Everything Evolves As It Should, At Times It Amazes Me

On Monday, students in my ED:455 Literate Learners course (a class for content-area teachers on literacy) were assigned to read John Dau's and Martha Akech's Lost Boys, Lost Girls; Escaping Civil War in Sudan published by National Geographic. This is the third semester I've used this text and each time I'm impressed by the maturity of discussion it incites. It is written for a middle school audience with alternative chapters between John and his wife and it tells the story of civil conflicts in Sudan, the escape of children, the hardships of refugee camps, and the fortune of relocation. What is wonderful about this text, too, is it gives a name to Lost Girls who have too often been overlooked by the particular narrative told about the hardships faced in Sudan.

I chose to do Discussion Booklets with the crew - a packet of short, open ended questions that promote students to talk about their lives, their reading of the book, and connections they might make. I had three groups of five students and I was impressed by how quickly they jumped into the text and the willingness they had to ask critical questions of themselves as future educators. They also grew introspective of their own privileges of life in the United States.

Since 1996 I've been teaching students in one capacity or another. In 2001, my life changes for the better when I began volunteering with the Kentucky Refugee Mission. Fast forward to 2013 and I look at the screen from where I teach with pride. I knew John Dau in Syracuse and had the fortune of working with him on a couple of occasions through St. Vincent De Paul Church and with events for Sudanese people living in Syracuse. I truly appreciate his contribution of this middle school text because it brings the story to another age group and provides excellent fodder for discussing work with English language learners, students with limited and/or interrupted formal education, changing demographics and global inequities.

One of my students wrote a note to me after class saying that the reading of Lost Boy, Lost Girl changed her life. She was so captivated and moved by the story, in fact, that she went to the library to check out When God Grew Tired of Us and to seek other books depicting the refugee relocation experience. Dau's book helped her to open her eyes to a world she did not know existed and for these reasons she feels she will be a better teacher.

Connections like these make keep faith as an educator.