Student Connections

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Tackling the Socio-political: Exploring social structures inside and out

By Jeanne Gilliam Fain & Christina Davidson

As the fourth grade students move toward the end of the book, they begin to discover that the definitions of citizen, American, Mexican, immigrant, and illegal have multiple interpretations. The discussions include a look into Mari’s life, her status as an immigrant, and the lack of power that she has over her life. Fourth graders thoughtfully tackle the issue of immigration as they moved to think about the consequences of breaking the law within the United States. They begin to question the depiction of the border and implications of following and breaking the law. Continue reading →

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Gaining A Critical Perspective: Multiple Perspectives & Unpacking Notions of Immigration

By Jeanne Gilliam Fain & Christina Davidson

We experienced a temporary sense of accomplishment in our attempts to grapple with literature critically in the classroom. After an in-depth discussion of the term, immigrant, many fourth graders wholeheartedly agreed that immigrants are terrorists. For this group of students, this was the dominant idea as troubling as it was for us, we reflected upon the reasoning for such views. Continue reading →

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Gaining A Critical Perspective of Literature: Starting Points — Disrupting the Commonplace

By Jeanne Gilliam Fain & Christina Davidson

At the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, Christina Davidson (fourth grade teacher) and I (teacher educator) decided to collaboratively examine how fourth graders in the reading/language arts block develop critical perspectives of literature. Critical literacy research informed our understanding of building intentional space in an already jam-packed literacy curriculum that explored and wrestled with issues of power (Vasquez, Tate, & Harste; 2013). Christina teaches in a rural school located two hours outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Fourth grade students understand the complexity of living in a small town and many often arrive with in-depth knowledge about the economy, government, farm animals, football, hunting, and religion. Their worldview is heavily influenced by the fact that several of the students rarely travel outside of their town. Continue reading →

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Being Inspired, Surprised and Transformed by Literature

by Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán, Columbia University

It has been inspiring to learn about different ways of engaging teacher candidates with literature. In this last blog, I want to share some examples from my own teaching experience. Engaging teacher candidates and in-service teachers with literature is one of my favorite things as a teacher educator. As other instructors, I use different strategies to discuss the literature.

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Engaging with Literature on Immigration

by Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán, Columbia University

 

This week we continue with the focus on the use of international children’s and adolescent literature in classrooms. Today I share an interview with Prof. Deanna Day from Washington State University at Vancouver, who shares how she incorporates international literature in her reading class. In her responses, she focuses on books on immigration.

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International Literature in the Classroom: Tofu Quilt

by Carmen Martínez-Roldán, Columbia University

This week Dr. Denise Dávila from The University of Georgia shares her experience using Tofu Quilt by Ching Yeung Russell with preservice teachers.

Nominated for multiple awards and included on many notable book lists (ALA, IRA, NCTE) this Asian Pacific American Library Association Honor Book (2010) offers a stunning collection of poems. Together, the poems tell the story of Yeung Ying’s childhood and education

in Hong Kong in the 1960’s, a time when educating girls was not a priority for some members of Chinese society. Continue reading →

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Reader to Reader: Cultivating Reading Relationships through Paired Books

By Andrea García, Hofstra University

One of the graduate courses I teach in Literacy Studies is an introductory course in bilingualism and biliteracy for teachers who are seeking certification as Literacy Specialist. While this course provides a broad overview of many aspects of language and literacy development in multilingual contexts, it also offers opportunities for in-service teachers to consider issues of cultural and linguistic identity, race, and power, as experienced by immigrant and transnational families. Continue reading →

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Reader to Reader: Cultivating Reading Relationships One Book at a Time

By Andrea García, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York

As we begin the month of February, it is difficult to escape the constant push for celebrating friends and loved ones with chocolates and diamond hearts. And in thinking about the idea of appreciating the important relationships in our lives, I decided that celebrating our relationships as readers can offer an alternative for framing the conversation. For this reason, I have selected to focus this month’s blog on inviting you to celebrate the relationships we forge as readers through our sharing of books and stories. As Giorgis, Bedford, and Fabbi (2008) describe, “Literature can… provide an impetus for strengthening relationships-such as that between a parent and child, or a teacher and student, or within a community of learners. Additionally, many readers form instant and lifelong connections to books, returning to these texts and re-reading them throughout their lives” (p. 5). Continue reading →

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Inside Out and Back Again: About Thanhha Lai

By Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán, Teachers College, Columbia University


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“If someone is different from you, go stand next to her and observe. That person just brought another world to your door without you having to travel.”

-Thanhha Lai

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This Sunday, November 18, a group of teachers, librarians, and teacher educators had the pleasure to hear award-winning author Thanhha Lai talking about her novel Inside Out and Back Again.

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A Collaborative Read Aloud: Magic Windows/Ventanas Mágicas

By Carmen M. Martínez-Roldán, Teachers College, New York

Reading Time: Magic Windows/Ventanas Mágicas (1999) by Carmen Lomas Garza

In this entry I share a vignette of a bilingual pre-service teacher’s and a second-grade bilingual student’s engagement with Garza’s book Magic Windows/Ventanas Mágicas during a read aloud in an after-school program. During reading time, some teacher candidates, such as Diana, observed that when the books they had chosen for the children seemed too long, it helped facilitate the discussion of the book and the entire reading event, in general, when the teacher candidate and the child took turns reading, thus distributing the role of reading between the two. Continue reading →