Literature Across Cultures: Akkermann

Monday, June 24, 2024

Akkermann - Week 4 Blog Post

Post Week 4: Pre- and Post-Conceptual Perspectives

I’ve never really thought about what informs my perspective. Currently what informs my perspective is social media and Apple News email that I get every day. Now when I say that I use social media I would say that it gives me a glimpse of what is popular in the news and then if it piques my curiosity enough I go searching for what it is talking about. Apple News gives a synopsis of different happenings in the world. Again, if it piques my interest I click on the story to read it. Podcasts that I listen to shape my thinking as well. One that has impacted my teaching greatly is Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong by Emily Hanford. The reading that I have to do for classes like this informs my perspective too. Reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini gave me a clearer picture of what Afghanistan was like previous to the Taliban taking over. I did not know that it had been a communist country before being taken over by the warlords and eventually the Taliban.

I know that the media impacted my perspective of the people and issues in Iraq when the war was happening. My perspective was that the U.S. needed to be there to fix things, make things right, help others, and make unruly men behave civilly. I found that it was not an easy fix and quite frankly it is not fixed. I did not want to read A Thousand Splendid Suns for the fact that I thought I knew how women were treated, I do not like it, and I did not want to see it from a different perspective. However, I did read it and learned a lot more than just what women endure. There’s more to culture than the surface components but it includes deep components which is what I learned a lot about Afghan culture (Szeci et. al, 2010).

There are always benefits and drawbacks to the technology available to us. The benefits are that the information is seconds away from knowing, it’s easily accessible, and there are many kinds of technology that a person can utilize. The drawbacks are that technology doesn’t always portray truth, it’s not accurate, and it takes away from reading an actual book.

References

Szeci, T., Spillman, C., Vazquez-Montilla, E., & Mayberry, S., (2010), Transforming teacher cultural landscapes by reflecting on multicultural literature

Hanford, E. (2022, October 20). Sold a story: How teaching kids to read went so wrong. Features.apmreports.org. https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/

Hosseini, K. (2007). A thousand splendid suns. Riverhead Books.

4 comments:

Camryn CoryJune 25, 2024 at 9:47 AM
Hi Emily!

I too see news via social media and, if it piques my interest, search deeper into the topic. Many people nowadays (some very close to me) get their news from Facebook or TikTok and form their beliefs, opinions, and conversations with others solely from these outlets. Being able to dig deeper into topics to ensure their reliability is so important - something I think many in our culture overlooks.

After reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, what's one example of something you thought you knew about women or men in the Afghan culture that was changed by reading this book?
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Morgan DibertJune 26, 2024 at 5:00 PM
Hi Emily,
I, too, like to get my news from social media. I appreciate that it comes quickly, and is generally easy to read. Like you, if it interests me, then I will research further. However, if it does not, then I usually just read the headline and move on. As we have found throughout our country, sometimes just reading headlines isn’t the best. Headlines can be used as “click bait” and present false information. It is definitely hard to look past! It is very interesting how much of an impact that social media can have on our perspectives and our beliefs. I do agree with you that most of the time reading a book is better, however we still have to be careful and look at who that book is written by. It may have hidden agendas that we do not even realize!
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Post Week 6: Article Summaries and Commentary

In this week's reading, you met a narrator who draws the reading into a short story with a decidedly hushed, slower tone. The couple introduced to us has experienced an unimaginable loss. How might that loss be affected by their cultural dislocation? Draw on the supplemental readings as you consider the question.

Your post is due Thursday at 8 pm. As was the case last week, there is not a set number of responses, but you are expected to demonstrate through responding that you have read and engaged with all class posts.

Week 5: Toward a Social Justice Ethic: What is an American, Anyway?

How do the issues examined in the article affect you as a teacher and as a person living in today’s world? What is the importance of having a voice? Of being heard? Are there differences in your response based on the role(s) you inhabit? Teacher, parent, individual community member, brother, sister, child, global citizen, and more—we inhabit many subject positions. Are there ways to bring those needs/expectations/responsibilities together?

Posts are due by 8 pm Thursday.

There is no set number of required colleague responses this week, but you are expected to read all posts and to respond as class discussion.

Post Week 4: Pre- and Post-Conceptual Perspectives

Some thoughts to help you brainstorm your post: Nineteenth-century travel writing caused those who read about other cultures to formulate their ideas about those cultures directly from the writing, so much so that if a person chose to travel to a country he or she had read about prior to travel, the traveller was often disappointed in the actual country and culture. In our current technological existence, our ideas of what places and people are like can certainly be informed by how they are depicted in text and on the multitude of screens we use to interface with the world. What informs your perspective? How might the ways in which we experience people, ideas, issues, cultures, and so on, be impacted by how we learn of them? Are the benefits and drawbacks to the use of the technology available to us? What might some of those be, and why?

Your post is due Thursday at 8 pm.

Responses should be posted by Sunday at 10 pm.

Post Week 2: The Way to Rainy Mountain

The critical text which accompanies your primary reading for the week explores ways in which we as teachers might use other cultures' literatures in our classrooms to move students from superficial, stereotyped perspectives to a fuller understanding of not only individuals from other cultures, but themselves, too. In your blog post, share with your colleagues how you might incorporate ideas from the article in your own teaching.

Your post is due Thursday at 8 pm.

Your responses are due Sunday at 10 pm.

Post Week 1: Questions on Reading

You've been asked to post a question on the readings as your blog post. Here are some ideas to help you get started: You may have noted the publication dates of the readings and wondered why you're reading articles written in 2005. The reason is that the issues raised and discussion in each of the articles are applicable 16 years later. Do you agree? Disagree? Both? Explain why and pose a question to help your reader understand what you find to be the same or different. Or, if one of the two of the readings stands out to you, explain why that’s the case, but also post a question based on what stands out. Or, if something is confusing or problematic for you, what do you find confusing or problematic? With what do you agree or disagree? Be sure your question is open ended so that your colleagues can use it as a basis for discussion.

As you frame your question, be sure to summarize the article, then provide context for your question. Cite the text appropriately.

Questions to be posted by Thursday.

Responses (to at least two colleagues) to be posted Sunday.