success found in the pages of this book. Solving Academic and Behavior Problems: A Strengths-Based Guide for Teachers and Teams suggests a more efficient and effective pathway to engage school personnel, families, and students while taking advantage of new academic and social-emotional learning opportunities. Whether you are an administrator or a classroom teacher, this book and the myriad resources it provides will assist you in reaching out to all students while shining most in relation to students who seem to stump even our best and brightest.

Broken into seven different chapters, filled with activities and actual cases of where these concepts are used with real student learning, the book describes a system of support that helps general education teachers partner with specialists and parents. The authors take lessons learned in industry and medicine and apply them to the intricacies of the teacherstudent-family relationship. The practical tools provided work to maximize success while minimizing the amount of time spent during the valuable school day. Much of the focus is spent on teaching educators how to change from a deficit problem-solving model to a strengths-based, appreciative inquiry approach. These paradigm shifts are also shown to be helpful in the interactions between administrators and teachers.

Each individual chapter in the book can be helpful in transforming aspects of a school’s climate; however, in its entirety, the book provides a system to fully transform school culture. One of the most impactful portions of this book is how it shifts our thinking and encourages teachers, students, and families to share success stories. This is something we don’t do enough in education, because it seems to fall outside of what can be quantitatively measured.

Even better is the way the authors take the theoretical concepts and turn them into practical applications with user-friendly instructions. Additionally, the authors have also included QR Codes throughout the book that you can scan with your phone camera and view example videos to accompany the activities. I can’t get over the way that this book provided vivid examples for different situations where these concepts can be applied. This book challenged me to apply the concepts to my own work, as I dive deeper into the strengthsbased approach to working through the many challenges faced in education, and ultimately, better serve students.

ILLEGAL

BY Francisco X. Stork

REVIEW BY Joy Houchen, Principal, Cuyahoga Heights ES Cuyahoga Heights City Schools

This gripping young adult novel is the sequel to Disappeared, a story about a brother and sister who live in Mexico and find themselves in an extremely dangerous situation. Young Mexican girls, including Sara’s best friend, are disappearing in Juarez, and Sara is trying to figure out why. In the sequel, Illegal, Sara and her brother Emiliano continue their quest to help solve the mystery of the missing girls while trying to escape to the U.S. because of the threat of the cartel. The story begins with each of them in the U.S., but they have separated and are taking different journeys to find a new life. Sara is placed into a detention center as she awaits word on her application for asylum. Emiliano enters the country illegally, planning to live with their father while turning over evidence to U.S. authorities. Nothing goes as planned!

This is the story of the difficult and often hopeless journey that undocumented immigrants face. Greed, injustice, danger, and fear are the harsh realities that they must face each day. Francisco X. Stork keeps the reader’s heart racing while thinking about the injustices many undocumented immigrants face in our country. All Sara and Emiliano want is to help save the missing girls and to start a new life in the country that gives people the hope of freedom.

This book should be in every middle school library! It is a fast-paced read that features young people from Mexico and addresses several current issues surrounding immigration, border walls, detention camps, and sex trafficking. Administrators could use excerpts from this book to spark discussions and to entice students to read. In Illegal, Stork gives us well-developed, complex characters of Mexican descent. Readers will root for them and hope that the people and laws of the U.S. live up to their expectations.

ALL BECAUSE YOU MATTER

WORDS BY Tami Charles; ART BY Bryan Collier

REVIEW BY Joy Houchen, Principal, Cuyahoga Heights Elementary, Cuyahoga Heights City Schools

This children’s story is brought to us by a celebrated author/poet and an awardwinning illustrator. Together, they provide us with a beautiful story about a young boy of color who is taught that he matters. When he struggles or questions his place in the world, he is reassured that he matters. Even in the midst of the dark moments surrounding the racial climate in our country today, he is surrounded by those who love him and reminded that his future matters.

All Because You Matter is a timely book that brings to light some of the tragedies surrounding racial tensions in our country and the feelings of those who question why. The beautiful story has fantastic illustrations and is appropriate for any grade level. Building leaders and principals could use this book to begin very important conversations with staff and students alike about not only topics surrounding race, but also our duty as adults and educators to reinforce the fact that each child matters.