Starting my Library

Becoming a teacher is not that far away.  In fact, it is right around the corner.  I have so many beliefs about incorporating multicultural literature into my lessons and having the books in my classroom library for my students to read.  I think that I have all the time in the world to collect multicultural literature but I don't.  However, I have a start to my classroom library and books to use for my lessons because of my children's literature classes. 

I am thankful for my children's literature classes because they have taught me so much about how to be an advocate for incorporating multicultural literature into my classroom and showing me how important multicultural literature is to children.  Since the beginning of the semester, I have learned so much about the importance and meaning of multicultural literature.  I have expanded my horizons on my beliefs about literature in a classroom and this class has given me the courage to address multicultural literature to my students.  

In the beginning of the semester, I would have told you that multicultural literature only included racial groups.  I am now educated enough to say that multicultural literature includes diversity among all people; including, special needs, religion, and sexual orientation of people.  Before I took this class, I would have never thought to include these other areas of multicultural literature.  This class has educated me in many ways and allowed me to question myself and others when talking about multicultural literature.  For example, the labels we use when addressing a multicultural group/topic.

For anyone reading this blog, I encourage you to take TE 448: Issues of Diversity in Children's and Adolescent Literature at Michigan State University.

Gender Roles

After talking about gender roles in class today, it made me think of a story that one of my teachers had told me, which really made me think about how parents influence gender roles.

My teacher's friend has two children; one boy and one girl.  Her friend realized one day that every time she was giving her children positive reinforcement she caught herself saying to her daughter that she was being such a "good little girl."  She questioned herself, and said, what about her behavior right now makes her such a good little "girl?"  She now tries to give her children positive reinforcement by saying that they are being good people!!!!

I thought this was very interesting to think about; thinking about how parents reinforce gender roles for their children growing up.

Connection

Deb, I think you are right when you say that my ENG 379 class has a lot of connections to our class.

When we were watching Margaret Cho's stand up comedy on YouTube the other day, it made me think of a short story that I read in my ENG 379 class called "Who's Irish" by Gish Jen.  Margaret Cho pokes fun at stereotypes that American people hold about Asian-Americans but in "Who's Irish" the narrator and her daughter are Chinese and her daughter, Natalie marries a man who is Irish.  The story is in the mother's point of view and she address many of the stereotypes that she as a Chinese woman holds towards people who are not Chinese, particularly people who are Irish.  She is not pleased that her daughter married an Irish man and together had a mixed child, named Sophie.  The narrator does not agree with her grand-daughter's wild behavior and says it is because her parents do not spank her.  When the narrator watches her grand-daughter she decides to spank her because she spanked her daughter who is well behaved because spanking was accepted in the Chinese culture and it is not in the "American" culture.  

I think this was an interesting story from the perspective of an Asian-American about stereotypes and cultural beliefs that she holds towards people who are not from the Asian decent.  Margaret Cho's stand up comedy reminded me of this story so I thought I would share this with you if anyone is interested in reading the very short story.

Last Weeks Class

Last week we were talking about having Spanish written in a book that is primarily English.  Is it really  necessary; does the Spanish add to the book or distract the reader from the English words, interrupting the flow of the reader...

I am reading a book for my ENG 379 class right now called, Desert Blood The Juarez Murders By: Alicia Gaspar de Alba.  This book is about "an epidemic of murdered women [that] has plagued the Juarez-El Paso border since 1993" (pg. v).  This is not a children's literature book; however, this book relates to our discussion and coursepack readings because this book has Spanish words, phrases, and song lyrics in it then, the author gives the translation in English.  

I do not think that the Spanish in this book bothers me or the flow of which I am reading the book.  I think the Spanish makes the book more authentic and also, similar to what Barrera and Quiroa said in their article, The Use of Spanish in Latino Children's Literature in English: What Makes for Cultural Authenticity?, "that some events in his life were not originally experienced in English, and that particular meanings and emotions could only be conveyed in Spanish..."I simply use the language [Spanish] because it comes naturally to me, and there's no translations for it"" (pg. 1).  I like that the author has added in some Spanish because this book is a fictionalized account of true events; the Spanish makes the book more realistic because Spanish is the language spoken at these accounts of tragedy, and it was the language heard by the victims as well.  

Outside Connection To Class

Earlier today I was in class, which was ENG 379: American Women Writers.  We were watching a video called "Between The Lines" a documentary on Asian American Women Poets (2001).  Towards the end of the documentary, there was one Asian American Women that said she began to write poems and pros because if she did not tell her story than someone will tell her story from the outside, which they hold prejudices and they will not get the information right.

I thought this was related to our course, especially the insider vs. outsider debate.

This women clearly thought it was important to tell her story from her point of view (an insider) because she did not want her story misconstrued by an outsider.

Terminology with Special Education Students

Before we parted for spring break we talked about the quality and quantity of literature published about persons with disabilities.  During class, we focused a lot of our discussion on the proper terminology and what is considered appropriate and offensive.  This is a reoccuring topic for me because this is the field that I have chosen to go into.  

I thought that "Al Capone Does My Shirts" was a great way to show how we have grown in our society to accepting people with special needs; yet, we still have a long way to go.  I am studying to be a teacher for Special Education students and Deaf Education students and I think this book was a great interpretation for how society has changed their views, terminology and overall knowledge about persons with disabilities.  And how society will continue to change their views, terminology and knowledge on persons with disabilities.

Now, we talk about proper and improper terminology used when talking about persons with "disabilities."  I have never been a fan of labeling individuals nor do I think that labels define who a person is or how they identify themselves.  Which is why I think it is very important to get to know an individual first to find out about who they are and how they identify themselves.  But, we all know that in order for a person to receive services they have to identify themselves as having a "disability."  This is very hard to do for people in the Deaf culture because they do not consider themselves to have a "disability."  There is a great article on this called "Deafness: 1993-2013: The Dilemma" by Tucker.  Check this article out if you get a chance because it talks about the two trains that Deaf individuals have to choose between: Train 1- Technology (Cochlear Implants, Hearing Aids, and FM Systmes) or Train 2- Disability (ADA and IDEA).

I would like to further my research on the quality and quantity of literature portraying Deaf individuals because it is an area of interest for me.  I will keep you posted on the information that I find!

Dialects

I know we talked about dialects two weeks ago but I am still worried about offending a child if I were to try and read a children's book with the intention that it was written for.  I am afraid that I will not portray the dialect correctly and I might offend someone with how I am reading the book because I am not an expert on dialects.

I am also afraid that I will portray the "wrong" English to my students.  Teachers work really hard to teach children how to spell correctly and form grammatically correct sentences.  Will the students be confused if I introduce a dialect in a children's book?

I thought about my fear and I thought that it would be detrimental to the children if I excluded books with different dialects from my classroom.  I want to create an environment were diverse learners are accepted and I will not be able to convey that if I do not accept multicultural literature into my classroom.

Just like with all books that I will bring into the classroom, I think that it is important to read over the book a few times to makes sure that the book is an appropriate book for the lesson I am teaching and that I can read through the book smoothly.

I found this great website that talks about the pros and cons of reading books to children that have different dialects (from the "standard English").  It is called "Dialect in Children's Literature."  If you have time to read it, click here to check it out!