Brilliant scarves

The Book Club in a Philadelphia Women’s Prison meets Friday afternoons – one week coinciding with Halloween. We entered as usual, and got settled in the chairs that we set in a circle, preparing and waiting for the women to join us. Up until this point I had never actively participated or facilitated any of the discussions, and took a more observational role in book club. This week I agreed to lead the introductions, which meant that I asked everyone to say their name, and because it was Halloween, what costume would they be wearing in book group today and why. I start, and say that I would be an eggplant, and would wear the costume I made the day before. The woman next to me introduces herself, and says that she wouldn’t wear a costume, but instead would dress up as herself.

Identity, Access and Innovation in Education
Curriculum Project

I really enjoyed all of this week's readings, and found them to be very thought provoking. Reading Hill's Hip Hop article was especially interesting given the connections between the article and the panelist, Jay Fluellen. Something that Mr. Fluellen mentioned in class was how he tried to tailor his curriculum to his students, so when he went to a school with a big Latin@ community he used Hispanic music. Similarly, Hill talks about his class on hip hop that had a majority black student population, and how all the students (Black, Black but not "real", and non-Black) felt that the class was geared towards Black students.