In our story drama unit there were many story dramas that spoke to me as being wonderful mentor texts and great storybooks to read as a class to find the meaning or message the book was wanting to convey; however, there was only one book that made me think more of just how good of a read the book was, in fact, it made me reconsider how valuable drama can be. Our storybook drama on “Magic Beads” begun with a workshop from Phil where we talked mostly about miming techniques and improvisation and not much about the actual book. However, this workshop was still quite wonderful! I remember distinctly an improvised scene that Jess, Teya and I did where we were exampling what we would take to a show and tell day at class. I remember the response we received from the instructors and the class as our improvised scene humouring and quite enjoyable to watch. I found it interesting that after experiencing such a light-hearted workshop that the story is related to was quite different in theme. In the next class, we got to read the story with no story drama pausing which was a change from what we were used to experiencing. The story explains two different plots; one about how a little girl is new to her school and nervous for show and tell and how she doesn’t have anything to share, and the other about her and her mom living in a shelter house because they have fled an abusive father/husband. Reading Magic Beads to one of my future classes at first made me very uncomfortable, how am I as a teacher who has experienced nothing even close to the realness of this story am supposed to tell this story to potential children dealing with lives similar. In my head, I thought that since this is such an emotional topic and since I have no relevant knowledge of any sort that the topic of abusive, poverty and so fourth should be just covered up and not discussed. Conversely, “[I] know that [teachers] have enormous power to influence the future of the students in our care. We need to be mindful of that power and to remain consistently conscious of what it means to teach fairly in an unfair world” (Lundy & Swartz, 2011, p. 5) and it is because of this that the realization of having an open discussion on topics like this came to me. It is the role of teachers to have uncomfortable discussions that students need to hear for them to feel comfortable about asking us for help. By opening the discussion up in a harmless way of a storybook we (as teachers) are inviting students to relate and feel safe discussing their situations. This workshop and the reading of Magic Beads helped me also recognize the importance of mentor texts and how they can support students in their learning and lives.
Through the years I have been amazed that you can discuss almost any topic with young students, as long as they feel safe in their classroom and you reassure them. There have been times when I have thought twice about the topic in a novel, or the language being used by the author, but I simply explain why the topic is important & should be discussed, or why the author has chosen to use the language in the story. Sharing quality literature with my class always makes me a little braver when I can discuss the topic through the author’s words 🙂
We had this exact talk in our drama class and discussed whether or not using a book such as “Magic Beads” should be used with discretion by age group. In the end, my opinion was that there is no use shielding children from the world as one day they will need to be aware of all its sorrows.