Substituting is Like Being a Foster Parent

 My beloved colleague had assigned a NYTimes article for the students to read and discuss before she left for her maternity leave. I finally got to grading the student work this weekend and my first impression was "Oy vey, I would never have used this piece." The Lexile is through the roof, the cultural references were 5 years out of date, the light tone did not seem to suit our current storms. Oy.

 

"Gender roles are merging. Races are being shed. In the last six years or so, but especially in 2015, we’ve been made to see how trans and bi and poly-ambi-omni- we are."


Then I started to read the student responses. They were honest with their struggles with the author's complicated points about identity and race and shifting gender norms. They grappled with the text, pulled out great quotes to work with, talked to each other (at this point in the relationship they are mostly agreeing with each other, but that's okay.)


And I reconsidered. I realized my dear colleague had selected something perfect. We must look back at our history to understand today. That's one of the many reasons why we are reading Frankenstein. They must tangle with complicated syntax and sophisticated vocab. They need to feel the lighter mood of the Obama era and compare it to now. 



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