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Choosing Texts for Teaching
EN 3051 Alyson van Beinum
Alyson Gair, November 15, 2010
Chanda’s Secrets, Too Good to be Kept a Secret
The novel “Chanda’s Secret”, by Allan Stratton, tells of the
struggle of a young girl who’s bravery and courage drives
her to save the family she loves. The story is set in Africa
during the AIDS outbreak and centres on a young girl,
mature beyond her years, who struggles to keep her family
together. Her father has abandoned them, her mother is
distraught over the death of her youngest daughter and her
surviving siblings are acting out. We first meet Chanda
dealing with the stigmatism of poverty and not having
enough money to buy a decent coffin for her baby sister. Soon she is faced with the
additional hardships of the shame, controversy and ostracism of AIDS when her
mother’s boyfriend gets infected. To make matters even worse, her best friend is
beaten after trying to make money in the sex-trade and her Mother goes missing during
a visit to relatives. Throughout the story Chanda acts selfishly to ensure her siblings are
cared for and does her best to care for her Mother and her best friend. Her one ally in
this is her teacher, who Chanda finally has the courage to turn to, share her secrets and
ask for help.
The novel is relevant to our kids because it is written by a Canadian author. Despite
being written by a man, he has great insight into the female psyche and his characters
are believable and admirable.
The story touched me on many levels, but most of all when Chanda has to deal with the
stigmatism that comes with AIDS. Two of my former jobs were in AIDS research, from
the very first drug studies that treated mainly homosexual males(AZT)to Saquinovir,
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a break-through product that gave AIDS patients their first hope for survival. I lived
through the fear-mongering, the religious backlack against homosexuals, the “gay
disease”, the stigmatism and ostracism was deplorable. Being on the inside and
knowing the facts I was able to educate my family and friends about the realities of
AIDS. So many people in the 80’s and 90’s keeping their disease a horrible secret, it
was such a shame.
My current placement is Stephen Lewis Secondary School, and this book is extremely
relevant because of Stephen Lewis’ involved in AIDS research. He is quoted on the
back of the book as follows:
“This powerful story hits home with its harsh truths, its pain, and its hard-won
hopelessness. No-one can read Chanda’s Secrets and remain untouched by the
young people who are caught in the AIDS pandemic and still battling to make
sense of their lives.”
-Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa
a) In what grade level / course would you teach this text? Are there other courses for
which it might also be appropriate?
I would teach this in Grade 9 or Grade 10. The reading level of the book is appropriate
and the level of language is not too advanced grade 9, though perhaps a little simplistic
for Grade 10. This book would also be appropriate to a Health Class as it relates not
only to AIDS/HIV infection, but could lend itself to the dangers of the sex-industry and
the issues sex-workers face with respect to health and safety.
b)What are the main ideas/ issues/ teaching points which you would em phasize when
teaching the text? (Consider the knowledge possibilities: Social, topic, cultural,
textual.)
Topic Knowledge
Death
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Poverty
Self-esteem
Making decisions
Loyalty
Love
Courage
Birth/death
Bravery
fear of the unknown
Social Knowledge
-
prejudice
-
socioeconomic status
-
class differences, Esther is considered a lower class than Chanda
-
gender issues/sexism
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health bias, AIDS/HIV, stigmatism, misconceptions
-
family units and relationships
Textual Knowledge
-1st person narrative
-framed in the present with some flashbacks to provide background, plot development
Cultural Knowledge
-Africa, specifically Sub-Saharan Africa
-traditional versus modern beliefs, religion and medicine
-funeral traditions
-family and friends
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c) What are the issues/ c hallenges you might encounter in teaching the text?
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Lack of strong male role models in the book
-
Male students finding someone to identify in the book
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Touchy subject when discussing Esther’s role in the story, her involvement in the
sex-trade
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Dealing with violence against sex-trade workers
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Talking about AIDS, dealing with misconceptions and the realities of the disease
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Understanding poverty when Canadians are so privileged. Can they relate?
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Death and loss, the death of her baby sister Sara happens right at the beginning
of the book. This may bring up strong emotions in the classroom.
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It might be difficult talking about funerals and the traditions of Sara’s funderal;
slaughtering a goat, the laying out of the body in the home. Perhaps we could
discuss different cultural traditions in dealing with funerals.
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Talking about folk medicine and spiritual healers versus modern medicine
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Discussing religion in the classroom – Chanda’s belief’s versus their own.
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Discussing the various structures of families. Where is Chanda’s father? The
mother seems to take on many boyfriends. I think there are 3 father’s of the 4
children in the family.
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Talking about family feuds and fights that occur and divide families.
d) Describe one possible assignment / activity which you could use when teaching the
text. How does it connect to the curriculum expectations of the course you are
teaching?
Before reading the book, we need to identify and discuss any misconceptions that the
kids may have about living in Africa. I would start the class asking them what they know
about Africa. In pairs or groups of 3, students can put together a mind-map of what they
think they know about Africa – anything at all. We would then have a class discussion
and put these ideas up on the board, linking up any ideas if possible. Africa is usually
associated with poverty and disease, living in grass huts. If that is their only view of
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Africa then they will read the book with a negative idea of the country and its people.
Then I could show the TED video of the beautiful African woman talking about the
problem of only having 1 story. We can then revisit the mind-map to see if there are
any changes in what we know, add topics that we learned in the video. At the very least
the kids will learn that Africa is a continent made up of over 50 very different countries.
We can repeat this exercise with AIDS, think-pair-share ideas, watch an informational
video, and unpack the ideas learned, improve the mind-maps, discuss misconceptions.
Students can then do research projects to find out more about AIDS and Africa. They
can research AIDS and learn about the many misconceptions or mistruths associated
with this disease. They can research a specific country in Africa, or research the
continent of Africa, describing the basic geography, wild-life, exports. They can also
research the history of slavery, folk tales, African music, etc. Students will be expected
to do a presentation to the class to share what they have learned. The teacher can
separate kids into groups of 4 and provide a list of varied topics. Overlap should be at a
minimum so there is a wide variety of presentations. Once they know a lot more about
Africa and AIDS then they will be ready to read the novel from a better, more educated
standpoint, leaving old misconceptions behind them.
Curriculum:
By doing a novel study, this will address all off the specifics of the Reading and
Literature Studies overall and specific expectations (1.1 – 3.3), the Writing overall
expectations as well as covering all of the specific expectations (1.1 – 4.3).
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EN3041/3051 NOVEL STUDY RUBRIC (Part A & B)
Professional Critical Inquiry and
Reflection
-demonstrates an inquiring or “critical”
Learning
-considers equity and social justice
(equal access, equal opportunities and
equal results)in teaching the text
- considers the potential range of
knowledge involved in the teaching of
the text (social, textual, topic,
cultural)
- recognizes and challenges possible
assumptions and issues which may be
involved in the teaching of the text.
Professional Practice
-suggested activity is appropriate for
suggested course expectations
-assessment and evaluation, resources
and use of technology is considered
Professional Knowledge and Ethics
-correctly uses the vocabulary of
A to A+
Commitment to Students and Student
Teacher Candidate Demonstrates a High Degree of Competency
teaching the text
B to B+
experiences which may be a factor in
Teacher Candidate Demonstrates Competency
-reflects on their own abilities and
C+
text
Teacher Candidate Demonstrates Emerging Competency
practice in relation to the teaching of the
(Below C+)
- analyzes his/her own professional
Lack of Evidence and/or Teacher Candidate Does Not Demonstrate Competency
attitude towards the text
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teaching and learning
-demonstrates an understanding and
application of Ministry policy, curriculum
policy documents and support materials
-delivers compelling, persuasive
arguments orally