I have really enjoyed my time in this class this semester. Thank you again Valerie for making this so enjoyable for me. It is very apparent when you are teaching that you really enjoy this class and the books and topics that we cover. As for the things that I have learned, I have learned a lot. When I go into a store now and look through books I feel like I will have a better understanding of which books to choose and why. For example, books about disability, I will look at how the disability is mentioned in the book and whether or not is seems like that is that main focus or if it is more about the person with the disability acting as if there was nothing wrong with him/her. My understandings of things have also changed. The articles that we read in class were very specific to each topic that we discussed in class. I like how in some of the articles it specifically said terms and names of things that should not be politically correct for people to say. Some of these words were things that I never thought of as being offensive but now that I have read about people and their feelings towards those names I know why they are not right. I will also look at the author of the book. I will look at whether or not the author is an “insider” and “outsider” to tell me how accurate the book may or may not be. If I am unsure of something about a certain topic I will take the time to research it to make sure that the book I am providing to children is accurate information.
This class has really opened my eyes to finding new and diverse literature. I have been able to ask questions that I was unsure of and find out how my classmates feel about something I am not sure of. It was nice to see that some people had the same kind of questions that I did and also some that I could give my opinion on. From here I will take what I have learned with me to my classroom and hopefully provide my students with diverse literature that they can learn from.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Habibi
After reading Habibi I had mixed feelings. I was happy for Liyana as she became accustomed to her new home. I was also a little unhappy with the fact that she had to move there. I remember from when I was a kid I had to do a lot of moving my self with my family. We never went from one country to another but we did go to different states. It is hard as a child to develop relationships with people when you are unsure of how long you will be staying in one place. This kind of thing can either help and hinder your social skills depending on how you look at things. Some children go into a new school and are shy about who they are going to meet and how they are going to be treated. Yet there are others that go into a new situation and make the best of it because no one knows who they were before. I felt bad for Liyana when they had to move but I was happy to see by the end of the book she had adjusted to her new life.
Writing the I Am Poem
I really enjoyed writing this poem. I also enjoyed hearing other people’s poems being read out loud during class. I think that people put a lot of thought into writing these poems and they are something that we can keep with us and even add to as we grow and live our lives. It was interesting to me how many people took this assignment and went different ways with it. Some people wrote about their childhood, some people wrote about their cultures, and yet others wrote about themselves as a whole. This to me was one of my favorite things to do in a class. Writing about yourself and sharing it to a class full of strangers is not an easy thing to do but it makes you proud of your accomplishments and love of life.
I Am...
I am…
I am from a house with a mother and a father
I am in the middle of two brothers
One just like me, the other the complete opposite
I am an athlete turned into a coach
Who still enjoys a good pick up game
I am a person that can run a couple miles but would rather not some days
I am a listener more than a talker
Friends enjoy complaining to me because I don’t complain back
I am tanned dark skin in the summer and love it
I am pasty white in the winter and hate it
I am addicted to the sun and if I had my choice I’d live in Hawaii
I am a lover not a hater
Can’t find myself to be mad at someone for long
I am a dreamer and believe in fate
Some how my life will fall into place when it is suppose to
I am from a house with a mother and a father
I am in the middle of two brothers
One just like me, the other the complete opposite
I am an athlete turned into a coach
Who still enjoys a good pick up game
I am a person that can run a couple miles but would rather not some days
I am a listener more than a talker
Friends enjoy complaining to me because I don’t complain back
I am tanned dark skin in the summer and love it
I am pasty white in the winter and hate it
I am addicted to the sun and if I had my choice I’d live in Hawaii
I am a lover not a hater
Can’t find myself to be mad at someone for long
I am a dreamer and believe in fate
Some how my life will fall into place when it is suppose to
Project Mulberry
When reading Project Mulberry I thought it was interesting how much Julia did not like being a part of her heritage. Everything her mother did that had to do with her culture would make her angry. She did not want to eat the food her mother cooked and she originally did not want to do the worm project with Patrick because she thought it had too much to do with her family back home raising the worms. I also thought it was interesting how the thought of racism was brought up. The mother seemed to have a problem with the fact the Mr. Dixon was a black man and Julia thought she had a problem with her old teacher that was also black. It bothered my though that this was never answered whether or not she was or was not racist. When I got to the end of the book I was a little disappointed that no answer was given and it remained a mystery. I did not like being left in the dark about that situation because I didn’t think there was any point in it.
Margaret Cho
When watching the comedian, Margaret Cho, I did not think much of it was funny. When she was making fun of her mother for being Asian I felt uncomfortable. I don’t think that just because she is Asian herself gives her the right to make fun of other people like that. The parts that I felt uncomfortable with made me look around the room to see other people’s reactions. I didn’t see or hear many people laughing throughout the clip. Some of the parts that I thought were funny I found myself waiting to see if other people laughed before I did because I wasn’t sure if it was offensive to some people.
Boy Meets Boy
While I was reading Boy Meets Boy there were times when I felt uncomfortable. I did not think that the setting of this book was very realistic and that bothered me. I have no problem with people’s sexuality. I think that that is something that a person is born with just like any other diversity. I do, however, think that this book stretched this high school setting too much. There is no high school that I have ever heard of where all of this stuff happens.
From Charlie's Point of View
I really enjoyed reading From Charlie’s Point of View. I thought this was a very good book to add as a disability collection. As I read the book I was concentrating on the relationship between Charlie and Bernadette. It was interesting for me to see how much each of these characters relied on the other. In my opinion it made sense for Charlie to rely on Bernadette for a few things because of his blindness but I never expected the same for Bernadette. At the end when it first said the Charlie had died I was most concerned for what Bernadette would do with herself. She would have been lost without Charlie there for her. They each needed each other’s support to live their lives.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Reflection
Looking back on this assignment I thought that it was very helpful for me. I found two books that I would really enjoy having in my classroom as resources and diversity of disabilities within children and families. I also found a book that I would not use but was also helpful to find. By reading this book I was able to think about what kinds of books I like and dislike. This happened to be a book that was not as diverse as I would have liked and did not seem to be as relatable for children in the aspect of a disability. The themes and variations that I noticed throughout all of these books was people abilities to cope with a disability. In the book, Moses Goes to School, the disability was directly related to the child telling the story and having the disability. The book, Mama Zooms, the child did not have the disability but his mother, someone very close to him, had a disability which forced her to ride in a wheelchair. The child in this story was affected by this because his mother was someone that he traveled throughout the day with. The Angel of Mill Street was a story where the child was worried about her uncle with a disability but was not as closely affected as the children in the other stories.
Scholarly Book Review
Rosalyn Pierini. School Library Journal. New York: Aug 2000. Vol. 46, Iss. 8; pg. 160, 1 pgs
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=24&did=58069155&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196814527&clientId=3552
This review gave a brief summary of the book, Moses Goes to School. It says that this book and the other books about Moses by this author are intended for children kindergarten to third grade. It goes on to discuss the different ethnicities and nationalities shown through the illustrations in this book. This review commends the book as being good for children to learn about the disability of being deaf.
Overall I thought that this review was fairly the same things that I thought about this book. It was not a very long review for such a book and I agreed with everything this person had to say about the book itself. This review seemed to be just a reminder of what the book was about and how it would be helpful as a diverse literature book in a classroom not only for the disability aspect but also because of the diverse illustrations throughout.
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=24&did=58069155&SrchMode=1&sid=5&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1196814527&clientId=3552
This review gave a brief summary of the book, Moses Goes to School. It says that this book and the other books about Moses by this author are intended for children kindergarten to third grade. It goes on to discuss the different ethnicities and nationalities shown through the illustrations in this book. This review commends the book as being good for children to learn about the disability of being deaf.
Overall I thought that this review was fairly the same things that I thought about this book. It was not a very long review for such a book and I agreed with everything this person had to say about the book itself. This review seemed to be just a reminder of what the book was about and how it would be helpful as a diverse literature book in a classroom not only for the disability aspect but also because of the diverse illustrations throughout.
Mama Zooms Book Review
Cowen-Fletcher, Jane. 1993. Mama Zooms. New York: Scholastic.
The book, Mama Zooms, by Jane Cowen-Fletcher is about a son who tells a story about his mother who travels around in a wheelchair. He describes what his mother does in the wheelchair and how it makes him feel when he rides on her lap as she sits in her wheelchair. Together they have active imaginations thinking they are flying through space and many other places.
After reading this book I thought that it was very good book for children to read and explore about a person with a disability in a wheel chair. I read this book to a preschool classroom filled with three year olds. While I read the book I sat in a wheelchair so that they could get a first hand experience of what a wheelchair actually was. This is a good book to show a disability of someone in a wheelchair because it describes how the child spends the day with his mother, like many children often do, except that she has a disability so he rides around with her in a wheelchair.
The book, Mama Zooms, by Jane Cowen-Fletcher is about a son who tells a story about his mother who travels around in a wheelchair. He describes what his mother does in the wheelchair and how it makes him feel when he rides on her lap as she sits in her wheelchair. Together they have active imaginations thinking they are flying through space and many other places.
After reading this book I thought that it was very good book for children to read and explore about a person with a disability in a wheel chair. I read this book to a preschool classroom filled with three year olds. While I read the book I sat in a wheelchair so that they could get a first hand experience of what a wheelchair actually was. This is a good book to show a disability of someone in a wheelchair because it describes how the child spends the day with his mother, like many children often do, except that she has a disability so he rides around with her in a wheelchair.
Moses Goes to School Book Review
Millman, Isaac. 2000. Moses goes to School. New York: Farrar, Straus.
The book, Moses Goes to School, by Isaac Millman is about a young boy that is deaf going to his first day of school after summer vacation. Moses talks about what he does on his first day back. He signs with other children out on the playground and all the way into the classroom. When his teacher, Mr. Samuels enters the classroom they notice he has a boom box. Moses discusses his pen pal letters that he writes as he learns ASL. The book shows the letter that Moses wrote out and then what the letter looks like when he types it on the computer and makes the corrections to it. After that the class learns the song, “Take me out to the Ball Game”. Moses then goes home to his mother and dog at his apartment.
After reading this book I thought that this was a good story about the disability of being deaf for children. The book talked about the first day of school after summer vacation which children always seem to look forward to. It also had side pictures of ways to sign different things that Moses did throughout the book. When the children learned the new song the signs were in the book for other children to learn as well. I thought that this was a very important part to the book especially because if you were trying to read this book to a child that had a hearing impairment and were not sure how to sign there are certain areas in the book that you could look at to sign with the child. This would give the reader a chance to learn sign language along with the child being read to. This is a good book for children to learn about the disability of being deaf because it shows how this child lived a normal life with this disability. I think children sometimes have a misconception that if a person has a disability they are not able to live a life like someone without a disability and this book corrects that misconception to children.
The book, Moses Goes to School, by Isaac Millman is about a young boy that is deaf going to his first day of school after summer vacation. Moses talks about what he does on his first day back. He signs with other children out on the playground and all the way into the classroom. When his teacher, Mr. Samuels enters the classroom they notice he has a boom box. Moses discusses his pen pal letters that he writes as he learns ASL. The book shows the letter that Moses wrote out and then what the letter looks like when he types it on the computer and makes the corrections to it. After that the class learns the song, “Take me out to the Ball Game”. Moses then goes home to his mother and dog at his apartment.
After reading this book I thought that this was a good story about the disability of being deaf for children. The book talked about the first day of school after summer vacation which children always seem to look forward to. It also had side pictures of ways to sign different things that Moses did throughout the book. When the children learned the new song the signs were in the book for other children to learn as well. I thought that this was a very important part to the book especially because if you were trying to read this book to a child that had a hearing impairment and were not sure how to sign there are certain areas in the book that you could look at to sign with the child. This would give the reader a chance to learn sign language along with the child being read to. This is a good book for children to learn about the disability of being deaf because it shows how this child lived a normal life with this disability. I think children sometimes have a misconception that if a person has a disability they are not able to live a life like someone without a disability and this book corrects that misconception to children.
The Angel of Mill Street Book Review
Weller, Frances Ward. 1998. The Angel of Mill Street. New York: Philomel Books.
The book, The Angel of Mill Street, by Frances Ward Weller is about a young girl awaiting the arrival of her uncle on Christmas Eve. Her uncle has a bad leg and has to use a cane to get around. He has to tread through a blustery winter storm in order to get to his nieces house for Christmas Eve. He has trouble making it to the house and everyone in the house is worried when he does not show up after a period of time. Somehow a big black dog, “his guardian angel”, helps him find his way. He makes it to the house with the help of the dog. When he gets there the dog runs off never to be seen or heard of again.
I thought that this was not a good story for children to hear about disabilities. The uncle in the story has a bad leg and must use a cane which is his disability but it would be a hard story for children to comprehend. Each page is filled with a lot of words which makes the story seem to drag on. Also, the book is about an uncle coming home for Christmas Eve which would not be relatable for some children that so not celebrate that holiday. This was also not a good story for children because the child in this story was not as close to the person with the disability as to have to deal with it everyday.
The book, The Angel of Mill Street, by Frances Ward Weller is about a young girl awaiting the arrival of her uncle on Christmas Eve. Her uncle has a bad leg and has to use a cane to get around. He has to tread through a blustery winter storm in order to get to his nieces house for Christmas Eve. He has trouble making it to the house and everyone in the house is worried when he does not show up after a period of time. Somehow a big black dog, “his guardian angel”, helps him find his way. He makes it to the house with the help of the dog. When he gets there the dog runs off never to be seen or heard of again.
I thought that this was not a good story for children to hear about disabilities. The uncle in the story has a bad leg and must use a cane which is his disability but it would be a hard story for children to comprehend. Each page is filled with a lot of words which makes the story seem to drag on. Also, the book is about an uncle coming home for Christmas Eve which would not be relatable for some children that so not celebrate that holiday. This was also not a good story for children because the child in this story was not as close to the person with the disability as to have to deal with it everyday.
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