Welcome to Sunday Reset
Happy Sunday Reader,
Two things are popping in your room this week, and once you see them side by side, they're saying almost the same thing.
This week's classroom reset question:
When a student makes their first messy attempt at something, whether it's a drawing, an answer, or just showing up as themselves, does your room treat that attempt as the point, or as a step toward something better?
What most of us were never taught:
We're trained to praise the polished version. The neat handwriting, the finished project, the hair that's "done." What we don't get trained on is how to make room for the in-between, the detangling, the first dot on the page, the version of a kid that isn't finished yet and doesn't need to be.
3 things this pairing teaches, beyond either story:
I Love My Hair gives students real language, culture, heritage, tradition, perseverance, legacy, empower, so a hair story becomes a way to talk about identity, not just appearance.
International Dot Day, incorporated this same week, tells students the opposite of what school usually implies. You don't have to be good at something to start it, you just have to make a mark and sign it.
Put together, both books remove the requirement to already be impressive before you're allowed to belong here.
Here is what changes everything. I'm not treating these as two separate lessons this week. I'm treating them as one conversation happening in two books. Keyana's mother doesn't rush her through detangling to get to the "pretty" part, she stays in the process. The girl in The Dot doesn't get good at drawing, she just starts, and that's what makes everything after possible. Same permission, said twice.
GET THE I LOVE MY HAIR COMPANION
What this looks like in real life:
A student once told me she used to ask her mom to straighten her hair before school pictures, until we read I Love My Hair together. She kept her curls that year and told the whole class why, out loud, without me asking. That's the same courage as a student who is signing their name under one shaky dot. It’s a different book, but the same moment.
This week's action item:
Pick one assignment this week and let the first attempt count as finished. You don’t need a drawn out plan, it requires no redo, no polish required, just the mark itself.
A Reminder:
Hispanic Heritage Month is already underway, and Paletero Man carries the next full week here, starting September 21.
Coming up this week:
Monday, I Love My Hair opens the week. Tuesday, International Dot Day gets its own moment. Both link straight from Instagram all week, no digging required.
YOUR SEPTEMBER FREEBIE
The cootie catcher lives inside my full September Resource Guide, along with Hispanic Heritage Month prep, September 11th resources, and a few self-care ideas for you, because this month asks a lot of teachers before it asks anything of students.
See You In The Next Chapter!
Patty