Teaching Context

I work as a Learning Support teacher at D. Newlin Fell Elementary School, a K-8 school in South Philadelphia. Our school is a wonderfully diverse community as its population is about 40% Asian, 20% Hispanic, 20% Black, and 20% White. 75% of students are low-income and 25% of students are English Language Learners.

As a learning support teacher, I co-teach seventh grade English Language Arts with two different general education teachers. We collaborate to plan engaging instruction that helps students master grade-level standards while also incorporating reading interventions for students with disabilities. As we choose reading materials, we strive to find texts that allow students to see and discuss their own experiences while also expanding their knowledge about the world and improving their literacy skills. Currently, there are three key goals that guided my planning for this unit:

1) One current curricular gap is lack of texts about Asian Americans. Our school has a growing Asian American student population and we need to fill this gap to ensure that students see their own experiences reflected in the texts we read together. We strive to use texts that can serve as both “windows and mirrors” (Bishop, 1990) by providing students with access to experiences that are different than theirs (“windows”) and access to narratives that affirm their own identity and experiences (“mirrors”). Our Asian American students currently do not have access to texts that mirror their experiences in school in the community. This unit will seek to close that gap.

2) Additionally, our seventh grade ELA team wants to include more opportunities for reading novels and informational texts as our current curriculum focuses heavily on short stories.

Reading novels can help to engage students more deeply in reading as they have the opportunity to get invested in the plot and characters over an extended period of time. Research has found that graphic novels are especially engaging for middle school readers, particularly for students who have struggled with reading in the past (Edwards, 2009).

Reading and understanding informational texts is key to students’ ability to learn across contexts. When students reach middle school, they are increasingly expected to read for understanding in all subject areas. This can be detrimental for struggling readers who have poor comprehension of informational text. Therefore, it is important for special and general education teachers to provide opportunities for students to improve their reading comprehension of informational text.

3) Finally, as a special education teacher, I am continuously searching for ways to incorporate evidence-based reading interventions into the general education classroom. The students with learning disabilities included in the general education classroom need opportunities to improve their word decoding, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and written expression and I must find ways to incorporate these skills into the general education classroom. This curriculum will include strategies for explicitly addressing these foundational reading skills for students with disabilities who are fully included in the general education setting.

Participating in the Asian Americans in US Schools Seminar

Through the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia seminar readings, lectures by Dr. Goyette, and class discussions, I engaged with many topics that shaped my thinking about Asian American in US Schools and my curriculum unit.

In our first class sessions, we discussed the idea of racial classification. I learned that the panethnic category of “Asian American” is a fairly recent concept that originated in the civil rights era. According to Lopez and Espiritu (1990), panethnicity is, “the development of bridging organizations and the generalization of solidarity among ethnic subgroups,” (p. 198). This new concept forced me to consider how Asian American identity was fairly recently constructed as a tool of solidarity to fight for increased civil rights and protections.  Learning about this history was an illustration of Dina Okamoto’s (2014) idea that, “that racial group formation and identity do not occur naturally,” (p. 3).  I began wondering what types of readings or activities could introduce students to the idea that categories for people, including racial categories, are not naturally occurring or inevitable.

In a subsequent session, Dr. Goyette began class by asking us about our ethnicity and how it comes up in our life. While many of us expressed uncertainty about exactly how to classify ourselves, every group member smiled and laughed as they discussed their family traditions, foods, and childhood memories about parents and grandparents. This discussion got me thinking about how much joy and pride we often take in the groups and communities that we are a part of. While discussions of race and ethnicity can often be fraught, asking students to consider which communities they are a part of can be a positive and affirming experience as well that I would like to incorporate into my unit.

In another session, we discussed different theories of assimilation and how they may apply to Asian Americans. I learned about different types of assimilation, including structural assimilation (equal access to economic opportunities), cultural assimilation (adoption of mainstream norms and customs), and spatial assimilation (living in integrated areas, intermarriage). We also discussed Portes and Zhou’s (1993) thinking that assimilation does not need to be linear and straightforward. It may be upward (immigrants adopt dominant culture), downward (immigrants adopt the culture of a subordinate group), or segmented (immigrants selectively adopt the dominant culture). Learning more in-depth about assimilation made me realize that it is not a straightforward or inevitable process but rather a series of choices and outcomes that occur differently for different groups. I began wondering if having students interrogate their own levels or types of assimilation could be enriching.

In a later session, we discussed the model minority myth. We discussed how stereotypes about Asian Americans, particularly about academic performance, can negatively impact our students by creating pressure and feelings of failure. This coheres with Chou and Feagin’s (2015) thesis that, “the stereotypes and images associated with the model minority notion, though often seemingly positive, are in numerous ways constraining and do create intense pressures on and stress for Asian Americans seeking to live up to such unrealistic and racially stereotyped expectation,” (p. x). The discussion and readings about the model minority myth forced me to think about how to discuss the topic with my students who are likely experiencing its effects.

Reading Lee and Zhou’s (2015) The Asian American Achievement Paradox further developed my thinking about the model minority myth and its effects. Through studying the everyday experiences of children of Chinese immigrants and Vietnamese refugees, they found patterns and themes of the second-generation Asian American experience. One finding was that the high academic outcomes of Asian American students gives rise to stereotypes, which can create both “stereotype threat,” meaning that students fear confirming a stereotype about Asian Americans and “stereotype promise,” meaning that teachers and counselors may allocate resources to Asian American students because they perceive them as successful. Further, Lee and Zhou find that while Asian Americans’ emphasis on effort over ability and their investments in resources to improve their children’s academic outcomes is linked to high achievement, that achievement comes at a cost for many. Asian American students “who do not fit the narrowly tailored success frame feel like failures, underachievers, and ethnoracial outliers who distance themselves from coethnic peers and communities,” (p. 8). Once again, these authors found positive and negative aspects of growing up as a second-generation Asian American that many of our students would likely relate to.

In a subsequent seminar, we discussed the idea of social capital. According to Coleman (1988), social capital is information and resources that exist in relationships between actors that are used by these actors to achieve an end. Social capital can exist in “functional communities,” such as small towns or neighborhoods or “value communities” such as churches or schools based on common values. Systems can also be defined as “closed” (all actors have relationships with one another) or “open” (only some actors have relationships with one another.). In a closed system, such as a church in which everyone knows each other, it is easier to monitor children and transmit social norms to them. We discussed the many positive impacts of being raised in a closed community, such as transmission of values, getting reliable information, and being held accountable to the community. We also wondered about potential negative impacts of belonging to a closed community, such as being rejected by the community if you do not adhere to its norms. For me, this session solidified the idea that the unit should focus on different communities that students may belong to and how they might function as a “double-edged sword” that may benefit or hinder students.

As we discussed the key topics of panethnicity, assimilation, the model minority myth, and social capital in the Asian Americans in U.S. Schools seminar, I also conducted independent research to supplement my understanding and guide me in creating a unit that met my instructional goals. Since I wanted to select texts that served as “windows and mirrors” for our Asian American student population, I read Pang et al.’s (1992) article about selecting Asian American literature for children. They propose a framework for selecting texts that encourages educators to select texts that avoid stereotypes and include positive, accurate portrayals, have strong plot and characterization and culturally pluralistic themes. Upon reflection, I determined that the graphic novel, American Born Chinese, is a highly engaging book that meets these criteria, so I decided that it would serve as the anchor text for my unit.

In planning my unit, I also understood that in a unit that includes reading and discussing the themes of the TIP seminar, we will be undertaking conversations about race and racism in the United States. In order to build my capacity to foster class discussions on race that are productive and inclusive, I read Brown et al. (2017)’s review of research in P-12 settings on classroom conversations, race, and the disruption of inequality. According to their review, classroom conversations on race are curricular, meaning that they happen when teachers explicitly plan for them by, “deliberately selecting instructional topics to disrupt hegemonic conceptions of race,” (p. 465). Classroom conversations on race are also disruptive, meaning that they disrupt the dominant ideology. The authors also write that, “Disruptive does not necessarily seek to create closure to complex ideas but may leave issues unresolved and open for more discussion,” (p. 462). This article served as a guide for me in planning our discussions about the texts, as I knew that I would explicitly plan for conversations that challenge dominant racial narratives and conversations that may not be easily resolved but perhaps raise more questions for students than they answer.

I also turned to Philadelphia teacher Matthew Kay’s book, “Not light, but fire: How to lead meaningful race conversations in the classroom,” (2018) for guidance on how to structure these conversations. Kay urges teachers to adopt a dialogic pedagogy, which “disrupts the traditional classroom power dynamic, positioning school as a place where students have an equal share in their education,” (p. 5). Kay suggests explicit social skills instruction to manage conflict during discussions about race and allowing for ample student input into discussions and activities. I aimed to adopt these practices in my unit by giving students sentence starters to disagree or challenge each other and by allowing them to submit questions for discussion rather than relying solely on teacher-generated questions.

Essential Questions and Content Objectives Related to the TIP Seminar

While we covered a variety of topics throughout the course of the seminar, I found myself continuously returning to the idea of community and belonging. In the early sessions, we discussed Asian Americans coming together into a panethnic category that had not previously existed in order to gain protection while continuing to maintain individual ethnic categories. In our session on assimilation, we discussed what is lost or gained when people cede their belonging to one community or category in exchange for joining the “mainstream.”  We also discussed how Asian American students may be subject to harmful myths and stereotypes based on their ethnic category or community. Finally, our discussions of social capital delved into the idea that belonging to a closed community may pose both risks and benefits. After reflecting on these themes, I decided that we would explore two essential questions during the unit:

1. What are the benefits or risks of being part of a cultural community?
2. How do our communities (racial, ethnic, religious, cultural) help us to express or hinder us from expressing our “true selves”?

In order to answer these essential questions, students will need to master three main objectives:

1. Students will be able to define key concepts such as culture, ethnicity, assimilation, and stereotypes.
2. They will be able to apply those concepts in discussions of a novel (American Born Chinese) and informational texts about communities and culture.
3. Students will be able to discuss the risks and benefits of belonging to a community (ethnic, cultural, religious, etc.) by referring to examples from the novel, informational texts, and their own experiences.

Content Objectives Related to Students’ Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Goals

As discussed above, the content of the curriculum unit will explore the risks and benefits of belonging to a community through reading a novel and informational texts, writing about them, and engaging in discussion. However, as a special education teacher, I must also ensure that the unit is designed to meet the literacy goals of students’ Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). By middle school, most students with learning disabilities have IEP goals for improving their decoding skills, vocabulary, comprehension skills, and writing ability.

Many of my students have IEP goals related to improving their decoding ability. While most students with IEPs at the middle school levels have mastered letter-sound correspondence and are able to read short words, they often struggle to decode multisyllable words. The unit addresses this aspect of students’ reading development.

Another key area of need for middle school students with IEPs is reading comprehension.  While these students may be reading fluently, they often struggle to summarize what they have read or answer questions about the text. They lack metacognitive strategies such as self-monitoring comprehension and questioning during reading and need to be explicitly taught “what good readers do” in order to make meaning of text. The curriculum unit addresses this need.

For many students with learning disabilities, limited vocabulary impedes their comprehension of new texts. Many students also have IEP goals for expanding their vocabulary and improving their ability to understand new words in context. For this unit, I will incorporate keyword mnemonics and “clicks and clunks” strategy instruction to address this need (see Teaching Strategies for more detail).

Finally, many students require interventions to assist with their written expression skills. High-leverage practices for writing instruction include allowing students to use word processors for writing assignments, teaching steps for the writing process, and modeling strategies to use with each step of the writing process (Gillespie & Graham, 2014). While this unit does not include a written narrative or essay, students will need to write a plan to participate in the summative discussion that includes their main ideas and supporting evidence. I will use research-based strategies for teaching writing to assist students with this part of the unit.

Content Objectives Related to Common Core Standards for Reading Literature, Reading Informational Text, and Speaking and Listening

As a learning support teacher, I plan instruction that addresses students’ needs related to their IEP goals while also collaborating with general education co-teachers to plan instruction that addresses grade-level skills and standards. In this unit, students will read, analyze and discuss a novel and informational texts in order to meet middle school Common Core Standards. While this unit is designed specifically with 7th grade standards, it can be used to meet standards in the 6-8-grade band.

When students read and analyze American Born Chinese, they will be working on grade-level standards related to reading literature. They will improve their ability to, “cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,” (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1) “determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text,” (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4)  and “read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range,” (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.10).

When students read and analyze the companion articles, they will be working on grade-level standards related to reading informational texts. They will improve their ability to “cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,” (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1) and “read and comprehend literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range,” (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.10)

Finally, when students prepare for and engage in a discussion about the themes of the unit, they will be working on grade-level standards related to writing, speaking, and listening. They will improve their ability to, “draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research,” (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.9) “come to discussions prepared, having read or researched material under study,” (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1.A) and, “engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly,” (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1).

Pre-Teaching Vocabulary with Key Mnemonics

One research-based strategy for improving vocabulary is using keyword mnemonic pictures to teach new words. For example, to help students to remember that a scow is a type of boat, you would point out that “scow” sounds like “cow” and present a picture of a cow sitting in a boat. When students are later presented with the word during reading (scow), they will be able to think of the keyword (cow) and the picture (the cow sitting in the boat) to remember the definition (boat) (The Iris Center, 2013). For this unit, I will select 3-5 new vocabulary words per day from the text (novel or informational text) and briefly present keyword mnemonic images for those words before reading. Since I frequently use this strategy in the classroom, I also encourage students to come up with their own keyword mnemonic images during some lessons.

Multisyllabic Decoding Strategy Instruction.

Many middle school students with learning disabilities have learned to decode one-syllable words, but need multisyllabic decoding instruction, including instruction in syllable patterns, syllabication steps and rules, and accenting patterns in order to read grade-level text.

Explicitly Teach Six Syllable Types (closed syllable, final “e” syllable, open syllable, vowel team syllable, vowel + r syllable, consononant+le syllable). For instance, syllable type instruction teaches students that open syllables end in a vowel and in these syllables, the vowel says its name. For instance, in vacate, “va” is an open syllable (Blachman & Murray, 2012),

Teach a Strategy for Breaking Words into Syllables. Another key component of multisyllabic decoding instruction is teaching a “chunking” strategy that helps students to break the word into syllables. For instance, I teach students to underline the vowel sounds in the word, which tells them how many syllables the word will have. Once they know how many syllables there are, they draw lines between the syllables and use their knowledge of syllable types to sound out the syllables.

Weaving in Decoding Instruction. While this unit does not include direct instruction on multisyllabic decoding, it utilizes previously taught multisyllabic decoding skills in order to incorporate students’ IEP goals into the general education classroom. As we read challenging grade-level texts, I will prompt students to use their syllabication strategies as needed to decoded challenging words.

Daily “Do Now” Writing Prompts.

As part of my opening routine in my classroom, students complete a daily “Do Now” writing prompt. This practice has several aims. My students need daily writing practice in order to build their written expression skills, including their writing fluency, their spelling and grammar skills, and their ability to quickly organize their thinking into a concise paragraph.

These questions often serve to connect the day’s reading or lesson to students lived experiences. This helps students to see our work together as relevant to their own lives, which fosters engagement and motivation. They also help to activate background knowledge or prompt students to remember readings from a previous lesson or chapter. Since students with learning disabilities often struggle with retention, reviewing key content from the previous chapter helps them to access the reading for the day.

Collaborative Strategic Reading Instruction.

To improve students’ reading comprehension, we read using the Collaborative Strategic Reading framework (Cavendish & Hodnett, 2017). This is a set of strategies that includes pre-reading strategies such as previewing the text and activating background knowledge, self-monitoring comprehension during reading and fixing comprehension breakdowns, summarizing during reading, and asking and answering questions after reading. I teach these strategies at the beginning of the year and we will continue to use them during this unit to bolster students’ comprehension skills.

Previewing. Before reading, students look at the title, headings, pictures, graphs, bold words, underlined words and italicized words. After scanning, they ask themselves two questions: What do I already know about this topic? What do I predict I will learn about this topic? This strategy explicitly teaches students who to activate background knowledge, which fosters improved comprehension.

Get the Gist. After each paragraph or section, students stop to “get the gist” (summarize). They ask themselves two questions: What person, place, or thing was this section mostly about? What is being said about this person, place, or thing? They then try to restate the “gist” in 10 words or fewer. This strategy explicitly teaches students to stop and summarize smaller sections, which facilitates their understanding of the text as a whole.

Clicks and Clunks. As they read, students consider whether words/sentences are “clicks” (they understand) or “clunks” (there is a comprehension breakdown). When they encounter a “clunk,” they learn to re-read before and after and break the word down into parts to try to understand it. This strategy explicitly teaches students to self-monitor comprehension and fix comprehension breakdowns as they occur.

Wrap Up. After reading, students learn to “wrap up” by asking and answering three questions about the text. This helps them to self-assess their comprehension. If they have difficulty asking and answering questions, they know that they may need to go back and reread to understand.

Discussion Formats.

This unit utilizes a variety of discussion formats to increase students’ mastery of speaking and listening standards. We will progress from partner and small group discussions toward whole class discussions in order to build students’ confidence with discussing their ideas with peers.

Partner Discussion. In the beginning of the unit, I utilize partner discussions to build students’ confidence with discussing texts and opinions. In this format, students will answer discussion questions with a partner before having an opportunity to share their viewpoints with the entire class.

This or That. In this discussion format, students are posed with an opinion statement (“You must always be true to yourself, even that means not being accepted.”) and then move to an “Agree” or “Disagree” side of the room. Once students pick a side, they can explain why they chose to agree or disagree. This will be the second discussion format we use, since it involves total student participation (moving to one side of the room) while also building students’ levels of comfort with sharing their view with the entire class.

Concentric Circles. In this format, students form an inner and outer circle. They discuss a question with a partner on the other circle. After each question, the outer circle moves so that each student has a new partner. This format will allow students to practice discussing their views while also creating opportunities to speak to many different classmates.

Fishbowl Discussion. A group of 2-4 students goes into the middle of the room and has a discussion while other students take notes. We will use this format to start having more metacognitive conversations about our class discussions. After the students in the “fishbowl” discuss, I will have the class comment on what went well and what could improve about their discussion. This will serve as a scaffold for the final, whole-class discussion.

Socratic Seminar. In the final Socratic Seminar, the entire class will discuss questions related to the unit as a whole. Students will also have the opportunity to submit their own questions for discussion. They will also have time to prepare for the discussion by organizing notes and text evidence beforehand. This discussion will take place over several class periods and will serve as the final assessment for the curriculum unit.

Materials Needed: Class set of American Born Chinese graphic novels, printed copies of informational texts, Collaborative Strategic Reading logs (see Appendix B), Discussion Talk Moves to display in classroom/distribute to students (see Appendix C), Socratic Seminar rubrics (see Appendix E)

Timeline for Completion: Each section of the unit takes 2-3 class periods. The entire unit will take 3 – 4 weeks.

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to use reading comprehension strategies in order to read and comprehend literature and literary nonfiction in the grades 6-8 complexity band (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.10, CSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.10).
2. Students will be able to learn new vocabulary in order to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.4, CSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.4).
3. Students will be able to participate in a variety of class discussions about texts in order to engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1).
4. Students will be able to refer to the text when participating in a discussion in order to cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1, CSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1).

Evaluative Tool: See Appendix D for a rubric to evaluate student participation in the Final Socratic Seminar.

Part F. Power of Communities

Annotated Bibliography for Teachers

Bishop, R. S. (1990). Windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives, 6(3), ix-xi.

This influential article discussed how children of color are often deprived of opportunities to see themselves and their experiences reflected in classroom texts. Bishop suggests that educators must include texts that serve as “windows” to other experiences, “mirrors” or students’ own experiences, and “sliding glass doors” that helps them draw comparisons between other cultures and their own.

Blachman, B. A., & Murray, M. S. (2012). Teaching tutorial: Decoding instruction.

 This tutorial from TeachingLd.org covers the basic components of decoding instruction. It defines decoding, summarizes the research about the effectiveness of decoding instruction, and provides instruction for implementing decoding instruction in the classroom.

Brown, A. F., Bloome, D., Morris, J. E., Power-Carter, S., & Willis, A. I. (2017). Classroom conversations in the study of race and the disruption of social and educational inequalities: A review of research. Review of Research in Education, 41(1), 453-476.

This article reviews decades of research on conversations about race in PK-12 settings as well as preservice teacher classes. The authors synthesis the findings to argue that discussions of race in the classroom are curricular, discursive, and disruptive.

Cavendish, W., Hodnett, K. (2017). Collaborative strategic reading. Current Practice Alerts, 26, 1-6. Retrieved from http://TeachingLD.org/alerts

This report provides details about Collaborative Strategic Reading, an evidence-based framework for improving reading comprehension for students with learning disabilities. In this framework, students are taught to preview text before reading, self-monitor comprehension during reading, summarize during reading, and ask and answer questions after reading.

Chou, R. S., & Feagin, J. R. (2015). Myth of the model minority: Asian Americans facing racism. Routledge.

This book challenges the view that Asian Americans do not experience racism and discrimination by using information from interviews with Asian Americans across the country. The authors find that while Asian Americans deploy a variety of coping mechanisms, they face discrimination in American schools, workplaces, and social settings.  

 Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American journal of sociology, 94, S95-S120.

In this article, Coleman introduced the concept of social capital, which he defines as social structures that facilitate certain actions, and discusses how it can help to explain certain outcomes, such as dropping out of high school.

Diliberto, J. A., Beattie, J. R., Flowers, C. P., & Algozzine, R. F. (2008). Effects of teaching syllable skills instruction on reading achievement in struggling middle school readers. Literacy Research and Instruction, 48(1), 14-27.

This study investigated the effect of multisyllabic decoding instruction on reading achievement for middle school students with high-incidence disabilities. They found that this type of instruction, including syllable patterns, syllabication steps and rules, and accenting patterns fostered improved word identification, word attack, and reading comprehension.

 Edwards, B. (2009). Motivating Middle School Readers: The Graphic Novel Link. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(8), 56-58.

This article outlines how graphic novels are an especially powerful tool for engaging middle school readers. They provide scaffolds for struggling readers who may have difficulty engaging with books. They can provide motivation to middle school readers who may otherwise not enjoy novels.

Gillespie, A., & Graham, S. (2014). A meta-analysis of writing interventions for students with learning disabilities. Exceptional children, 80(4), 454-473.

This article analyzed findings from 43 studies on writing interventions for students with learning disabilities. According to the meta-analysis, effective writing instruction for students with learning disabilities should include strategy instruction, process instruction, and opportunities for dictation.

The IRIS Center. (2013). Study skills strategies (part 2): Strategies that improve students’ academic performance. Retrieved from https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/ss2/

This module includes an explanation of the keyword mnemonic strategy for vocabulary instruction. This strategy helps students to link a new vocabulary word to a known concept or scheme, improving their ability to recall the word when they encounter it in a text. This strategy is used during the unit to address students’ vocabulary needs.

 Kay, M. R. (2018). Not light, but fire: How to lead meaningful race conversations in the classroom. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Stenhouse Publishers.

This book provides guidance on how to have meaningful race conversations in the classroom. In Part One, Kay provides concrete guidance on how to create a “dialogic” pedagogy that empowers students to have meaningful race conversations. In Part Two, he presents exemplar discussion from his own classroom to serve as a model.

Lee, J., & Zhou, M. (2015). The Asian American Achievement Paradox. Russell Sage Foundation.

In this book, Lee and Zhou study second-generation Asian Americans to explain the “paradox” of Asian American achievement – while Asian Americans have high educational attainment, Asian American youth who do not fit in to this “model minority” stereotype experience feelings of failure and rejection.

Lopez, D., & Espiritu, Y. (1990). Panethnicity in the United States: A theoretical framework. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 13(2), 198-224.

In this article, Lopez and Espiritu define panethnicity as the generalization of solidarity across ethnic subgroups. They examine the concept for four different panethnic groupings: Asian Americans, Native Americans, Indo Americans, and Latinos. The propose that studying these groups provide insight into panethnic development and ethnic change generally.

Okamoto, D. G. (2014). Redefining race: Asian American panethnicity and shifting ethnic boundaries. Russell Sage Foundation.

In this book, Okamoto details the history about how Asian American panethnicity was developed. It discusses of the history of Asian American immigration and the development of the Asian American panethnic identity during the Civil Rights era.

Pang, V. O., Colvin, C., Tran, M., & Barba, R. H. (1992). Beyond chopsticks and dragons: Selecting Asian-American literature for children. The Reading Teacher, 46(3), 216-224.

In this article, the authors propose a framework for selecting texts about Asian Americans that refrain from using stereotypes and instead include positive, inclusive, and accurate portrayals of Asian Americans. They recommend that teachers select Asian American children’s books that meet the following criteria: (a) a culturally pluralistic theme, (b) positive portrayal of characters, (c) settings in the United States, (d) authentic illustrations, (e) strong plot and characterization, and (f) historical accuracy.

Portes, A., & Zhou, M. (1993). The new second generation: Segmented assimilation and its variants. The annals of the American academy of political and social science, 530(1), 74-96.

Portes and Zhou discuss the idea that there are diverse types of assimilation outcomes. This includes upward assimilation (immigrants adopt dominant culture), downward assimilation (immigrants adopt the culture of a subordinate group), or segmented (immigrants selectively adopt the dominant culture).

Reading List for Students

Associated Press. (2022, May 4). First pope Francis, now U.S. churches face reckoning with indigenous boarding schools. Newsela. Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://newsela.com/read/native-americans-boarding-schools/id/2001028675/

Barajas, J. (2016, September 30). This Chinese-American cartoonist forces us to face racist stereotypes. PBS. Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/this-chinese-american-cartoonist-forces-us-to-face-racist-stereotypes

History.com. (2017, June 7). San Francisco’s Chinatown: Immigrants Build Community in “City by the Bay”. Newsela. Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://newsela.com/read/lib-history-san-francisco-chinatown/id/31388/

History.com. (2021, May 16). When 20,000 Asian Americans demanded garment workers’ rights — and won. Newsela. Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://newsela.com/read/chinatown-garment-workers-strike/id/2001021063/

National Geographic Society. (2021, October 29). Defining characteristics of a culture. Newsela. Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://newsela.com/read/natgeo-defining-culture/id/2001021719/

Washington Post. (2021, May 3). “Asian American” is a broad term that unites some and divides others. Newsela. Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://newsela.com/read/asian-american-term-identity/id/51885/

YouTube. (2013). What Kind of Asian Are you? Retrieved June 13, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWynJkN5HbQ.

Appendix A. Common Core Standards

Appendix B. Collaborative Strategic Reading Log

›Name: _____________________________                       Date: ________________________

Strategic Reading Log

Article title: _________________________________

QUESTION 1: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________

ANSWER 1: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________

QUESTION 2: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________

ANSWER 2: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________

QUESTION 3: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________

ANSWER 3: ___________________________________________

___________________________________________

Appendix C. Discussion Talk Moves to Display/Distribute

Appendix E. Rubric for final Socratic seminar

See PDF for photos.