Black Ants and Buddhists: Using Read-Alouds to Connect Literacy and Caring Conversations

by Mary Cowhey

What would a classroom look like if understanding and respecting differences in race, culture, beliefs, and opinions were at its heart? If you were inspired to become a teacher because you wanted to develop young minds, but now find yourself limited by "teach to the test" pressures and state standards, Mary Cowhey's book Black Ants and Thinking Critically and Teaching Differently in the Primary Grades will reignite the passion and remind you that educators provide more than test prep. Starting her career as a community activist, Cowhey shares her roots and how they influenced her Peace Class, where she asks her students to think critically, learn through activism and discussion, and view the entire curriculum through the framework of understanding the world, and what they can do to make it a better place. Woven through the book is Mary's unflinching and humorous account of her own roots as well as lessons from her Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, Jr, and others. Her students learn to make connections between their lives, the books they read, the community leaders they meet, and the larger world. Black Ants and Buddhists offers no easy answers, but it does include starting points for conversations about diversity and controversy in your classroom, as well as in the larger community. Students and teachers investigate problems and issues together, in a multicultural, antiracist classroom.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction, Professional Development, School, Adult, Social Justice

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should have read this book years ago. I loved it! It is crammed full of great advice and insights for my students who are aspiring educators. Mary Cowhey is an unconventional teacher whose class is called "the peace class". But she doesn't teach in a trendy private school or a super expensive "Quaker" school. She teaches in a public school in the town of Northampton Massachusetts. Her school has many conventional and conservative teachers. Northampton, however, is a pretty progressive town, and has a large lesbian community. But it also has racial minorities and lower income families in fairly large numbers. It is an interesting place where I lived for about 6 months after finishing college. A lot of her focus is on social studies so I assigned this to my social studies methods class. I hope they like it as much as I did. This is a book for all teachers especially those committed to teaching in public schools and being culturally responsive teachers.

[Cut Intan · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can be a critical teacher after finishing this book. Believe me!

[Justin Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're flummoxed by Friere, if you take 'but what would this even look like?' as a conversation-ender and not a necessary foot on the gas pedal, read this. Elementary schoolkids can learn ten times more rigorously and deeply than the average high-schooler if they're just allowed to pursue questions worth asking, meet people worth meeting, and grow without knowing precisely where they're going ahead of time.

[Ricki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Cowhey's book is a phenomenal resource for teachers. It is directed for elementary school educators, but I learned a lot, and I am a high school educator. Her main focus is to promote social justice, action, and independence in the classroom. Cowhey weaves her personal life (she grew up without much money and as an adult, was a single mother on welfare) into her stories to show how she helps her students feel comfortable and safe when sharing their own experiences. She teaches them that regardless of their social or economic standing, they have the ability to be successful.

Each chapter addresses important issues that teachers face, such as how to: set routines, differentiate, respond to tragedy, teach history so kids care, build trust with families, and go against the grain. When her students were dissatisfied with something, she had them write letters. They became young advocates. Cowhey has an extremely responsive classroom, where she takes the students' interests and teaches different aspects of history, literature, and life each year. Some may find her ideas to be a bit liberal, but they are certainly adaptable for more conservative classrooms. Her students learn in the field, walking to see the mayor to demand a change in their town or visiting a sanitation company when a student wondered, "Where do the poops go?"

What I loved most about Cowhey's book is that it showed me how to make my students more in-tune with their surroundings. I would love to have my own child in her classroom, as I know he or she would learn a lot about self-advocacy.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book! She gives fabulous ideas on teaching students diversity that I will use in my future classroom.
At the beginning of chapter 7, Mary Cowhey shares a quote she has in her classroom by Paulo Friere, “1-The purpose of education in an unjust society is to bring about equality and justice. 2- Students must play an active part in the learning process. 3-Teachers and students are both simultaneously learners and producers of knowledge.”
She demonstrates that this type of learning can happen all day long, all year long in the classroom. Specifically in teaching my students about history, I will not gloss over the complexities and conflict that make up the whole truth. I love that Mary Cowhey teaches her students about Benjamin Banneker and how he called out Thomas Jefferson for having so many slaves. She doesn’t stop there but has students write their own letters to Thomas Jefferson. She connected him to George Washington, as well as Christopher Columbus who, in a letter to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella wrote about the Tainos, “They would make fine servants...With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want” (Cowhey, 2006, p. 131). One student made a poster with the names of those three white men and a statement next to Thomas Jefferson-”Wrote the Declaration of Independence. And owned slaves.” That is a very powerful statement and observation by a first grader.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Cowhey has written a book that will inspire and challenge teachers to create curriculum rooted in social justice and designed to be authentic, inquiry based and integrated. Cowhey works with primary grade students, but they learn they can make a difference in the world by paying attention to injustice and emulating Cowhey's heroes--Ghandi, Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King. This book has the potential to ignite the passion of any teacher whose commitment to engage students in meaningful work has been dimmed by the test-obsessed, bureaucracy driven educational climate in today's schools. I loved this book.

[Briana Brisco · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a preservice teacher, this book was required for a class teaching about respecting and honoring different cultures. I want to say that this has by far been the most interesting book I have read as a student. It was so good, that when I finish my program, I plan on reading it again before acquiring a job. This book teaches the importance of values for you as an individual, teacher, and influencer of young minds. It explains the difference between being a teacher, and being a guide. It explains the importance of letting the children have a voice in the classroom. My favorite thing about the book is that there are many examples provided, and tools to implement this. The overarching goal in the book is to swim against the stream. No matter how hard this may be!

[Aliyah (Barbellsnbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book! I read this for my social studies class in graduate school, and I truly hope to be at least a fraction of the kind of educator that Cowhey is. She doesn't press any of her pedagogies on you while you're reading. It's just some of her methods that have worked for her and others that have not. I enjoyed reading it and plan on reading it again while on break to resonate it with it even more.

[Mamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book with so many great ideas! It has helped shape my mission as a teacher and has encouraged and inspired me to set high goals in teaching engaged citizens who will spread peace into the world. I know I will be coming back to this book many times to help me in this ongoing mission. Cowhey offered so many eye-opening perspectives for teachers. I also really enjoyed the anecdotes from her classroom; awesome read!

[Stephanie Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book that I bought for my teaching class, this one is actually surprisingly awesome. I enjoyed the stories that Cowhey wrote about and the way she got her students engaged. I was debating reselling it... but now I want to keep if for future reference. Seriously, I highlighted so many meaningful passages.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this for one of my education classes, and it’s so great. Cowhey shows us what it looks like to respect and love students and their families, and how to teach students to think critically about the world! Definitely inspiring

[Hannah Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for a class and I was impressed with Cowhey's vision and use of critical thinking in her classroom. Written in 2005 there are some ideas in need updating but some were ahead of the trends. I recommend for anyone wanting to upend what typical American classes look and feel like.

[Hayley Combs · Rating 5 out of 5]

An essential read for every educator. I can only dream to be the kind of educator Mary Cowhey is. Cultivating a sense of learning, questioning, and exploring is something I will take into my own classroom. Her words will forever resonate with me.

[Bridget Wiley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful insights from an active educator making a difference for her students. Great information on teaching critical thinking, as well as important advice on how to teach history in a culturally conscious and historically accurate way.

[Kaleb Hargous · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be mandatory for educators to read before they begin teaching in any grade.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved her anecdotes. This was an inspiring, enjoyable, and helpful read for my future teaching career.

[Daviana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the single best textbook I have read for my Bachelor’s degree. I was engrossed in every chapter. I read the entire book dutifully and carefully. Mary Cowhey is an inspiration to teachers.

[Kayla Guyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'll be inspired, you'll cry, and you'll adjust your teaching practice.

[Michael Mason-D'Croz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really like this book. As a teacher, this one one that people should read.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a future educator there are a lot of great lessons in this book. Great read

[Jillianne Larson · Rating 5 out of 5]

So exciting to see a book like this geared for primary education! I need more/all books like this! Cowhey is so wonderful to include specifically how she implements her lessons.

[Samra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very beautiful stories from a great teacher

[gracie snapka · Rating 3 out of 5]

also required reading for social studies class :/

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book, and the author seems like an amazing educator. If you’re a teacher who enjoyed Mosaic of Thought, this is written in a very similar narrative style. Personally, I found it frustrating that this was more a montage or highlight reel showing what a classroom COULD look like, than a helpful or specific guide on how to create such a classroom. Like in Mosaic of Thought, it feels like all the vignettes are perfectly imperfect, and just vague enough that it’s impossible to imagine replicating anything similar to most of the examples she gives. I found myself wanting to shout, “But HOW did you do this? How long did it take? What were the other kids doing while some were doing this? How do first graders comprehend a primary document from the 18th century and what do you do to make that happen?!” and so on. There’s never much mention of behavior issues (except when used as cute descriptors of a child who’s about to say or do something profound) or fitting in all the subjects or the logistics of running a classroom, and as a result it’s hard to envision how to get from where I’m at to where she is.

Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for this one, or maybe this is like reading an artist’s description of how they create their work—seemingly unattainable but impressive. Still, it inspired me to think more about bringing in guest speakers and authentic experiences, reminded me to read Lies My Teacher Told Me (on my to-read list for a decade), and listed some books and sources I’d like to bring into my classroom.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Cowhey does some amazing things in this book. She presents stories from her own life in a memoir-like fashion. The readers are taken on a journey through a lot of challenge and growth that has lead her to first and second grade teaching. Then she takes those same stories and explains how she uses them in her teaching to connect with her students and the curriculum. Finally she deconstructs the ways that she teaches these insightful and creative youngsters and how she came to her methods. The fact that she includes a section about how to talk about difficult things, like 9/11 and the tsunami in SE Asia is just the tip of the iceberg of the practicality of this book. I have a feeling her stories will stick with me, and anyone else who reads this book for a long time.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

As most of you know, I am anti little kid, so when I chose to read this for a grad class book study, I was a bit surprised, but it was honestly one of the best things I read for a class all year. This teacher and her students were completely inspiring. Everyone thinking about or currently teaching elementary school should HAVE to read this during their teacher preparation. As a kid-lit enthusiast (and yes, this is kid kid lit, not YA lit) this was a great resource for titles by theme, too. 5 stars to an academic text? It's THAT good.

[Katie]

A critical literacy approach to teaching is used to present an image of Cowhey's classrooms and the beliefs behind her teaching. It makes you analyze what you ask of your students and what are your reasons behind it. Do you do things in your classroom because that is the way you were taught or because that is what everyone else is doing? Or do you have a philosophical basis and understanding of your classroom procedures and ideas?

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primary and intermediate teachers who are drowning in common core need to read Black Ants and Buddhists to remind themselves what critical instruction and socially responsible teaching is all about. Marcy Cowhey's classroom anecdotes reminded me of Vivian Paley. Her unflinching faith in children and honest teacher reflection inspired me to forge ahead in my endeavors to create a more nurturing, caring learning environment with kindergarten students.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for teachers with not much organizing experience or organizers with not much teaching experience who want to teach. A very practical and easy to follow guide for how to incorporate social justice issues into a primary classroom environment. She's a great story teller! This book made me laugh and cry a lot!