Cultural Curriculum Chat with Jebeh Edmunds

Season 7 Episode #15 The Power of Diverse Books: Breaking Out of Literary Bubbles with Author of Read Outside Your Bubble Nita Creekmore

• Jebeh Edmunds

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What happens when we break free from our reading comfort zones? Nita Creekmore, author of "Read Outside Your Bubble," returns to the Cultural Curriculum Chat podcast to explore this transformative question with host Jebeh Edmunds. 

Creekmore's journey began as a Black little girl rarely seeing herself represented in books. "Oftentimes Black little girls were like the little sidekick or the little friend and then they kind of were in and then out of the story," she recalls. This experience fueled her passion for diverse literature and eventually led to her creating the hashtag #ReadOutsideYourBubble, which evolved into both her educational philosophy and the title of her thought-provoking book.

At the heart of Creekmore's approach is the LEAP framework: Learning (incorporating mirrors and windows), Equity (ensuring representation of marginalized stories), Accessibility (finding ways to obtain diverse books), and Purpose/Professional learning (intentional implementation). This comprehensive roadmap provides educators with practical strategies for building inclusive reading environments where all students feel seen and valued.

For teachers hesitant to incorporate diverse literature, Creekmore suggests starting with interactive read-alouds. "I feel like a read aloud is like the bridge," she explains, recommending teachers prepare thoughtful discussion questions and create space for student connections. She emphasizes that diverse books benefit all students—not just those from marginalized backgrounds—by expanding worldviews and fostering empathy.

Creekmore's wisdom extends beyond book selection to address classroom climate, offering insights on community building, professional learning through peer observation, and advocacy strategies like grant writing for book acquisition. Her approach balances scholarly understanding with practical implementation, making inclusive literature accessible to any educator willing to begin the journey.

Follow Nita Creekmore @LoveTeachBless across social platforms and subscribe to her blog at www.love-teach-bless.com

 for ongoing inspiration as you expand your own reading bubble and help others do the same.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome back to the Culture Kicklimb Chat podcast. I'm your host, jeva Edmonds, and today's episode is all about the power of reading beyond our comfort zone. And I have in the guest chair Mrs Nita Creekmore, the author of Read Outside your Bubble. And if you have been a ride or die listener of the podcast, nita is making her second round in the guest chair. So excited to have Nita.

Speaker 1:

And if you are new, nita Creekmore is an educator, a literacy advocate, an instructional coach and author of this new thought-provoking book called Read Outside your Bubble. We're going to be diving into why diversifying your bookshelf matters and how to embrace the discomfort that can come with it, and what it really looks like to build a reading life rooted in empathy and inclusion. And before we jump in, I've got a little announcement myself. I have created my first debut novel, the Orange Blossom, and that debuts this fall. So be sure to check in the show notes for signing up to be in that email list group so you know early release dates and some really fun literary events that are going to be happening with the book. So I am so excited. Without further ado, let's get into this rich conversation. Welcome back to the guest chair, mrs Nita Creekmore.

Speaker 2:

Welcome my dear, I'm so, so excited to be here, so excited. Thank you and you were just talking about. I was on this podcast probably. I feel like it was like two years ago. Yep Two years ago, right around this time Right around this time, and so we're back. I'm back in the seat again. That makes me happy, okay, so maybe what I said before resonated, that I can come back again, then again, and again, and again. Yes, I'm happy.

Speaker 1:

Oh, thank you. And you know, nita, your book has me. I have it dog-eared. I got it all, like you know, highlighted and all the things I mean there's some points where, but I love how you format this book before we get into it. It is such a wonderful read because we get to learn more about you as a human being, as an educator, and your love emanates through all of these pages. So I am so proud of you for writing this book. And I also know if we were in the same state, same classroom building, teaching fifth grade, you'd be my like fifth grade teacher bestie. But you know that's another episode for another day. So let's get into it. Ms Nina, what sparked the idea of reading outside your bubble? Was there an experience that really pushed you to write this book?

Speaker 2:

You know I talk about my why in my book a lot, because as a Black little girl growing up, I just didn't see a lot of books of little Black little girls who look like me as being like the main character in the story. Oftentimes, you know, black little girls were like the little sidekick or the little friend and then they kind of were in and then out of the story. And I think, with there has been an influx in diverse books in the past few years. I would say in the past 15, 10 to 15 years it's been like an influx of diverse books, not as much as it needs to be, I would say are kind of on the lower end of the publishing market. But I will say this it's been so much richness in books that I discover.

Speaker 2:

And so this reading outside your bubble, I would say I started posting about more diverse books.

Speaker 2:

My love for it was since college, but I started posting more and more about it in about 2016, 17 on my page, on my Love Teach Bless page, and I started using the hashtag read outside your bubble.

Speaker 2:

I made a shirt about it and the reason why I chose reading outside your Bubble is because I think oftentimes people get caught up in their own circle and we don't push the limits in our reading and our growth.

Speaker 2:

And I would say, even for myself, you know, like I would want to read because I hadn't learned a lot about my African-American history as much as I should have in school. So I'm engulfing myself in that which there's nothing wrong with that because I did not learn that in school and I want to learn more about different cultures, different identities, the gender fluidity and just knowing more about that, about the LGBTQIA plus community and like just really grasping the stories behind those identities. And I, too, had to expand my bubble, right. And so it's one of those things that it started just me posting and me just talking about it, me integrating that as me being a coach, me being a teacher leader, me being a teacher in classrooms. That birthed Read Outside your Bubble. And the funny thing is is that I was asked to write the book probably about two years before I actually did.

Speaker 1:

Really.

Speaker 2:

Yes. And so I was like, oh, I had just. I was already writing me and my husband's other book, Every Connection Matters, and I was just like I just don't know if I have the bandwidth to do that and that, and so I kind of took a pause on it and then circled back around. And when I circled back around I said I'm just going to do it and I'm excited that I did. It was very cathartic and, as you said, like a lot of my stories are in the book of just me as a kid me, me just in my adult growth, of just my learning, and so that burned free outside your bubble and all of my chapters in there.

Speaker 1:

I just love it and that's how I was connected to your work is your Love Teach, bless. You know life on social media and you gave me lots of ideas of books that I could have used in my classroom as well. And your love for cultural responsiveness in learning and reading, because, like you said, text is in everything. And to have that and also to expand that bubble, because some of us have oh, that's a particular genre that I like to read with my students, or, you know, we only have this bin for certain holidays and then we put the bin away. I love how you've got wonderful strategies you know to help us educators and human beings, like you say, to expand that bubble and open that leader. You know ladder for learning as well. So you talk a lot about your book. I love this framework that you came up with, the LEAP framework. Can you share with our listeners and our viewers the significance of this acronym?

Speaker 2:

Yes. So the LEAP framework is a framework I would say that I birthed, but it's something that I've been using for years that I put a name to. So the L is learning, and enmeshed in the learning is the work from Dr Rudine Sims, bishop and thinking about. I don't think you can read inclusive and diverse text without thinking about her work Just thinking about mirrors and windows and sliding glass doors. And I enmeshed her work in the L part because I felt like it's important of doing your own learning for yourself and how you identify and making sure that that continues. Like that's not something that I'm saying when you're expanding your bubble, that you lose any parts of yourself while doing so right, you can still be your whole self and all of its intersections. And also, you know, read outside your bubble and learn about other cultures and other people outside the margins. And I started with the L, so learning can look so different for different people, but I think I believe my belief is that a lot of the learning is in the books that we read. In the books that we read in the conversations that we have with other people, in the authentic relationships that we build with other people, because I also built that into my book about you can't do this work without relationship and community, and part of that is that learning piece. Yes, read books, but expanding your world is expanding those relationships as well, and I become a better person in expanding my relationships. And so that's the L.

Speaker 2:

The E is equity and making sure that this is for everybody, that ensuring the diversity of all people, especially those that fall along the margins, you know, the ones that are often pushed out of curriculum, pushed out and their stories are often not told. And making sure that we include a lot of different backgrounds and perspective taking and stories. You know, and I'm going to get to the A, but think about that. I think about being a kid, and I'll talk about this too being a kid and learning about colonialism and learning pilgrims and learning about that, and I remember distinctly thinking and wondering where are people during this time yes, you know like they're good, and as a kid, you know we did the plays and we did, you know, and then wondering about their peoples. Those are just questions that it happens in your mind while we're learning these things Like where's the other stories? You know, where's the other stories?

Speaker 1:

Yes, yeah.

Speaker 2:

In making sure that equity, you know, is there. The A is accessibility, and I put access in there because we have a lot of books in our schools and we have a lot of schools that don't have enough books that are diverse and inclusive, and so, and how can teachers, how can educators get these books in the hands of children? Um, I offered off a couple of different you know places that books can, that you can get books from, and it's getting easier and easier to get books. Like there's lots of grants you can write, there's lots of things, and it's just being just really intentional and proactive in that, making sure that you have access to diverse literature and being intentional about that. And then the P is purpose and professional learning, and the P stands it's like a dual definition there, because you have to root in that purpose, ground back into that purpose of why you're doing what you're doing, but also professional learning piece. That's just.

Speaker 2:

That's the coach in me of making sure that we're teaching teachers how to do this work effectively and how to do this work without causing harm, and so I think that's very important. I think everyone should be at the table. I think we should be collaborating on how we integrate text effectively. I think sometimes we don't vet books enough. I think sometimes teachers are reading books without reading them before they even put them in. And I just think making sure we're being really super intentional about our teaching and the work of culturally responsive teaching and I've seen so many times when we give it the name and sometimes teachers are doing harm and we don't, some of us don't realize that that's happening and it ends up happening.

Speaker 1:

And you've got wonderful graphics. You've got wonderful facilitation questions, wonderful graphics, you've got wonderful facilitation questions and even that. And I like I tell you, honey, I highlighted a bunch of stuff but I don't want to give away too much because I want people to buy your book, but 10 ways to vet inclusive books. And, like you said, I love how you talked about with grants, especially with the access piece. When we are learning in our day-to-day as teachers, we feel like grant writing is something above us in some way, like it's a daunting task, like you know. One extra thing to do. And I love how you even included all of these organizations that are looking and begging for teachers. The money is there. We can fill out a new class list. You know, sometimes when you get that, you know God bless them. The retired teachers you get all their free books. It's like free can come with a cost. Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

That's what I always say, yes, but also, you know, like, yes, and you're talking about those grants, they become my email all the time and, just like a few months ago, I have a ton of books. I mean I've got to let me with a ton of books. So it's not like I have a need for them, because I either buy them, and my husband just knows this is what happens. He just said the other day we got to do something about all these books. Like, what are we doing? Like, are we going to get another bookshelf? Are we going to we gonna get another bookshelf? Are we gonna? It has been asked the same question, same thing. That's the thing.

Speaker 2:

But, um, just a couple months ago I I saw that we need diverse books, had a grant and it was for title one, schools, and I ended up shooting the email to my um media specialist and said, hey, you know, this is a. She looks like it's an easy right. If you need help with anything, let me know. Blah, blah, blah, we get the grant and so she's like so excited. We get like $5,000 worth of books added to her and they and the, and the stipulation is they have to be diverse and inclusive.

Speaker 2:

Yay, you know, she was excited about that I was excited about that, and so when I say, you know, grant writing used to be because I'm aging myself, but 22 years in education, grant writing used to be more extensive than it is today I will say that. But now it's like a form that you fill out, you say your why, what's your reasoning, and then you can get free books sent to you, and that's happened to me before when I was an instructional coach. We need diverse books. Again Sent me boxes of books, right, and so it's just one of those things that you have to just find it, and I put lots of resources in there for accessibility to making sure.

Speaker 2:

Especially I will say in this time yes, oh yeah, so, when God placed it on my heart, this is the time to write this book, and my book came out March of this year. This book is needed.

Speaker 1:

Big time.

Speaker 2:

And I talk about banned books in one of my chapters, because we need to read banned books and we need to know policy. We need to know what we need to do as educators and teachers to be able to teach our children the books that they need and the history that they need to learn, and that's often through picture books and books that are on the shelves right now.

Speaker 1:

And you even have what I love about you you even had a sample letter about the discussions of the books that you have and in sending it to parents, so there's no excuse. You got the form letter. It's right there with heart and empathy and equitable access to these books and it's just like I said, you've got a plethora of resources in every single chapter to say, yes, we need to relearn. And I love the discussion that you have with your own learning, the L part of getting that reframe of the banned books and reframing that mindset to very important books. And why and I'm not going to give too much, but she quotes a little Beyonce You'd be like, oh, yes, uh-huh, we want to be in the VIB section.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so there's so many good things and I love how, because you know, as I do, growing up with that lack of representation, like you said, and you touch on like Babysitter's Club, I'm like, yes, that's when we had Jessie Like hey, jessie, she's on the cover.

Speaker 1:

We have our own book and I tell you I read that thing cover to cover. But I love how you've got and I say we say this all day, but you have visualization tools in this book that make you in that learning piece as an educator, to go back in your own life as a learner, as a student, to really see what was missing, like you said, what was pushed away. What was missing, like you said, what was pushed away and what did we not have our own access to that as adults we're looking for and, to my point too, there's so many teachers. You know they think this as a new initiative and you know well, I've done this unit plan and I love how you talked about World War II, for example, and there's so many perspectives and attitudes on this, just the allied countries and other voices that you yourself, as the educator, researched about. And that to me. What do you say to those educators that are seeing you down the hall doing your thing and having that discussion with your students but they're still holding tight to that bubble.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's not easy.

Speaker 1:

It's not easy, yeah.

Speaker 2:

You know, as a coach, there are teachers. We call them resistant teachers. Teachers, yes, resistant um to change and and not just when you see resistant teachers. They're not just. It's not just about inclusive books well, no, no, no oh yeah, we've been doing it the way we've been doing it. You know, and you hear that a lot. And here's the thing when you ask a teacher who is seemingly resistant, do you think that all children, children should learn?

Speaker 2:

and they always say yes they always say yes, do you think that all children belong in your classroom now? Yes, okay, and so to? Once you get there, you're like okay, so if that's the case, then we need to be teaching all children and making sure that they're represented in our curriculum. Now I also talk about in my book. I have worked at a predominantly white school before where I was the one of the only black teachers at fed School. Those also need those stories.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 1:

Say it again yes, those students need to Same.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I would teach them about the stories and I didn't have any put in At that time. I had no pushback. You know they love learning. They wanted to learn about the different perspectives and backgrounds and stories that they hadn't learned about, perspectives and backgrounds and stories that they hadn't learned about, and so I share those real, that realness, with love, right, and so I.

Speaker 2:

There was a time, I will be honest, where I used to get really angry about the pushback, right, and now I can honestly say that I do it with love. And so one way, some of the ways that you can do that is, like you know, as a coach, I had the, I would say, privilege, with quotes, to be in different classrooms, and so I would coach the teachers and I would intentionally choose diverse books to go along with whatever it is they're teaching, so they can see me modeling with whatever it is they're teaching, so they can see me modeling what it can look like, by integrating these books in your curriculum by way of interactive read-aloud. Let's say right, so you're learning about colonialism. Let's say third grade. Third grade was like the sweet spot.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, oh yeah, I can still see the paper hats yes, Still see the paper hats and still see the little churning the butter, all that whole thing. Let's just let it go away. Yes, got you. But I would talk about, let's say, I bring in the book which is a new book called Before the Ships Talks about Africans before they became African-American. I think that's very essential because as a child, if you only hear about your culture as a Black American, african-american, as you began with slavery, it does sound silly.

Speaker 1:

It does. Oh yes, oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

Not that we're trying to push out that history. The history is there, we know it, we feel it, even 300 years later. However, I need to hear before the ships, because I need to know where my people came from.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Yes, and so if I hear that, I'm like, okay, so they're not, okay, so they're not. We were kings and queens, we did have our own language and we had our own customs. We had, you know, we're over here thriving, and then we were brought. So, hearing that, and then we were brought over, just like you talk about before the 13 colonies where they were before they came over here in the third, you know, and so then I get the whole story, because then you want me to talk about Native peoples.

Speaker 1:

So before.

Speaker 2:

Kali what they got going on over here.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Different perspectives in one lesson, right. But you can start by way of interactive read aloud, right.

Speaker 2:

I feel, like a read aloud is like the, like the bridge, and so once you start with interactive read aloud, then you can begin to do even more with it. Right, but if someone is apprehensive, beginning with interactive read aloud is like okay, I can read a lot of book, okay, so how can you make an interactive? Let's read the book beforehand. I can't stress that enough because I've seen so many. I'm someone that's bringing a cold read as an adult.

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah, oh yes, I love interacting. I'm in front of kids. You can't do it, you got to read it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm going to read the book and so, like you know, you read the book beforehand. You think about okay, this would probably be a good discussion point. Let me think about a really thoughtful question that might kind of birth some good discussion that goes along, or already learning about Right, I would say three to four stopping points where you're going to pause and ask a question. Stopping point where you're going to pause and ask a question, and if you've ever worked for kids with two days, they're gonna pause you anyway they're gonna, oh, yes, your hand in the midst of your read aloud, especially if they have lots of connections, and so that's a.

Speaker 2:

Really I feel like you know less, I guess stressful not stressful to me, but for some teachers might be stressful less stressful read aloud option. That's kind of like the bridge and the discussion and the kids collaborating and discussing and having these rich conversations. You'll want to do more. You're not going to do this more, right? If a class, a quiet classroom, is a scary classroom, we need to be energized.

Speaker 2:

Discussion and collaboration, and so I feel like that's the bridge. That's how I would offer up to a teacher I might be like where do I begin? How do I start? You know modeling and also, if you have a coach in your school, the best professional learning is a teacher that's doing it well. Coverage Go to see another teacher in action doing this work. Take notes. Think about her. They're questioning His or her questioning or they're questioning. Think about what books that're questioning his or her question or their questioning. Think about what books that they have on their shelves. Look around their room, yes, to see the community that's built, the space that's built To someone who's doing this work well. It doesn't just start with books, it started way before that part. Yes, no-transcript.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's so powerful, nita. And I love how in the book you talk about your community meetings. You know I used to do classroom morning meetings and stuff. I used to say, oh, my classroom community. But I love how you switch that to community building, community meetings. It didn't have to be in the morning, but just real quick checkpoints sitting on the floor calling your fifth grade seniors of the school. I'm like, oh yes, and you do that. And I love how you talk about your past teachers in your life and how they took care of you and how you took that to heart. You know, and again it's just like, yeah, you are, we are vibing. I just love, love this book.

Speaker 1:

So for someone we talked about just starting to build their diverse bookshelf go-to tips, like you said, we can get grants. I always love too that you even said of what can I do to keep moving forward with those VIB books. You know, if you have a little free library in your neighborhood, put some in there. And I love how you go going to your school board and you know there's so many things that we can do to have that action into having more inclusive books. But before we go, where can we find your amazing work, and I'm going to put your link of your book in the show notes as well, because we need you to have this book. So where can we find nita creek?

Speaker 2:

more sphere of awesomeness I um, I probably have too many socials, but I am very active on instagram. That's probably like the place where I kind of start my work is instagram. Love teach, bless. I am tiptoeing into blue sky, so I say tiptoe because I forget about it, and then I'm like, oh, I want to post it, and then I also want threads. Love Teach Bless. Facebook, love Teach Bless. So you can like, my students did this year. Oh, that's a whole nother content. You can Google me and they did. And I'm like, okay, we're not doing that right now.

Speaker 2:

We're learning hello hilarious, oh my goodness but, um, love teach blesscom is, um, where I I do blog on there fairly often, um, and so those are different places you can find me. And then I would also love for people to subscribe to my email. Subscribe, subscribe to my blog. So when you get my blog and you subscribe, anytime I post it comes to your email and then I also send emails out as well where you can subscribe. But I love people and so anytime you message me, it's me behind there messaging you back. Every time it's nobody else, it's Nita messaging you. I love to help people. People have messaged me and asked for help of how to become a coach, how to integrate books more, and I am very open to that as well. People want to bring me to their schools all these things. So please, please, be a part of my Love Teach Bless community. I don't look at it as followers. You're people that just support my work and I'm so blessed and grateful for everyone.

Speaker 1:

And we're blessed to have you in our sphere and you just have. You exude positivity and love of learning and reading and I can't wait for folks to get your book. This would be amazing in our PLCs everybody and our institutes that we have going on. June is right around the corner and this is an amazing read. Nita, I am so proud of you and I am so happy and blessed that you are in my life as a really sweet friend and encourager and a fellow author. I am just so, so proud of you and keep doing what you're doing. I will continue to support your work.

Speaker 1:

And yes, what an amazing conversation we had this afternoon. I hope you are feeling inspired, everyone, as you just get to read a little deeper and wider and expand your bubble Outside. Your Bubble is a must-have for anyone who wants to grow as a reader, an educator and an overall great human being. And I hope, if you love this episode, don't forget to follow and leave a review, and it helps our podcast reach way more people about culture, equity, education and connection. And again, thank you, Nita, for joining us and thank you all for listening. We'll see you here same time next week.