“What’s Your Story?” is a guest post feature on BCBA’s blog. Indie/Self-Published authors are invited to write about their books, writing journey, creative process, inspiration, rewards and challenges of publishing, etc. They can go in whatever direction they choose. We are excited and grateful for their willingness to share, and we hope you enjoy Breanna Fulton’s story. Go here for more WYS? Posts.
In August 2014, I stood in my first classroom prepared to teach my students everything I could. What I didn’t know at the time was how much I would learn from them. I have always been an avid reader and naively thought that my students would be the same. However, as a 4th-grade reading teacher, I constantly heard my students tell me that they did not like to read. One day I stopped the entire lesson and asked the students a simple question, “Why not?” I needed to know why they were not invested in reading, and the responses were startling. Students shared that they did not like reading because they hardly ever identified with the characters, and people had told them that they would never be good readers, and as a result, they had internalized it.
I rushed home and reflected on the day. As I sat and thought about the books we studied during the quarter, I quickly realized that not one of them contained a black or brown character. My school population is 99% African American, and students were not being exposed to characters that represented them. I immediately sprang into research mode and discovered that children’s books have more animal characters then African American ones. Further, this quote from Rudine Sims Bishop really resonated with me, “Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection, we can see our own lives and experiences as part of a larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books.”
Armed with this new information, I was determined to come up with a solution. Ultimately, the solution that I found was myself. Using my students’ yearning for representation and affirmation in conjunction with my life experiences, I sat down and started writing. My first book, A is for Alcorn: Alphabet Book, shares the joys of attending an HBCU (Historically Black College and University), while Brown Child You Are… provides self-affirmations for children of color. I started my journey as an educator wanting to inspire my students and ended up with the students inspiring me.
Breanna M. Fulton, EdD, is a literacy instructional coach and received her EdD in Organizational Leadership with an emphasis in Behavioral Health from Grand Canyon University. She previously taught 4th-grade reading language arts before transitioning into her current role. With an eye toward improving the educational landscape for children of color, she is currently working to advocate and educate in Memphis.
Connect with Breanna Fulton:
Brown Child You Are…: Positive Affirmations for Children of Color
Illustrator: Jazmine Franklin | July 14, 2020 | PB | 27 Pages
A is for Alcorn: Alphabet Book
Illustrator: Jazmine Franklin | May 25, 2020 | PB | 28 Pages
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