Saturday, January 30, 2010

Multicultural Literature

“Bridging the Cultural Gap by Teaching Multicultural Literature” by Yu Ren Dong discussed the importance of teacher’s understanding the different cultures in order for the multicultural literature to “serve as an entry point to validate expression of cultural knowledge, perspectives, and differences that their diverse students live by every day.”
I thought it was interesting that the reason teachers often feel uncomfortable teaching multicultural literature is because they are not sure if students can handle the “racial and cultural issues.” Students, however, are always surrounded by different cultures, and even without cultural literature they are exposed to these issues in their every day life. Teachers should understand that discussing these problems through literature is in actuality good way for students to learn how to handle cultural differences.
In order for teachers to successfully help students learn about different cultures, they should expand their knowledge in order to be able to better discuss the issues and differing perspectives rooted in people’s cultures.
Copper Sun and Esperanza Rising are the most prominent examples of multicultural literature we have read in class. Despite the books’ happy endings and somewhat cliché plot, these books are both informative and a good way for students to see the effects of cultural differences in the world, and how they have been dealt with over the years.
I think the cultural response approach is a way in which teachers should consider teaching multi-cultural literature because it allows students to set aside preconceived notions about different cultures, and focus on the text. By discussing the ideas presented in the text students can better understand the characters identities and the motives for their actions. This allows students to understand different cultures without judging or being critical.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Is it worth teaching?

In “But Is It Good Enough To Teach?” Foster points out that teachers tend to teach the same literature that they were taught.  This creates a constant cycle and teachers choose not to find new material to add to their syllabus.  When teachers automatically assume that the Norton Anthology has already found the best literature, a lot of interesting or even better works are left out. 

The three books we have read so far have all been about different cultures in different places.  While I feel Copper Sun is most likely to be taught in school because it teaches about history, I also feel that Harry Potter and Twilight are both worth teaching.  I would not say that either book is especially well written, however, the story lines are fascinating, and would most likely get every students attention.  As two of the most read books of the time, there has to be a reason for their popularity, and this is definitely something to take into consideration when choosing books for a class.  After all isn't it the well read works of a particular time that make it into the anthologies?  

As Foster concludes, one of the most important things about choosing books to teach is “do you really want to teach it?”  Depending on the course goals, any of these three these books could be good choices.  Books like Harry Potter and Twilight teach lessons like friendship and acceptance of others, while Copper Sun teaches about one aspect of American history.  If full class participation is one area that a teacher expects, these are all books in which I feel a class would be willing to talk about.  From my experience many or the pieces of literature that are regularly taught can be somewhat boring or challenging, and for students who do not especially enjoy reading, this could prove to be a problem.

Overall, I felt that Foster wants teachers to expand and try to understand multicultural literature, so that the same thing is not always taught.  Even if a teacher does not choose to include Copper Sun, Harry Potter or Twilight in their class syllabus, teachers should look at all of their options, and choose the literature that is best for them and their class.    

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Copper Sun

Overall I really liked the book Copper Sun.  I felt Sharon Draper combined an interesting story with historical information to give insight into the evils of slavery.  By giving the story a happy ending, however, it helped to balance out the terrible details for young readers.  By making the book fictional, instead of just facts, I think teens are probably more interested because not only are they learning, but they are also following the life of someone close to their age.  

After looking at the Draper's website, I noticed that she said “In order to bring immediacy to the subject, I chose a character who undergoes the humiliations of slavery and who survives to pass of her history to the next generation. I think it's real important to remember the past and never forget those who came before us. It is our job to tell their stories.”  While Copper Sun is a demonstration of this, Draper also shows this belief through Teenie telling Tidbit never to forget the stories she told him.  I think with this insight from Draper it is easier to understand why she chose to end her book the way she did.  While the happy ending makes the story more predictable in comparison to other teen stories, it also allows us to know that some slaves were lucky enough to escape to freedom, and that they understood the importance of keeping each other's stories alive.  

In class we talked about different possibilities of what the copper sun could represent.  After finishing the book I felt it was a symbol for unity because it seemed to act as a connection between different characters, as well as between characters and their past.  The copper sun was present in Amari’s memories, as well as Teenie’s stories.  It was visible in Amari’s former life in Africa, and she was surprised to discover the same sun in America.  She seemed to always notice the copper sun when her situations were turning out better than expected, showing that maybe her life would eventually be good again, like it was in Africa.  No matter where you were the characters always knew they were looking at the same beautiful sun.  In this I think the copper sun also represented hope. 

I noticed hope as a main theme in this book.   Amari always seemed to carry the message of hope and determination which is important for a teen audience.  Even surrounded by slavery and terrible situations, Amari manages to find a better life for herself.  Amari seemed to have a lot of good luck in her escape making the book somewhat unrealistic.  However, I also think it helps to keep the readers attention because most times stories about slavery do not have good endings.  With hope being a continuous theme in Copper Sun, I think it allows teens to relate it back to their own lives as inspiration to never give up and do what you feel is right. 

While I knew about most of the things presented in this book already, I was surprised to learn about using slaves' children as alligator bait.   After watching the video it turned out that Tidbit did not have it as bad as most.  I have no idea how someone would even think to feed a baby to an alligator.  I think that this shows that Draper’s goal really was to show how bad slavery was, even though she did it through a fictional work with a happy ending.  I also thought it was important that Draper had many kind white people throughout the story including Mrs. Derby, Polly and the Doctor because it showed that not all white people were evil and supporters of slavery.