Sometimes you meet important people in your life quite by accident. Below is a conversation between two English Educators whom I meet without a plan. I met Susan at an editors' meeting at NCTE and Bryan when he attended a conference I held at LSU--referenced below. Both Susan and Bryan and have contributed to Dr. Bickmore's YA Wednesday (scan for both of their previous post on the contributor's page.) They met at that first conference and discovered that they had several academic interests in common. One, of course, was Young Adult Literature. A second was their work with writing projects.
For this post Bryan and Susan combine to talk about how they have collaborated. Their experience is a prime example of how a few conversations at small conferences can energize and enhance your teaching and academic work. Maybe we can convince them both to come to Las Vegas for the next UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. (Stay tuned for details about our keynote speakers and about opportunities to present in the next few weeks.)
For this post Bryan and Susan combine to talk about how they have collaborated. Their experience is a prime example of how a few conversations at small conferences can energize and enhance your teaching and academic work. Maybe we can convince them both to come to Las Vegas for the next UNLV Summit on the Research and Teaching of Young Adult Literature. (Stay tuned for details about our keynote speakers and about opportunities to present in the next few weeks.)
The Superpower of Hope: Matt de la Peña’s Superman: Dawnbreaker and Rose Brock’s Hope Nation
by Bryan Ripley Crandall and Susan James
The following was recorded between Dr. Susan James, University of Western Florida and Dr. Bryan Ripley Crandall, Fairfield University (Connecticut), as they reflected together on a cross-state National Writing Project collaboration. They met in 2014 during Dr. Stephen Bickmore’s 1st Annual Conference on Young Adult Literature, then hosted in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
This summer, the two NWP site directors thematically infused Rose Brock’s non-fiction collection, Hope Nation, and Matt de la Peña’s Superman: Dawnbreaker in their summer leadership institutes for teaching writing. The Superpower of Hope was a partnership between two locations where K-16 educators had the opportunity to build writing portfolios, to explore best practices for teaching writing and to work with a co-constructed question, “What is the Superpower of Hope?’
This summer, the two NWP site directors thematically infused Rose Brock’s non-fiction collection, Hope Nation, and Matt de la Peña’s Superman: Dawnbreaker in their summer leadership institutes for teaching writing. The Superpower of Hope was a partnership between two locations where K-16 educators had the opportunity to build writing portfolios, to explore best practices for teaching writing and to work with a co-constructed question, “What is the Superpower of Hope?’
Bryan: Susan, it was a pleasure coming to Pensacola, Florida, this summer to talk with your teachers and to finally see your National Writing Project site in person. Seeing the Emerald Coast Writing Project in action and learning how another director carries out the mission was awesome. I was super-impressed not only with your use of young adult literature, but how you paired such work with so many children’s books. It’s definitely something I’m bringing back to Connecticut.
So, you and I focused our institutes on The Superpower of Hope this year, a two-state initiative in support of educators attending our summer programs. I was impressed at the energy, enthusiasm and dedication of your teachers and how much they had already bonded by the time I arrived.
You were the first to mention Rose Brock’s Hope Nation to me in a text message and I believe you quickly sent me a copy the very next day. That is always how you roll. Soon after, Rose Brock was invited to be a guest at Saugatuck StoryFest in Westport, Connecticut. She’s a powerhouse of a human being and it was so much fun spending time with the two of you.
Do you remember how you pitched the book collaboration with me?
So, you and I focused our institutes on The Superpower of Hope this year, a two-state initiative in support of educators attending our summer programs. I was impressed at the energy, enthusiasm and dedication of your teachers and how much they had already bonded by the time I arrived.
You were the first to mention Rose Brock’s Hope Nation to me in a text message and I believe you quickly sent me a copy the very next day. That is always how you roll. Soon after, Rose Brock was invited to be a guest at Saugatuck StoryFest in Westport, Connecticut. She’s a powerhouse of a human being and it was so much fun spending time with the two of you.
Do you remember how you pitched the book collaboration with me?
Susan: Of course, I remember! I spend most of my free time reading and, as you know, books provide me an introduction to various perspectives on life. In our polarizing climate over the last few years, several teacher consultants involved in the Emerald Coast National Writing Project (NWP) site at the University of West Florida (UWF) wanted to collaborate on a theme for our 85-hour Invitational Summer Institute. This summer, the teachers decided on Hope for answers as to why the world is as it is. I called you and said, “We need to have our teachers read Hope Nation this year. They need to discuss the essays and narratives written by young adult authors.”
Bryan: Yes, I read the copy of Hope Nation you sent, and instantly knew you were right. I jumped into the writing of Libba Bray, Gayle Forman, and Nic Stone, because two of our CWP-Fairfield teachers, Rebecca Marsick and Kim Herzog, invited them to come to the Saugatuck StoryFest, too. Kim, an English teacher at Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut, spent all year creating curriculum in partnership with Hope Nation. I’m super excited that we’ll be able to present this at NCTE later this year.
At last year’s NCTE, I also picked up the Hope Nation audiobook, and loved listening to the essays, as well. Sometimes I think listening is even more powerful than reading, and this was especially true for Libba Bray’s chapter, “Before and After.” Her story hooked me and made me think critically about what Hope actually means. I was driving back from my parents and became so engrossed with the story that I had to pull over to listen attentively. It is so beautifully written, and the content is heavy; I realized I needed to think about the story rather than drive distracted. I stopped, listened, absorbed the truth, and soaked in her inspiration. Phew. What a brilliant writer!
Hope is a word I’ve thought of often, ever since the tragedy in Sandy Hook, an elementary school that is close to Fairfield University and where I live. At the time, I looked to National Writing Project sites to find inspiration for how to help communities heal. In partnership with author Trina Praulus, CWP-Fairfield and I did a butterfly release of Hope For the Flowers. We dropped the books off in schools, churches, doctors’ offices, masques, synagogues and libraries. Our campus knew there was a tremendous need for community conversations, and we delivered 600 or more copies of the book to the region. For me, books have always been Hope.
At last year’s NCTE, I also picked up the Hope Nation audiobook, and loved listening to the essays, as well. Sometimes I think listening is even more powerful than reading, and this was especially true for Libba Bray’s chapter, “Before and After.” Her story hooked me and made me think critically about what Hope actually means. I was driving back from my parents and became so engrossed with the story that I had to pull over to listen attentively. It is so beautifully written, and the content is heavy; I realized I needed to think about the story rather than drive distracted. I stopped, listened, absorbed the truth, and soaked in her inspiration. Phew. What a brilliant writer!
Hope is a word I’ve thought of often, ever since the tragedy in Sandy Hook, an elementary school that is close to Fairfield University and where I live. At the time, I looked to National Writing Project sites to find inspiration for how to help communities heal. In partnership with author Trina Praulus, CWP-Fairfield and I did a butterfly release of Hope For the Flowers. We dropped the books off in schools, churches, doctors’ offices, masques, synagogues and libraries. Our campus knew there was a tremendous need for community conversations, and we delivered 600 or more copies of the book to the region. For me, books have always been Hope.
I also teach an undergraduate philosophy of education course where my students read Dewey, Freire, Noddings, Greene and more. In a text I love, Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialogue in Schools, Lone and Burroughs (2016) emphasize the importance of exploring essential questions about life with school-aged children, because philosophy is question- rather than answered-centered. It is interesting to think about how scholars name storytelling, literacy and education synonymously with Hope….sort of like Alan Luke’s idea of “pedagogy as gift” (2010). Reading, writing and discussing ideas with students is Hope, a gift to our students that more is possible when one lives a literate life.
Like you, I’ve been thinking about Hope and its relationship to our current world, especially in relation to the myth of Pandora’s Box. It’s funny, I like to show a quick cartoon (8 minutes) about Pandora’s Box to undergraduates to bring them up to speed on the Pandora story of her box (which some say is actually a vase or cup). It’s a fast rendition of the story and, although not the quality of today’s animations, I like to challenge them by asking, “Is hope an evil, too?”
Like you, I’ve been thinking about Hope and its relationship to our current world, especially in relation to the myth of Pandora’s Box. It’s funny, I like to show a quick cartoon (8 minutes) about Pandora’s Box to undergraduates to bring them up to speed on the Pandora story of her box (which some say is actually a vase or cup). It’s a fast rendition of the story and, although not the quality of today’s animations, I like to challenge them by asking, “Is hope an evil, too?”
Susan: On the surface, this question seems easy to answer, Bryan, but in reality, it takes quite a bit of reflection and, unfortunately, experience with crippling loss that occurs in our lives. Every blog I have ever written for Bickmore has been written while in the hospital awaiting news about a parent who is in the ICU, so this question is both timely and important to me as I grasp for hope during a dark time. My definition of Hope (with a capital H, as it deserves) is when, despite a soul-shattering loss, we combat any fear that steals today’s joys and robs us of any optimism for the future.
Bryan: It’s interesting that you say, “combat any fear,” because fear is the exact word students and teachers often mention in relationship to Hope. Pandora realizes that Hope is the only thing left in the chest to counter illness, death, turmoil, strife, jealousy, and hatred, the evils unleashed into the world. Hope, then, is left in the box to counter fear. Hope is what we grab onto when faced with the ugly side of having life, which has shown itself over and over again throughout history. I found a poem, once, written by Brendan Kennelly, an Irish writer, that he called “The World’s Oldest Trilogy” (1995). The poem was short, “I love / to believe / in hope.” The oldest trilogy is that love, beliefs and Hope are intertwined. I like to remind myself that Hope, however, was boxed-in with all the darkness, too.
Perhaps this is why middle and high school teachers need to explore Hope within their profession and as a theme with students and teachers. Why did you and your teacher leaders turn to Hope as a theme?
Perhaps this is why middle and high school teachers need to explore Hope within their profession and as a theme with students and teachers. Why did you and your teacher leaders turn to Hope as a theme?
Susan: Because Hope is a great theme, especially for teachers of literacy. Absolutely. In fact, each year at the National Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute (ISI), I have planned for use of a theme, which ties every activity and reading we do to essential questions about a particular concept. This is the method I used when teaching both middle and high schoolers, and it really allowed for students to make deeper connections to literature, as they were exposed to diverse stories, characters, and people who struggled through an event or events in life but, in different ways, continued to sustain hope. The writing from these themed units was the most poignant of all my years as a teacher, and the students I taught during those times still communicate with me about how this style of teaching changed their lives.
As for Hope and teachers, the first year of my NWP site’s existence, I continued the idea of using themes during the summer institute. The first year, I selected “courage” because building a National Writing Project site by myself required a lot of work and hours, and a whole lot of “courage”. I feared I would not successfully provide what the teachers needed.
The next year, however, I worked with a group of teachers who were participants during the first year, and they selected the theme of “Hope.” I spent hours organizing resources to use in a massive text set, and one of the books I fell in love with was Rose Brock’s Hope Nation, which was published a year before Emerald Coast Writing Project debuted. As you know, I have never known a stranger, so I reached out to Rose Brock and asked her and Jeff Zentner, author of The Serpent King, Goodbye Days, and his latest Rayne and Delilah, to help me kick off our institute with Skype visits. The rest is history, as I have become good friends with Rose, and Jeff still Skypes each year with the teachers.
As for Hope and teachers, the first year of my NWP site’s existence, I continued the idea of using themes during the summer institute. The first year, I selected “courage” because building a National Writing Project site by myself required a lot of work and hours, and a whole lot of “courage”. I feared I would not successfully provide what the teachers needed.
The next year, however, I worked with a group of teachers who were participants during the first year, and they selected the theme of “Hope.” I spent hours organizing resources to use in a massive text set, and one of the books I fell in love with was Rose Brock’s Hope Nation, which was published a year before Emerald Coast Writing Project debuted. As you know, I have never known a stranger, so I reached out to Rose Brock and asked her and Jeff Zentner, author of The Serpent King, Goodbye Days, and his latest Rayne and Delilah, to help me kick off our institute with Skype visits. The rest is history, as I have become good friends with Rose, and Jeff still Skypes each year with the teachers.
Bryan: CWP-Fairfield also themes its summer programs each year, and use shared texts between our teacher institute and young adult literacy labs, especially Project Citizen - a two week writing camp for high school kids. In collaboration with you, however, we framed this summer’s work with Hope Nation and Matt de la Peña’s Superman: Dawnbreaker. Throughout the programs we asked the question, “Is Hope a superpower?”
Wes Daunis, an incredible elementary teacher and comic book fanatic from Bridgeport, Connecticut, taught us during the summer institute that the S on Superman’s uniform is actually not for the name, but the Kryptonian symbol that means Hope. He assured us it was trivia for only the geekiest of comic book nerds. Sure enough, I did some reading around the symbol and, well, I welcomed the coincidence and shouted out to the Great Whatever, “Look Suzie Q, it’s serendipity!” The coincidence brought the pairing of de la Peña’s YA novel with the essays in Rose Brock’s collection to a much higher level.
We also used Kelly Chandler’s Olcott’s A Good Fit For All Kids:Collaborating to Teach Writing in Diverse, Inclusive Settings, and Ronnie Sidney’s Nelson Beats the Odds. We wanted to do a better job addressing the writing needs of all kids, including those with learning disabilities. We often discussed, “Is the real superpower having the ability to reach all kids?” Lucky for us, too, we picked up Jerry Craft’s New Kid at the last minute, which added another amazing layer to the conversation. It was a great summer of using YA texts within the National Writing Project tradition, and all of us are better educators because of it.
We also used Kelly Chandler’s Olcott’s A Good Fit For All Kids:Collaborating to Teach Writing in Diverse, Inclusive Settings, and Ronnie Sidney’s Nelson Beats the Odds. We wanted to do a better job addressing the writing needs of all kids, including those with learning disabilities. We often discussed, “Is the real superpower having the ability to reach all kids?” Lucky for us, too, we picked up Jerry Craft’s New Kid at the last minute, which added another amazing layer to the conversation. It was a great summer of using YA texts within the National Writing Project tradition, and all of us are better educators because of it.
Susan: That’s just it. Teachers are readers and need to be given opportunities to see how books can be paired to explore new ideas with students. Rose Brock’s reason for writing the book, in fact, echoed what I kept hearing from teachers as to why they wanted “Hope” as our theme. The teachers, who were now Teacher Consultants for our NWP site, agreed that a feeling of anger has been ruling supreme with citizens in our country. The divisions created by politics has caused friction most have not known before. Add current issues in education to this anger, and teachers are just plain tired.
In Florida, we started the year with nearly 3,500 positions that needed to be filled. As the Orlando Sentinel noted, “If you teach in Florida, pay is low, bureaucratic baloney is high, and the politicians are more likely to demonize you than support you” (Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel, August 13, 2009). Our teachers were just getting a handle on the Florida Standards, and now they are being rewritten. With this comes new textbooks, more high-stakes testing, and the need for additional planning and professional development, but with limited funding and support. Add with this loss there’s also the unregulated charter schools, and it is a hotbed of stress. Teachers feel our children are not at the forefront of thought, and that needs to change.
I knew the magnitude of this theme, of Hope, when teachers asked to continue it during the NWP Invitational Summer Institute for a 2nd year. It all came together this summer, when you arrived in Pensacola right after Rose Brock, and the three of us became instant friends due to our shared passion for books and working with teachers. Your idea of adding Matt de la Peña’s text and a theme of The Superpower of Hope made this summer extra special. Why Superman? Why now? Do we all have superpowers as classroom teachers?
In Florida, we started the year with nearly 3,500 positions that needed to be filled. As the Orlando Sentinel noted, “If you teach in Florida, pay is low, bureaucratic baloney is high, and the politicians are more likely to demonize you than support you” (Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel, August 13, 2009). Our teachers were just getting a handle on the Florida Standards, and now they are being rewritten. With this comes new textbooks, more high-stakes testing, and the need for additional planning and professional development, but with limited funding and support. Add with this loss there’s also the unregulated charter schools, and it is a hotbed of stress. Teachers feel our children are not at the forefront of thought, and that needs to change.
I knew the magnitude of this theme, of Hope, when teachers asked to continue it during the NWP Invitational Summer Institute for a 2nd year. It all came together this summer, when you arrived in Pensacola right after Rose Brock, and the three of us became instant friends due to our shared passion for books and working with teachers. Your idea of adding Matt de la Peña’s text and a theme of The Superpower of Hope made this summer extra special. Why Superman? Why now? Do we all have superpowers as classroom teachers?
Bryan: I will go to my grave advocating for teachers and kids, and it will always interest me that at the core of America’s education system is a battle between administrative progressivism and teacher progressivism. The National Writing Project model has always worked for me because it celebrates the knowledge, expertise and dedication provided by classroom educators. Teachers teaching teachers. We need more opportunities for educators to come together to discuss what works with kids, what can be possible, and where one might find additional resources. Too often, we get top-down, detached and agenda-oriented professional development that comes and goes in fad-like fashion that leads to nowhere. The National Writing Project mission and framework is sustainable.I often joke that teaching is emptying the ocean with a fork. I think any teacher who is able to resist the forces hindering excellence in the classroom is a superhero. Any educator who puts their kids first, who takes responsibility for their instruction and its results, and who endures what they do on a daily basis with all the pressures of teaching, is definitely a being with incredible powers. Perhaps that is why Matt de la Peña’s Superman: Dawnbreaker resonated so much with me. It’s the same for any Marvel or DC Comic hero. I want to believe in extraordinary powers because that’s what one needs to be successful in today’s schools. We need metaphors to keep us fighting the good fight, sort of like The All-American Diner for Clark Kent in de la Peña’s story. It works as a reminder that the United States is a result of the hard work of individuals from many cultures.
The All-American Diner was famous for two things: cheap, massive portions of french fries and a generous owner who never seemed to stop smiling. The owner, however, was not as all-American as the name of his restaurant might suggest. Davie Baez was one of Smallville’s first-ever Mexican immigrants. He’d move to town in the 1960s, from Oaxaca, and never left. He eventually married a local woman and had a large family and became a citizen. (51)
The All-American Diner was famous for two things: cheap, massive portions of french fries and a generous owner who never seemed to stop smiling. The owner, however, was not as all-American as the name of his restaurant might suggest. Davie Baez was one of Smallville’s first-ever Mexican immigrants. He’d move to town in the 1960s, from Oaxaca, and never left. He eventually married a local woman and had a large family and became a citizen. (51)
My research on the teaching of writing, and my special interest in working with refugee- and immigrant-background youth, made the Superman: Dawnbreaker book more intriguing. Matt de la Peña explores the American icon in his YA novel, as Clark Kent comes to terms with the fact that brown people are disappearing in Smallville. There’s a rise of hatred for anyone who is other - an adolescent Superman must come to terms with the bigotry, cruelty, and privilege existing in the place he knows as home. He must decide if he is on the side of White nationalism or with democracy and diversity. Interestingly, this is not new. The icon has stood for equity and pluralism as early as 1949 (see Superman: A Classic Message Restored, Nat’l Comics Pub, Inc, Distributed by the Institute for American Democracy, Inc)..
A few summers ago, when Matt de la Peña spoke to our students and teachers, a boy asked him what he was working on next. This is when I first heard him talk about Superman: Dawnbreaker and I remember him responding that Superman is, in some ways, the epitome of an immigrant. He’s the ultimate illegal alien. He comes from Krypton, yet serves the nation with strength, pride and integrity. He isn’t of this place, but arrives to this place with Hope that it can be better than it already is. That is a message I learn again and again with the young people I work with.
CWP-Fairfield provides opportunities each summer for young people and teachers to explore writing together. This year, I was lucky to have a history teacher, and YA Author, Michael Belanger, in my summer institute. He wrote The History of Jane Doe (Penguin Random House, 2019) and came to the institute not so much to tune his own craft, but to find ways to be a better writing teacher. This is what he had to say about The Superpower Hope,
A few summers ago, when Matt de la Peña spoke to our students and teachers, a boy asked him what he was working on next. This is when I first heard him talk about Superman: Dawnbreaker and I remember him responding that Superman is, in some ways, the epitome of an immigrant. He’s the ultimate illegal alien. He comes from Krypton, yet serves the nation with strength, pride and integrity. He isn’t of this place, but arrives to this place with Hope that it can be better than it already is. That is a message I learn again and again with the young people I work with.
CWP-Fairfield provides opportunities each summer for young people and teachers to explore writing together. This year, I was lucky to have a history teacher, and YA Author, Michael Belanger, in my summer institute. He wrote The History of Jane Doe (Penguin Random House, 2019) and came to the institute not so much to tune his own craft, but to find ways to be a better writing teacher. This is what he had to say about The Superpower Hope,
I’ve never been the biggest comic book fan. Sure, I’ve seen the movies, carried the lunch boxes, played with the action figures. But to this day, I don’t know why I never embraced Superman and Batman the same way some of my friends did.
As a teacher and writer, I’ve had a lot of time to think about hope—and hopelessness—in my career. It takes hope to start a new draft. To teach a class. To fail and try again. As a participant in the Connecticut Writing Project this summer, we talked a lot about Hope, in particular how it can be an antidote to fear. That really clicked for me. Because Superman and Batman were all about action, but teachers and writers have to live in their heads a lot of the time, and sometimes the best thing—the only thing—we can do is Hope.
Sometimes Hope takes time; it’s not only storming the bad guys’ headquarters or saving someone from a burning building. Really, for me, I’ve learned that teaching and writing are Hope. Because they speak of always striving for better. To be better. And I’m not just talking about being better than the person you were yesterday. Teaching and writing are about more than yourself, they’re about passing on hope to others. When you turn on the news, check Twitter, walk down the street, it’s easy to see a lot of fear. But if I can keep writing, keep teaching, then suddenly I have this superpower, the ability to see the world one way and imagine it another. It might not be as stylish as a cape—or it might be more stylish, depending on your view of capes—but it’s the best we’ve got. And it’s what gave us Superman and Batman in the first place.
As a teacher and writer, I’ve had a lot of time to think about hope—and hopelessness—in my career. It takes hope to start a new draft. To teach a class. To fail and try again. As a participant in the Connecticut Writing Project this summer, we talked a lot about Hope, in particular how it can be an antidote to fear. That really clicked for me. Because Superman and Batman were all about action, but teachers and writers have to live in their heads a lot of the time, and sometimes the best thing—the only thing—we can do is Hope.
Sometimes Hope takes time; it’s not only storming the bad guys’ headquarters or saving someone from a burning building. Really, for me, I’ve learned that teaching and writing are Hope. Because they speak of always striving for better. To be better. And I’m not just talking about being better than the person you were yesterday. Teaching and writing are about more than yourself, they’re about passing on hope to others. When you turn on the news, check Twitter, walk down the street, it’s easy to see a lot of fear. But if I can keep writing, keep teaching, then suddenly I have this superpower, the ability to see the world one way and imagine it another. It might not be as stylish as a cape—or it might be more stylish, depending on your view of capes—but it’s the best we’ve got. And it’s what gave us Superman and Batman in the first place.
Susan: Wow. That’s what many of the teachers in my institute were thinking, too. I asked myself the same question about Superman. Although our society has endured vast changes of late, one aspect of our culture is that we all love a good story, and Newbery-Winning Author Matt de le Pena spins a good one!
I met Matt back in 2012 at NCTE, and I have enjoyed reading his stories and following his career. When he told me he was writing a version of Superman, I immediately bought it, as did you. Although there are variations on the Superman story, the plot is consistent with a character who looks, on the surface, to be an ordinary citizen. Whether it is the power of adaptation that The Hulk demonstrates, the memory-wiping kiss that Superman displays, or the x-ray vision or enhanced senses of Wonder Woman, these superheroes use their abilities for the benefit of humanity. No career is even close to comparable as teaching. Under the most extreme circumstances, teachers have continued to be the one factor in education that makes the difference in the lives of students. They know what each student needs, and they pull out all the stops (superpowers) to make kids a priority, despite the odds.
I met Matt back in 2012 at NCTE, and I have enjoyed reading his stories and following his career. When he told me he was writing a version of Superman, I immediately bought it, as did you. Although there are variations on the Superman story, the plot is consistent with a character who looks, on the surface, to be an ordinary citizen. Whether it is the power of adaptation that The Hulk demonstrates, the memory-wiping kiss that Superman displays, or the x-ray vision or enhanced senses of Wonder Woman, these superheroes use their abilities for the benefit of humanity. No career is even close to comparable as teaching. Under the most extreme circumstances, teachers have continued to be the one factor in education that makes the difference in the lives of students. They know what each student needs, and they pull out all the stops (superpowers) to make kids a priority, despite the odds.
Bryan: That’s exactly it. It is one of the reasons why we also explored writing instruction as a ‘good fit’ for ‘all students’ this summer. Not all kids love to write, but all kids can write and will write when they are motivated to communicate something important and relevant to them. Pairing Rose Brock’s Hope Nation with Superman: Dawnbreaker initiated a lot of thinking for all of us this summer. Young adult literature goes hand in hand with what middle or high school teachers can do as writing teachers. The reading is high-interest for kids and the craft is excellent for modeling the choices writers make. Having a good question like, “What is the superpower of Hope,” leads to a variety of responses and thoughts. There’s never a homogeneous one; rather, the thinking is heterogeneous and rich.
Susan: Agreed. Having 30 years of experience in education, I, like all teachers, have had a front row seat with adolescents and young adults and have seen an increasing amount of grief, anxiety, and suffering. The past two summers, I have looked into the eyes of nearly 90 teachers who fear the obstacles they are seeing in their classrooms. Kids mimic what they see adults do, and the anger and pain we are seeing in the world are more prevalent with our students than even 5 years ago. And yet, teachers continue to do what they do using their superpowers. What has become readily apparent is this: we cannot forget about the power of stories. We cannot forget about the power in sheer numbers. The National Writing Project has given us that community of like-minded individuals who will always make kids a priority. Within this community, we all have our own strengths, or superpowers. Through reading amazing pieces of text, respectful discussion about our views, and the sharing of our stories, we have become a strong force. Our stories are those of Hope: they show how love, forgiveness, perseverance, faith, and action allow us to survive trying times. Reading, sharing, and listening to each other’s stories of Hope provides us the tools we need to bring equilibrium back to our world.
Referenced Work:
Belanger, M. (2018). The History of Jane Doe. New York: Dial Books, Penguin House
Brock, R. (Ed.) (2018). Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration. New
York: Penguin Books
Chandler-Olcott, K. (2019). A Good Fit For All Kids: Collaborating to Teach Writing in
Diverse, Inclusive Settings. Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press.
Craft, J. (2019). New Kid. New York: Harper Press
De la Peña, Matt (2019). Superman: Dawnbreaker. DC Comics. New York: Random House
Lone, J.M., & Burroughs, M.D. (2016). Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialogue in
Schools. New York: Rowman & Littlfeld.
Luke, A. (2010). Pedagogy as gift. In A. L. J. Albright (Ed.), Pierre Bourdieu and Literacy Education. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.
Kennelly, B. (1996). Poetry My Arse. Ireland: Bloodaxe Books, Ltd.
Maxwell, S. (2019). “3,500 teacher vacancies in Florida. This is what happens when you abuse
public education.” Commentary in Orlando Sentinel. August 13. Retrieved from:
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/scott-maxwell-commentary/os-op-florida-teach
er-vacacnies-scott-maxwell-20190813-ujqpsem3rzc4rheb3f5aqmybiq-story.html
Paulus, T. (1973). Hope for the Flowers. Paulist Press.
Sidney, R. (2015). Nelson Beats the Odds. Virginia: Creative Medicine: Healing Through
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Zentner, J. (2017). Goodbye Days. New York: Crown Books for Young Readers
Zentner, J. (2017). The Serpent King. New York: Penguin House Emblem
Zentner, J. (2019). Rayne and Delila’s Midnite Matinee. New York: Crown Books for Young
Readers
Belanger, M. (2018). The History of Jane Doe. New York: Dial Books, Penguin House
Brock, R. (Ed.) (2018). Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration. New
York: Penguin Books
Chandler-Olcott, K. (2019). A Good Fit For All Kids: Collaborating to Teach Writing in
Diverse, Inclusive Settings. Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press.
Craft, J. (2019). New Kid. New York: Harper Press
De la Peña, Matt (2019). Superman: Dawnbreaker. DC Comics. New York: Random House
Lone, J.M., & Burroughs, M.D. (2016). Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialogue in
Schools. New York: Rowman & Littlfeld.
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Until next time.
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