Module 18: “Leveling Up” Your Instruction with the Banks Framework – Project READY: Reimagining Equity & Access for Diverse Youth

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• When you’re done, click here to see our ideas. There isn’t a single correct answer; a single standard could be taught in many different ways and still meet the criteria for each level of Banks’s framework. For this particular example, we think that it’s most difficult to think about what a Level 1 unit might include, since this topic doesn’t easily lend itself to a “heroes and holidays” approach. You could potentially make sure to choose articles written by or about first responders (the “heroes” of hurricane relief). It’s easier to think about moving this unit up to a Level 2, 3, or 4. To reach Level 2, you would need to incorporate additional content and themes highlighting new perspectives. One way to do this might be to have students read first-person accounts of the storms in addition to the news articles. These first-person accounts could be purposefully chosen to represent a diverse array of people impacted by the storm (for example, a wealthy person whose vacation home was damaged and a poor person whose home was destroyed). To move this unit to Level 3, you might have students examine differences in how the three hurricanes were covered by the media and/or responded to by the government and the public. Students could take on the role of a journalist and create a report synthesizing multiple perspectives, needs, and challenges related to one or more of the hurricanes. At Level 4, students might also write letters to congresspeople, senators, or local news media about the issues they identified in their research.

• When you’re done, click here to see our ideas. There isn’t a single correct answer; a single theme could be addressed in many different ways and still meet the criteria for each level of Banks’s framework. Historically, poetry has often been used by writers within marginalized communities to express their emotions, communicate their lived experiences, and speak out against injustice. This makes poetry a rich site for exploring issues of equity and social justice. To take the example poetry program up to a Level 1, you could simply choose a famous poem written by a prominent person of color – for example, Langston Hughes. A Level 2 program might involve bringing in multiple example poems, spoken word, and music including ones from lesser-known authors of color or other marginalized voices and modern-day musicians and spoken word artists. It’s important for youth to experience poetry in the many different mediums it comes in and it’s important for youth to hear spoken word, songs, and poetry read by the creators. Engaging participants in comparing the perspectives represented in these poems is important at this level. A Level 3 program might ask youth to critically engage with an equity issue through reading and writing poetry, spoken word, or songs. Participants themselves could then take the lead on moving this program to a Level 4 by planning their own course of action based on the themes in their poetry, spoken word, or songs.

• For Public Librarians: In your journal, brainstorm how you might transform the library program described below at each level of the Banks framework: contributions, additive, transformation, and social action. Program Theme: Poetry Current Program (Level 0): Participants read and discuss a famous poem and then write their own poem in the style of the model poem.