Literacy Prompts; Week Two

Sulzby & Teale:
Think about classrooms you have visited. What aspects of emergent literacy have you observed in young children? How have you seen teachers support the growth of young children's literacy?

In my main placement, a first grade classroom, my MT has books everywhere!  Leveled books in bins, books separated by subjects, books placed into author tubs-- she even has a billboard that is dedicated to a children's literature author every month!  This month the author was Kevin Henkes (Julius, Baby of the World, Lily's Purple Plastic Purse, Wemberley Worries).  My MT also reads emergent lit books, as well as more detailed, complex stories to the kiddos, and also reads a book during lunch with the docu-cam (it helps the kids focus on the story and eating rather than goofing around and rough housing during lunch).

Other literacy support is found in the materials posted around the room about loving books, pictures of kids reading books, how we take care of books and other fun visuals.

Council on Interracial Books:
If you have a book that might be considered racist or sexist, please feel free to write a response about it and/or to bring it to class to share.

Well, I do have Tikki Tikki Tembo in my collection.  How sad I was to hear it is actually a red flag book!  I just always thought of it as a folk tale, not a book with insidious prejudice or ignorance inside.  Tikki Tikki Tembo was such a favorite of mine as a child-- my best friend and I used to harmonize "Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo" in a thousand different variations!  I guess I just never thought about the fact that it is not only is it offensive to Chinese language speakers, it also is a re-telling of a JAPANESE folk tale (and, historically, the Chinese and Japanese have animosity towards each other) but placed in a Chinese setting.

Even after hearing Jocelyn's doubts on the book, I still felt that Tikki Tikki Tembo wasn't inherently racist, so I did a little research on the internet and I have to say that maybe this is one book I will have to keep to myself at home (at first grade, I think the multi-cultural lesson to be learned from this book is a little too large of a concept [Japanese and Chinese at odds]).  I found this Wikipedia article very thought-provoking and inspired me to really reflect on why I was insistent that Tikki Tikki Tembo is not a racist book.

I know today that Kim felt "attacked" (which I hope she truly didn't feel that way-- I think people just emphatically disagreed with her and kind of blurted out opinions all at once.  I know this cohort wouldn't intentionally attack one of our members for their opinion, so on behalf of many of us, I apologize if it came off that way)  for saying that perhaps we shouldn't examine every little detail as being potentially racist or harmful-- and in a way I agree, because it all depends on context.  If eating rice and beans is used in a perpetuation of a Mexican stereotype, than by all means that book should be taken out of the classroom library.  But, if the book is showing a fiesta where the characters are eating rice and beans, it's a totally benign use of "rice and beans."     

Other directions for session 2:
Mason (K-2), Ivey (3-5), Albright (6-8) (Choose one). We will meet in small groups to discuss the articles. To be prepared for this discussion you will need to:
Identify and summarize the main points of the article
Identify a specific quote, topic, or issue for discussion with your group
Raise a question or concern about the article (if you have one)

I read the Mason article, and I don't really have a question or concern-- I thought the article was great.  I particularly found the guidelines for how to read different genres aloud very helpful since I hadn't really thought of the fact that yes, you do need to set-up and ask different questions based on the type of book you are reading aloud!