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.

Group Award Assignment- Sydney Taylor Award

Our group came upon the same places to find information about this award. The Sydney Taylor Award is given to honor Jewish literature for children or young adult. The award has been around since 1971, and has honored many different writers. Some of the most recent authors as well as their books are:

2007:
Title: Hanukkah at Valley Forge
Written by Stephen Krensky,
Illustrated by Greg Harlin

Title: Julia’s Kitchen
Written by Brenda A.Ferber

Title: The Book Thief
Written by Markus Zusak

Title: The White Ram: A Story of Abraham and Isaac
Written by Mordicai Gerstein

The rational behind this award is connecting Jewish children to children form other cultures, as well to build pride in culture. To be eligible, the books must be about Jewish customs, traditions, and/or experiences. Also, the book can be either fiction or non-fiction.

The books are judged on their significant contributions to Jewish literature, positive Jewish content and focus, as well as authentic details and accurate research. Also, the quality of writing and the ability to engage interest of the target age group is incorporated. One book is chosen for younger children, and one is also chosen for adolescents. A panel of Judaic Children's Librarians are who chose the winners, and to get on the committee you must be a Judaic Children's Librarian. The sponsor for the award is The Association of Jewish Libraries.

There were many sites about this award, and the ones that were the most helpful were:

This site is the most helpful when it came to finding the book list, as well as the history of the award, and current information about it.

This site was the most helpful when looking for books that have received the the award, as well as finding out what areas they received the award in.
http://www.jclla.org/awards.htm

Hopefully we will also have some of the books to share in class as well!

posted by Katie and Erin as well

The Importance of Appreciating Culture

I just recently needed to take an essay test that focused on experiences with different cultures and appreciating the differences between different cultures from our own. This specific topic caught me off guard because most people from my side of the state don't usually get a lot of experience with different cultures and I found it interesting that it is so extremely important to future employers that their prospective employees not only have experience with other cultures, but appreciate them to a great degree as well.

I found it particularly necessary to write about this in a blog entry because this pertains a lot to what we are learning in class, in my opinion. I feel that one of my goals in this class is to better understand and appreciate differences between cultures a lot better than I do right now. I also feel that a lot of what we are learning has a message about appreciating different cultures and not just the literature that different cultures publish.

So to connect the essay topic to class, I felt that this essay was almost like a test to see how much I have learned in this class so far about appreciating differences between cultures in comparison to my own. I think I did a pretty good job!

Insider/Outsider debate... Who should write about different cultures?

In regards to the "Insider/Outsider debate", I personally feel that people from specific cultures should write about the ones they belong to and people who haven't grown up with the culture should consult people who have. I feel that sometimes writers give themselves more credit than they deserve when it comes to writing about a culture they have not been raised in. For instance, sometimes people in a specific culture view an issue differently than someone who hasn't been raised in that culture. Even if the "outsider" completely immersed themselves in that culture, they may not know how people in that culture feel about that topic or how they would react in certain situations. The "outsider" would only be able to share that mentality if he was raised with the culture's influence. Some cultures on occasion keep certain things secret from "outsiders" to preserve their cultures and groups. Therefore, even though "outsiders" feel like they know enough about that culture to write about it, they may be missing out on some key information that only people raised in that culture would know. I think that "insiders" should write about their cultures instead of people who may have done a lot of research, but don't necessarily know specific things about the culture that only people who have been raised in that culture would know.

After reading and discussing Heart of a Chief, I now find myself wondering if I read too deeply into diverse children's literature. I tend to look for hidden messages that may not be there. While writing my paper on this book, I came up with some really deep thoughts as to what the book might be implying. But when I came to class the following day and discussed my ideas with my group members, it seemed like my ideas were a little out of range. I think I need to focus on more concrete messages within the text instead of trying to find some "deeper message".

First Post

Hi everybody!

My name is Marie. I am a deaf-education major and love children's books. I am interested in diverse literature because it gives a window into what people of different perspectives feel and think is important for others to know about their culture, way of life, etc. I feel it is important to know about diverse cultures and ways of life because I feel it makes me a better teacher. I can more easily understand where people are coming from and will help me know how to react to certain situations that might arise. Especially when working in deaf schools, I need to understand different perspectives. Diverse children's literature gives me the ability to put myself in other's shoes without reading from a textbook.