This week’s readings were very interesting and made me look at many aspects of literacy in different ways. I kept on finding myself resort back to the mind frame that I had to have when I was in a Children’s Literature class last year, so you may notice many references to some of the discussions that we had in that class.
Council of Interracial Books for Children
While I was reading the article, I was torn between views that we have learned about in this program, the concepts of both respecting and celebrating diversity and also equality. I still come back to some of the same questions that arose in my Children’s Lit class, though, especially when it comes to stereotypes in children’s literature. I understand that it is the responsibility of teachers to look out for stereotypes in literature, but could some literature be viewed as stereotypical by the teacher, when it is not actually stereotypical? One prime example of this is in books written by Gary Soto, a Hispanic American author that grew up in barrios of California. Though he has credibility because of his background, his characters and storyline in both “Chato’s Party” and “My Little Car” show pictures that I, as a non-Hispanic community member, would view as stereotypical. Could his books be based on the true culture of the community and are not actually stereotypical? Who is to decide this? Is it the same as the intended message being interpreted incorrectly by the end reader?
I would also like to bring up the point of stereotypical literature being used to address controversial issues that may be facing students. Should literature be used to open the lines of communication about these topics? Nancy Pearl, the author of “Book Crush” puts this into perspective when she says that the inclusion of stereotypical literature a difficult decision, but can be used as tools when the literature is well written and justified.
Emergent Literacy
This article was very informative, though it seems rather common sense. The authors were able to make more connections between everyday activities and reading and writing than I had though of as being tools of literacy, like morning messages. Thinking about every class activity makes me more aware of their importance and planning on ways that I can help my students build their literacy skills in every aspect of the classroom. One of the main questions that popped up for me was about the age range that these concepts would be most effective. Would some of these concepts only be good for children in primary grades, or should we be practicing similar activities in all grades, just alter them for the appropriate age range? I can definitely see the benefits of the being incorporated in classrooms of all ages.
Another question that I had about this article stemmed from the idea of having writing centers placed in classrooms. Specifically, Teale and Sulzby state that one of the benefits of writing centers is to have students share their work and receive a response from others. This idea is a hard one for me to think about, since we have learned about the importance of not publicizing the abilities and skills of other students, in fear that they will be classified and criticized by their peers. I can see how writing centers can help students improve and gives them access to further reading, but could it also be negative to the students that are not performing to the level of the rest of their class?
As I was reading this article, especially the beginning, I was thinking about how the authors and researchers in young child literacy view the “My Baby Reads” program that is frequently advertised on TV, either through commercials or infomercials. I’ve always wondered about that program when the commercials pop up on TV.
Bringing the Ice Maiden to Life
I chose to read this article, since my dyad placement is in a middle school classroom. Ever since we were assigned the read-aloud at the beginning of the quarter, I’ve been trying to think about how I would be able to incorporate a read-along in a 6th grade math class. After reading the article, I still have the same questions, though the example in the article was successful.
The main problem/question that I have with this idea is purely logistical. Currently, our math class curriculum is state mandated, where lessons are dictated for 163 out of the 180 school days. Additionally, there is going to be time used for state testing. Each lesson is planned for 70-90 minutes even though the school’s class periods are only 45 minutes long. As it is, middle school math teachers have very little room to supplement their curriculum, so how feasible is it to include a 20+ minutes read-aloud session? It seems that, at this point, read-alouds in this setting is more of an idea that teachers would implement in their dream worlds.
I was originally skeptical about the way that read-alouds would be perceived by middle school aged students, but the more I read the article and thought deeply about the students’ reactions, I realized that the only thing that is different between middle and elementary students is simply a year. This could be a beneficial, informative tool to use, but also help students in this transitional period. At that point in their lives, most students will feel comfortable and familiar with read-alouds, only adding to the benefit that they bring to students’ lessons.
