Choosing appropriate BAME picturebooks:A thread.
I’d like to talk about my 2nd year placement and the impact that teaching has on children. In a KS1 class I was presented with the opportunity to introduce the topic ‘Africa’ and handed a copy of Handa’s Surprise #edutwitter (1/8)
I’d like to talk about my 2nd year placement and the impact that teaching has on children. In a KS1 class I was presented with the opportunity to introduce the topic ‘Africa’ and handed a copy of Handa’s Surprise #edutwitter (1/8)
I know about this book from my own childhood and the image it portrays, and Brookes have been very upfront about teaching us about the importance of fair representations. Therefore, I politely declined and asked if I could introduce the topic in another way. (2/8)
Books like Handa’s Surprise are magnifying a representational problem. We must be careful about which books we show children as it can confirm misconceptions that they may already hold. Instead I decided to start the topic by breaking children’s misconceptions about Africa. (3/8)
I chose to use pictures from Ethiopia depicting different settings and instead of telling them where they were, I asked if they were in Africa or not. They worked in groups and all pupils came back and confirmed what I thought would happen. (4/8)
They all decided that the urban built up areas were not in Africa, and the rural mud hut pictures were in Africa. I promoted discussion and questioned them on their information source. I told them that they were all in fact in one country within the continent of Africa. (5/8)
The children were so amazed, and they could not believe it was from one country within a continent which they believed was all the same. It just shows how without teaching, children can hold onto misconceptions that they see in books and through the media. (6/8)
It’s great to have a bookshelf full of diverse characters but think before you purchase. Think about the author, have they experienced this? Does it represent a race fairly? Do you have a range to show multiple sides to stories? How can you challenge pupils’ misconceptions? (7/8)
I want the next generation to really understand race and the importance of diversity, and educators are at the forefront of it. We can help, one lesson at a time. Build the next generation into a positive one. YOU can make a difference!! (8/8)
