Saturday, December 1, 2018

Tapping Multi-platform Reading for Social Justice - A Review of Khaled Hosseni‘s latest work, Sea Prayer



By Dr. Rose Reissman

Behold, an example of a powerful, new print book for all ages, bestselling author, Khaled Hosseni’s (2018) Sea Prayer.  

Great,  he's a bestselling author and the fact that this slim work  in picture book format with evocative Dan William water colors, is being marketed as for all ages, is testament to his storytelling style, a powerful one for  elementary students.

Teachers can use this traditional format print book  to effectively engage today’s youngsters the way teachers have successfully engaged students for ages; old school; decoding text and enjoying the message it carries.

Yes, this is traditional text to be read aloud or silently, a book whose pages can be turned.  There are many traditional text books, but this work can be taught in tandem with free multimedia items at grade and age appropriate levels to emotionally engage the students in Hosseini’s mission in writing this work.  That mission was to maintain global citizens’ focus on the deaths of refugees- adults and children, as they flee oppressive governments for safety in democratic countries. That’s a challenging reality for young students to absorb and comprehend and the addition of digital media to the text-based experience offers them help to do so.



Unlike most text with illustrations books intended for all ages, this one is not the first iteration of this fiction story. Rather, it’s a follow up to reach younger family audience.  He wanted to broaden his audience this way, but many families even refugee ones do not want children to focus on this

This version is  presented as a father’s prayer for his son, thinking about refugees and the  ongoing Syrian war.   Khaled Hosseni mentions as an afterword to his work that he was inspired by the story of Alan Kurdi, the three year old Syrian refugee who was among the many children and adults who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea trying to reach safety in Europe in 2015.  During 2016, 4,176 others died as well trying to flee.


Multimedia “Platforming”: Strategy 1 (grades 8 to 12)

Teachers grades 8 to 12, can include as part of the reading viewing the actual photo image taken by? Alan Kurdi https://g.co./kgs/9zonRg video news coverage that lingered in many global citizens’ hearts.  Looking at that image, reacting to it, what 20th century literary critic Louise Rosenblatt in Literature as Exploration  (https://www.amazon.com/Literature-as-Exploration-Louise--Rosenblatt/dp/08732525671) called the transactional experience of reader receivership occurs as the reader experiences the photo slideshow and the video online.

 https://youtu.be/LKBNEEY-c3s



Multimedia “Platforming”:  Strategy 2 (grades 8 to 12)

Indeed, the teen reader in the classroom can also learn how that experience inspired and affected Hosseini by watching the animated video “Sea Prayer: a 360-degree illustrated film by award-winning novelist Khaled Hosseini.”   ( https://youtu.be/LKBNEEY-c3s ) which predates this print book.

Also of worth is the article “Khaled Hosseini: Refugees are still dying.  How do we get over our news fatigue?”  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/aug/17/khaled-hosseini-refugees-migrants-stories
First, though, a brief discussion of the phenomenon of News Fatigue will heighten students’ awareness and understanding of this feeling of overwhelming loss and helplessness that a barrage of these stories fosters in the readers. Older teen readers can argue or critique Hosseini’s comments and expand the  their view to include other frequently occurring tragic events such as shootings or homicides which eventually result in news fatigue and how literature can lessen that fatigue to heighten emotional reactions.

Young readers grades 6 to 12 can watch and read online how the writer reacts to this as a father and as a storyteller.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/01/sea-prayera-360-story-inspired-by-refugee-alan-kurdi-khalid-hosseini.



Multimedia “Platforming” Strategy 3  (grades 3 to 12)

 For All students, the many varieties of free, digital media resources available online represent possibilities for ways the students may extend the body of content already available online to share and celebrate Hosseini’s work. They might storyboard the book, or use animation programs, such as scratch, to react to it or prequel or sequel it or the 360 animation (mentioned above) or comment online on it. 

They can also suggest other  music that would be appropriate for the animation beyond the one used. Younger elementary students might discuss the author’s perspective and how the images, music and narration communicate the story.

Additional Strategies  

Older students can look up the geographic and Syrian civil war references on maps. 

Adult readers and teens can learn more about the Hosseini Foundation’s work/ www.khaledhosseinifoundation.org and learn about the work of United Nation Refugee Agency: www.unhcr.org/khled-hosseini.  They can also listen to Khaled talk about “Stories Remain Our Best Teachers of Empathy” at: http://amp.timeinc.net/time/5407899/khaled-hosseini.    Students in  these grades might argue whether they feel stories as opposed to factual informational documents teach empathy or not.
All of these sites and formats also allow direct reader response in blogs or comments plus the potential of authentic feedback if appropriate for the particular school protocol.



Multimedia “Platforming” Strategy – Strategy 4 -
(A range of comparative print to digital text prompts which can be asked on various grade levels.)

But what about the actual page turning print book Hosseini published in 2018?  How does it compare and contrast with these photographic, video, commentary and animated story responses to the incident that Hosseini wrote about? 

Here are some examples of guiding questions for discussions. Did Hosseini really need to also develop a print book for all ages?  In what ways are the book illustrator’s, Dan William’s artistic watercolor responses different than the animator’s?  How do the illustrations in the book complement the text?   Is this slim not numbered work really suitable for young children or for families to read together or only for teens and adults?   Is the story only about the Syrian refugees or might it be a story about any family of refugees fleeing to safety?
All of these questions have no single answer and multimedia responses such videos, music, animations, hand illustrated or crafted art or spoken words or music can be given by readers of various ages.

But wait, these discussions and all these ways for the reader to respond are they actually focused on “reading” since only the single print Sea Prayer published by Riverhead Books, in 2018 can be considered a book in the traditional sense. As defined by the Common Core Strand 10 standard of reading, Reading happens across a range of texts, including digital ones.

So, as author Khalid Hosseini has so brilliantly shown the public and educators and readers of all ages, 21st century reading is alive using in addition to the print text multimedia platforms accessible to all.    Readers of all ages can still read print texts and perhaps also explore online platforms

Even better, every style of reader, including those with musical, intrapersonal. visual , auditory, print, and media mix preferences can be part of the live stream of story as there are available now so many easily accessible digital resources to support their expression
Mark Twain reacted after the media falsely reported his death, giving us that great quote “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”  One need only look up from reading, the pollsters’ laments about the dying out of “reading” to see a world alive with children and teens reading print books like Sea Prayer and complimenting their print reading experience with videos, digital news, and digital music , reacting by developing their own digital products in response Rather than diminish reading, allowing the reader to go across print and digital formats to experience the story, enhances and amplifies the reader’s engagement

Bana Alebed’s tweets to Stand with Aleppo prefigured her Dear World book as did Malala’s  broadcasts about Pakistani education.  Their calls for social justice were then followed by print works and further media products… Offering today’s content consumer a richer and more meaningful literacy experience.
Want to engage a new generation of print readers and writers?  Just school them in multimedia platforming and find an already differentiated reader menu of options that will bring increasing numbers of reluctant print readers to the circle of enthused, active readers. .



Dr. Rose Reissman is the founder of the Writing Institute, now replicated in 200 schools including PS 205 in The Bronx, New York City.  She is a featured author in New York State Union Teachers Educators Voice 2016 and was filmed discussing ESL student leadership literary strategies developed at Ditmas IS 62, a Brooklyn public intermediate school. roshchaya@gmail.com




Also by Dr. Rose Reissman

Wednesday, November 28, 2018
The ad said “Download the eBook NOW!” - Struggling with important insights about Teaching and Learning Literacy in the Digital Age
https://literacyspecialinterest.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-ad-said-download-ebook-now.html

Tuesday, August 14, 2018
From Mandated STEM to Joyful STEAM – Inspiring Projects Can Transform Instructional Culture
https://literacyspecialinterest.blogspot.com/2018/08/from-mandated-stem-to-joyful-steam.html

Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Using the Writing of Child Leaders to Inspire Today's Youth https://literacyspecialinterest.blogspot.com/2018/06/using-writing-of-child-leaders-to.html

Saturday, May 19, 2018
Reading with Music at Full Blast: Using music references and digital media to draw students into reading YA books
https://literacyspecialinterest.blogspot.com/2018/05/reading-with-music-at-full-blast.html

Thursday, April 12, 2018
Dear World: How Twitter Brought a Syrian Girl’s Pleas for Peace to the World https://literacyspecialinterest.blogspot.com/2018/04/dear-world-how-twitter-brought-syrian.html

Friday, November 3, 2017
Youth Court: Judging Historical Figure Controversies Reality TV Style https://literacyspecialinterest.blogspot.com/2017/11/youth-court-judging-historical-figure.html

Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Digital Text Mindfulness: Developing a New Literacy Skill for Study of Contemporary Novels and Life
https://literacyspecialinterest.blogspot.com/2017/10/digital-text-mindfulness-developing-new.html

Monday, July 24, 2017
Book Review: Hello Ruby-Adventures in Coding
https://literacyspecialinterest.blogspot.com/2017/07/book-review-hello-ruby-adventures-in.html

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