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Embedding #OwnVoices into the Definition Essay

Teacher (/ˈtēCHər/) Noun - 1. a person who teachers, especially in school. 2. A person who opens windows for students to explore. 3. A person whose day extends before and beyond the 7am-3pm work day. 4. A perpetual student.

Definition essay is one of the main essay types we teach in English 9 at Horace Greeley. Over the years, the types of definition essays I taught and explored evolved. In the last two years, we explored what it means to be a protagonist using The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. 

But call it restlessness or boredom or changing with the times, my definition essay was in need of an overhaul. Enter: Stamped by Jason Reynolds, This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell and nearly a dozen different titles from an #OwnVoices unit.

This year, my English 9 team and I are gearing up to teach Stamped for the first time. We talked about starting the year with it but decided talking about systematic racism on the first day of high school might prove overwhelming. Now, as we ready to approach the book in December, we've used activities from This Book is Anti-Racist and a host of other supporting texts. 

Side note: This book is essential reading!

I'm a huge fan of Jewell's book (it was literally my last blog post before my extended hiatus from blogging). What I love most is how it lays out definitions to an assortment of words including, but not limited to privilege, anti-racism, anti-bias, oppression, history, race, ethnicity and dominant culture. 

Early on, I wanted students to become familiar with this vocabulary; however, as I read (and continue to read) many anti-racist texts, I often find conflicting information. What Jewell says about privilege doesn't quite match with Reynolds and Kendi, which doesn't quite match Diangelo's thoughts, etc etc. I was okay with this. To me, these books are sociology texts. They come from unique experiences. These are not sacred texts (Kendi's teaching of queer culture in This Book is Antiracist is particularly egregious), and as educators (and informed readers) we need to be okay with that. I realized, I want students to use the evidence presented to them in texts to help inform their own definitions. 

And so begat the newest iteration of the definition essay.

At this juncture, I've positioned the definition essay as a way of students not just defining a word, but expanding the meaning of the word. As I did with "teacher" up above, it's about evolving the word. To any naysayers, words change and expand meaning over time. They always have and always will. Think of words such as a streak, a tweet, or even a troll. So students are taking some time to look at #OwnVoices poems and short stories to start giving words new and expanded meaning. 

These were the books chosen by students for our #OwnVoices unit

One way I've approached this is by asking students to choose which word (out of a given list) is an exemplar of a given poem (see this handout). The discussion during this time has become rather lively. In Hughes' Merry-Go-Round, I thought many students would go with Discrimination or Oppression. I was surprised as students explained their thoughts that Race or Dominant Culture was the best example. During a discussion of Ambiguity Over the Confederate Flag students focused on other words such as History or Society. 

For many of my students (largely an affluent suburban white population) this has become the first true access point of discussing race and language in a way that feels meaningful. And while some of the groups are quick to concede their word, many are taking all of the information and using other words as "umbrella terms" to help fit everyone's words into a new definition. For 9th graders (most over Zoom and many still struggling to find their voice), this is the first time I've heard them speak up. It's pretty exciting.

Now students are gearing up to define these words in a full definition essay with our #OwnVoices books. I've started to look at different ways to open our essay including (but not limited to) personifying the word ala The Book of Qualities. And as we broaden our scope, I'm sure there is much more to discover.

For the first time in a while I'm feeling hopeful. That as we move closer to Stamped, students will readily engage with the tough conversations we undoubtedly will have. Hopefully (secular god willing), these conversations will allow students to emerge as better critical thinkers. 

Daniel Valentin teaches English 9 and Ethics at Horace Greeley High School. He is currently reading The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed and is listening to Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith. He wants his students to feel empowered through books. Follow him on Twitter @DanielJValentin
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