Debates & Trends

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Representations of LGBT Characters in Children’s Picture Books

by Janine Schall

The collection of children’s picture books with LGBT characters began growing steadily when Heather Has Two Mommies (Newman, 1989) was published 25 years ago. With a few books added most years, there are currently over 100 books in this collection, which fall into five general categories: books with lesbian characters, books with gay characters, books with transgender characters, books with implied LGBT characters, and nonfiction books about families which include a gay or lesbian parent. In this categorization system, I have separated the books with lesbian, gay, and transgender characters Continue reading →

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Picture Books with LGBT Characters

by Janine Schall

10000 Dresses coverRecent court decisions relating to the legality of same sex marriage and the decision by President Obama to sign an executive order banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by federal contractors are the most recent public manifestations of the long struggle for equal rights and treatment of LGBT people in the United States. These political and judicial decisions both result from and drive cultural changes, which are reflected in popular media, literature, and other cultural artifacts. Continue reading →

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“The Sentiments of Diaspora”

by Holly Johnson

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“When I am asked who I am, I say, I am an African who was born in America. Both answers connect me specifically with my past and present … therefore I bring to my art a quality which is rooted in the culture of Africa … and expanded by the experience of being in America.” (Tom Feelings, The Middle Passage)

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Global Inquiry and Content Teaching Through the “Stories of a Discipline”: Social Studies

by Melanie Landon-Hays, Tracy Smiles and Kenneth Carano

SoldierFor our final blog post, we reflect on the discipline that is perhaps most naturally suited to a study of global perspectives built on the stories of a discipline. Social Studies is a content area built on global stories of people, places, and events—their connections and their impacts both across time and space—that serve as a foundation for understanding one’s own place in the world in relation to the perspectives studied. Continue reading →

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Global Inquiry and Content Teaching through the “Stories of a Discipline”: Math

By Melanie Landon-Hays and Tracy L. Smiles

MathPaperFirst, a confession. As “literacy people” we are not particularly fond of math. Cultural models are the story lines, or theories that belong to socioculturally defined groups of people (Holland & Quinn, 1987; Strauss & Quinn, 1998; Gee, 1998). We, who identify as “literacy people,” cannot deny the storylines we internalized about math: it is difficult to understand, comes easier for people who are predisposed with mathematical talent, is irrelevant, a set of skills we will rarely use in the real world. Continue reading →

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Global Inquiry and Content Teaching through the “Stories of a Discipline”: Science

By Melanie Landon-Hays and Tracy L. Smiles

fountain-230205_640In our first blog post we presented a framework for how we think about constructing classroom experiences that, through the stories of that discipline, apprentice students into disciplinary learning that fosters authentic, and relevant knowledge and presents opportunities for inquiry. This week we are examining science. Continue reading →

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First Person Plural: Storytelling as Learning in the Disciplines

By Melanie Landon-Hays and Tracy L. Smiles

diversityToday’s students live in a different world than we grew up in. Because technology has increased interconnectedness in almost every domain of learning including arts, politics, education, and cultures, today’s student is not bound by time and space when it comes to interacting with and learning about cultures and societies around the world. Coupled with migration and immigration, today’s student lives in more culturally and linguistically diverse US communities and schools Continue reading →

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Hearing Unheard Voices: New Mexico’s Children’s Literature

by Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico

NMLiteraturewLand of Enchantment! — official nickname of the state I live in: New Mexico. I recall being urged to acquire some kind of “Green Chile literacy” about the culture and history of New Mexico before even packing for Albuquerque. (Green Chile sauce was selected as the best “iconic” American food in 2013). So this week, my focus is on the unheard voices of significance in local literature that helps readers experience and even question cultural omissions and the consequent cultural marginality that results. More importantly, how do we assess how that marginalization in local literature affects readers who identify themselves in books about “my/our place.” Continue reading →

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Hearing Unheard Voices through Global & International Children’s Literature

by Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico

HearNoEvilLast week I attended the Literacy Research Association conference. I came home empowered and inspired to reflect on, “what now?” Conference presentations titles that I perused and thought about attending all focused in some way on “voice.” For example, providing conceptual tools for educators to sensitively engage with transnational parents in the United States, well meaning “global” teachers’ describing their classroom’s journey in global literature, a biography writer describing the vulnerability experienced while writing about a historically great man in Taiwan (Chiang Kai-Shek), exploring teacher candidates’ resistance to understanding textual code-switching in books dealing with immigration issues, etc. As a result, my own, new personal goal can best be described as “reading to listen.” Continue reading →

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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

America
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 →