Response to the idea of not allowing the topic of same sex parent families into a unit theme about types of families

After our class discussion on Boy Meets Boy I left class still rather bothered about something that came up. One student mentioned that in her preschool classroom a particular teacher refused to allow her to discuss same sex relationships and parents when doing a unit on families. I am also a child development major and when doing this theme in my classroom I hope that I will be able to discuss all the different family types that are out there, including same sex parents. This lead me to really think about how hard it can sometimes be as a teacher to really teach the things you believe in especially when they may be considered controversial to others. In this particular situation it was a teacher who had more power then the student teacher not allowing this subject in her classroom, in a program that prides itself in being antibias. However, what about in the future when we are all teachers and we want to discuss this type of a topic in our classrooms and the principals and district will not allow it? Or parents have issues with it even after explaining your intentions and the school takes the side of the parents because they do not want to cause controversy? Why should one have to ask the permission of parents to talk about this if it is not in the curriculum? Same sex parents are types of families too that exist and I believe it is important to discuss them if you are doing a unit on families, just as it would be important to discuss different ways people celebrate holidays in a unit of holiday customs. The above mentioned situations are possible situations that could occur and I think that I personally would really struggle with the idea that these families are being denies a voice in schools. I know that in my preschool placement last semester there was a child who had two mothers, and after hearing this I really began to think about how that child would feel if her teacher denied her family’s structure a place in a family unit. Would this child simply not notice? Or would this child at such an early age begin to wonder if there was something wrong with her family because their family structure was not discussed?

Another thing that I began to think about in this situation is what I personally would do if I were ever placed in this situation of having a head teacher not let me discuss something like this. Would I simply conform to her views and think that I will do it my way in my own classroom? Or would I try to argue the issue or go to the head of the school to see if this decision could be reversed?

These are just a few things I began to think about after this discussion. I suppose most of my irritation with this lies in the issues of religion in schools as well and holidays not being talked about or celebrated because it might offend some people. I personally believe it would be more beneficial to students to be educated about other holiday customs in an anti biased way then it is to brush it under the rug. That’s just my rant about these issues does anyone have any other ideas?!?!?!?!

Confessions of a Closet Catholic Discussion

Our group meet Monday at 3:45 and the majority of our discussion on the book “Confessions of a Closet Catholic” was centered around the topic of the representation of the different religions in the book. Since three of the five members of our group went to catholic schools and attend a catholic church we mainly focused on the representation of the catholic religion in the text, since we are more familiar with the customs and traditions of the church we belong to. We then thought about this representation of the Catholic faith and talked about the ways that this depiction might effect those who read the text. While reading the book we noticed some of the descriptions of the catholic religion that did not fit our own person experiences with the faith. Although we commented on the idea that there are many different traditions in the catholic faith and many different styles of churches that choose to emphasize different traditions more then others, so we noted that our personal experiences are obviously not the only ways to practice the catholic faith. The author seemed to frequently mention the ideas of guilt and deadly sins as important to the catholic faith. In my personal experience I do not view these things as essential or important parts of the catholic faith. The other things that we thought were interesting portrayals of the catholic faith that did not really fit our experiences were the idea of kneeling at the alter before communion and the practice of covering your head in a church. These practices are old more traditional catholic traditions which are not typically practiced in the church anymore at least not in any of our experiences. These things lead to a discussion about the idea of how the religions were portrayed and if the catholic faith was accurately portrayed in the text. Since our experiences with the Jewish religion are not as in depth we were not sure if these types of traditional depictions of religions occurred in both cases or not. We thought that is would be interesting to compare the depictions to see if they are both more traditional views or if the view of the Jewish religion was maybe more modern. We thought that this would have an effect on how the book was read because this might show a bias in religion through the parts of the faith that the author choose to emphasize.

KKK Quilt at the Museum further thoughts!!

After going to the MSU museum to see the quilt display and the KKK quilt I really began to think about the ways in which this quilt and exhibit would be a great teaching tool for children. However, I also began to think about the ways in which this display might make some teachers not want to bring children to the museum as a whole. Simply having the quilt on display as it is in the case angled on the wall might draw attention to the particular quilt as of great importance if you were not aware of the reason that the quilt is displayed that way for preservation reasons. After thinking about this and idea of having children go on a museum scavenger hunt I began to wonder what children might think of this if they were not made aware of the display before. Also, since children all come into educational setting with different background knowledge about things they may have many misconceptions about the KKK already and this may simply increase those misconception. As a child was wondering around looking for scavenger hunt items, they might see this KKK quilt displayed and see that the museum is displaying it and see this as the museum stating the KKK is a good thing. This could easily be prevented if the children were given background knowledge about the quilt before they arrive at the museum, however, at what age would this type of a discussion be appropriate. Would first graders be able to understand the complexity of the topic??? Would this simply just make some teachers steer away from a museum field trip while this exhibit is open?? Or would this be a great teaching tool for teachers to use with children of all ages to at the very least discuss what the job of a museum is??? Although I really enjoyed going to see the quilt because of the connection it made to “Witness” and because of the information we learned I simply wonder what this type of a display up would do to teachers thinking about whether or not to go to the museum for a field trip, and what ways you could prepare a class for seeing something like this, even if it is not the point of the fieldtrip to see it.

The Use of Spanish Words in Children's LIterature

When doing the readings for this week I was particularly interested in the way in which Roselinda Barrera and Ruth Quiroa, wrote about the idea of using Spanish words and phrases in literature. They explain in the article "The Use of Spanish in Latino Children's Literature in English: What Makes for Cultural Authenticity?" the ways in which authors can add Spanish words into the text to enhance the text. They stated, "Spanish words and phrases hold considerable potential for enhancing realism and cultural authenticity of English-based text, specifically by creating powerful bilingual images of characters, settings, and themes" ( 247). After reading this article I really began to think about the book "Becoming Naomi Leon" by Pam Munoz Ryan and other books I have read by her and other authors and the ways in which the use of Spanish words in the narrative text adds to my feeling of the authenticity of the text. I personally think that this is a positive took that authors can use when writing to create authenticity, however I think the ways in which these words are used must me carefully considered. One children’s picture book that used this tool of adding in Spanish words in the text is a book called “If The Shoe Fits” by Gary Soto. This book also makes great use of using Spanish words in the text to add authenticity to the text. I used this book in a class of mine before and the children all really enjoyed reading it. We also did an activity so the children could figure out what the Spanish words meant while listening to the story. This activity dealt with teaching the children tactics of using the other words in the sentence of the story or the pictures to deduce the meaning of the Spanish word in the text. I think that this is a very useful way to create authenticity in the text, however, as Barrera stated, “ In order for their (Spanish words) potential to be realized, authors must use these elements strategically and skillfully, and with cultural sensitivity” (247). I think that this idea is very important to consider ESPECIALLY in writing literature for children.

Quotations taken from the article "The use of Spanish in Latino Children's Literature in English: What Makes for Cultural Authenticity?" By Rosalinda B. Barrera and Ruth E. Quiroa (2003)