Looking Back...Looking Forward

The TE 448 Experience

The first thing I did when I needed to reflect back over my TE 448 experience was look at my very first blog post. In this post I posed three important questions and several goals related to the class. In some ways these questions are still unanswered. Then again, there are no quick solutions when it comes to finding accurate diverse literature for the classroom. However I do believe that I have begun to internalize the overall goals of this class and how they will impact me as a future teacher.

In regards to my first question at the beginning of the semester about how to choose and integrate diverse literature in the classroom, I feel like I have gained some valuable information from both the final project and our weekly classes. I know there is no perfect library that only contains accurate, positive, and inoffensive examples diverse literature. But this class did teach me how to look closely at both the content and the validity of the author when choosing books for my classroom. I also have to consider the backgrounds of my students and how literature may impact or affect their lives. This class did not simply give me examples of diverse literature and send me forth. I was taught how to seek out and avoid negative examples of diverse literature. Instead of naively putting negative examples in the classroom, I now have the skills to research and find the best examples for many diverse cultures in America.

My second question from my initial post asked about finding reliable resources for diverse literature. This question was best answered through our article discussions and our review of another book review on diverse literature. Obviously we can turn to the internet to look for reviews on questionable books. We should also turn to our school and town librarians for assistance. The librarian at my local library was more than willing to show me some great examples of diverse literature along with their reviews. I also found tons of information on the author’s personal webpage’s and blogs. Lastly, our colleagues in the field of education can be great resources when delving into the world of diverse children’s literature. These discussions with my peers during small group book discussions and outside of class truly helped me see others viewpoints I may have missed had I read a book on my own.

Finally, my last question from my January blog post asked about places to find good examples of diverse literature. This is a question I am still struggling to answer. I did, in fact, have a difficult time finding books for our final project. It is hard to know where to turn to find the best literature available for my future students! But I know this task is not impossible. During our final class meeting, each student brought in several examples of positive diverse literature. This must mean diverse literature is out there. If we can find it now, we should be able to find it in the future. We just need the skills, determination, and time to look for it.

Overall I greatly enjoyed and appreciated my time in TE 448. It certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities for expansion of my future classroom library. The skills I gained in class and through our homework and final project will help me in the future to have the best diversity library possible in my classroom!

Reflection on my Final Project

Looking back at my four examples of Asian-American literature I found several common and persistent themes. The first consistency dealt with expressing the struggles people belonging to this culture feel when they relocate their lives in America. These struggles included learning and mastering a new language, understanding America’s strange customs, and finding an identity in American communities. For the most part all of my books accurately portrayed this aspect of Asian American culture. Kira-Kira represented this theme when the main character Katie was concerned about understanding strong southern accents and finding a place in her new community. Moon Shadow, the main character from Dragonwings had to worry about learning a whole new and complicated language. I know these representations are accurate because the families I tutor for have expressed these same concerns when moving from Korea to the United States.

Another common theme in these stories was the power of having a close-knit family. I have certainly observed this characteristic in my experiences tutoring children from Asian-American families. I was happy to see this closeness expressed in the literature I chose to review for our final project. It is obvious that family is truly cherished and special to people from Asian American upbringings. Dragonwings emphasized a young boy getting to know his father after eight years while Allen Say’s picture book Grandfather’s Journey focused on this same topic with a young boy and his traveling grandfather. Coolies was structured around the commitment of two brothers living in an unfamiliar land and the strength they drew from one another. My last novel Kira-Kira especially centered on the idea of family being able to endure the struggles of a new, scary, and unfamiliar home.

The last theme I noticed throughout my examples was the unfortunate presence of stereotyping from outsiders to this culture. This was especially evident in Coolies and Kira-Kira. In Coolies, Chinese-American workers were stereotyped as weak, thus they were discriminated against and paid less than other workers. Kira-Kira provided several instances where her physical features led to others treating her unkindly. Even Katie’s entire family was often treated very unfairly based solely on their identity as Japanese-Americans. This is certainly a honest reality and problem experienced by Asian-Americans throughout the United States.

Overall I believe all four pieces of my Asian-American literature set work as positive examples of this culture. They all address and portray accurate aspects of life for both Chinese and Japanese Americans living in the United States. Even with the stereotypes present, these stories manage to have uplifting messages and give hope to their readers. I will definitely include all these pieces of literature in my future classroom library. I will also encourage students to explore and examine each example and perhaps find relations with the stories to their own lives.

Review of Scholarly Article on Asian American Literature

Chiu, Simon S. Reorienting the English Classroom: Asian American Writers in the Canon. The English Journal, Vol. 86, No. 8, New Voices: The Canon of the Future (Dec., 1997), pp. 30-33

This article briefly references the novel Dragonwings which I also read for our final project. Simon Chui states this novel as one of a few creditable resources for young readers on Asian American literature found in classrooms today. However, the majority of the scholarly article was devoted to emphasizing the need for more Asian-American literature in America’s classrooms. The author criticized other educators who have not yet taken the time to explore and address the issue of missing Asian-American books in schools today. Chiu explains that Asian American literature needs to be present because “for far too long, English classrooms have ignored the existence and the contributions that Asian Americans have made to the United States” (Chui 1997 p33). With this statement, Chui stresses the true necessity for a selection of examples of positive Asian American literature for students in the present day. Chui further emphasizes the importance of ALL students having literature about this culture available in teacher’s personal classroom libraries and curriculum. Asian American students especially need these books that promote accurate and positive images of their own culture in America. I certainly agree with the author that their needs to be more demand for the creation and publishing of accurate Asian American literature for both children and young adults.

Chui also states in his article “I have come to realize that there are numerous works written by Asian American authors which deserve our attention as English teachers and merit consideration on all of our reading lists” (Chui 1997 p30). I could not agree more with this statement. When I looked around my 2nd grade classroom earlier this semester, I could not find one picture or chapter book that represented the Asian American culture. Yet, this does not mean there are not excellent examples of this literature offered in our libraries and bookstores. There are certainly great examples of Asian American literature available to teachers in today’s society. It is the responsibility of language arts teachers to do their own research on Asian American literature, find solid examples, and finally bring these into their classrooms for all their students to read and comprehend. Simon Chui has certain wrote a convincing and grounded argument for the establishment of Asian American literature in schools today.

Book Review: Coolies

Yin. Coolies. New York: Puffin Books, 2001.

Coolies is a story about two brothers, Shek and Wong, leaving China and starting a new life in America. The two brothers were forced to leave China because of a terrible rebellion against the government during the mid-eighteen hundreds. The two brothers moved to America to work on for the Central Pacific Railroad Company and earn money for the rest of their family back in China. Life was very hard in America for the Chinese workers who were often discriminated against and called “Coolies”. The American employers were very harsh to the brothers along with many other Chinese workers and refused to pay them the same amount as other workers. The workers wanted to strike but were forced to work or starve and be sent back to China. During a harsh winter Shek got stuck under an avalanche of snow and almost died. He was rescued by his younger brother Wong! Finally in 1869 the railroads were finished and the two brothers took their earning and settled in San Francisco California. Later after saving more money, the brothers were able to bring the rest of their family over from China. The story ends with the two brother’s great-grandson lighting a fire to honor his ancestors.

First and foremost, Coolies offers readers an excellent historically accurate portrayal of what life was like for Chinese-American immigrants back in the mid nineteenth century. Through this picture book young readers can truly see the impact and contributions Chinese Americans made to the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. The picture book even contains a detailed author’s note that describes the true struggles of Chinese-American railroad workers. This representation can help break down the stereotype that Chinese-Americans are weak and were not an important part of America’s history. It also provides readers with a positive depiction of two brothers working together and becoming successful American’s immersed in a new culture. The two characters are even successful enough to bring their family over from China to start a new life in San Francisco. These positive portrayals that help erase harmful stereotypes make this a good piece of diverse literature.

Book Review: Grandfather's Journey

Say, Allen. Grandfather's Journey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.

Grandfather’s Journey is a story about a grandfather’s journey to America narrated from the perspective of his grandson. The story begins with his grandfather traveling from his homeland in Japan to America upon a steamboat. Once in America, his grandfather explored the New World and was amazed at its vast beauty. Out of every place he explored and visited, grandfather loved California best. Later his grandfather went back to Japan to marry his childhood sweetheart. The two moved to California and settling in San Francisco where their only daughter was born. When grandfather’s daughter (the narrator’s mother) was nearly grown, the family moved back to their home village in Japan. This is where the narrator’s mother fell in love, married, and had their son. The narrator’s favorite weekends were spent with his grandfather who would often tell his grandson several stories about California. His grandfather longed to see California one last time, but because of a devastating war, he never got the chance to return to America. When the narrator was nearly grown he moved across the Pacific Ocean and started a life and a family in California.

Allen Say certainly displays the struggles Asian-American immigrants feel when they leave their homeland behind and move to America. His portrayal of a character being torn between two countries accurately exemplifies the conflict many immigrants feel when moving to a new country. Therefore, many Asian-American’s could find this book relatable to their personal lives. Students reading this picture book could see that other Asian-Americans struggle with adjusting to a new culture. This story also expresses the importance of keeping one’s identity and the significance of a close-knit family. The main character always does what he believes is best for his family. Also, colorful and bold illustrations helped this picture book win a Caldecott Medal and are very appealing to young readers. All of these characteristics of Say’s picture book emphasize positive examples of Asian-American culture and make this story an excellent choice of diverse literature

Book Review: Kira-Kira

Kadohata, Cynthia. Kira-Kira. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2004.

Kira-Kira is a young adult novel told in first person by a Japanese American character named Katie Takeshima. The novel explores the experiences and life of Katie and her family after they move from Iowa to Georgia. The story is set in the mid 1950’s and deals with the many struggles this Japanese family encounters within the United States. Katie experiences her parents working long backbreaking hours just to provide for their family in the Deep South. She must also deal with the deteriorating sickness of her older sister Lynn who she is incredibly close to. The book is titled Kira-Kira which means glittering in Japanese because this is the consistent positive outlook Katie has on life, even with all of her family’s struggles for equality.

Kira-Kira is a coming of age story about the struggles of a young Japanese girl growing up in Iowa and Georgia. The story largely focused on the power of a united family to get though the transition from a Japanese community in Iowa to an all American town in the Deep South. Katie and her family both endure and overcome many troubling problems based on their Japanese identity. These same struggles are often felt by many Asian-Americans who read this book. Readers can relate to the entire family Kadohata has created in this story. What is so great about Kira-Kira is the positive outlook Katie keeps during all the dilemmas her family encounters. The novel portrays a very positive example of the power of a strongly bonded family and an optimistic child. Many times Asian-American families are incredibly close and often live with or close by their extended families. This book can help these readers feel good about their living situations which are somewhat different than the typical white American family. All these contributions to positive aspects of Asian-American culture and the hopeful outcome of the story make this an excellent and uplifting example of diverse literature.

Book Review: Dragonwings

Yep, Laurence. Dragonwings. New York: Harper Trophy, 1975.

Dragonwings by Laurence Yep is a novel for students 10 and up and tells the story of a young boy named Moon Shadow. The story begins in 1903 with Moon Shadow living in the Middle Kingdom of China with his mother and grandmother. When Moon Shadow is eight years old he is forced to sail across the Pacific Ocean to live with his father in America also called “demon land” by the Chinese people. The book chronicles Moon Shadows many struggles as a Chinese-American to learn the customs and language of his new country and form a relationship with his previously absent father. The story is titled Dragonwings because it is the dream of Moon Shadows father to build a flying machine reminiscent of dragon wings.

Ultimately Dragonwings is a story about the fight for survival of a father and son in a new and confusing country. This is a story about hope and the bonding experience of a father with his son after eight years apart. Asian American families are often separated when immigrating to America. Therefore, many Asian American characters should be able to connect with the main character from this story. Several of the struggles to adjust to American customs are also significant struggles for many of the readers of this story. The author portrayed his character in a realistic manner that gives struggling Asian American readers hope for a successful transition into American culture.

Also, the author Laurence Yep put over six years of research into the historical events presented in this story. Therefore, readers can be sure of its historical accuracy. He intertwines this element with believable characters that in many ways depict the realities of Asian American culture. By combining all these elements and producing a positive representation of Asian-American literature, Yep has created a story that certainly works as a piece of diverse literature.

Why Asian-American Literature??

My decision to research and do my final project on Asian-American Literature is in no way random. This decision comes after almost a year of experience tutoring Korean children in America. I work with five different students from three different families in Okemos and East Lansing. My students are living in America for one or two years because their parents are grad students at MSU and want their children to learn and become proficient in English. This familiarity with a portion of Asian culture makes the chance to learn more about Asian-American literature very interesting and appealing. Still with all the experience I have accumulated, I still do not have an adequate grasp of the Korean culture and how it relates to America. I know some of my students will return to America with the potential of moving here permanently someday. Therefore, it becomes my job to educate them on the experiences they or their future children may encounter if they ever choose to be become Korean-American citizens! So naturally I was drawn towards completing my project on this amazing, unique, and diverse culture. Hopefully our final project will help both me in my role as a tutor and future elementary teacher and the Korean students I interact with on a daily basis better understand Asian-American culture.

Boy Meets BOY

So I just finished our last book, Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan and could not wait to blog about it! This was by far my favorite book we have read for class. I don’t even know where to begin!! My initial reactions deal with a longing for this sort of acceptance towards gays in real life high schools! Just the other day I read about a fifteen year old who was murdered by his classmates because he was gay. I wonder if that would have happened if students in that school would have had opportunities to read books such as Boy Meets Boy and other gay resources. Perhaps then, they would have better understood this student and been more likely to accept his natural lifestyle.

I also liked this book because it illustrated so many diverse personalities and backgrounds. First there was the manipulated girlfriend (Joni) who gives up her life and friends for her boyfriend. Then there was the confused boy, Kyle, who was torn between liking either boys or girls. There was also the closet gay boy Tony, with the extremely religious and strict parents! Noah took the part of a heartbroken newbie to town with a shaky past. Levithan even included a drag queen football star that doubled as the dramatic homecoming queen! She was definitely one of my favorite characters. However, what was most satisfying was the main character Paul, who was completely comfortable with his sexuality. What was even better was the reception he was given by both his family and his peers. Everyone in the book seems completely comfortable with his sexuality, even his older straight brother. This warm-welcome was so refreshing when compared to the hostile reception towards gays in real life!

One aspect of the novel I found somewhat surprising was the amount of rather detailed intimacy by the main characters. At times the story revealed Paul’s intimate desires to kiss his new love Noah or his ex Kyle. When I explained this to my friends, they were shocked to discover this was in fact a book for my Children’s Literature class. Obviously, this is a book for a more mature audience of young teens. However, I believe this intimacy was necessary to the goals of the book. I believe in a way the author was trying to portray the normalcy of Paul’s life as an openly gay teenager. Through his novel, Levithan shows readers that no matter what a person’s sexuality is, he or she is still human and have the same problems and feeling as everyone else. It was also very unique that Paul was portrayed as someone with such an excellent sense of self. Even in kindergarten Paul knew he was gay and he was always completely okay with this characteristic. I image this is not the case with most homosexuals in modern day America. None of the characters in this book judged others based on their sexuality. Again this book has pleasantly surprised me!

Overall, I am very excited to write my paper on this topic AND hear what everyone else has to say about Boy Meets Boy in class on Wednesday!

Positive Jewish American Lit Take 2

So I’m back with some more thoughts about our Jewish-American book Confessions of a Closet Catholic. Several topics were discussed in class that pertained to my initial concerns with this book. First and foremost I was upset at the mocking undertone of the Catholic religion. Yet, after our class discussion I can better understand this aspect of the story. The main character Justine is in fact a young confused teenager. Her confusion with both the Jewish and Catholic faiths can be attributed to her inexperience, not her neglect or insincerity. Growing up I cannot even remember thinking about any religion other than Catholicism, let alone experimenting with one. I commend the main character on her efforts to explore another religion and I finally understand this portion of the story.

My second concern dealt with this book being viewed as a negative example of Jewish-American literature. I was relieved to find many of my classmates shared this concern with me. This was especially prevalent when we were asked to judge some example texts in our discussion groups. We found it hard to judge our book because no one in my group had any background knowledge of the Jewish culture. Therefore, more research would be necessary before bringing any Jewish-American literature into the classroom!

After class most of my reassurance for Confessions of a Closet Catholic being a positive diversity book still comes from the Silver article. This idea was further reiterated during a whole class discussion. We agreed as a class that the content does not always have to be positive for the book to be a positive diversity resource. The article and this discussion helped me understand that just because the contents are pessimistic, the book can still be an excellent example of diverse children’s literature.

One exciting topic discussed in class was about a documentary called Paper Clips about a middle school class project meant to honor Holocaust victims. The class decided to collect a paperclip to represent every victim of the Holocaust. This simple class project turned into a national event when millions of paperclips were delivered to the school in support of its goals. This is an amazing story I had never heard up before. After viewing the trailer for the movie online, I hope to watch it soon to find out more about this incredible story!

Positive Jewish American Literature

Since it was not my group’s turn to write a paper this week, I decided to reflect on the book on my blog. I also wanted to write this before class today so I first examine my own thoughts on Jewish American Literature and then see how these views fit into our larger class setting. Therefore, expect another post in the next few days reflecting back over our class discussion on this topic!

At first, I was not wholeheartedly impressed with our novel this week, Confessions of a Closet Catholic by Sarah Darer Littman. I contribute this mainly to my Catholic upbringing and the naive almost mocking portrayal of Catholics in this book. I was also upset because it mainly focused on the sinful aspects of living a religious life. This made the tone of the book quite depressing and negative. And as much as I appreciate the flowery ending with Justine finally meeting a boy who likes her and discovering her Kosher desires, it seems a little superficial. This ending just did not appear very realistic to me! In addition, Confessions of a Closet Catholic did not seem like a very positive representation of the Jewish American culture for young readers. However, all these negative connotations were before I read the articles that accompany this book for class.

The article Judging Judaica by Linda R. Silver brought up a very interesting point about what positive Jewish American literature looks like. The article states “if Jewish questions underlie or animate the theme and the author seeks to answer them in a Jewish context, then the book has a positive Jewish content and focus” (Silver 44). Therefore, it is more important to be authentic about the lifestyle of the culture, than whether this lifestyle is seen as positive or negative. This idea has helped me better understand our novel and see how it can in fact be seen as a positive example of this culture. Just because the actions within the book are negative or at times depressing, does not mean the book is a negative or bad representation of Jewish American literature.

With this in mind, I am still struggling a little with fully appreciating this book. I guess I will see what the rest of my Children’s Literature classmates have to say before delving any farther into this discussion. Be back soon!