Poetry as an Exploration into Children’s Lives and Cultures

by Michelle Grace-Williams & Julia López-Robertson, with Genitha Jackson, Tirisha Robinson, Janese Utley, University of South Carolina

I, too, sing America/I am the darker brother/They send me to eat in the kitchen/When company comes/But I laugh, /And eat well /And grow strong/Tomorrow…/They’ll see how beautiful I am/And be ashamed—I, too, am America.

Langston Hughes

The poem above, I Too, Am America, is an example of a culturally relevant poem that could be used by teachers as a vehicle to engage [all] students in discussions about social injustices and issues that may be relevant to them and their lives. Culturally relevant poetry may also be used as a critique to systems of oppression that are present in our society-in this case, specifically race and language. Continue reading →

Selecting Culturally Relevant Texts for Children in the African Diaspora

by Michelle Grace-Williams and Julia López-Robertson , University of South Carolina

Culturally relevant teaching refers to the use of “ cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them” (Gay, 2010, p.31). A culturally relevant approach to teaching includes careful book selection to avoid stereotypes that might distort the historical experiences of African Americans [we specify African American because of our blog content but recognize that all books must be carefully analyzed for misinterpretation and misinformation]. Continue reading →

Using A Children’s Novel to Explore and Honor Black Children’s History

by Michelle Grace Williams and Julia López-Robertson, University of South Carolina

The most educators can do is to create structures that would enable submerged voices to emerge. It is not a gift. Voice is a human right. It is a democratic right. (Macedo, 2006.p. 4)

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In our first blog last week, we explained that the goal for all of our blogs is to discuss texts that could be used in the classroom to validate the experiences of Black children; children of the African Diaspora, children of African ancestry located in America, Continue reading →

Children’s Literature and Poetry Depicting Children in the African Diaspora

by Michelle Grace-Williams and Julia López-Robertson, University of South Carolina

One essential strategy for eliciting meaningful engagement with children’s literature featuring Blacks is simply to share the literature (Harris, 1997, p. 49).

Over the next few weeks we aim to critically discuss texts that could be used in the classroom to validate the experiences of children of the African Diaspora; Black children of African ancestry located in the United States of America, the Americas and other parts of the world.

Continue reading →

Student Connections to Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey

by Julia López-Robertson, Lisa Stockdale & Amber Hartman, The University of South Carolina

A man without history is a tree without root.
Confucius
. . . students are often disinterested in their own culture because their parents have worked so hard to help them blend into the Western world and environment.

We close our blog this month with another graphic novel, Vietnamerica, and leave you with a few questions regarding students’ language and culture and its place in the classroom. The main character, G.B., is a Vietnamese American who learns about his family’s past in Vietnam and America through family stories and also by visiting his home country of Vietnam. G.B.’s parents fled Vietnam during the war in Saigon to keep the family safe and to find new life in America. Although G.B.’s family struggled to adapt to their new life in America, they wanted what was best for their children so they didn’t go back right away. G.B. grows up in the United States and it is obvious throughout Vietnamerica that he has definitely assimilated to the American culture and become extremely “Americanized.” When his parents ask him to visit Vietnam with them years later, G.B. wants nothing to do with it. He questions why they still care about Vietnam when they left it so many years ago. Eventually, G.B. comes to the conclusion that his family’s past is important, and he tries his hardest to grasp what he can before the history goes away.
Continue reading →

Student Connections to Going, Going by Naomi Shihab Nye

by Julia López-Robertson, Amanda Dunnigan, and Rebecca Martin, The University of South Carolina

“ . . . it has to begin with acceptance and by honoring people’s cultural practices; way of life, language and belief systems— even if one doesn’t fully understand it.”

Set in San Antonio, Texas, Going, Going by Naomi Shihab Nye follows the main character, Florrie, a teenager as she begins a grassroots campaign to protest the loss of local business to large corporations. Having worked in her mother’s restaurant as long as she could remember, Florrie understood the importance of supporting local businesses. My students connected Florrie’s struggle to maintain the local in San Antonio to maintaining our own students’ language and culture. Continue reading →

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: Students Facing Injustice

by Julia López-Robertson, Deanna Futrell, Jennifer Judy and EDRD 797, The University of South Carolina
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Graphic Novels and the English Language Learner: American Born Chinese

by Julia López-Robertson, Jennifer Judy, Lisa Stockdale with Kirstin Wade, The University of South Carolina

Yang stresses the importance of being who you truly are and nothing less. As teachers it is our duty to create a classroom environment in which our students can feel free and comfortable being themselves.

Student Response to American Born Chinese

This month my students and I explore the use of young adult novels with English Language Learners; several of the blogs will provide suggestions for classroom use which will include a discussion of the assessment of English Language Learners in mainstream classrooms. We begin our blog with an exploration of American Born Chinese (Yang, 2006).
Continue reading →

Los Gatos Black and the Courage of Children

by Julia López-Robertson, Lillian Reeves, Francie Kneece, Erin Thompson & Molly Williams, University of South Carolina

The last book in our exploration of El Día de los Muertos is Los Gatos Black on Halloween written by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales (2006). Los Gatos tells the rhythmic story of Halloween night from the other side of the grave. Toward the end of Los Gatos, however, the story takes a subtle glance at the Americanization of Día de los Muertos. At the onset, the author clues us in that Los Gatos takes place in October, not November, clearly marking this a story about Halloween and NOT Día de los Muertos. Later, however, on the page with the lines, “The gravesites shiver, headstones shake./Las Tumbas open, tombs awake./The corpses with their cold dead eyes,/Los muertos from their coffins rise” (p. 16) — the words seem to be illustrating spooky scenes and by that point, we are easily caught up in their melodic beat. Continue reading →

A Critique of Pablo Remembers: the Fiesta of the Day of the Dead

by Julia López-Robertson, Julie Medlin and Casey Goldston, University of South Carolina

This week two students offer a critique of the book and make connections to course readings in emergent bilingualism and linguistics. We begin with a summary, followed by the strengths and issues and close with teaching connections.
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Worlds of Words

International Collection of Children’s and Adolescent Literature

Julia López-Robertson