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Full interview with author & Historian Ray Anthony Shepard

10/31/2021

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We Are Here Lit! shares our interview with acclaimed Author, Historian, and Educator Ray Anthony Shepard. An insightful journey, Mr. Shepard will share his literacy story, his path as an Educator to a noted Author sharing the importance critical literacy plays in telling African-American historical narratives.
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Join us as We talk to the Hudsons to celebrate Black Literature!

10/31/2021

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Join us!
We will discuss their critically acclaimed new releases 'Recognize' and 'Defiant' and also about supporting Black publishers, authors, and bookstores this holiday season.
November 13th
12pm EST
On Facebook Live
Link: https://www.facebook.com/wearehereliteracy/
#BuyBlackBooks #SupportBlackBookstores
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Using picture books in high school curriculum

10/31/2021

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Veteran teachers who use picture books in classroom have observed the following:
-Captures visual learners
-Create mental models and build new schema
-A read-aloud is still engaging to secondary students
-Includes reluctant readers in learning and conversion
-Can build community on tough topics
-Understand the essence of empathy
-Connect colors to feelings
-Identify and relate to diverse cultures

-Runaway, The Daring Escape of Ona Judge by Ray Anthony Shapard

-The Bell Rang by James E. Ransome

Runaway is a book that can be used as a hook to begin a lesson that will address the poetic device of repetition, African-American Vernacular English, colorism, American gentry, Hercules, founders of American government, enslavement as possession, enslaved people who ran away, fugitive enslavement, free states, and settlements.

We highly recommend the following two books when addressing U.S. History and enslavement for Social Studies and English/Language Arts classrooms.

The Bell Rang is a rhythmic story told in stanzas sharing a realistic portrayal of enslaved circumstances of escaping to freedom.

Mr. Ray Anthony Shepard will be a featured guest interview.

Join us this Saturday at 12pm as We Are Here Lit! features our interview with acclaimed Author, Historian, and Educator Ray Anthony Shepard.

An insightful journey, Mr. Shepard will share his literacy story, his path as an Educator to a noted Author sharing the importance critical literacy plays in telling African-American historical narratives.

You can watch or listen to the interview on all our platforms (Youtube, Anchor Podcast, Spotify, and the website weareherelit.org)
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Youth Advocacy & Gentrification in #kidslit…

10/31/2021

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I recently finished the middle-grade book ‘Take Back the Block’ by Chrystal D. Giles and the picture book ‘Alejandria Fights Back! ¡La Lucha de Alejandria!’ by by Leticia Hernández-Linares, The Rise-Home Stories Project, Robert Liu-Trujillo , and Carla España (Translator) and wanted to put some additional books to support this topic.

‘Take Back the Block’ features the protagonist, middle schooler, Wes Henderson, along with his community dealing with a real estate developer offering to buy the neighborhood where Wes grew up.

Black and Latinx youth advocacy and community are involved in both books as they also use their local library to source information to advocate for their communities.

Also, included are the following titles to learn and discuss this topic from elementary through high school:

-Everything Naomi Loved by Kate Yamasaki and Ian Lendler (elementary)
-Like Home by Louisa Onome (middle/high school)
-Halsey Street by Naima Coste (middle/high school)

Included in the Linktree (in bio) are additional lesson plans, video clips explaining gentrification, and a Boyz N The Hood clip for context geared towards a high school student prompt.
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Hands on Stem!

10/31/2021

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The final books in this Black men & STEM series pair hands-on tools to model scientific activity and inquiry.

The first book is The Vast Wonder of the World: Biologist Ernest Everett Just
by Mélina Mangal and Luisa Uribe. Students can mirror Ernest Everett Just, a world-renowned Biologist who discovered the fundamental role of the cell surface in the development of organisms. Student can use a digital microscope, like the one pictured in slide 3, to replicate similar activities of Dr Just.

We also have The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Young Reader's Edition, and picture book, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. The energy renewal kit replicates William Kamkwamba's windmill. The movie is also available on Netflix.

Thematic pairing of the the movie with the book and/or manipulatives can help students access texts that may be difficult leading to deeper comprehension and more inclusive discussion.

Hands-on learning is a form of education in which students learn by doing. Instead of simply listening to a teacher or instructor lecture about a given subject, the student engages with the subject matter to solve a problem or create something.

Fun fact: Ernest Everett Just was the faculty advisor who worked to mediate the founding of the Black Greek-lettered Fraternity Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated.
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Using Picture Books in High School Classrooms

10/31/2021

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Veteran teachers who use picture books in classroom have observed the following:
-Captures visual learners
-Create mental models and build new schema
-A read-aloud is still engaging to secondary students
-Includes reluctant readers in learning and conversion
-Can build community on tough topics
-Understand the essence of empathy
-Connect colors to feelings
-Identify and relate to diverse cultures

-Runaway, The Daring Escape of Ona Judge by Ray Anthony Shapard

-The Bell Rang by James E. Ransome

Runaway is a book that can be used as a hook to begin a lesson that will address the poetic device of repetition, African-American Vernacular English, colorism, American gentry, Hercules, founders of American government, enslavement as possession, enslaved people who ran away, fugitive enslavement, free states, and settlements.

We highly recommend the following two books when addressing U.S. History and enslavement for Social Studies and English/Language Arts classrooms.

The Bell Rang is a rhythmic story told in stanzas sharing a realistic portrayal of enslaved circumstances of escaping to freedom.

Mr. Ray Anthony Shepard will be a featured guest interview.

Join us this Saturday at 12pm as We Are Here Lit! features our interview with acclaimed Author, Historian, and Educator Ray Anthony Shepard.

An insightful journey, Mr. Shepard will share his literacy story, his path as an Educator to a noted Author sharing the importance critical literacy plays in telling African-American historical narratives.

You can watch or listen to the interview on all our platforms (Youtube, Anchor Podcast, Spotify, and the website (weareherelit.org)


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Period...

10/23/2021

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scientists' inventions

10/23/2021

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Today we feature picture books of scientists' inventions.

Our favorite invention today, and also being hungry, is the potato chip! Invented by George Crum.

Cooking is food AND science literacy!

Book titles:

-Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson's Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions
-What Color Is My World? By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Raymond Obstfeld, Ben Boos & A. G. Ford
-Imaginative Inventions by Charise Mericle Harper
-Mr. Crum's Potato Predicament by Anne Renaud and Felicita Sala
-George Crum and the Saratoga Chip by Gaylia Taylor & Frank Morrison

Engage future scientists with these cool inventions they can relate to.
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Author & Illustrator Jerry Pinkney

10/21/2021

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"I wanted to show that an African-American artist could make it in this country on a national level in the graphic arts. I want to be a strong role model for my family and for other African-Americans" --Jerry Pinkney

You did that and more...

Thank you, Mr. Pinkney.
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Dr. Charles Henry Turner

10/21/2021

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Did you know Dr. Turner was the first person to discover insects can hear?

Buzzing with Questions, the Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner, by Janice Harrington and Theodore Taylor, is a biography about how one boy’s curiosity became his calling. Turner had an undeniable need to wonder and experiment.

One of the highlights of this story is how scientific curiosity is followed from questions, to observation, to conclusion.

Even when faced with racial barriers he applied his knowledge of biology towards understanding humanity. He was a community activist.

Use this in science classes to demonstrate aspects of the scientific method and observation.

Add fiction books like Hank’s Big Day by Evan Kuhlman & Chuck Groenink and non-fiction books to expand curiosity and learning.

Fast Facts About Dr. Charles Henry Turner:
  • Charles Henry Turner, was the first African-American to  graduate from the University of Chicago with a Ph.D. in zoology. 
  • Dr. Turner taught at the illustrious #HBCU, Clark College, now known as Clark-Atlanta University. 
  • He published more than 70 research papers, he showed insects were capable of learning that honey bees can see in color and recognize patterns.

If you like insects, arachnids, and other creepy crawlers, you are a budding entomologist, a scientist who studies insects or a arachnologist, one who studies spiders, mites, ticks, or scorpions.

Stay curious!
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    WE ARE HERE will provide you book reviews, discussions, news, and programming  about literature and literacy by and about Black males. This site will also feature vlog conversations on topics related to the promoting literacy and voice for Black boys and young men.

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