Girl Rising: Changing The World One Girl At A Time

Since 2013, the Education Department at Saint Michael's College has sponsored a department-wide common read, featuring compelling narratives that inspire critical thinking, deep reflection, global activism, and connections to teaching. Throughout the year, students and faculty are encouraged to attend several events centered around the selected text, including author talks, film showings, workshops, and panel discussions. For the 2018-19 academic year, the Ed. Department chose Girl Rising: Changing The World One Girl At A Time : a vivid, non-fiction account of the hardships faced by girls living in countries or immersed in cultures that in some way hinder their opportunity to receive an education. Based on and building off of a documentary of the same name, author Tanya Lee Stone gives the reader a closer look at the causes and effects of a girl not getting an education; using a mixture of pictures, graphics, and quotes to provide a window into the world of girls interviewed for and/or featured in the film. The photographs are both haunting and humbling, the statistics are shocking, and the solutions seem simple. By the end of the book, I was left with a sense of urgency and motivation to do something for girls around the world that are not able to attend school. Even more, I realized how lucky I am to have the opportunities I have in education, and that I do not have the added worry of laws or customs questioning my right to go to school...

On October 8th, I joined a large group of students and professors in the college's recital hall to watch the Girl Rising  documentary. The film was briefly introduced by Stone, who was eager for our community to engage with the film while reading her book. Knowing that the film was made first, I was curious to see how it compared to the detailed text, especially since most major book/movie duos are released in the opposite order to Girl Rising .

At best, my feelings toward the film are mixed. I enjoyed seeing some of the girls featured in the book, hearing a few of their voices, and watching them reenact some of their most memorable moments (no matter how bold, frightening, or unorthodox they may have seemed to outsiders). I also really appreciated the choice the filmmakers made in  not  using subtitles. While some viewers may have found subtitles helpful in capturing the words behind the story, I found that the lack of understanding in language made the body language and emotion behind the actress portrayals and reenactments much more real. In fact, I would even say the language barrier made the hardships of the girls seem universal . I did not need to understand what they were saying in order to understand how they felt, and why they felt the way they did. I was distanced from the situations, much like I am in reality, but also a bystander that could recognize the problem playing out in front of me. Most importantly, the film proposed solutions that I could participate in immediately, providing an opportunity to change my role from bystander to advocate.

However, there were some artistic choices I felt took away from the film and its message. Often, there were distracting, cartoony graphics that took over the screen. While the graphics displaying statistics were helpful, others just drew my attention away from the girl at the camera's focus. The mix of narrated reenactments and actress portrayals was imbalanced, and other stylistic choices in capturing the girls and their stories were inconsistent (color vs. black and white, etc.). I was most frustrated that I didn't get to hear more from the girls or their interviewers, many of whom only narrated their segments briefly. I would have liked to see them interview in front of the camera: experience their smiles, listen to how they answer questions, and better understand their relationships with the writers they were paired with. Although I do feel like the movie did not communicate with its audience as effectively as it could have, I do think that with the context from the book, I found the movie an enjoyable addition to the stories I had read.

In connection to both the Saint Michael's College Ed. Department Mission Statement and the Vermont Licensure Portfolio Performance Criterion, I found my engagement with the Girl Rising  book and film to reflect: 1.) The Mission Pillar for students to become agents of change committed to social justice, and 2.) PC 10.2.: Candidates are prepared to advance the profession through advocacy, leadership, and/or action research . By exploring the historical and present states of each country the girls featured are from, researching ways to get involved with the accessibility of education, discussing my responsibility as a future teacher and global citizen with my peers, and considering how I would employ social justice in my future classroom; I have developed a strong foundation for how I can bring real-world problems into my lessons and push my students to work through possible solutions in a way that highlights the relevance of our lesson topics in their world outside of the classroom. Through teaching, I can help my students get involved with their own communities and build their profile as a global citizen by exposing them to problems like those in Girl Rising  and making my classroom a safe place for investigation and advocacy for change.

As a future educator, working with the Girl Rising  text and film has increased my awareness of how focusing on real-world problems in the classroom makes lessons more accessible, relevant, and motivating for students. I have also recognized the value of multiple mediums for presenting information, and that while some formats work for some, they may not work for others. Presenting information in multiple ways only increases the number of people it reaches, and I know that my lesson presentations will have to expand to fit as many learning styles as necessary for my classroom. My class's work with Girl Rising  has also increased my comfort and knowledge about working with social justice in the classroom: if the classroom environment is designed to handle mature situations appropriately, the lessons can inspire students to further research the world around them, and even bring about change. Designing lessons that focus on literacy techniques of all kinds (like visual, textual, auditory, etc.) will also benefit my students' ability to comprehend the complex layers of social justice, and they will be better prepared to face obstacles and work for change as a result. Overall, Girl Rising  has shown me that as a teacher, I have the power to change the world, one student at a time.

For more information about Girl Rising  and social justice projects sponsoring the education of girls, please visit girlrising.org