Final Post For TE 448

Over the course of this semester, I feel I have learned quite a bit about diverse literature that I did not get out of TE 348. I felt like I connected with the literature and got a deeper insight into diverse literature because of this class. I liked that our teacher picked books from different cultures, not just different genres or picture books, novels, etc. I am pretty sure that is the reason I did not like TE 348, was because it focused more on different types of books; picture books, novels, etc. instead of diverse literature itself, dealing with diverse characters and different cultures. I learned how to pick books with different cultures by reading up to see if the author is an insider or outsider and the course pack will also help me evaluate books that I am considering bringing to my classroom someday.

My favorite part of the semester is obviously when we discussed books with characters who have disabilities. My main focus for children's literature and even adolescent literature will focus mostly on children who are deaf or hard of hearing. I did not realize there is such a wide, amazing variety of books with these characters in them and I am anxious to bring more of these to my collection of children's books.

Overall, I feel I have learned something in TE 448 about choosing diverse literature to suit all students instead of just looking at books for the type of book they are. I felt like I learned a lot about how literature can be more integrated in my classroom to better fit the students I will be teaching and will help me be a better teacher. If I have books in my classroom with characters and/or story lines that my students can relate to, they will feel more confident in my classroom knowing they are not alone in how they feel.

A shared opinion

I found this website and it showed the same passion for the book Silent Observer as I did. It is a brief summary and reaction but it is the same one I feel:
http://deafness.about.com/od/deafliteratureandfun/fr/silentobserver.htm


There is also another blog that I found to be very astonishing. http://pajka.blogspot.com/
This person reads lots of books with deaf characters with a variety of experiences and shares her reviews on her blog. It's almost like what we are doing as a class for our final project only on a much much grander scale. She also has interviews with authors of the books which I think is really neat. From what I have read, she posts these blogs to help teachers find good books with deaf characters. What a neat idea!

Overall experiences with finding books containing deaf or hard of hearing characters

Overall, I felt it was relatively hard finding books containing deaf or hard of hearing characters without ordering them online or through a book store. I went to Barnes and Noble and ordered the 5 books I bought from them.

I felt the theme running through all the books I bought was some sort of struggle with dealing with being deaf or hard of hearing and having something good come out of the disability at the end. The thing I liked most about the books as a group was the range of struggles that were talked about in dealing with everyday life and the straightforwardness of the experiences of the characters. There was no sugar-coating the frustrations and battles the characters in my books were going through. I liked that because then it tells the reader, in my opinion, "expect for this to happen, but eventually it will get better and everything will be just fine".

Some of the differences between the books was about half of my books had female characters that were deaf or hard of hearing and the other half of my books had male characters who were deaf or hard of hearing. I liked that because then I could have a little bit of diversity among the characters. I also noticed that the main characters in each book went through different problems and frustrations. I liked that also because it brought more diversity into my knowledge of Deaf/Hard of Hearing literature and made me realize that there is a great spectrum of books out there to read to your kids and no two books are the same.

I'm Deaf and It's Okay by Lorraine Aseltine, Evelyn Mueller, and Nancy Tait

Aseltine, Lorraine, Evelyn Mueller, and Nancy Tait. I'm Deaf and It's Okay. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman & Company, 1986.

This book is a very simply written book about a little boy who is frustrated with being deaf. He cannot understand or be understood by anyone outside of his family and close friends and often feels left out. He throws a couple temper tantrums to let out his frustration and at the end finds a friend who is older and also deaf and feels better about being deaf.

I thought this book was a good book but it wasn't my favorite. I felt that it would be a little unrealistic to think that this boy who is so frustrated with being deaf can just find a friend who is also deaf and change his attitude in that short of time. I also felt that this book was a little repetitive with the sentence length. There were clumps of 4 or 5 word sentences which did not make the book flow very well. Although I thought this book was a good book in the sense that it gave the reader a window into what it would be like to be growing up with a hearing impairment, I would not recommend it to anyone past elementary school because of the simplicity ot the writing.

A Button in Her Ear by Ada B. Litchfield

Litchfield, Ada B. A Button in Her Ear. Morton Grove, IL: Albter Whitman & Company, 1976.

This book tells the story of a young girl, in elementary school, who needs a hearing aid. The girl keeps hearing things people say the wrong way and doesn't quite understand what people are saying. So her parents take her to a few doctors, and ultimately, an audiologist; who prescribes a hearing aid for her. Once she learns how to use the hearing aid, she brings it to school and shows everyone at school. This book was pretty specific in defining the process of getting a hearing aid and was named "A Concept Book" on the title page.

I felt this book was a great way to introduce kids to the idea of having a hearing aid. The girl in the story embraced her hearing impairment and was proud to show off her hearing aid. She did not complain about the hearing aid, and made it seem like it was something magical. I felt this was a great book for kids who are having trouble accepting hearing impairments because it shows hearing impairments in a positive light, and the character is seen as a girl doing things like everybody else, just with a "magic button" in her ear to help her hear better. The only part in the book that made me feel uncomfortable was when she saw her audiologist, Ms. Brown, who was an African American woman. I felt that was a very stereotypical name, and that could have been because of the era it was published and/or written in, but I felt there could have been a better name for her audiologist. Other than that, I felt it was a great book for kids, it was charming for adults to read, and on the last page when she tunes her friend out when he yells at her, it was funny!

Silent Observer by Christy Mackinnon

Mackinnon, Christy. Silent Observer. Washington, D.C.: Kendall Green Publications, 1993.

This book is about the author, Christy Mackinnon, and her childhood. She talks about what her life was like before she went to school, when she goes to school, then while she is in school. She became deaf at the age of 2 from whooping cough, and her closest sister, Sadie, was partially deaf from the same sickness. Through her childhood, Mackinnon met very famous people in the Deaf Community such as Alexander Graham Bell and Helen Keller. She talks about her struggles with accepting the fact that she was deaf and the everyday struggles that go along with being deaf in a hearing family.

I felt this book was absolutely amazing. I was interested in this book before I read it but once I started reading it, I was turning page after page. One of the best parts of the book for me was when all of a sudden she mentioned her neighbor, Alexander Graham Bell, like it was no big deal. I was in such awe that she knew him. Then, when she talks about her experiences in the Halifax School For The Deaf, she gets to meet Helen Keller!! I was so excited about that too because I am so fascinated with learning about how Helen Keller learned to communicate. I think it would be amazing to say I have met her, but Mackinnon talks about it in the book like it was almost not as amazing as I would picture it. If I got to meet Helen Keller, I would be announcing it to the world; it would be better than meeting some movie star to me. But Mackinnon doesn't emphasize how she felt about meeting Helen Keller in this book, which shocks me.

Overall, though, I felt this book was great. I absolutely loved it and would recommend it to anyone, deaf or hearing, child or adult. It was not the easiest book to find, but once you find it, it's worth it. Another fascinating thing is how this book became a published book. Christy Mackinnon wrote her story and drew her own pictures but never put the book together. It wasn't until her neice found her story and her wonderful pictures years later and decided to put the book together and get it published. This book tells history right from a person who lived it. And that is the best part!

Final Project Topic

The topic I chose for my final project is children's literature with deaf or hard of hearing characters or with topics related to the culture. I chose this topic because not only am I a deaf education major, but I am also sincerely interested in learning more about what children's literature has to offer in regards to giving a perspective to being deaf or hard of hearing. I would like to see how this culture is portrayed in children's lit and feel it would be a good learning tool for me as well. It will be helpful to learn about how children feel about this culture and how it is shown to children at an early age, since that is the age group that I would most like to teach. It will also be helpful because when I go into the workforce in this field, I will have a little bit more background knowledge about how this culture is portrayed in children's literature and what books would be helpful or useful in a classroom. I feel it will give me a more well-rounded lesson in regards to perspectives and experiences that I may not know about before this project.