Literature Across Cultures: Cory

Monday, July 8, 2024

Cory - Week 5 Post

How do the issues examined in the article affect you as a teacher and as a person living in today’s world?

During and after reading the article Honoring Multiple Identities Using Multicultural Literature I was able to begin reflecting on my own personal experiences and compare them to those of multicultural students. On a personal level, my life experiences have been nothing short of privileged. Growing up in a dual-parent home, in a white community, going to a school of primarily white students, living in the middle to upper class, and being a female has inevitably allowed me to experience ease in my life. On a professional level, teaching in districts and classrooms of almost all white students has left me with little interactions with multicultural students and colleagues. By reading the article, I can see the importance of incorporating multicultural practices in my classroom. Ezell & Daly (2022) outline three ways to do this: Normalize Discussions about Multiple Identities in your Classroom, Sustain Students’ Access to Multicultural Literature, and Integrate Effective Instruction with Inclusive Teaching. Each of the ways outlined in the article to utilize these practices has allowed me to see how I’m already practicing effective teaching as well as how I can enhance my teaching to be more inclusive of other cultures. Doing this allows my students to gain more knowledge and perspectives, while also becoming more comfortable to share who they are, enforcing the idea of and of having a voice in environments.

What is the importance of having a voice? Of being heard?

Using multicultural literature allows the voices of real people and characters to be heard. The voices in these stories “...validate and empower…” (Ezell & Daly, 2022, p. 35) multicultural students to use their own voice. Through this, even privileged students can also see how they benefit from their various identities being presented. Through comfortability and eagerness to share their identities, students of all cultures feel heard - leading to more engagement and willingness to learn. Giving students opportunities to research multicultural concepts on their own “...allows students to actively engage with the content shared in class and discover more…” (Ezell & Daly, 2022, p. 38).

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.

Because of how I was raised and the values instilled upon me, I feel my responses above reflect open mindedness. This allows me to be more aware of how my identities impact how I see things, and allows me to reflect on how I can change what I do to include my students, and their cultures and identities. I don’t feel my various roles (teacher, community member, sister, etc.) change how I respond to the idea of enhancing student voice in my classroom.

Are there ways to bring those needs/expectations/responsibilities together?

I feel each of these roles and the expectations that come along with them are embedded within one another, rather than being separate identities, and do not change how I present myself in different environments. Each plays an integral role in both my personal and professional lives.

References

Diaz, J. (1996). Drown. The Penguin Group.

Ezell, S., & Daly, A. (2022). Honoring Multiple Identities Using Multicultural Literature. Texas Association for Literacy Education Yearbook. chrome-extension:// efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://moodle.morningside.edu/pluginfile.php/ 1431504/mod_resource/content/1/Ezell%20and%20Daly%20Honoring%20Multiple %20Identities%20Using%20Multicultural%20Literature.pdf

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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.