Pine Project: Professional Development

Reflective Opportunities

The video will offer you opportunities to pause to read the featured books, articles, and other resources. While they are not required, the video content that follows will assume you have done these assignments.

The number at the end of each Reflective Opportunity is a timestamp for the place in the video where you paused for reading or reflection. Return to this timestamp to resume watching.

Reflective Opportunity 1

Read I’m An American and engage with the discussion questions in the back. At the top of every set of Welcoming Library discussion questions is the invitation to “explore this story and your own.” In the I DO, WE DO, YOU DO model, you will be exploring your own story in preparation for helping your students develop a positive identity. Your answers to the discussion questions can be internal or written out in your journal—your choice. (3.03)

Reflective Opportunity 2

Download and print his paper craft. The activity will allow you to process your identities and beliefs, and the actions (real or envisioned) that uphold those beliefs. The final product of that paper craft is best when it is shared. I invite you to share the book and activity with colleagues at a time in the future. Synergies emerge between individuals that do the activity together. (3.45)

Reflective Opportunity 3

Read Alma and How She Got Her Name. Then, pull out your journal and write about the story of your name. (6.55)

Reflective Opportunity 4

Read Wherever I Go and then journal. Write about where you were born, what your family structure was as a child, and write about who in your life was able to “crown” you or help you feel confidence and joy—even in the hardest of circumstances. I know that some of us did not have that person or have not yet found that person. If that is the case, when and where did you find your confidence and joy at Abia’s age and now? Add notes about what you have learned about refugee camp life and what you have questions about. (10:19)

Reflective Opportunity 5

Read The Carpet, its incredible author’s note, and the discussion questions. One discussion question reads, “Each of the pages ends with the phrase, “The carpet is for…” Whether or not your family life is centered around a carpet, your family, like this Afghan family, may also spend time together prepping, helping, sharing, caring, playing, learning, listening, and remembering.” What is the cultural background of your family? Explain how your home or family culture interacted with the activities of prepping, helping, sharing, caring, playing, learning, listening, and remembering.” Is there a single object like the carpet that represents your family’s culture? When did that home or family culture conflict with school culture in a way that made you feel like you did not belong? Add notes about what you have learned about the Afghan community and what you have questions about. (12:11)

Reflective Opportunity 6

Read Watercress. (13:54)

Reflective Opportunity 7

Take out your journal and reflect on Andrea Wang’s statement, “Your memories are essentially stories. And just like fictional stories, they can transform people’s lives. For me, and for the girl in Watercress, knowing more about my family’s history, broke down walls of resentment and misunderstanding that I had built between myself and my parents.” What went unspoken in your family or cultural community that needed to come out for you to truly understand yourself and others? What did you learn about the Chinese community and what do you have questions about? (17:01)

Reflective Opportunity 8

Watch Brene Brown’s TED Talk, “The Power of Vulnerability” (19:55)

Reflective Opportunity 9

Read the picture book A Feast for Joseph. (21.46)

Reflective Opportunity 10

Read Abuelita and Me and its Discussion Questions. Follow this by writing your understanding of microaggressions. (32.25)

Reflective Opportunity 11

Take the “Race Attitudes Implicit Associations Test” from Project Implicit. Feel free to explore as many tests as you would like. After taking a test or tests, explore the design, impact, and global results of Project Implicit by listening to the Hidden Brain’s “Revealing Your Unconscious Bias” Part 1 and Part 2. (41.02)

Further Resources

Educator’s Guide: I’m an American Teaching Guide

Audio: Learn to pronounce the Acholi words in A Feast for Joseph.

Book: Newell, Chris. If You Lived During the First Thanksgiving. Scholastic Inc., 2015.
Resources

Book: Jana, Tiffany, and Michael Baran. Subtle Acts of Exclusion: How to Understand, Identify, and Stop Microaggressions. Updated ed.,
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2023.

Contact Hours

Earn 2 contact hours for Pine 2: Self-Awareness

Source: Maine Department of Education
Submissions will be reviewed for depth of reflection and alignment with the self-awareness competency. Approved reflections will be eligible for 2 contact hours. All submitted reflections will be kept strictly confidential and will only be reviewed for the purpose of awarding contact hours. If any insights are used for program improvement, they will be anonymized to ensure privacy.