WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.620 --> 00:00:04.090 Hi, my name is Alicia D. Williams, 2 00:00:04.090 --> 00:00:08.870 and I'm the author of "Genesis Begins Again", 3 00:00:08.870 --> 00:00:10.290 a middle grade novel 4 00:00:10.290 --> 00:00:15.057 and I just had a new picture book biography that came out 5 00:00:15.057 --> 00:00:18.907 "Jump At The Sun: The True Life Tale 6 00:00:18.907 --> 00:00:23.517 "of Unstoppable Storycatcher Zora Neale Hurston". 7 00:00:25.267 --> 00:00:28.480 "Genesis Begins Again" is a story 8 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:32.880 about acceptance, about self hate, internalized racism 9 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:36.490 and learning to love yourself and accept yourself 10 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:40.170 is about a 13 year old girl named Genesis Anderson. 11 00:00:40.170 --> 00:00:41.340 She hates herself. 12 00:00:41.340 --> 00:00:43.950 She believes is she becomes a beautiful light 13 00:00:43.950 --> 00:00:47.110 light-skinned mom with beautiful long luxurious hair 14 00:00:47.110 --> 00:00:50.190 then that will love her and want to do right by the family. 15 00:00:50.190 --> 00:00:53.550 So she takes this all on herself to heal her family. 16 00:00:53.550 --> 00:00:54.930 And it has so many other things 17 00:00:54.930 --> 00:00:58.280 in here besides the beauty standards and colorism. 18 00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:03.120 And colorism is the distinction of privilege 19 00:01:04.010 --> 00:01:06.740 between light skin and dark skin people 20 00:01:06.740 --> 00:01:08.500 and within that same community. 21 00:01:08.500 --> 00:01:11.740 So you have colorism, a beauty standards 22 00:01:11.740 --> 00:01:16.740 bullying, mental health, addictions, poverty, 23 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:19.360 a lot of things that are in this story. 24 00:01:19.360 --> 00:01:23.660 Now, if I was to teach the story as a mouse study 25 00:01:23.660 --> 00:01:27.230 perhaps there are some things that I would love to pull out 26 00:01:28.690 --> 00:01:30.050 some of the serious things. 27 00:01:30.050 --> 00:01:34.170 Like one thing I love to do is emotional journaling. 28 00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:37.950 Emotional journaling is allowing your students to take 29 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:40.550 from anywhere from one minute to three minutes 30 00:01:40.550 --> 00:01:44.440 to even five or 10, depending on the level that they are in 31 00:01:44.440 --> 00:01:47.420 but allow them to write freely where they're not worried 32 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:51.610 about grammar or punctuation spelling. 33 00:01:51.610 --> 00:01:55.090 These emotional journals could be timed 34 00:01:55.090 --> 00:01:58.030 and they could come with a prompt or without a prompt. 35 00:01:58.030 --> 00:02:01.790 The benefits of emotional journaling will allow students 36 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:03.480 to get in touch with themselves 37 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:06.490 and to assess how they're really feeling emotionally. 38 00:02:06.490 --> 00:02:08.520 They will allow you to clear that space 39 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:10.820 from what happened prior to your classroom. 40 00:02:10.820 --> 00:02:12.060 Something could have happened on lunch 41 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:15.010 and they come in with this energy of being upset 42 00:02:15.010 --> 00:02:18.100 because Susan said something smart and they can work it out 43 00:02:18.100 --> 00:02:21.330 in that journal and clear up head space for the lesson 44 00:02:21.330 --> 00:02:25.620 or it could be just one of those things that will be used 45 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:29.120 as a tool to get them to later with the practice 46 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:33.450 of developing more description and details in their writing 47 00:02:33.450 --> 00:02:35.130 and the writing gets grown just 48 00:02:35.130 --> 00:02:37.630 by the practice of writing itself. 49 00:02:37.630 --> 00:02:42.630 So emotional journaling for Genesis could be with prompts 50 00:02:43.650 --> 00:02:46.823 and with Genesis being a social justice book 51 00:02:48.410 --> 00:02:52.300 I would suggest using those things that are in it. 52 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:55.900 You know, when was the last time you felt 53 00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:56.733 like you were bullied 54 00:02:56.733 --> 00:03:00.090 or have you ever seen someone that was bullied? 55 00:03:00.090 --> 00:03:02.100 Did you ever do anything? 56 00:03:02.100 --> 00:03:03.770 Were you ever afraid? 57 00:03:03.770 --> 00:03:07.230 Tell me about a time when you were afraid or colorism 58 00:03:09.050 --> 00:03:10.530 how does Genesis feel? 59 00:03:10.530 --> 00:03:12.660 And they can assess how they feel even 60 00:03:12.660 --> 00:03:16.370 by what the character tailoring the props for the character. 61 00:03:16.370 --> 00:03:19.220 Tell me about a time that you identified with Genesis. 62 00:03:19.220 --> 00:03:22.120 Tell me what beauty meant for Genesis and why. 63 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:24.230 So coming up with different prompts 64 00:03:24.230 --> 00:03:27.410 and the important thing is to not just your writing 65 00:03:27.410 --> 00:03:28.700 don't ever judge their writing. 66 00:03:28.700 --> 00:03:32.730 If you write a comment and if you decide to allow them 67 00:03:32.730 --> 00:03:37.730 to let you read it, don't make a comment on correction. 68 00:03:40.640 --> 00:03:41.920 Just say that's a good thought 69 00:03:41.920 --> 00:03:44.223 or even tell them to go deeper. 70 00:03:45.130 --> 00:03:46.170 This is interesting. 71 00:03:46.170 --> 00:03:47.363 Why do you say that? 72 00:03:48.340 --> 00:03:51.680 I really wonder what you were thinking when you meant this. 73 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:54.550 So really to push them to go deeper in that. 74 00:03:54.550 --> 00:03:58.600 And there's some great other things about this, friendship. 75 00:03:58.600 --> 00:04:01.000 I remember my students wondering 76 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:03.220 why was it so difficult to make friends. 77 00:04:03.220 --> 00:04:04.840 Exploring the theme of friendship 78 00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:08.330 and self-acceptance and what is meant to be normal 79 00:04:08.330 --> 00:04:11.930 or be a part of the popular group, 80 00:04:11.930 --> 00:04:14.183 is that really what friendship is? 81 00:04:15.170 --> 00:04:16.003 Bullying. 82 00:04:16.003 --> 00:04:17.510 Again, I think that is something 83 00:04:17.510 --> 00:04:20.040 that all students are dealing with. 84 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:23.240 I go to numerous schools when school was open 85 00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:25.590 and students would share they're dealing 86 00:04:25.590 --> 00:04:29.360 with depression and anxiety and lack of self-confidence. 87 00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:34.290 So pulling these themes out and having deeper discussions. 88 00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:36.240 Colorism is a big thing. 89 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:38.660 And I go to a lot of schools and they say 90 00:04:38.660 --> 00:04:40.880 our children are dealing with this, or teachers say 91 00:04:40.880 --> 00:04:42.890 I didn't know this existed. 92 00:04:42.890 --> 00:04:44.400 So having this talk 93 00:04:44.400 --> 00:04:48.540 of what it means to have a standard of beauty 94 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:50.410 that means if you're lighter 95 00:04:50.410 --> 00:04:53.720 or more European than you're more beautiful 96 00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:56.990 and challenging your students to challenge 97 00:04:56.990 --> 00:05:00.980 what the beauty status is and who set these standards. 98 00:05:00.980 --> 00:05:04.710 I would love for those conversations to take place. 99 00:05:04.710 --> 00:05:06.370 Poverty. 100 00:05:06.370 --> 00:05:10.403 What it looks like or addictions really delving into those. 101 00:05:11.750 --> 00:05:14.930 I do something fun as well because I love history. 102 00:05:14.930 --> 00:05:19.930 I would make a list of songs. 103 00:05:21.870 --> 00:05:23.240 There such a big theme of songs 104 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:25.890 in this story and make a list. 105 00:05:25.890 --> 00:05:27.730 Have you students make a playlist. 106 00:05:27.730 --> 00:05:30.190 What represents them and why? 107 00:05:30.190 --> 00:05:33.950 What speaks to them, or even delve into the history 108 00:05:33.950 --> 00:05:37.200 of some of these journals, like the Motown general rhythm 109 00:05:37.200 --> 00:05:39.700 and blues or blues itself or jazz. 110 00:05:39.700 --> 00:05:42.073 It really go and have fun with that. 111 00:05:43.090 --> 00:05:45.250 There's so many things to do with Genesis 112 00:05:45.250 --> 00:05:49.510 and I bet you can have fun just pulling them out. 113 00:05:49.510 --> 00:05:52.713 Now, with "Jump At The Sun" 114 00:05:54.150 --> 00:05:56.900 I have had teachers who from high school 115 00:05:56.900 --> 00:05:59.280 who are studying Zora Neale Hurston, 116 00:05:59.280 --> 00:06:01.000 their eyes were watching God 117 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.890 they were reading this with their high schoolers. 118 00:06:03.890 --> 00:06:08.530 I know teachers who teach the middle schoolers 119 00:06:08.530 --> 00:06:10.480 through picture books, 120 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:12.640 and one of the teachers was sharing 121 00:06:12.640 --> 00:06:17.060 that it's not that the text is easier. 122 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:20.360 It's easier to decode perhaps because the layout 123 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:25.360 of it on the page where they feel unintimidated 124 00:06:25.460 --> 00:06:28.830 and it gives them confidence to approach the subject. 125 00:06:28.830 --> 00:06:30.130 And it gives them confidence 126 00:06:30.130 --> 00:06:33.100 in a starting place to go research more 127 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:35.690 for the projects that they have. 128 00:06:35.690 --> 00:06:40.690 So giving students a book a day, or I know that is a thing 129 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:43.030 with reading picture books to older students 130 00:06:43.030 --> 00:06:44.780 I think it opens up a door 131 00:06:44.780 --> 00:06:49.370 of giving them more literacy skills and storytelling. 132 00:06:49.370 --> 00:06:52.690 And we all know that oral storytelling studies show 133 00:06:52.690 --> 00:06:53.880 builds the brand. 134 00:06:53.880 --> 00:06:57.433 Now specifically with "Jump At The Sun" 135 00:06:58.270 --> 00:06:59.530 there's so much to tease out 136 00:06:59.530 --> 00:07:03.080 not just about Zora Neale Hurston, although she is very 137 00:07:03.080 --> 00:07:05.650 very fabulous and exciting to learn about 138 00:07:05.650 --> 00:07:08.280 because as a child, she loved Thor 139 00:07:08.280 --> 00:07:09.980 and the Gulliver's travels 140 00:07:09.980 --> 00:07:13.538 and all these wonderful knit tidbits of information 141 00:07:13.538 --> 00:07:17.280 to find out about her, but was in the book 142 00:07:17.280 --> 00:07:21.700 just teasing those things out would be fabulous. 143 00:07:21.700 --> 00:07:23.260 Zora was the anthropologist. 144 00:07:23.260 --> 00:07:24.290 What does that mean? 145 00:07:24.290 --> 00:07:28.030 And that's an underrated career, don't you think? 146 00:07:28.030 --> 00:07:30.350 And to see what does that study? 147 00:07:30.350 --> 00:07:31.690 Are there other anthropologists? 148 00:07:31.690 --> 00:07:33.030 What do they find? 149 00:07:33.030 --> 00:07:35.290 She was a folklorist finding out 150 00:07:35.290 --> 00:07:37.563 what folklore and folktales meant. 151 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:42.010 The history of it, pulling these and even examining some 152 00:07:42.010 --> 00:07:45.700 of the stories and having students learn a story 153 00:07:45.700 --> 00:07:50.700 and recall it specifically African-American children 154 00:07:50.810 --> 00:07:53.850 their reading scores, and a comprehension scores 155 00:07:53.850 --> 00:07:56.010 and literacy scores shot up the roof 156 00:07:56.010 --> 00:07:59.640 with this whole tradition of oral storytelling. 157 00:07:59.640 --> 00:08:03.290 Perhaps it's because of the history that we carry with it. 158 00:08:03.290 --> 00:08:06.810 Information in here so much the dance, the Charleston. 159 00:08:06.810 --> 00:08:09.490 I remember teaching my children, the Charleston dance 160 00:08:09.490 --> 00:08:12.010 during the great depression when we went 161 00:08:12.010 --> 00:08:14.840 through that whole era of history 162 00:08:14.840 --> 00:08:17.610 but it's in here, the dance of Charleston. 163 00:08:17.610 --> 00:08:18.580 What was it like? 164 00:08:18.580 --> 00:08:20.170 And getting your students up and moving 165 00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:22.370 when we get back into the classroom. 166 00:08:22.370 --> 00:08:26.120 The Harlem Renaissance, this big creative bang 167 00:08:26.120 --> 00:08:29.940 studying the poetry of Langston Hughes, that's a big deal. 168 00:08:29.940 --> 00:08:33.560 And really finding out what that movement meant, 169 00:08:33.560 --> 00:08:34.900 The Great Migration. 170 00:08:34.900 --> 00:08:37.570 There was so many people who moved from Harlem 171 00:08:37.570 --> 00:08:40.320 to Harlem and New York and all these other Northern cities 172 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:43.470 from the South sharecropping or tilling land 173 00:08:43.470 --> 00:08:44.760 as we talked about 174 00:08:46.079 --> 00:08:49.650 and the story is caught telling Lana about sharecropping. 175 00:08:49.650 --> 00:08:52.170 What that meant during a history movie, 176 00:08:52.170 --> 00:08:55.440 why were people Black Americans sharecropping 177 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:58.410 and what it looked like and how hard that life wasn't 178 00:08:58.410 --> 00:09:00.750 why mom wanted her to move forward? 179 00:09:00.750 --> 00:09:05.490 The power of mantras, mom always said to "Jump At The Sun". 180 00:09:05.490 --> 00:09:09.920 What is the interesting fact is the hats 181 00:09:09.920 --> 00:09:13.410 that Jacquelyn puts in here, because our father said 182 00:09:13.410 --> 00:09:15.270 stop trying to wear those big old hats 183 00:09:15.270 --> 00:09:17.840 but mom wants her to dream big 184 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:21.240 because he was trying to tell Zora not to dream big. 185 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:24.920 There's plenty of art things to do. 186 00:09:24.920 --> 00:09:28.370 I have an art teacher who printed out a picture of Zora 187 00:09:28.370 --> 00:09:32.450 and kids got to draw the hat and what that hat represents 188 00:09:32.450 --> 00:09:35.050 and what that dreaming big and jumping 189 00:09:35.050 --> 00:09:37.950 at the sun means in the form of a hat. 190 00:09:37.950 --> 00:09:40.600 There are other so many, the folklore and creating 191 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:42.750 and puppetry to go with it. 192 00:09:42.750 --> 00:09:46.640 I'd love to just sit in and do so much 193 00:09:46.640 --> 00:09:48.950 but there is so much that we can do. 194 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:52.850 And the stories like "John Henry" or "Chance" 195 00:09:52.850 --> 00:09:54.630 and how important that is 196 00:09:54.630 --> 00:09:58.870 to the stories that Zora collected. 197 00:09:58.870 --> 00:09:59.927 There's a wonderful things. 198 00:09:59.927 --> 00:10:03.520 And I hope, hope, hope you have already added 199 00:10:03.520 --> 00:10:06.570 or plan to add "Genesis Begins Again" 200 00:10:06.570 --> 00:10:09.950 and "Jump At The Sun" to your classroom collection. 201 00:10:09.950 --> 00:10:11.683 Thank you so much.