Navigating Student Histories and Identities

Text: "Examples from English Literature" by Kumashiro

This text by Kumashiro takes a look at how educators are not only examining what texts are read in class, but how these texts are read by the students. Kumashiro brings up that texts can be analyzed with many different types of lenses, and it is up to the teacher to guide the students through these readings, and help the students understand the multiple interpretations that can be found in each reading of a text.

"Literature can mean (politically) different things to different people since we all read using lenses that have been colored by our unique identities and life experiences," (Kumashiro 76).

Texts are filled with layers of interpretations, with students approaching these texts with their own histories and identities that will affect how they understand the purpose of the text. This is so important to examine as an educator so that a variety of texts can be utilized in the classroom, as well as bringing in the students' histories and communities into their learning environment so they feel recognized.

Kumashiro examined that sometimes for English teachers, the selection of texts can "reinforce the privilege of only certain experiences and perspectives," (75) and in this way, the selection of texts can either be oppressive for the students, or anti-oppressive. A question that came up for me in reading this was, as educators, how do we ensure that we are selecting texts that don't reinforce stereotypes? How do we ensure we are incorporating both mirrors (ways in which the students can identify with the texts themselves) and windows (ways in which the students can learn about other perspectives) into the learning?

I would like to be a teacher who has an anti-oppressive curriculum and incorporates both texts the students can identify with themselves, in addition to learning about cultural experiences different from their own, other areas of the world, and new languages in the process. I think, for students and teachers, having both of these types of texts are so crucial because the students want to feel as though they are represented in the proper light, while also having the opportunity to learn about histories and identities new to their own. This also provides the opportunity for me, the teacher, to learn from my students, hear their perspectives, and learn more about my students and what THEY want to learn about and discuss.

"We would also discuss aspects of the students' life histories, emotions, identities, and prior knowledge that teachers may never be able to know, including aspects of which the students themselves are not consciously aware, and the ways such things can influence what we know and how students learn," (Kumashiro 77).

It is a lot to process and think about when planning a curriculum, but so unbelievably important to be conscious of, at least in my eyes! I only hope I can try to the best of my ability to cater to all of my students many identities and histories because these will shape the foundation of our class together.