Recently, I found myself in Barnes and Noble, captivated by a “Read with Pride” display in the Young Adult section. Holding several new books, I was transported back to my high school years, a time before smartphones and social media, when I would cautiously approach the gay and lesbian section of my local bookstore.
Each visit was an anxious yet defiant act of self-discovery as I sought validation and visibility in the pages of books that I curated for myself. Here, titles like “Giovanni’s Room,” “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name,” and “At Swim, Two Boys” were pivotal in queering my perspective and made me think more about who I was, who I was becoming and who I wanted to be.
In retrospect, retreating to self-selected literature was probably the queerest, most radical thing I could do at the time. In those days, my reading experiences at school stalled my understanding of my emerging queer identity and limited my knowledge of others that might have shared my experiences. I never fully saw this part of who I was becoming reflected back to me.
In “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding-Glass Doors,” Rudine Sims Bishop proposes that educators consider the relationship between reader and texts as possible “mirrors” and “windows,” highlighting reader identities and experiences through critical discovery. Specifically, she wrote that:
“Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection, we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.”
Today, during a time of increased attempts at book censorship and curriculum challenges, Bishop’s words remind me of one of the reasons why I entered the teaching profession: to nurture the type of English class that my high school self needed by building a community with students where they have space to explore and engage with literature that validates and affirms their identities — moving from a place of survival where LGBTQ+ youth are denied their humanity to one of thriving where they are affirmed and celebrated is a critical and necessary shift.
Creating Mirrors and Windows
In my English classroom, I strive to offer texts that serve as both mirrors and windows for my students, empowering them to see their own lives reflected in the narratives we read and to gain insights into the experiences of others. Over the last five years, I built a dual-enrollment English language arts program, incorporating the critical work of Tricia Ebarvia, Lorena Germán, Kimberly Parker and Julia Torres, the educator team behind #DisruptTexts.
During this program, I invite my students to complete a reflective survey, focusing on previous experiences in their English coursework and identifying perceived gaps. Then, I ask students the following questions:
- Who writes the stories?
- Who is missing from the stories?
- Who benefits from the stories?
This exercise is meant to help them reflect on and express the missing parts of their reading experiences in school, name issues directly and engage in conversations that frame our inquiry together. We then use these responses to solidify the course syllabus as a living document that prioritizes the voices and narratives absent from their previous experiences in the English department.
Every year, student responses reveal that students are troubled by the absence of reading materials in school that reflect and include marginalized groups, including LGBTQ+ books and authors. In the weeks and months that follow, I curate reading lists for students based on their survey responses. In this way, I strengthen and personalize our purpose for reading and let students chart their own learning path in more critical and creative ways.
As students engage in these texts, we revisit Dr. Bishop’s framework to explore how mirrors and windows appear for them and reflect on the selected literature. Sometimes, they encounter clear and accurate representations, noting that they have never read something that revealed such parts of themselves or their experiences. Most significant was the role of windows, where students developed a language to make sense of their own experiences and identities, as well as others.
By the end of the year, thoughtful conversations and college-level projects emerged in our classroom community. Students explored important aspects of genre and the author’s craft and made connections to other literary and media-based texts. They also posed lingering and emerging questions and identified critical links to current social, cultural and political realities.
As a culminating experience at the conclusion of the course, students design a two-week unit of study to address further gaps and silences through mirrors and windows in literature. Drawing from primary and secondary resources, students curate a project of their choice to integrate into the syllabus for incoming students in the subsequent year.
These learning experiences in the English classroom not only provide students with meaningful representation in their book choices but also cultivate deeper intellectual and emotional practices. They learn to engage critically, embrace curiosity and wonder and imagine new possibilities for themselves, their peers and their communities.
Affirming Identities Through Literature
Given the wide range of texts available today, students’ identities should be validated through engagement with meaningful mirrors and windows of their choice. Providing ample mirrors and windows means that teachers understand the importance of students having access points in the curriculum to see themselves and understand others, fostering a more inclusive and affirming learning community.
Browsing the shelves in Barnes and Noble that afternoon, I remembered my students by remembering myself. My journey from anxious bookstore visits in high school to becoming an educator who advocates for more inclusive literature underscores the importance of culturally responsive teaching.
These experiences continue to shape my commitments in the classroom, emphasizing that teachers must recognize the full humanity of their students. By prioritizing literature that reflects a full spectrum of identities, students are empowered to embrace their most authentic selves and envision life-affirming possibilities through the transformative power of stories.
