By Melanie Landon-Hays and Tracy L. Smiles
In 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
By Melanie Landon-Hays and Tracy L. Smiles
Today’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
by Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico
Land 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
by Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico
Last 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
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
by Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University
“…Myth might be defined simply as ‘other people’s religion,’…”
Joseph Campbell
While folktales and fables are traditional literature of a secular nature, myths are sacred narratives. To people within a particular religious group, myths are true accounts of past events. Myths explain how the world came to be and how people’s behavior, societal customs, and institutional norms were formed. The main characters in myths are usually gods or heroes with supernatural powers and the humans with whom they interact. “…Myth might be defined simply as ‘other people’s religion,’ to which an equivalent definition of religion would be ‘misunderstood mythology,’ the misunderstanding consisting in the interpretation of mythic metaphors as references to hard fact” (Campbell 27). Continue reading
by Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University
Fables are another form of traditional literature. They are short stories written in prose or verse. The main characters are most often anthropomorphized animals whose behaviors demonstrate moral lessons. Fable tellers and writers end their stories with a maxim, or a statement that encapsulates the moral. The most famous fables in Western culture are attributed to a Greek named Aesop. Continue reading
By Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University
The week’s selection The Parade: A Stampede of Stories about Ananse, The Trickster Spider was selected for grades three through five on the 2012 USBBY Outstanding International Books list. This collection was written by KP Kojo, the pen name of Nii Ayikwei Parkes, who was born and raised in Ghana, the original homeland of Ananse (sometimes spelled Anansi or called Kwaku Ananse or Anancy). Many U.S. children are familiar with picture book versions of Anansi stories. Authors such as Verna Aardema, Eric Kimmel, and Gerald McDermott (who also illustrates), have retold these stories for a young readership; they are all cultural outsiders to West Africa. Illustrators of these titles include Lisa Desimini and Janet Stevens, who are also cultural outsiders. Continue reading
By Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University
In the Amazon, people often laugh at their own belief in fantastic stories. But all the same, they believe the stories.
Taylor p. 55
As we continue our inquiry into folktales, we travel south to Brazil to investigate The Great Snake: Stories from the Amazon written by Sean Taylor and illustrated by Fernando Vilela. Sean Taylor, a Brit married to a Brazilian woman, lives part-time in her home country. Taylor frames the retellings of these stories as stops along his journey up the Amazon River. Continue reading
By Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University
Each year the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) selects and promotes a list of Outstanding International Books (OIB) for children and young adults. On the USBBY Web site, the annual list divided by instructional levels (K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12), is available as a downloadable bookmark. Educators can also find a Google map showing the setting of each book or the place of its publication. Continue reading