Malala: A Brave Girl From Pakistan; Iqbal: A Brave Boy from Pakistan
Author: Jeanette Winter
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Illustrator: Jeanette Winter
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Date: 2014
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About the book:
Malala and Iqbal are two kids from Pakistan who took a stance and made a huge change in the country. At a young age, Malala was able to be strong against the Taliban and fight for her right for education. Iqbal had to be a part of the child labor in Pakistan at the age of 4, once he was out, he fought for others to not be in the same position he was in.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
More About IQBAL
Most stories that we read, we have a fictional character within a real society. Jeanette Winter wanted to recognize the powerful Iqbal and Malala because they are real people who had to deal with real problems and was able to find powerful solutions. With a real person, I believe it is important to show their face and show videos of them interacting with others. It helps the power that Iqbal did spread. People can see this twelve year old boy and see themselves making a change. This is a real event of a sliding glass door. People can see themselves in Iqbal for various reasons and want to be like him. Iqbal is/was able to push so many people to follow what they believe in and take a stance of something huge. Age did not stop Iqbal Masih from following his dreams.
This is the article announcing Iqbal's death in 1995. This is another way to show the reality of the impact this had when Iqbal was shot at age 12. Click on the picture to show the full article.
More About MALALA
Malala is a strong and beautiful woman. In her interview with Ellen, my impression of her grew even stronger. She is not letting the publicity get to her, she is staying strong to what she believes in and doing what she wants to do. I thought it was funny in this interview how when she won the Nobel Peace Prize, she did not leave school to have press conferences. She continued her school day because she is fighting for her right to be educated. That is so powerful. She is doing what she is doing for herself and people who are fighting everyday to learn. In the link above, you will see that girls aren't just fighting for education in Pakistan. Girls are fighting in Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Nigeria, and Syria. Malala was a role model for so many people and she is now leading people to grow. Malala's grant is giving the money towards providing more education to girls all around the world. She is such a role model to everyone, whether we have education or not. She took a stand when she knew it was important and changed the world forever. Like Malala and her father said, "it's not that girls don't have the skill or don't have the talent to do something in their life. It's that they are stopped in society." Girls can relate to this from all over, whether it's a job, education, or a goal in life, because society is rooting against us. We just have to prove them otherwise.
How This Relates to Laminack and Kelly's Work
Alyssa Cameron is a fourth grade student who has the right ideas on how to promote a community where everyone feels welcome and respected. She has a layout she follows that helps her organize the information that she is providing to her students.
Selection
Alyssa is providing her students with books that are relevant to what the students are talking about. If students are talking about someone in their community with autism, she would provide them with a book about autism. Students will find more interest in things that are around their everyday life. We can introduce them to topics that relate to what they have to deal with, but just like anyone, we are mainly interested in information that are relevant. What we can do as teachers is break the stereotypes when introducing specific topics. Alyssa wanted to talk about respecting differences, therefore she introduced the book Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh. She wanted to break the stereotype that follows with discrimination only occurs between white and black people. This book, as seen on this page is all about discrimination of Mexican Americans. When people start to realize that discrimination occurs with more than two races and is relevant today, it gets them talking. Laminack and Kelly believe that once students start talking and realizing more about an injustice in today's society, they begin to form more motivation to make a change. On page 84, they said, "Then there are those who can't, for some reason, ignore injustice and hatred and the mistreatment of others. They can't see a wrong and walk away. They believe that one person can make a difference, and they do." The right book selection can do that for a child.
Connection
Next, students need to start making not only connections to other historical events, but also their daily lives. When students are younger, they may not have the previous background knowledge of historical events, but that shouldn't stop them. Once the conversation begins, students will begin to notice injustice in their society and will want to speak about those moments. The more aware they are, the more connections can be made. They should jot down these connections in relation to the book they are reading. For example, in Malala: A Brave Girl From Pakistan and Iqbal: A Brave Boy From Pakistan, a child may make a connection to woman fighting for their right to vote in the United States.
Reflection
Once they start reading, talking, and making connections, students will slowly begin to "peel back layers of misconceptions about.." any injustice.They will start to question and reflect on what they originally had thought and will begin to mold their schema into a new mindset. This is an important phase to allow students to talk or write about what they are thinking. Let them speak what they believe in and hear what others have to say to maybe change their perspective. "Somehow, seeing old information through a new window brought into focus an insight they had not considered." This can be whole group, in dyads, or in small groups. Students should start reflecting on what they know about the book through additional information about the topic. Like I provided before, students seeing Iqbal and Malala as real people will help them reflect on the reality they had to go through and what people still go through today. Additional information can be shown in the form of photographs, primary documents, articles or newspapers, passages from other books, online resources, video clips, artifacts, and guest speakers.
TAKE ACTION
Once students understand not only the injustice happening in our world, but also their capability of helping make a change, allow them to start brainstorming! Allow them to take action in any way possible. Talk to people who may not know, create skits, create posters, spread the word anyway possible. This is something that should happen naturally at this point.
Next Steps: Further Conversation
In this article, Laminack and Kelly mention the concept of continuing conversation through book clubs. Allowing students to continue this conversation through multiple texts is something that can help them learn more and grow on their continuing ideas. They are able to communicate more in small groups and can focus on something that they are more passionate about. Grouping kids according can make a huge difference. Laminack and Kelly mention many guiding questions to help students have deep conversations about the topic they are so passionate about:
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Why do we treat people differently?
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How do people respond to difficult topics?
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How do I view the world?
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What can I do myself to promote all people in my individual world?
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How are you like the character?
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How are you different from the character?
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What don't you understand about the character?
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What do we know?
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What don't we know?
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What do we need to know?
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What do we think about the main character and the setting?
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As kids begin to answer these questions every time they read, they will become more of a critical reader every day.
Two Voice Persona Poems
This book shows two very different humans that have some similarities to one another. The use of a two voice persona poem continues to bring a character to life, but it also shows the differences between the two. It creates a dialogue for a character in your own point of view. According to Paul Fleischman, the author of Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, the reading should follow this pattern:
Fleischman's book is all about different insects. He uses two voice persona poems in order to talk and teach about different insects. This can be a great mentor text and can be read aloud. Have the class split into two separate groups. They will read their parts in unison. It should also be read demonstrating emotion. For example, the poem about worker bees and queen bees, the workers are angry about their work while the queen is proud and bragging.
Here is a template that can be used to make a Malala and Iqbal two voice persona poem:
