I am a boy of color

Title:  I am a boy of color

Author:  Deanna Singh
Illustrator:  Ammar Nsoroma
Publisher:  Orange Hat Publishing © 2016
ISBN:  978-1-943331-21-5
Grade Level: PreK-adult
Book Review: Passionately committed to changing the image of boys of color in modern society, Deanna Singh created a picture book designed to celebrate the best qualities and reinforce the positive characteristics found in children.  The book begins with a boy looking in the mirror and transitions to positive affirmations of what he can see.  Each quality and characteristic carefully selected to create a portrait that brings deserved honor to boys of color.


Systems Thinking Connections

Habits:  While the text does not reference the tern leverage specifically, Deanna Singh used her understanding a system structure and identified the creation of a children's book as a leverage action. This book filled with positive messages, read to multitudes of children, multitudes of times will affect mental models. Impacting mental models is the greatest way to bring about significant change, affecting current reality and the future. Another explicit purpose of this text is for boys of color to make personal connections, being able to see themselves in this powerful piece of children's literature.
Tools:  Teachers using this book with young children and early readers could take any of the positive characteristics or qualities -- possibility, joy, pride, caring --  and look at those through the lens of a stock-flow map. Building  multiple stock-flow maps could lead to discovering the connections and interdependencies between these qualities.

Weslandia

Title:  Weslandia
Author:  Paul Fleischman
Illustrator:  Kevin Hawkes
Publisher: Candlewick Press, ©1999
ISBN:  978-0-7636-0006-8
Grade Level:  K-5

Book Review:  With Camp Snowball 2015 just a few days away and this text having served as the primary text for Camp Sunshine 2012, it seems fitting to write an entry for Weslandia.  Wesley is a misunderstood young boys whose passion for learning facts and whose unwillingness to go along with fashion fads and popular foods make him something of an outcast.  That is until the summer he creates a civilization complete with its own food, sports, alphabet, and number system. The story includes a sustainability theme as Wesley seeks to use each element of the crop he creates:  juicing the fruit,  roasting the roots, weaving the stalk and seasoning with the leaves.  Replete with dynamics--the sophistication of a civilization, Wesley's understanding of himself, his growing number of friends, and Wesley's happiness--this story will result in rich dialogue among students and provide numerous opportunities to apply systems thinking tools and concepts.
Systems Thinking Connections
Habits:  Considers as issue fully and resists the urge to come to a quick conclusion.
This is not an easy habit to see in practice.  In fact, it is far easier to find occasions when a quick decision leads to an unintended consequence, but Wesley, the story's main character is a good example of practicing this habit.
Tools:  As mentioned in the review,  there are many dynamics in this story, which lend themselves well to behavior over time graphs.  These dynamics range from very simple things like the character's happiness, suitable for younger children, to the sophistication of the civilization, a topic that would push the thinking of older students and send them back to the text to look for evidence.
To further develop the idea of what constitutes a civilization and what contributes to its development students could use a stock flow diagram. The story focuses on some very specific elements of a civilization:  language, numeration, food, shelter and clothing.  The discussion could include whether or not this is a stock without an outflow.  Once an element of a civilization has been created, can it ever be completely "uncreated?"  Or do things like innovation, disregard of tradition, power of another civilization actually erode the quality of a civilization?   All of these ideas could be linked in an interdisciplinary unit on ancient civilizations.   Learners could seek evidence in the civilizations being studied to find additional support to answer questions like what contributes to the development or a civilization or what causes a civilization to diminish?  

How Full is Your Bucket? For Kids

Title:  How Full is Your Bucket?  For Kids

Author:  Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer
Illustrator:  Mauri J. Manning
Publisher:  Gallup Press, ©2009
ISBN:  978-1-59562-027-9
Grade Level:  PreK-3

Book Review:  When Felix asks Grandpa to intervene in a conflict with his baby sister, Grandpa introduces the idea of an invisible bucket that contributes to Felix's overall feelings of self worth and esteem.  Sure enough, the next morning when Felix wakes up, he sees the bucket over his head and the heads everyone else as well.  From then on every interaction throughout the day acts as a deposit or a withdrawal into someone's bucket.  Felix begins to understand that not only should he be aware of the level in his own bucket, but he can also contribute to the buckets of others.  A systems thinker might call that bucket a stock.  This book does a great job of helping young people and adults see the importance of keeping their buckets full, as well as serving as a bucket-filler for others.  A great presentation of a very important topic, this book could be an excellent catalyst for a class meeting, an SEL lesson or any time when a reminder to be a bit kinder to others is in order. 

Systems Thinking Connections
Habits:  Pays attention to accumulations and their rates of change.  This habit requires thinking about how the amount, or level, of something is changing over time.  This book is an exact match to the type of thinking described in this habit.

Tools:  How Full is Your Bucket?  is a concrete example of the systems thinking tool known as a stock flow diagram.  It identifies an accumulation with inflows and outflows. In a classroom learning to use this tool, the book is an ideal way to reinforce the technicalities of creating a stock flow diagram.  Students could begin by using ideas in the book to build a stock flow, and then add to the diagram from their own feelings and life experiences.