Websites and Resources

http://www.nea.org/home/12969.htm

http://iteslj.org/Articles/Pratt-Johnson-CrossCultural.html

http://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources: This website offers free materials for teachers that focus solely on diversity issues. I have received posters, pamphlets and several DVD's about content standards that we cover in Social Studies.

Purinton, T., & Gunther, V. (2011). Closing school for the holidays - whose holidays?. Phi Delta Kappan, 93(4), 33-37. This article looks at ways that school districts decide which holidays should be observed or which holidays should be used as "in-service" days. I found it quite enlightening. 

Words and Terms

Diamante Poem

Unknown Terms:

• Diaspora^: is a scattered population whose origin lies within a smaller geographic locale. Diaspora can also refer to the movement of the population from its original homeland.
• Intersectionality: a concept often used in critical theories to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another.
• Palliative: (of a treatment or medicine) relieving pain or alleviating a problem without dealing with the underlying cause.
• Sacralizing: imbue with or treat as having a sacred character or quality 
• Fraught: (of a situation or course of action) filled with or destined to result in (something undesirable). 
• Provincialism: the way of life or mode of thought characteristic of the regions outside the capital city of a country, especially when regarded as unsophisticated or narrow-minded. 
• Transracial adoption: refers to the act of placing a child of one racial or ethnic group with adoptive parents of another racial or ethnic group.

Literature Entries

Lit Circle 1: The Outsiders
 Conflict Assignment: Have students identify the different types of conflict that were found in this novel. Person to person, person vs self, person vs nature, etc.

Allow time for reflection for students to write/discuss times when they dealt with the different types of conflict in their own lives.


Age and Diversity:

 In particular, I love the book Jacob's Eye Patch. This book introduces children to disabilities that involve the eyes and addresses some natural curiosities that can arise when coming in contact with someone who is different in this area.Most of the time if we allow children to ask questions, we are able to satisfy their curiosity while building upon their empathy.
Also, as was evident in this week's presentation, there is a myriad of children's literature that deal with the issue of death. In the book that was mentioned by Mem Fox Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, a little boy experiences what it's like to be close with someone suffering with Alzheimer's.

Age Diversity in Youth Adult Literature:

I read Seth Lerer's article "For Grown-Ups Too: The Suprising Depth and Complexity of Children's Literature". In it he mentions that many of the real-life situations, even the most difficult ones, are often covered and discussed in child friendly terms in numerous books. Literature can be helpful helping children understand age and diversity but simply increasing the amount of exposure that children have to these certain situations.

Initial Diversity Perspective

https://youtu.be/Wts4cwcha9w

My diversity perspective, as an educator, is that all children should have access to books that have characters who are "just like them". I remember when an African American student in my 4th grade class saw my African American version of The Night Before Christmas. He was shocked that Santa, in that book, was black. He had only ever seen Santa portrayed as a fat white man. We should be introducing our students to as many diverse perspectives as possible before the cruel world that we live in can teach them to believe that one race or religion or culture is superior to others. I believe children are born loving and accepting everyone; it's not until society has had a chance to change them do we see discrimination and racism occur. 

Experts in the Field

Karl Marx: Owners & Workers (acknowledged a 3rd class of small business owners). Owners have power over the workers because they page the workers' wages and, therefore, are superior. Class consciousness...attitudes and perspectives that each class developed to describe their class.

Max Weber: Social classes are developed because of shared social interests. Circumstances and life perspectives are what grouped people into their classes.

Erik Wright: Sees both of the above perspectives. Discusses the fact that Weber sees capitalism as a natural aspect while Marx feels capitalism is detrimental.

Reflections on Diversity Perspective



 09-14-2015
Topic: Can we use too much realistic fiction?
I am pasting my initial discussion post followed by the discussion post of a classmate (Tom) and my response to his. He really challenged my perspective. 

"I thought this week's topic was very interesting! I love to use realistic fiction in my classroom and I prefer reading realistic fiction when reading for pleasure. I believe students do need the opportunity to read and hear books read to them about real-life situations because often times our students are led to believe that everyone lives in the utopian world that some of my students' parents have created for them. For instance, September 11th just passed. Our teachers and admin at school were very leary of evening mentioning this day and the horrible events from 14 years ago because they were worried it would "upset the children". It should upset the children!! We should be teaching children of the tragedies of this world!! I wouldn't advocate for showing the pictures of the man jumping from the tops of the towers before he burned to death but I believe there is power in knowledge and if our job as educators is to empower students, then we are doing a disservice to hide from reality.
I think the Outsiders article made a great point. The author said the trick with writing and choosing realistic fiction is writing about problems without attempting to offer a solution. We should expose children to reality and allow them to think and ponder on social issues without imposing our own idea of a solution. We should maintain a neutral stance on issues, when possible, to allow students to consider multiple perspectives.
Literature is a great way to build foundational knowledge among students. We should be using as much of the available resources as possible to ensure our children are developing a healthy, realistic view of the world they are growing up in."

Authored by: Thomas Collins
Authored on: Sep 13, 2015 10:41 AM
Subject: Tom Collins
I will post more later.  This is something on my mind that might be lost if not put down on paper.  We are discussing if books are too realistic.  To me, we can't answer this question without also knowing if a child also has a mentor, teacher, or parent to talk to about these book before and/or after they read it.  Children need a guide.  We can't just hope that they get what they need by reading alone.  I realize that is what some teachers are doing.  I guess today I'm just sad that we don't have more support in homes today.  Realistically, teachers can't do it my themselves.  I realize this is off topic and a issue we have had for many decades.  It felt good to write this out.  Thanks.

My response to Tom's post: Tom I love your point! I am a huge advocate for using realistic fiction in my classroom and I just finished posting on why I think all teachers should do the same. However, your post allowed me to consider that not all teachers have the luxury of working in a school where parents are active, sometimes overly active in their students' lives. I can count on my parents to further the discussions that we begin in my classroom so I believe that I feel so strongly about exposing social issues because I have that support from home. I do think you make a valid point that exposing children to these things without a parent or mentor to discuss things with could be dangerous. Thanks for allowing me to see this perspective!!