Week 5: African American Literature - Children's Book - Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut

 Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut written by Derrick Barnes has been in my classroom library since I first saw it displayed in our school library! I actually read it while my students were selecting their library books haha. 

The story is told from the perspective of a pre-teen boy getting his hair cut. The descriptions that Barnes uses are almost poetic. The way he described how confidence from a haircut can make you feel like a whole new person, like royalty, was so heartfelt. This book is a love story to his hair.

I have to agree with Barnes when he says how much a good haircut can make someone feel so amazing that it can impact the grade they make on a test. Now, let's look at this from another perspective... what if he had a bad hair day? Maybe he woke up late or his family had to choose between a haircut and paying the electric bill. His day would have still been affected but in a negative way. Imagine a student coming into your class with his hood on, knowing full well that wearing a hood is against your classroom rules, how would you respond? Would you immediately reprimand him and start nagging about how he knows the rules and what's expected of him? 

I ask this because last year a boy in my homeroom would occasionally wear his hood when he came into class and you could tell that his morning hadn't started on the right foot. I noticed that if I tried to correct the behavior, his attitude towards school and work would be negative. However, if I let him wear the hood, he would be a little more engaged in the lesson (and by that, I mean that he wouldn't distract others and disrupt the lesson haha). This student taught me that it doesn't matter if my students wear hoods on bad hair days or when they feel self-conscious. What matters to me is that they feel safe and comfortable in my classroom, so they are open and capable of learning instead of shutting down and being defensive. 

I would use this book along with My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom and The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family by Ibtihaj Muhammad to compare and contrast how important hair is across multiple cultures.