In this post, I’d like to have a look at Using Picture Books to Explore Uncomfortable Topics. As a teacher, I believe that uncomfortable topics surface organically when students feel heard.
Deep topics come up often without warning and at random times. For 5-year-olds, they can range from what might seem like mundane issues for adults to problems that are recognized as trauma.
Young children are just beginning to explore and make sense of a larger world. It can be joyful, wonder-filled, and scary. Relationships are new. Friendships are complicated. Control and power are tools that young children are just starting to experiment with. Questions emerge like: Who has power? How do I get power? What do I do with it when I get it?
Moving through relationships with limited tools can be confusing. What happens when my best friend wants to play with someone else? What happens to my best friend when I want to make a new friend? Simple goodbyes can be excruciating. Transitions can upset. Fairness is an ongoing theme. What is fairness? It doesn’t feel fair when others don’t want to play the game I want to play in the way I want them to play it. I want the toy that the other child has. It’s not fair that they won’t give it to me. What does it mean to share?
When uncomfortable topics emerge, I lean into picture books with stories where students can see themselves for support. Stories can provoke discourse and inquiry, which can be expanded by introducing more picture books. I look for stories with protagonists who are going through similar experiences, situations, or feelings that allow students to find a relevant relationship. Stories help us connect with others. They help students navigate difficult events, trauma, or topics that are uncomfortable. They help students know they are not alone, alienated or marginalized. They help connect students with each other who might have the same concerns so that they can support each other. It helps build community. I find that one picture book leads to another. Picture books soothe. Picture books comfort. Picture books can gently and safely acknowledge the wounds to help begin the healing.
When you’re five, the world is beginning to change. Many go to formal school for the first time. Topics that are difficult for children include moving, divorce, bullying, inclusion, exclusion, social cues, making friends, keeping friends, fairness, power, grief, loss, pet loss, losing friendships, different forms of families, domestic violence, gun violence, police violence, alcohol/drug abuse of family members, cognitively declining grandparents, death, racism, disability rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, losing your home, immigration, and natural disasters.
In addition to using picture books to help students explore subjects that are challenging and difficult for them, parents and teachers can also use these stories to make palatable, topics that are uncomfortable for adults.
Children are honest and raw. They say what they want to say often without filters. They speak from the heart and often don’t mask their true feelings. This can be uncomfortable for the adults in their lives. Parents and Teachers may struggle to support topics like LGBTQIA+ questions, grief, racism, disability rights, etc. Picture books can help scaffold and support adults. Picture books can give the words and context. Stories can help adults find access points for children. They may even provide multiple points of access for extremely challenging topics, creating many different conversations. Picture books can help adults gain new insight as well, possibly leading to more empathy for young children who are trying to make sense of their world.
By Zeena M. Pliska
Zeena M. Pliska spends her days immersed in the joy of 5-year-olds. She is a public school kindergarten teacher by day and a children’s book author by night in Los Angeles, California. A progressive public-school educator, she believes that the most important aspect of teaching is listening to children. A social justice activist and organizer for over 30 years, she brings race, class, and gender analysis to everything she does. She is half Egyptian and half Filipino. A lifetime storyteller, she has facilitated stories as a theater director, visual artist, photographer and journalist and most recently as a short film screenwriter/producer/director. Her debut picture book, Hello, Little One: A Monarch Butterfly Story from Page Street Kids came out May 12, 2020. Her second picture book Egyptian Lullaby from Roaring Brook Press came out April 18, 2023. Two board books in the Chicken Soup for Babies series from Charlesbridge came out in the fall and winter of 2023. Egyptian Lullaby was awarded the 2024 CABA award from Howard University.
Her blog posts can be found at www.teachingauthors.com and on social media, Instagram @zeenamar, X (formerly Twitter) @zeenamar1013, Bluesky @zeenamar, and on Facebook @Zeena M. Pliska or Zeena Mar. For more information you can go to www.zeenamar.
No comments:
Post a Comment