Girl Rising

Flyer of the SMC Common Read events

The Saint Michael’s College Education Department has a common read each year. The common read for the fall 2018 semester was Girl Rising by Tanya Lee Stone. Three events were held over the course of the semester to deepen students’ and the public’s understanding of the book. I attended the author talk on October 22nd and I watched the film (which came before the book). The trailer for the movie is here for anyone interested in watching it.

The author talk with Tanya Lee Stone was inspiring and moving. She began the talk by explaining how the Girl Rising movie was released in 2013. After watching it with her children, she noticed that they remembered more about the girls’ stories than about where the problem of education is in the world. She became passionate about slowing down and unpacking the information in the film in order to understand it better. This passion led to the idea of turning the movie into a book.  

Stone contacted the producers of the film shortly after watching it. She was given complete access to the photo archive, the film script, and all of the raw footage taken during the interviews. Stone spent much of her time playing “telephone games” to translate the raw footage. She got in touch with each female writer that wrote a chapter for the film in order to make sure she was telling the girls’ stories correctly. After collecting most of the background information needed to write the book, Stone decided to tackle the topic in three parts.

Part one: the stakes. The first part of the book outlined the context needed to understand the issues. While the film went country by country, Stone decided to write the book obstacle by obstacle to make it clear that the obstacles were happening everywhere. To emphasize that the problems occur throughout the world, Stone added as many stories from different girls as she could. Part one outlined the biggest point of the book, which centers around the question why is global education for girls so important? The reason is that educating girls brings the biggest change to the world by affecting whole communities, areas, countries, and governments. There is an astonishing ripple effect when you educate girls and it is not the same as when you educate boys. Stone emphasized this last statement during the talk by saying that when boys are educated, they individually benefit, but when girls are educated, the whole community benefits.

Part two: the stories. The first obstacle discussed was modern day slavery. Stone highlighted a quote from the quote that says, “Slavery is not legal anywhere but happens everywhere” (p. 21). Slavery persists because of war, poverty, gender discrimination, natural disasters, political turmoil, and any chaotic disaster. The other obstacles discussed were early marriage and childbirth and access to education. Throughout the author talk, I was struck by how painful this process was for Stone. She reminded the audience multiple times that identity protection was crucial, for the girls interviewed could be killed for speaking out. The girls had incredible strength amidst great hardship.

Snapshot of the film highlighting Suma's story

Part three: the solutions. Part three is centered around activism and how we can all affect change. Stone emphasized that the easiest way to get involved is to use whatever you are interested in. As an example, she talked about how a cyclist founded an organization to provide girls in developing countries with bikes for transportation.

One of the most significant parts of the author talk was when Stone asked, “How is this book, that’s about something so dark, so pretty?” She voiced her struggles about the writing process and learning how to grapple with the intense issues. Stone realized that the girls showed resistance, hope, and joy of being in school after not being in school (something that is taken for granted in the United States). After completing the book, she saw its prettiness as a result of activism. I was surprised and humbled by her admittal that she was “personally gutted” with high emotions during the writing process. I was also happy to hear that half of all proceeds go back to the communities and the girls in the book.

The talk with Tanya Lee Stone connects to performance criterion 5.1, 8.1, and 10.2. Performance Criterion 5.1 says, “Candidates engage learners in applying perspectives from varied disciplines in authentic contexts (such as local and global issues).” The book highlights perspectives from across the globe and aims to engage its readers in working to solve world issues. Performance Criterion 8.1 says, “Candidates use a variety of instructional strategies to make the discipline accessible for diverse learners.” Stone emphasized the importance of making education available to everyone. Access to education is a crucial present day issue. By finding ways to make education accessible, the world will become a better place. Performance Criterion 10.2 says, “Candidates are prepared to advance the profession through advocacy, leadership and/or action research.” By reading Girl Rising, I am now more prepared to push my future students to advocate for those who are discriminated against, and to research ways to make life better for those in need.

The author talk moved me in ways that I did not expect it to. I feel privileged to live where I do and to have access to education. Growing up, I have never worried about where my next meal would come from or for my safety. The things that I have taken for granted are the same things that girls in developing countries are fighting and dying for. Girl Rising and Tanya Lee Stone’s reasoning behind the book has impacted me greatly. I will take what I learned with me for the rest of my life and work to create awareness for the issues that many people are oblivious to.

The event also impacted me as a future educator. In my future classroom, I will strive to understand the background of my students and what their home life is like. Remembering to use “windows and mirrors” is important for educators. Students will appreciate the effort made by teachers who reach out on a personal level. Girl Rising and Tanya Lee Stone have influenced me to push my future students in a way that gives them the most out of their education. I will also incorporate real world statistics in my mathematics courses so that students can have safe discussions about real world problems in the classroom. In regards to my own future learning, I hope to continue educating myself about the world’s issues and learning new ways to help. Professionally, I want to make connections with NGOs and others in hopes to improve living conditions and access to education in developing countries.

The curriculum design process from ED 343: Literacy in Middle/High can be related to Girl Rising. When designing lesson plans, it is important to differentiate in order to accommodate for all learners. The book used words, pictures, graphs, and statistics to teach the same content in multiple ways. As future educators, we must provide our students with multiple opportunities to work with new material. The statistics used in Girl Rising show the reader what is happening in the world today. The reader can then use that knowledge to continue learning about the issues and what they can do to help. The same goes for lesson plans. The teacher can use various topics to expose his or her students to the world. The students can then apply that knowledge to solve real world problems. I would recommend Girl Rising to anyone and everyone. Whether you prefer watching the film or reading the book, you will not regret it!