Does My Head Look Big In This?

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. About 3% of Australians are Muslims. What kinds of experiences might be common for people who are part of a small but visible minority? What is Islamophobia, and how might it make Australian Muslims’ experiences especially difficult?

Teaching Suggestion: Amal, the novel’s main character, is an Australian Muslim, and the novel’s plot revolves around her Muslim identity. Students are likely to be generally aware of prejudice against Muslims and will probably be able to give intelligent answers to the prompt questions without using outside resources. You might offer them the resources listed below after they have given preliminary answers as a way to deepen and refine their understanding. If your students are discussing this question aloud, you may wish to coach them in advance about respectful and inclusive ways to discuss the topic.

• This 3-minute video defines Islamophobia and explores its sources.
• This article from The Guardian shares conclusions from a study of Australian Muslims’ experiences of discrimination.

2. What is hijab? What are some of the reasons people might choose to dress this way?

Teaching Suggestion: In Does My Head Look Big in This? Amal begins to wear a headscarf for the first time. This prompt is intended to ensure that before reading, students have accurate information about this frequently misunderstood cultural and religious practice. The first three resources listed below are curated to focus on factual information about why women might choose this practice voluntarily. The final resource is meant to be teacher-facing only and gives background on the controversies related to hijab within Muslim communities.

• This article defines hijab and shows the many different styles worn around the world.
• This 4-minute video shares a young woman’s personal journey to understand her own practice of wearing hijab.
• This article thoughtfully explores the variety of reasons for wearing hijab.
• This article from JSTOR-Daily describes the conflict over hijab within Muslim communities (teacher-appropriate; not student-facing).

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Do you worry about fitting in at school? What are some compromises that you have made or that you have seen peers make to fit in with the crowd? What are some things that you would not be willing to compromise on to fit in? (Please do not mention any peers by name in your response.)

Teaching Suggestion: An important task of adolescence is identifying when it is desirable to adhere to social norms and when it is healthy to defy these norms. This prompt lays the groundwork for students to appreciate that even though Amal’s decision to wear the hijab in school separates her from her peers in a very visible way, her personal integrity demands that she not compromise on this issue. The prompt offers students who are uncomfortable sharing personal information a way to discuss the issue by proxy, by talking about the compromises they have seen others make, but does also ask that they not identify these peers explicitly. Because it is easier to forget this rule in discussion, this prompt is probably best answered in writing.