April Newsletter
Navigating and Learning in Uncharted Waters
Dear friends,
We hope that our April newsletter finds you well! Though our in-person programming remains closed, 826 MSP has been hard at work creating remote and digital learning resources for our community. Check out our new COVID-19 Resource page here. And if you want to support our remote learning initiatives, donate to the Uncharted Waters campaign between now and June 1 to help us unlock a generous $10,000 matching gift from an anonymous donor!
We are lucky to be collaborating with amazing educators on supporting students during this time. Here to share directly about her experiences with distance learning and the power of writing is 826 MSP board member, educator, and MN Teacher of the Year finalist, Qorsho Hassan.
I often think of writing as a gateway to someone’s thoughts, lived experiences, worries, fears, hopes, and dreams. My journey to becoming a writer was riddled with a lot of nuanced barriers; I was born in Louisiana but didn’t speak English until I was in first grade. I grew up around my mother’s resilient presence, as she did her best to provide for my older sister and me, and learned the language of survival at a young age. She taught my sister and me the beauty of sheeko/storytelling, the Arabic alphabet songs, perseverance and how to get by with little. So it wasn’t astounding to me, as it was to my first grade teacher, that my inability to read, speak, or write English was a problem. In my mind, I was fluent and literate in many rich languages but the assessments I took made me feel inadequate and unproficient. I was labeled as an ESL student who didn’t have much potential for academic growth. My frustrations with learning the English language grew even more when I was told my storytelling wasn’t considered “writing” and that the conventions of writing mattered more than the content.
Despite this, I persisted in writing stories and generating ideas. At first, I wrote about fanciful creatures that existed in my mind. I found myself using writing as a form of escapism. While my home was safe and comfortable, my family lived in an intercity apartment complex riddled with crime and poverty. I didn’t know at the time that my living experience was a larger systemic issue, so I thought big mansions and unicorns would give me happiness. And it did, for a little while because I imagined a world constructed by me.
Fast forward twenty years later, and now I’m asking my students to do the same: to write about the world around them. Whether they choose to stick with current events such as COVID-19 or respond to prompts like, “What kind of a thing is hope?” my students are using writing and storytelling as a powerful tool to carve out their world.
Some are sharing their frustrations of not being in community at school, during holidays like Ramadan and Easter. Some are processing their grief and loss by writing action-packed comic strips for comedic relief. Now more than ever, we as educators should be asking our students to write their feelings, their needs, thoughts and emotions. While distance learning has created additional barriers and inequities, I’m grateful that I have the power to still connect with my students through their writing. More importantly, during uncertain times like these, I’m finding my students’ sharing their pieces in our writing community to be powerful and reassuring. Writing in community is valuable and necessary for survival, so now I’m asking you, what can you write about your world? How can you share your writing with others so you can feel seen and heard? Check out the 826 Network’s #agoodtimetowrite for some writing energy and inspiration.
Remember, writing is healing and can help us get through these difficult times. I leave you with a message of hope from one of my fifth graders...
"Hope is a lily that shines with grace, and dances in the wind with sparkling perfection. As if it doesn't have any flaws at all. And makes happiness everywhere."
Student Spotlight
This story was written collaboratively by three members of the Young Authors' Council during a virtual meeting in April. You can thank Sabrin, Ibrahim, Tala, and Mariyah for this riveting tale of transformation!
Product Spotlight
Do you want to show your love for the Mid-Continent Oceanographic Institute? Even more importantly, do you want to be cool like young authors, Yahye and Yasir? Buy some temporary tattoos from our swashbuckling store! These small declarations of MOI-love can be oh-so-easily sea-snail-mailed right to your front door!
Upcoming Events
All 826 MSP in-person programming and events are canceled for the foreseeable future.
Follow #agoodtimetowrite for videos and online-learning opportunities such as writing prompts and read-alouds from students and celebrities!
826 MSP's Uncharted Waters campaign is now LIVE! Donate between now and June 1 to help us unlock $10,000 from a generous anonymous donor!
Supporter Spotlight
April is #NationalVolunteerMonth and to celebrate, 826 MSP sent some long-distance love to 18 of our amazing volunteers with these totally original—and sometimes very specific—volunteer awards. Read the full blog post here.
