I cannot believe the semester is over. It flew by so fast, it feels like just yesterday we were ordering our books! I have gained so much from taking this course. The first is clearly being introduced to many children's literature texts that I would not have otherwise read. Even though there were a few books I did not enjoy as much as the others. I still learned quite a bit and I enjoyed our weekly discussions about each book. It was really interesting to hear what everyone else had to say about the books and weekly readings and bring up different point of views I had not thought of before. From taking this course, I now know that I want to expand my personal children's literature library and eventually take a multicultural library into my own classroom one day.
After rereading my papers, I realized how important it is to to consider all the different issues in a text, including the ones that may not be as obvious as others. I also glanced back at some of the readings in the course-pack and there are two topics that still stand out to me. They are the insider/outsider readings and the reading that discussed stereotypes and generalizations. I feel that for every book we read and discussed these two readings come in to play. However, they were not the only valuable ones. I liked searching for my professional resource for the final project and I think that in the futures I will continue to seek professional resources for my own learning. Now that this course is over, I want to go and see what other diverse children's literature texts are available (well, as soon as I have a solid income!!!)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Reflecting on children’s literature about learning disabilities.
When it came to finding books on learning disabilities, I did not think it was very difficult. I used a couple of the books that Valerie brought in to class the week we read Al Capone Does My Shirts. Also, I ran a search on google.com for learning disabilities children literature and searched a few different websites for books that seemed interesting to me. The only part that I struggled on was on determining if my texts are from an insider or outsider’s point of view. I tried to find out information about each author. For this assignment I decided to use the term “insider” to describe someone who had a personal life experience that influence his or her book. However, for A Mango-Shaped¬ Space, I struggled on finding information on Wendy Mass. I decided to still use this book in my text set because it offered a positive portrayal of someone with synesthesia. From the World Wide Web, I also learned that Patricia Polacco is dyslexic, that Jeanne Kraus has a son with ADHD, and that Jack Gantos has had his own personal struggles and even been in prison (like Joey’s father).
As I think about my text set as a whole, I think the main theme is acceptance of people with learning disabilities and the struggles that occur when living with a learning disability. All of the books had positive endings that portrayed the person with the learning disability positively. The only book that varied its main theme was Annie’s Plan. It was the only book that seemed to be geared specifically to a student who struggles in school and needs a plan to gain control and achieve success. It did not promote awareness, understanding, or acceptance about people with learning disabilities. In the other three books, the reality of the learning disability was not hidden and many aspects of the text revealed the difficulty and struggles that come with living with a learning disability. Some of the struggles that were generally seen in the books were, bullying, family issues, medication, acceptance, receiving extra help, and more. I liked the books because they offered hope and taught the reader about what it may be like for someone living with a disability.
As I think about my text set as a whole, I think the main theme is acceptance of people with learning disabilities and the struggles that occur when living with a learning disability. All of the books had positive endings that portrayed the person with the learning disability positively. The only book that varied its main theme was Annie’s Plan. It was the only book that seemed to be geared specifically to a student who struggles in school and needs a plan to gain control and achieve success. It did not promote awareness, understanding, or acceptance about people with learning disabilities. In the other three books, the reality of the learning disability was not hidden and many aspects of the text revealed the difficulty and struggles that come with living with a learning disability. Some of the struggles that were generally seen in the books were, bullying, family issues, medication, acceptance, receiving extra help, and more. I liked the books because they offered hope and taught the reader about what it may be like for someone living with a disability.
Professional Resource: Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature
Prater, Mary Anne, Dyches, Tina Taylor, & Johnstun, Marissa. “Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature.” Intervention in School and Clinic. (2006). 14-24. Vol. 42. No.1. Retrieved December 1, 2007, from WilsonSelectPlus.
“Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature,” as a professional resource is a wonderful article for teachers to read and learn about how to incorporate teaching learning disabilities in their classroom. It discusses the need to use literature to teach about learning disabilities that promotes awareness, understanding, and acceptance. As a teacher using this resource, it offers many great insights as to how to determine if the piece of literature you are using is high quality or not. It reminds one to keep in mind the purpose and portrayal of the learning disability in the text as well as if the book is written well or not.
The main topics it discusses about quality children’s literature are: portrayal of learning disability, literary features (theme, characterization, setting, plot, point of view, and literary style), and illustrations. For each of these topics, it describes how to check the literature for these specific elements in deciding if it is appropriate to use in your classroom.
Besides offering information on determining high quality literature about learning disabilities, the article also discusses how to appropriate use picture books and chapter books to teach this topic. It also offers a thorough list with a brief plot summary of books the authors think are extraordinary to use in both lower and upper elementary classrooms.
Finally, the article also discusses how to actually teach about learning disabilities through literature. It offers an ideal sequence to follow when using picture books as well as chapter books and how to lead a discussion or an appropriate assessment about the book. It also discusses how literature can be used to promote awareness, understanding, and acceptance of people with learning disabilities. The article also offers suggestions and precautions to take when planning to teach using literature.
For this assignment, I mainly used the article to see if I thought my books were high quality books that had a positive portrayal of people with disabilities. However, as a future special education teacher, I plan on using many of the other tools and suggestions I learned by reading this article when I teach about learning disabilities.
“Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature,” as a professional resource is a wonderful article for teachers to read and learn about how to incorporate teaching learning disabilities in their classroom. It discusses the need to use literature to teach about learning disabilities that promotes awareness, understanding, and acceptance. As a teacher using this resource, it offers many great insights as to how to determine if the piece of literature you are using is high quality or not. It reminds one to keep in mind the purpose and portrayal of the learning disability in the text as well as if the book is written well or not.
The main topics it discusses about quality children’s literature are: portrayal of learning disability, literary features (theme, characterization, setting, plot, point of view, and literary style), and illustrations. For each of these topics, it describes how to check the literature for these specific elements in deciding if it is appropriate to use in your classroom.
Besides offering information on determining high quality literature about learning disabilities, the article also discusses how to appropriate use picture books and chapter books to teach this topic. It also offers a thorough list with a brief plot summary of books the authors think are extraordinary to use in both lower and upper elementary classrooms.
Finally, the article also discusses how to actually teach about learning disabilities through literature. It offers an ideal sequence to follow when using picture books as well as chapter books and how to lead a discussion or an appropriate assessment about the book. It also discusses how literature can be used to promote awareness, understanding, and acceptance of people with learning disabilities. The article also offers suggestions and precautions to take when planning to teach using literature.
For this assignment, I mainly used the article to see if I thought my books were high quality books that had a positive portrayal of people with disabilities. However, as a future special education teacher, I plan on using many of the other tools and suggestions I learned by reading this article when I teach about learning disabilities.
A Mango-Shaped Space
Mass, Wendy. A Mango-Shaped Space. Little, Brown and Company: New York, 2005.
A Mango-Shaped Space is the heartwarming story of a young girl, Mia, who has synesthesia and has to learn to cope with her disability at school and with her family and friends.
Mia tries to tell herself that she is normal, and that the fact that numbers, letters, and sounds having specific colors associated with them is not abnormal. However, she quickly learns that she is out of the ordinary and struggles to keep her synesthesia a secret in fear of being ostracized by her family and friends. However, when her secret is announced Mia’s family does not think she is abnormal. If anything, they are amused by her disability and help her find a diagnosis and help her to do better in school. Through times of grief and times of success, Mia learns that she is anything but abnormal, just special and unique.
Before reading this book I had never heard of synesthesia or anything like it. Reading A Mango-Shaped Space was a great learning experience for me as well as a very entertaining piece of literature to read and I would suggest this book to anyone who likes to read, even if you do not have an interest in learning disabilities. The article “Teaching Students “Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature” by Prater, Dyches, and Johnstun, mentions that there are a few aspects that need to be seen in children’s literature in order for them to be high quality. A few of these characteristics are that the book creates awareness, understanding, and acceptance. I think that A Mango-Shaped Space achieved all of these aspects and was very informational for the reader.
Joey Pigza Loses Control
Gantos, Jack. Joey Pigza Loses Control. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.
Joey Pigza Loses Control is a fictional story about a boy, Joey, who decides to spend the summer with his hyperactive father, just like Joey. As the summer progresses, so do the problems that Joey must face, including being off his ADHD medicine and missing his mother.
Throughout the book Joey struggles in finding a balance between respecting his father and wanting to get to know him better, and respecting himself and the choices he wants to make. Joey’s father is an alcoholic and often acts irrationally against Joey. At one point in the story, he flushes Joey’s ADHD medication patch down the toilet trying to make him more of a man. At the end of the book, Joey realizes how important it is to take his medication and how much he loves his mother, and how much he values respecting himself and his family.
Overall, I think that Gantos did a wonderful job intertwining ADHD and a young boy’s daily struggles. It was a very easy read and once I picked up the book, I did not want to put it down. I feel that this book addressed many important issues than just dealing with ADHD. It covered family issues and dealing with an alcoholic and troublesome father. It also introduced the importance of support from family and friends. I really liked how the book had so many different dynamics, yet still managed to show the importance of taking control of your own life and doing what is right and in Jack’s case that was taking his medication everyday in order to remain in control. The book allows for many different readers to relate to it because there were so many different dynamics: ADHD, separated parents, alcoholism, sports, and more. According to the article, “Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature” by Prater, Dyches, and Johnstun, this book was a high quality piece of literature because it was well written as well as had a positive portrayal of a learning disability and was not a very difficult read for students with learning disabilities who chose to read the book.
Thank You, Mr. Falker
Polacco, Patricia. Thank You, Mr. Falker. Philomel Books: New York, 1998.
Patricia Polacco writes a picture book about real struggles that occurred during her childhood. In Thank you, Mr. Falker, a young girl, Trisha, feels like she is “dumb” because she cannot read like the other students. However with the help of a devoted teacher, Trisha finally has success in the classroom and learns to read.
In the beginning of the book Trisha receives a special gift from her grandfather, the knowledge to know the reading is sweet. After learning this, Trisha is very excited that she is going to learn to read. However, she quickly discovers that she cannot learn to read and recognize the letters like the other students in her class. Trisha moves from Michigan to California and hopes that at her new school she will not be teased for not knowing how to read. However, the teasing only gets worse. It is not until a caring, and affectionate teacher helps Trisha learn to recognize the letters and eventually read successfully.
After reading Thank You, Mr. Falker, I think it has became one of my favorite pieces of children’s literature. In such a short encouraging story there are many real life aspects for students to relate to as well as offering the notion that success can be reached. The real problems that are addressed in this book are issues that many students may face. Such as losing family members, trouble reading, bullying, moving, resource room help, achieving success. However, for me one of the most surprising and wonderful aspects of this book is the final page of the story when Polacco admits that Trisha is actually her and that great teachers like Mr. Falker really do exist. This piece of the text offers hopes to struggling students. Also, for students who do not have trouble reading or who bully, it teaches them a lesson about acceptance and struggles that other students must have the strength to overcome. I believe that awareness, understanding, and acceptance are promoted in this book for people with learning disabilities. According to the article, “Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature” by Prater, Dyches, and Johnstun, Polacco’s book is a high quality piece of literature acceptance of learning disabilities is accepted. It is also a high quality piece of literature because it has strong literary features (characterization, setting, plot, point of view, etc) as well as learning disabilities or portrayed very positively.
I learned quite a bit about Polacco on her website (http://www.patriciapolacco.com/author/bio/bio.html). Besides the fact that she is from Michigan and grew up on a farm (just like Trisha), she did not read until the age of 14 and was diagnosed with dyslexia. Since Polacco has a learning disability herself, this piece of literature can be called an “insider” point of view.
Annie's Plan
Written by Kraus, Jeanne & Illustrated by Beyl, Charles. Annie’s Plan: Taking Charge of Schoolwork and Homework. Washington, D.C.: Magination Press, 2007.
Written to help struggling students can control in their academic careers, Annie’s Plan is a picture book that helps a young girl create plans to help her get organized in school and at home.
The first half of the book revolves around showing the frustration and struggle Annie has in school. Her parents and teacher also take note of her troubles. They decide to intervene and create a plan to help Annie gain better control in school and at home. There is a 10-step plan for Annie to do at school and a 10-step plan set in place for at home.
At first glance, this book seems like a great idea to help a struggling student (it is not written in the text, but one could guess Annie has ADHD) gain control. However, once you take a closer look at this text, I believe it has a few issues. First off, it offers a quick fix solution to help Annie get back on track. In the ‘real world’ this is not reality and creating a plan is not an overnight fix. Also, this plan will not work for every student, it is not ideal for every student who is struggling in school and is very generalized. I think that Jeanne Kraus had good intentions in writing this book and offered some good suggestions for students to get organized. The article, “Teaching Students About Learning Disabilities Through Children’s Literature” by Prater, Dyches, and Johnstun, gave quite a few suggestions on how to determine if the piece of literature is quality. One aspect it talked about was the portrayal of the character with the Learning Disability. In this book, at first Annie is portrayed in a negative light, she is constantly reminded by her teacher to do better. However, in the second half of the book, once Annie begins using her plans, she becomes a positive portrayal of someone with a learning disability who can be successful in school.
I found a lot of information about Jeanne Kraus on her personal website (http://www.jeannekraus.com/index.htm). I learned that she is a teacher and has a son who has ADHD.
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