Literature Across Cultures: Salow- Week 1 Blog

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Salow- Week 1 Blog

After reading both articles, I thought of many different questions for myself and my reading classroom. They both hit home for me because this is the environment I am striving for, but I do not feel as if I have truly found the success I wanted. There was one line or section of text from Glazier & Seo that says “Julie’s minority students were identified as being accustomed to passivity in traditional classrooms dominated by teacher interpretations and silence around topics such as race and religion.”. This portion of text calls teachers to action, because whether they believe it or not, whether you talk about culture, race, or religion or not it is impacting your students. The authors discuss there are different ways to frame the readings to ensure that ALL students, majority, and minority, can have opportunities to “read, write, and talk” about themselves and their culture. It is the teacher's responsibility to lead students to see that they are not removed or far away from a text just because it does not directly relate to themselves or their experiences.

I have been professionally trying to implement and be purposeful in the readings and novels that are chosen in my classroom, but I still feel as though I am not utilizing the great cultural novels that we are reading to their fullest extent. This is where my question comes in. What can teachers do to try to ensure that all students are able to see themselves in a novel when you have over 100 students reading the novel throughout the day? I would love to see if anyone else has ideas or strategies that help connect more deeply with as many students as is seen in secondary classrooms.

Glazier,J., and Seo, J.-A. (2005). Multicultural literature and discussion as mirror and window?. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.

4 comments:

Hali BrownJune 6, 2024 at 12:24 PM
Hi Kennedy,
I do not have a definite answer to your question, but I believe having students do research into their own culture before reading a multicultural text would help students better be able to see themselves or relate to the characters in the novel. The article explains that most of the time, majority students are unable to define their own culture. If students were given opportunities to research their own culture by asking family or online research, they would be more prepared to connect with characters from different cultures. This would not only be helpful to majority students that do not know what their culture means, but also minority students because they would be able to dig deeper into their culture.
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Sam LampmanJune 6, 2024 at 6:35 PM
Hi Kennedy!
Your passion for all students is evident and it's a wonderful thing. I was going to ask what grade/content you taught but then saw it was secondary later in the post. It would be hard to try and connect with every student, especially if your school is diverse. I wonder if you have an independent reading time within your day or week? Could this be the place where each student is able to explore their individuality and then you could have an exit ticket where they make some text-to-self connections? I think it depends on the funding you have to fill your classroom library with diverse literature as well. There are resources to help with this as well, but that was my initial thought when I read your question.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Sam
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Kennedy SalowJune 9, 2024 at 2:56 PM
Sam, students do have sporadic independent reading time throughout the week, but it is not a regularly scheduled time. That is typically when students will read a book that they have chosen. I really like the idea of incorporating more text-to-self connections, so then even if a student may not identify with a characters culture, they may be able to connect to a feeling or experience that they have had. That could be a great way to show that although cultures have differences we are all human at heart.
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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.

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 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.