In honor of their 75th anniversary, Penguin Classics has partnered with #DisruptTexts, a renowned education organization that works to create a more inclusive, representative and equitable language arts curriculum for K-12 students.
Facilitated by Penguin Random House (PRH) Education, this partnership includes a number of new initiatives focused on connecting with, and supporting, educators through innovative programming; online events for vital dialogue and teacher community discussion; and new educator resources for guiding student reading and discussion of traditional and “new” classics in-and-out of the classroom.
The “What is a Classic?” educator’s guide addresses the complicated question of what makes a text a “classic.” Written by Julia Torres and Tricia Ebarvia, both educators of color, the guide explores the implications when a text is bestowed the label of “classic,” especially depending on who is doing the bestowing. Using Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop’s concept of “mirrors” as a lens, Julia and Tricia acknowledge the power that classics can have for readers and educators – a power that is not always positive.
This guide provides the foundation for four forthcoming educator guides by the #DisruptTexts team on Penguin Classics texts that have been overlooked in secondary classrooms that are representative of BIPOC communities, including: Passing by Nella Larsen; Monkey King by Wu Cheng’en; Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko; and The Penguin Book of Migration Literature edited by Dohra Ahmad. Each of these guides will be published on the PRH Education websites in the coming months to be used in perpetuity as resources for educators.
Download the guide here.
Learn more about the partnership here.