Reflection: Jewish American Literature

As I reflect on the books that I've read for this project, I have truly gained a better understanding of the importance of Jewish American literature. As a future teacher, I think it is very important to incorporate minority literature into the classroom so that the students will be able to identify themselves within the books that they read. I also think its important to see other cultures and traditions through reading. Jewish Americans are just like any other minority group. They've struggled as a people a great deal and survived the treatment to become a very strong and powerful group. It is important not to let their history and customs die because there is no literature to keep it up. It is also important to teach other people about the culture in order to promote acceptance and awareness, hopefully sparking interest in other cultures as well. These books can provide a mirror and/or window for the students, both of which are important in understanding the world around us. The set showed these qualities within their personal stories, whether they were set in the war time or post war treatment, these books capture the true message of acceptance.

Professional Resource: Mrs. Katz and Tush

Vivian Morris, Satomi Taylor, and Jeanne Wilson wrote an article called, "Using Children's Stories to Promote Peace in Classrooms". The tell how a teacher uses the book, "Mrs. Katz and Tush" to teach friendship and compassion skills to children in the classroom. She allows the children to make assumptions and stereotypes about Mrs. Katz and Larnel based on the cover alone. She then reads the story to them and lets them analyze the characters again. The teacher thought that the book could, "foster the children's understanding of diversity of race, religion and age, as well as friendship and mutual respect" (Morris et al 6). The article also describes how the teacher uses a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between Larnel and Mrs. Katz. The diagram showed that the two actually had a lot similar of key points in their lives. This type of lesson shows that not only do different races have something in common, but different ages, genders and cultures. Mrs. Katz and Larnel are from opposite sides of the spectrum but have come together and appreciated each other for their traditions and differences. This book could easily be used to transpire these notions of acceptance and embrace into elementary school students.

Citation:
Morris, Vivian. Taylor, Satomi. Wilson, Jeanne. Using Children's Stories to Promote Peace in Classrooms. 1 Nov. 2001. Early Childhood Education Journal. 2 Dec 2008.

Review: The Upstairs Room

This book was written by Johanna Reiss. It is about a little girl named Anna who is the youngest of 3 girls in a Jewish family. The family resides in Holland which appeared to be safe from the German rule that was going on in other European countries. Soon though, Anna's family learned that the Germans were soon headed for them. Their lives changed dramatically, losing their jobs, being pulled from the local school, etc. Anna and her sister Sini were forced to hide in their neighbors, the Oostervelds attic, away from the rest of their family in order to escape the Germans. They even had to careful of their safety living in the attic, especially when Germans occupy the remote farmhouse for their own business. Although Anna and her sister were kept safe from the Germans, many Jews were not that fortunate. Reiss also incorporates her own recounts of World War II and gives some insight into the life of some less fortunate Jews by the survivors that she meets up with after she comes out of hiding. It shows the struggle of the Jews as well as the faith and optimism that they had to embrace in order to survive. It is a good story for overcoming any obstacle, but also helps the reader have some appreciation for Jewish heritage. This not only helps us learn to incorporate Jewish cultures, but teaches us how to incorporate the acceptance and appreciation for cultural history in our everday lives.

Book Citation:
Reiss, Johanna. The Upstairs Room. New York: Haper Collins Children's Books, 1972.

Image Citation:
HarperCollins. 2008. 1 Dec 2008. <www.harpercollins.com/.../index.aspx>

Review: Mrs. Katz and Tush

Mrs. Katz and Tush was written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. It is a story about a lonely, old woman named Mrs. Katz, who is usually looked after by her African American neighbors. The son of the neighbor family, Larnel, decides to visit Mrs. Katz daily to keep her company. He gives her a stray kitten that he found in the bottom of their basement so that she doesn't have to ever be lonely, even when he's not around. As Mrs. Katz and Larnel spend more time together, she begins to give him some insight into her past. She tells him about her life as a Jew and the difficulties it entailed. She also tells him about her late husband who also endured the hardships of being a Jew. Larnel learns some of the traditions of the Jewish culture and helps Mrs. Katz celebrate these traditions and holidays. After Passover, the cat had a litter of her own, and much further in time, Larnel group up to have a family of his own. He always stayed in touch with Mrs. Katz, incorporating her into his own family. After her passing, he performed the Jewish traditions for her, just as she had shown him when they did it for her husband. This book showed the similarities between people of different cultures. As Mrs. Katz pointed out, African Americans and Jews are alike in that they both struggled and overcame hardships. The book also encourages its readers to embrace new cultures and learn about their traditions. I think that it incorporated acceptance and awareness very well, and helped its readers to learn to take an interest in the history of culture.

Book Citation:
Polacco, Patricia. Mrs. Katz and Tush. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1992.

Image Citation:
A Sampling of Favorite Picture Books. April 2007. 1 Dec 2008. <www.barbsbooks.com/pb.html>

Review: Snow in Jerusalem

Snow in Jerusalem is written by Deborah da Costa and illustrated by Cornelius VanWright and Ying-Hwa Hu. It is about two boys from totally different cultures who are brought together through a street cat. One of the boys, Avi is Jewish while the other boy, Hamudi is Arab. Because of the conflict between the Jews and the Arabs in Jerusalem, these two boys live in separate parts of town. This random white cat goes to each boy daily to be fed, making them both believe that they are sole caretakers of the cat. One day when Avi decides to follow the cat after it's feeding, he realizes that the cat also eats from Hamudi. This causes a quarrel between the two boys, until they realize that a very odd thing is happening; its snowing in Jerusalem! After they realize the rarity that is occuring, they also realize that the cat is running away from them. As they go through the city chasing this cat they pass through several religious quarters. They finally stumble on the cat and are surprised to see that she has a litter as well. After quarreling over who should keep the kittens they decide to split the litter and let the cat (which they named Snow) go between the two of them as she had been doing. The story incorporates a lot of Hebrew and Arabic words, as well as pictures from the quarters of both cultures. It also allows two boys from different cultures, whose interaction is about as rare as snow in Jerusalem to occur. They were able to compromise and share, which was something that would be unheard of between a Jew and an Arab in Jerusalem. This book helps young readers to promote acceptance. Although some relationships are unlikely, you never know what can evolve if you'd just give it a try. You don't have to base friends and enemies off stereotypes or the battles of others within your culture, but rather accept people for their personalities and develop relationships because of that.

Book Citation:
da Costa, Deborah. Snow in Jerusalem. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman & Company, 2001.

Image Citation:
Deborah da Costa for Kids. 2007. Deborah da Costa. 1 Dec 2008. <www.deborahdacosta.com/order.htm>

Final Post

Going into this class I expected it to be similar to TE 338 in the fact that we would be analyzing children's books. I soon realized that we were no longer talking about the genre, or the illustration by classification, but rather analyzing the message that is learned through the words. We weren't talking about picture books anymore, but focusing on a teenage fiction. TE 448 opened my eyes to how these books can effect my future students, spark lessons and conversation, as well as perpetuate or address stereotypes. The first book that really helped me to take a position on an issue was "Heart of a Chief". This book along with the movie about Native Americans that we viewed in class truly made me more aware of the ill use of Native American terms as mascots around the country. Before this I had never really paid attention to the fact that the "Redskins" or the "Indians" would be offensive, only viewing those names as mascots. There aren't mascots that take after other cultures because that would be unacceptable, so I'm not sure why Native Americans have been exempt from this rule.
Another book that taught me a valuable lesson for my future classroom is "Habibi". The book was very controversial because it only told the story from one point of view. This brings up two important points: insider/outsider point and that stories should be presented from both sides of the story. I believe it was a good book to give insight to the Arab American's feelings about the conflict between them and the Jewish community in Palestine. It's important to not create biases or stereotypes in the classroom but rather provide knowledge from both ends in order for the children to create their own thoughts and positions on issues. "Bronx Masquerade", "Confessions of a Closet Catholic" and "Boy Meets Boy" were all fun books that incorporated serious issues. These books allowed religion and sexual orientation and several other issues to come to the forefront, but in a comfortable, fun way. These were great books to introduce to children in order to raise the topic, without being too serious. These books weren't only stories, but they were the beginnings of mind altering conversations. All kinds of people were represented within these stories, allowing everyone to be able to relate to at least one type of character. This is so important for children or adolescent literature because it can be a form of expression or counseling for kids.
Overall, I really learned how literature can go above and beyond just an enjoyable story. Literature is a representation of self, or possibly a fantasy of yourself and can be very important in a child's life. I would like to make sure that I can incorporate all kinds of diverse literature and really make my students feel comfortable in my classroom. I want children to feel positively represented and safe in my classroom, not stereotyped.

GLBT

After reading the book "Boy Meets Boy" and viewing the movie "It's Elementary" I have been forced to really think about the life of someone who is a GLBT. I haven't necessarily been oblivious to those individuals but it hasn't directly effected me, therefore I haven't really had to give it much thought. Because of a religious standpoint I don't necessarily agree with the lifestyle, but I in no way, shape or form discriminate or even steer away from people that are GLBT. I don't know if its because I don't know many older GLBT individuals, but I always kind of viewed it as a younger fad. I didn't really think about the possibility of having a student who came from a family of two moms or two dads. Not that this would effect the way I would treat the child who came from that family, but as a teacher I would like to make my children comfortable and like they are understood and represented in my classroom. I'm not sure if I'm quite comfortable teaching GLBT in my lower elementary classroom yet, but I have at least been exposed to the ways of teaching about it and incorporating it into my classroom, even if it does just mean including a book in my classroom collection about GLBT. Listening to the children in the movie, and the preconceived notions of GLBT that they already had, I could see why it's important to address these issues early. The children learn from the media and the people around us, but sometimes the things they learn are stereotypes and discriminatory thoughts that need to be reversed early on. I have realized the importance of this issue and want to further explore the best way to address it within my future classroom.

MSU Museum

I visited the MSU museum's two exhibits, "Our Journeys/Our Stories" about Latino Americans and "Visual Griots of Mali" about images from the children from Mali. Both exhibits were told through an insider's point of view but in different ways. The Latino American exhibit is done through words, while the Mali exhibit is done through images. The Mali exhibit's opening statement has a quote that talks about the people being able to tell their own story through images that they've chosen from their own opinion of importance, rather than Westerners coming in to take pictures of their land that they considered important. It's like telling the insider perspective rather than letting the outsiders come in and interpret in order to tell their perspective. The Our Journeys/Our Stories exhibit had a story by Sandra Cisneros, an author who talked about how she found her writing voice. She says that she found it after realizing she didn't want to write like her classmates and teachers, but wanted to write for everyone's enjoyment. She talked about how she encourages people to just write from their true selves (as if they're writing with their pajamas on rather than being dressed up for someone or something). Another story that intrigued me is by Derek Parra, who is a Olympic medaling speed skater. He really focuses on his idea of success and how it isn't measured by any award but rather the fact that one is constantly improving and raising the bar for themselves. He explains that your dreams are where your success begins, so your mind and imagination is a terrible thing to waste. I appreciated this story even more because I am a skater as well and sometimes I focus on my success by equating it with the awards I've acquired rather than realizing that I've accomplished so much with or without proper recognition. I also read Rebecca Lobo's story as a Latina American who grew up to become a successful WNBA player. I have followed her since her college days in Connecticut, since I too played basketball and never realized that she was a Latina American. This may seem like an unimportant factor but it is probably very important to her. All of their stories were told in English as well as Spanish, which I also thought was important because of both heritages that were represented. Sure they were now residents of the United States, but they were both Latinos and Americans and therefore I think it was very good for both languages to be present. It causes not only equal representation but a sense of comfort rather than choosing one side over the other.

The World of Autism

Viewing the movie about the girl with Autism has helped to really open my eyes to the insider view of Autism. My mom is a teacher for special needs children so I have often interacted or heard many many stories about kids with Autism, but I've never gotten their point of view on their condition. I knew that Autistic individuals probably knew that they were different but I had no idea that they were aware of their outbreaks (like when she had to play with the spoons and she said that those were the times when Autism took over her mind). It was also very encouraging because I've never seen someone with Autism in college. It gives more hope as an aspiring teacher because I'm sure that I will have special needs children in my classroom. Often times I feel like teachers give up on special needs children and only give them the minimal instruction to keep them in class, but they can go beyond high school just like everyone else and deserve the preparation to do so. Although the movie increased my empathy for individuals with Autism, it also increased my belief in their futures. I don't want to be the typical teacher who shies away from the challenge, but instead add to the support team that helps special needs students aspire to the next level, like the wonderful support team that the main character had.

The Movie "Blindness"

After viewing the trailer for the movie "Blindness" I was completely uninterested and shocked that this was an anticipated movie. The movie treats blindness like a fatal epidemic that has to be immediately solved in order for people to live. Quarantining people because of their sudden blindness, only to be saved by the lone non-blind person who helps this out of this "awful" position they've been thrown into. Of course no one wishes to be blind, but to treat it as if it is despicable or contagious is rude and demeaning. I feel that this movie wouldn't have even survived or even been thought of if it were concerning race or religion. Maybe in a movie about the past, but not a futuristic movie such as "Blindness". This movie reminds me of movies such as 28 Days Later and I Am Legend, where people catch some horrible disease that turns them into villains in which case they need to be quarantined. The person who saves the day is always the person who somehow avoids the plague. Comparing blindness to these awful diseases that are depicted in those villain movies is appalling. I could possibly see this coming out years ago during much more ignorant times, but to see this movie in 2008 is sad...

How I feel about class thus far...

I believe that class is going well. I enjoy the individual group discussions, as well as the entire class discussions. I think this really helps me to see other perspectives with certain issues. There have been several times that someone has brought something to my attention from the reading that I missed or interpreted differently, and i really appreciate the new perspective. I think that we should continue with the class structure we've been using thus far because it has proved successful and productive for me.

Discussion from Class 9/23

Our group had an interesting discussion about how this book was from one perspective, the Arab side of the Arab/Jewish conflict. Although this is the reason that the book was removed from certain school's curriculums, such as West Bloomfield, it is hard to not tell a story from a certain perspective. I had brought up the point that even American history books are told from our perspective, and probably wouldn't be written the same in other countries. We can only interpret the events that happen from our own perspective, therefore that is how we write and remember them. As long as the book doesn't steer from the actual facts, the emotional issues as to why or how certain individuals are viewed or judged would come from a personal standpoint. Even if the person is an insider to a situation, their view may be different from other insiders, so it is almost impossible to please everyone with your version of the story. This is why we shouldn't necessarily discourage the use of certain books, unless they hold no truth, but rather show other views of the event in order to create our own views.

Do you have to be on the inside to know what's going on?

Shannon, Bishop, Harris and Cai all argue the topic of multiculturalism being predominately about race, and pose the question, "do you have to be on the inside in order to properly represent the group/race in literature?"

I would have to agree with the fact that multiculturalism should include anything aside from the mainstream, as stated in Cai's article. I believe that Shannon had a point when he claimed that it shouldn't be so centered around race, because that could just be classified as a book about race, not multiculturalism. I also have to agree with Bishop and Harris about the classifications of writing these books. In order to properly portray these real life depictions of certain minority groups, the author should have experience living in these situations. Like Bishop says, it is expected that authors of adult fiction, writing about life and experiences of a certain race are categorized as that race, so why is it different for children's books. I believe that Shannon's criticisms are in part because he can't identify with the impact that race has on minorities. As Harris said, it isn't necessarily something that minorities want to continue bringing to the surface, but rather an issue that they are forced to deal with.