Girl Rising

On October 8th, I attended the showing of the movie, "Girl Rising", followed by a Q&A with the author of the book, Tanya Lee Stone. This was a powerful experience for me, because seeing the movie brought the stories to life. I could put names to faces, and see the strength these girls had gained from their past experiences with gender inequality. What struck me most was just how powerful these girls are, and how brave they continue to be, despite all the obstacles they have faced.

The story that stood out to me most was Suma's. She experienced extremely traumatic events working as a kamlari, however, she found her courage through taking night courses. Education made Suma come forth as her own self, and take control of her life. Now, instead of running from her past, she uses her knowledge to affect the future. Every day, she and a group of former kamlaris go to a house where they know a master is engaging in this form of slavery, and demand that he set the young girl working for him, free. It is not an easy battle, and they have yet to win, but they still persist. Without education, Suma would not have recognized the power she has to do this.

I believe Suma should be a role model for all educators; we, as educators, should want our students to be the change they wish to see, and to stand up to injustice. Suma's story has made me realize that I need to empower my future students, be supportive of them and their decisions, but most importantly,  foster a learning environment that promotes conversations about those "difficult" topics. Therefore, my future classroom will be based around the portion of the Saint Michael's College Mission Statement that states: "Our graduates are change agents committed to social justice and sustainability." My classroom will be one dedicated to equity and open discussion that will raise awareness for global and community issues.

In order to implement discussions about "difficult" topics like gender inequality in my curriculum, I will need to plan lessons that include texts such as Girl Rising. My future Spanish classroom will do a lot around the standard of Cultural Comparisons , so a topic like this would fit perfectly into my learning plan. I could even do something interdisciplinary with history, since not all the cultures we would be studying speak Spanish.

One idea I had in planning a lesson around Girl Rising was having my students make a character map and a cutout person after reading the book. The character map would follow one of the girls and their story, and the students would add notes about what parts of her experiences stood out to them. Afterwards, using this map as a resource, the students would create a cutout person with paper, drawing a line down the middle to divide the person in two. On one side, the students would list the educational experiences of the girl from the character map, and on the other side, they would describe their own educational experiences.

Both of these activities would help prepare students for a discussion, possibly in Spanish, about the issues Girl Rising addresses. If I want my learning environment to be supportive of these discussions, I need to make the material relevant to my students. These activities do so because they help the students make personal connections to the learning, and it provides them with a hands on task. If I continue to find engaging ways to introduce this kind of material, as well as making it relevant in my students' lives, they will be on the edge of their seats waiting for discussion to start. At that point, I will no longer have to teach social justice; my students will have become activists.