New Orleans Public Library: May 6 Virtual Book Club Helping Educators Understand, Teach The Latina Experience

Press release from the New Orleans Public Library:

2021-05-06

Since February, the New Orleans Public Library, AfterCLASS, and the Tulane University Stone Center for Latin American Studies have been bringing educators together to facilitate discussions about the Latina experience. 

When Alexandria Simon first heard about the Reading Latina Voices Book Club, she immediately knew she had to sign up. 

“I had participated in a virtual book club last summer when I was in D.C. and it was so great, so I was really excited when I heard about this one,” Simon said. 

The book club is designed for high school educators to discuss works focusing on the Latina experience in order to enhance classroom instruction on a topic that is especially relevant to today’s world but is often missed in curricula. 

“Women of color are the world’s most silenced voices, and I think it is absolutely important for educators to be more aware of works written by people other than white men. No one is disputing the literary importance of “Animal Farm,” or “The Crucible”, but let’s also teach something new,” Simon said. “This book club has been a great way to not only give educators ideas of what titles they could add into their curriculum but also allowed us to brainstorm on the best ways to discuss the topics they bring up.”  

Simon is not currently a classroom teacher but works on a youth apprenticeship grant with the department of labor. 

“I’m not in a classroom, but it is still education; and, we work with a lot of underserved kids, so I do feel like I’ve gotten a lot out of this. And while I won’t be having the same type of instruction I would inside a classroom, I do feel like, if nothing else, I’m walking away with a better roster of recommendations to hand to my students, so they can feel seen and represented,” she said. 

In addition to connecting educators in New Orleans and across the country, the Reading Latina Voices Book Club invited author Elizabeth Acevedo, who wrote two of the group’s selections, to come and speak. 

Since February, the New Orleans Public Library, AfterCLASS, and the Tulane University Stone Center for Latin American Studies have been bringing educators together to facilitate discussions about the Latina experience. 

When Alexandria Simon first heard about the Reading Latina Voices Book Club, she immediately knew she had to sign up. 

“I had participated in a virtual book club last summer when I was in D.C. and it was so great, so I was really excited when I heard about this one,” Simon said. 

The book club is designed for high school educators to discuss works focusing on the Latina experience in order to enhance classroom instruction on a topic that is especially relevant to today’s world but is often missed in curricula. 

“Women of color are the world’s most silenced voices, and I think it is absolutely important for educators to be more aware of works written by people other than white men. No one is disputing the literary importance of “Animal Farm,” or “The Crucible”, but let’s also teach something new,” Simon said. “This book club has been a great way to not only give educators ideas of what titles they could add into their curriculum but also allowed us to brainstorm on the best ways to discuss the topics they bring up.”  

Simon is not currently a classroom teacher but works on a youth apprenticeship grant with the department of labor. 

“I’m not in a classroom, but it is still education; and, we work with a lot of underserved kids, so I do feel like I’ve gotten a lot out of this. And while I won’t be having the same type of instruction I would inside a classroom, I do feel like, if nothing else, I’m walking away with a better roster of recommendations to hand to my students, so they can feel seen and represented,” she said. 

In addition to connecting educators in New Orleans and across the country, the Reading Latina Voices Book Club invited author Elizabeth Acevedo, who wrote two of the group’s selections, to come and speak. 

This press release was produced by the New Orleans Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.