Scholars Create New Educator Guide for Teaching ‘TJ Crowley'

WICHITA, Kan. -- A team of experts has created an outstanding Educator Guide for teaching The Real Education of TJ Crowley by Grant Overstake.

The guide, available by following this link, is a free online resource for English, Social Studies, and History teachers, college professors, and adult book club facilitators. The guide contains links, resources, questions and answers to introduce the historical young adult novel to readers aged 12 to adult.

Overstake's young adult novel The Real Education of TJ Crowley dramatizes the social and emotional growth of a white boy during school integration in 1960s Wichita. Through his friendships with black classmates and neighbors, TJ learns to confront the racism he was raised to espouse. The guide was created by Liz Madans, a writer and educator based in New York City; Rebekah Shoaf, an educational consultant and founder of Boogie Down Books in the Bronx, NY; and Dr. Michael Birzer, and author and Professor of Criminal Justice at Wichita State University.

"We reached out to the very best people we could find who were writing these types of educator guides for novels, and they really came through for us," Overstake said. The guide walks students through 1968-69, in which the novel is set. The guide also provides literary perspectives and links to resources on the Civil Rights movement, the role of law enforcement, and cultural issues, such as Hippies and the Vietnam War.But, according to author Overstake, the main purpose for the guide is to help teachers facilitate difficult classroom discussions about bias, prejudice and the language of racism, which are the central themes of the book.

"I know it can be somewhat jarring to open the book and start reading at Chapter 1 if you're not prepared for what the story is about," Overstake said. "In today's climate, we all felt like teachers needed some guidance to help students better understand the context of racially charged language before they begin, and to help them better understand a volatile and dangerous time in history.

"I'm grateful for the time and effort and expertise they put into this educator guide," he added. "I think it will make it easier for the story to do the most good in today's society."

OVERVIEW

The Educator Guide opens up a range of approaches and resources for teachers to use in engaging students with the novel The Real Education of TJ Crowley by Grant Overstake. Rather than providing a prescribed curriculum or a pacing calendar, this guide is intended to inspire and challenge educators to design instructional experiences that are best suited to their particular students. Materials and activities are organized thematically and need not be implemented in the order in which they appear here. A suggested time frame is offered for each activity, but these are flexible depending on a teacher’s overall vision and plan, as well as the grade level and organization of the class period.

CONTRIBUTORS

LIZ MADANS, Curriculum Developer
Liz Madans is a writer and educator based in New York City. She holds degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University’s Teachers College. For the last 15 years, she has taught English at Robert F. Wagner Jr. Secondary School for Arts and Technology in Queens. In the classroom, she builds critical and creative fluency with her students, leading to all-night Homeric performances, Shakespearean flash mobs, personal essay podcasts, and poetry slams. A contributing writer at Huffington Post from 2013 to 2017, she has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York Public Library’s The Cullman Center Institute for Teachers for her research into pedagogy and the humanities. She continues to develop her practice as a professional development facilitator, a coordinator for the College Now program at CUNY, and a curriculum designer for both adolescent and adult learning.

REBEKAH SHOAF, Curriculum Designer, Owner & Founder of Boogie Down Books
Rebekah Shoaf is a New York City-based educational consultant and the founder and owner of Boogie Down Books, a bookstore-without-walls for kids, teens, families, and educators in the Bronx and beyond. After teaching high school English for ten years, she served as a Teacher Development Coach with the NYC Department of Education, where she supported educators at middle and high schools in promoting rigorous, student-centered instruction.She continues to work with a variety of clients to promote educational equity through transformative professional learning experiences as an instructional and teacher leadership coach, professional development facilitator, and curriculum designer for both adolescent and adult learning. A Miami native, Rebekah is a lifelong bookworm, a university instructor, a graduate of the Chef’s Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute, and an aunt to six budding bibliophiles. She believes that teaching young people to read well and eat well can change the world.

DR. MICHAEL BIRZER, Professor of Criminal Justice, Wichita State University
Professor Birzer has authored or co-authored 14 books for law enforcement and criminal justice courses, about crime, the police, and racial profiling. His recent book, Racial Profiling: They Stopped me because I’m ____! captures how racial minority citizens experience what they believe to be racial profiling.Other publications include: Police Field Operations: Theory Meets Practice, 2nd Edition (2015) Pearson/Prentice-Hall; and, In Their Own Words: Criminals on Crime, 7th ed. (2017) Oxford Publishing, (with Paul Cromwell). Prior to his entry into academia, Dr. Birzer retired after 18 years of service in law enforcement.

GRANT OVERSTAKE, Journalist & Author
Award-winning journalist and author Grant Overstake is a former Miami Herald Staff Writer and newspaper editor. A teaching artist with Arts Partners, he presents writing workshops in Wichita public schools.His premier novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, was hailed as a “Fine YA novel about perseverance in sports and in life,” by KIRKUS REVIEWS. The Real Education of TJ Crowley on sale now at Boogie Down Books and other outlets.