The Day You Begin
“There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you until the day you begin to share your stories.”
“The Day You Begin” by Jacqueline Woodson is a book about finding the courage to be yourself, even if you feel different and that difference feels scary. Being unique does not have to be a bad thing, and in fact, it is something to celebrate! Through this story, we are reminded that the more you share your truth, the more you will find others who share the same. When we are unabashedly ourselves, it becomes easier to connect because it gives those around us permission to do the same.
We love reading this book at the beginning of the school year when there are new friends to meet, new teachers, and school staff to become acquainted with. However, we found that it is just as meaningful to read at the beginning of a new year. Many adults are making resolutions about who they hope to become and set goals for improving themselves - and that’s great. BUT, we hope that this book reminds those adults (and asserts for our children) that you are fantastic just as you are today.
We hope that the new year has wonderful surprises for you - and more than improving who you are, we hope that you fall in love with your present self. Asking ourselves to improve after surviving an unpredictable and challenging year does not send a message of self-love that we’d like to model for our children. Encourage your children to share their feelings about how 2020 changed them - and encourage them to be honest about it. You might find that you all have similar feelings that strengthen your connection to one another. Stand strong in your struggles, find joy in learning from mistakes, and use this time to begin to share your story with pride.
Teachers
When introducing this story, we recommend sharing a time that you felt different. Explore the positive and negative feelings associated with it. This will help your students feel comfortable enough to share while making connections to the feelings in this story. It would be a wonderful prompt to talk about what makes them feel comfortable in your class and what makes them feel uncomfortable. As a class community, you can reset intentions and guidelines for how the classroom will continue.
Some Things to Think About…
Discussion Questions:
What is one way that you feel very different than most people around you? What makes that feeling good or bad?
Why do you think the author felt compelled to write this book?
Why are differences important to talk about?
Activity Idea:
Write about what makes you unique or special. You can do this two ways. 1. Write an acrostic poem. In an acrostic poem, the first letter in each line spell out your name. Use each letter of your name to write something special about yourself.
2. As a class, have each student write out 3 -5 things that make them special. Display the writings on a bulletin board. Have the students use post-it note with their classmate’s names to figure out who the writing is describing. NOtice similarities and differences in what students wrote.
illustrated by Rafeal López
