Same Sun Here: Education Department Read and its Teaching Implications

Link to Same Sun Here Author Talk:

https://www.smcvt.edu/academics/library/research-by-subject/education/education-department-reads.aspx

Description of Assignment:

The Saint Michael’s College Education Department’s Common Text for the 2017/2018 academic year was the young adult novel Same Sun Here by Silas House & Neela Vaswani. The book is written as an epistolary novel in which the entire novel is an exchange of written letters and pictures between two young adolescent pen pals. Saint Michael’s College then held an author talk with the female author Neela Vaswani on October 10, 2017. The talk began with a Q&A for about forty-five minutes where a combination of students, faculty, and local teachers asked a variety of questions that ranged from the novel’s content, the writing process, and the social implications and impacts of the novel. The talk concluded with Vaswani highlighting some of the key elements of the presentation that she often holds for younger audiences. This powerpoint highlighted areas of friendship, sameness, equality, and acceptance.

Tagged PCs/Mission Statement:

Performance Criterion 3.2: Candidates design learning environments that support collaborative learning marked by positive social interaction.

Performance Criterion 5.1: Candidates engage learners in applying perspectives from varied disciplines in authentic contexts (such as local and global issues).

Saint Michael’s Mission Pillar Tag:

Our graduates are change agents committed to social justice and sustainability.

They provide students with personalized learning opportunities in an environment that promotes cultural responsiveness, critical consciousness, and equity for all. They facilitate projects that engage their students in finding solutions to community-based problems and global issues..

The main focus of implementing this young adult novel into our collegiate level education classes was to serve as a teaching and learning tool for us as future teachers. This novel was a great resource for teachers to target areas such as inclusiveness, discrimination, and a plethora of other social justice issues. As future educators, we want our students to be active and progressive leaders in society. This novel teaches students that no matter where they are from or what their current social, economic, or personal situations may be; you can always find a friend and someone that will value you for who you are. This is an essential mentality to place into the minds of students to foster socially aware adolescents. Students are going to encounter instances of racism, homophobia, sexism, and bullying in their lives; and novels like Same Sun Here are great tools to get the conversation surrounding these issues started. Also, a novel such as this one offers so much room for hands on projects and experiences. Tableau’s, recreation of scenes, mock letter writing, pen pals, and so many other projects can be derived from reading this novel and give all types of learners a chance to express what they have learned from the novel.

Personal Teaching Reflection:

This novel, more specifically, follows the story of a young Indian immigrant girl, Meena, who lives in New York City who writes to her pen pal, a young boy named River, who lives in a small town in Kentucky. Meena frequently has to deal with instances of bullying, paired with the fact that her parents are illegally staying in an apartment in the city with a landlord that wants to sell the room rather than rent it. River also has to deal with the mountaintop removal that is so prevalent in states like Kentucky. Both characters had to deal with some form of social oppression, whether that being institutionalized racism or climate change. Both Meena and River also play active roles in attempting to help out and stand up for what they believe in within their communities. Although I am planning on being a math teacher, I believe that discussing various social issues is an essential role of any adolescent teacher. Although my own bias must be stripped from the discussion, I believe that when it is relevant to discuss social issues with my students, then I will by all means spend some time going over some of these issues to make sure that everyone in my class feels comfortable and accepted.

I was severely bullied throughout middle school and into high school, and I remember just how impactful and important it was to talk about social justice issues in class. Whether these issues include racism, sexism, and/or homophobia just to name a few, students must be able to feel comfortable talking about these issues as well as knowing that these issues exist. For example, after the release of the various sexual assault allegations that have been arising in the media, so many young adolescents must be very confused about what is going on. With the constant access to the news and current events via social media, students are bombarded with these stories. It is my job as a teacher to create socially aware students, and if students are impacted by various social issues, it is important to discuss them to make sure students feel comfortable and safe inside and outside of the classroom. The projects aspect of the teaching experience that I received from this novel is a little more challenging to implement in the physical classroom. However, using both Meena and River as examples of socially involved individuals, I could organize various community service activities that get students involved and giving back to their communities. Meena and River were seemingly unfit friends, and as a teacher I could use them as a basis for discussion of social issues to foster inclusive, socially aware students. I will never forget of the questions that the author Neela Vaswani frequently asks her young adolescent groups. What does it mean to be a friend? The students’ answers were so thoughtful and beautiful, and so young and innocent that it gives us so much hope in a time of such negative news.