Choosing Advocacy. Occasional Paper Series 21

Two articles comprise this publication. In "Beyond the Story-Book Ending: Literature for Young Children About Parental Estrangement and Loss," Megan Matt analyzes over 30 books for young children on the topics of abandonment, estrangement, divorce, and foster care. She observes that this loss might appear as an event within the story or as a fear articulated by a young child. She states that, as an educator, she hopes that she can make the children realize that their own stories are "real" and legitimate, no matter what messages they might encounter or fail to encounter in the media. In "Walking the Walk: Linking Teaching and Advocacy," Danielle Morrison recounts her experiences teaching a civil rights curriculum to third graders at a progressive private school in Manhattan. As a young teacher, she believed that she should be neutral and present information to her students, not interpret it. She found that when her school changed their civil rights curriculum from one centering around skin color to one that was more global and current, leading to a social action project and advocacy, the students became more engaged. She learned that it is her job as a teacher to inspire students to want to build a better world, that it is okay for her to express her opinions, share her experiences, and to model ways for her students to participate. She found that it takes a different kind of hard work, dedication, and time to teach children to care about advocacy. [Occasional Paper Series editor: Jonathan G. Silin.]