Holocaust and other diasters....

I began this weeks reading with Wink's article about the Holocaust. Previously before reading it, however, I have had an urge to visit Poland to see the harm that such genocide could cause. In tenth grade, my English teacher brought in pictures from her travels to Auschwitz and we had a long lesson on the topic. In that unit, I wrote my research paper which was 4 pages (at the time that was intense!) on the Warsaw ghetto, and the treatment the Jewish people endured. Like the students in Wink's observations, I lacked emotions for such a subject and "sat back" and listened to what needed to be heard. However, I never really put a place to those emotions, and maybe that is why this subject hit me harder as a college student. Wink suggests that educators need to encourage full participation in a classroom, but when teaching such horrific material it's a question worth asking if the students are being apathetic or not. A lack of emotion towards something so important to humanity is dangerous, and we need to teach students to question, be curious, and have emotions responding to the subject matter we teach. I thought it was really interesting that many of Wink's students were unable to relate to such implicit ideas such as freedom of speech because of their personal experiences in a military academy. Throughout much of the article, there is a lot of comparison between connections vs. analyzing and participation vs. witnessing. I believe that connections being made would relate to the idea of reader response where the analysis of a poem/story/idea would be the new critical approach. As talked about previously a good balance, in my opinion, would be best. Additionally, I do believe that a classroom is more successful and worthwhile if students are active participants. Saying that, lectures should not consist of a whole class period. Student involvement is crucial! We have to ask the questions that make them uncomfortable, make them think beyond a few second response. I really liked this idea from Wink's article. It's good advice, and it makes for a more interactive, student based classroom. Even though the students might not be as willing at first to be pushed out of their comfort zones, education is all about pushing your students to the best of his or hers ability. In relation to, I read "Night" for this weeks literature circles. After being inspired by an adult non-fiction recap of the Holocaust, I did some research on the author. Below this blog I have posted an interview with Elie Wiesel on the Oprah show in Auschwitz. It's in several parts, however, I only put up the first ten minutes. It's really interesting, and if you have time check it out. I believe that showing a clip of Wiesel's experiences on the Oprah show before introducing the book would place a picture or visual in the minds of the students before reading such an honest memorial for a lack of a better term. Like Wink suggests, giving the students a place to connect what they are reading upon makes for better connections, rather than just analyzing the words on the page. It also allows for them to build upon this idea, and to make their own opinions. A level of discomfort is needed to be felt before one can understand or correct their personal biases. This is the case in both educators and students. If a teacher is willing to show their vulnerability, like reading a new book in a lit circle or expressing their own journal entries, it shows the students that it's okay to think outside the box and question.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slZMOkYJFO0 <------ this is the interview with Oprah and Elie Wiesel

I also added this clip from the "Boy in the Striped Pajamas" to show how cruel and mysterious the holocaust can be from different points of view. For those who have never read the book or saw the movie, it is in the eyes of an 8 year old boy named Bruno whose father is a Nazi leader. He befriends a Jewish boy in a concentration camp. This short clip is also about ten minutes long, and what I would want my students (or you) to get from this is how the Jewish man is treated and how Bruno responds to him. Also take note to the sisters reaction and compare it to Bruno's. His sister is 12, and she has a different opinion than her younger, naive brother. Then I would expect my students to be able to compare Bruno to Elie. How are their experiences different? The same? There is a lot to be taken by visuals along with books- both fictional and non-fictional. I believe that journal entries and prompts would be the best way to approach this at first, and maybe by adding a formal essay comparing the book, "Night" to the movie. I believe that there are a lot of comparsions to be made.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tHe3fZFPAA <---------- Boy in Striped Pajamas


I guess you could say... the second time around looking at the holocaust from the literature stand point rather than the typical history class stand point stood out to me. I found myself questioning how this could have happened and how could we as a nation let this happen. BUT! I think it's also important to look at the holocaust from the other point of view, in Hitlers. In the eyes of the German Nazi's he was a terrific leader. In all honesty, he was a great leader with a sick mind. He brainwashed people into this thoughts, had many followers, and was pretty successful in his ideas. Although what he had done was horrific, it's interesting that he possessed such leadership skills. In a recent RA interview we had to pick our staff members we would hire from descriptions given, and at the end found out that our number one employee was Hitler. There was a twist... the people being described were people in history and it just so happens that our first two picks were Hitler and a serial killer... they don't look so bad on paper do they? We felt bad, and honestly laughed at ourselves, but they had qualities that every employer would want to hire. Just a thought.

"Beyond Tolerance" was also inspirational. It home more for me because I lived in the era that the 9/11 attacks occurred. Someday soon, though, our students will only remember such acts through historical texts and stories told by ourselves. It doesn't seem like but it was almost 11 years ago- I was a fourth grader. The main point I learned in this text was that education was the key to understanding and communicating with the world. Cook contrasted a lot with Hade's idea that multi-culturalism was not to build tolerance like Hade suggests but to question and understand. She wanted to spark curiosity rather than acceptance. Saying that, I thought her idea in her World Lit class took more of the tourist route. I thought she had a lot of really good ideas, but I thought that she used it more as a way to visit and return rather than understand completely .What I did like was that she allowed her students to pick anything they wanted to do in that particular culture. This allowed student participation and interest. This then allows for them to begin making connections rather than just analyzing. Once again we see visuals being used. I've come to the conclusion that visuals are a necessity in a classroom and plan to incorporate several aspects of them in my classroom daily or weekly. I've posted two visuals in this blog because I think that they get the point across that the holocaust is trying to teach us from two different perspectives. 

Additionally, I continue because this subject really interested me. I found this website   http://www.ushmm.org/education/foreducators/guideline/  really helpful. They have a list of reasons why we should teach it WITH THE RIGHT INTENTIONS, and what to avoid. It's a good resource and I would suggest it to anyone to use. Somethings I really liked from it are the ten guidelines for teaching the holocaust in a classroom. It also explains whats usually accepted for each age group. For me, being a 4-8 grade lit teacher I paid more attention to those in my age range. Check it out, it's from the Museum in D.C.

HELP!

anyone whose reading Night for this week.... we need to do our role sheets based on groups anyone in Night so we don't have any repeats?

Literature Circles

I really enjoyed reading Daniels book on Literature Circles. I thought that his imput as well as his partners imput were really helpful and honest. To begin, I was in the YA book club in high school. Wet met once a month in what was called our "activity period" where students got to pick a club to be involved in for an hour a month to meet the guidelines for extracuricular acitivies in our district. It was led my by freshmen english teacher and our librarian. Basically a bunch of us would choose to read the same books or books by the same author in that time spand, and in that once a month meeting would come prepared to talk about what we have read, what other books we have read in the month (both for english and on our own), and whether we think we would consider reading more books of this genre. I loved this hour, and not just because we drank coffee and ate donuts, but because it was fun to meet with friends and talk about something that we were all interested in... READING! I know, however, that my students won't all be as enthusiastic as me about reading and I think that literature circles will help bridge that gap.

Things I Liked:
I like how the book covered the different levels of teaching literature circles- from primary to high school levels. Being in the range from 4-8, I felt that I was in between the primary and intermediate literature circles so I took extra notice in these two catorgories. I love the idea of children being able to pick their books on a ballet, rather than spontaniously. This gives the teacher the opportunity to put children together that will work well, but keep the balance between advanced and average students while still giving the students the freedom. After reading about how lit circles cover a wide range of classrooms, I couldn't help but think back to Wed. class about tracking/untracking. During that class, I will admit that I was a little uneasy about teaching a wide array of students in an english/lang. arts classroom, and felt really unsure how to do it. After reading about literature circles, I believe I have a different opinion. It seems to really work, and it gives the students the choice on whether they want to challenge themselves or pick an easy read. Also, of the eleven key ingredients (18) I believe that a lot of them are linked to previous discussions. For instance, we previously discussed whether or not students should be able to pick their own novels in an english class. I now feel even stronger about this argument, because in the long run it turns students towards being educated, scholarly readers who may contintue to do so for the rest of their lives. Another part I liked about it was that the groups were temporary. I think that making the groups temporary allows for social boundaries to be broken and for students of different skill levels to learn to work together efficeintly. Lastly, I loved the connection between graphics and lit circles. After discussing SO MANY TIMES about how graphics are important in a classroom, this enforces it so much more. I agree that not everyone is an artist, but it might be interesting to see how different students picture novels in their heads vs. their other group members. It also allows for the other students in the class to get a visual about the novel their peers had read. I love this idea, and think that it'd be cool to even incorporate graphic novels into lit circles as well. On the other hand, the reader logs offer so much importance to lit circles. I particularly liked how the students could causally write to their teacher about the book either by questioning or commenting on what they read. It allows the students to feel comfortable reading without the pressure of putting together a well polished essay about it. It also allows for reader response! It encourages students to relate, link, make predictions, question, and even comment on the story in a more relaxed setting. As technology is spreading, it might be cool to incorporate social networks or online discussions (with advanced warning so students not as fortunite have time in school or class) in our classrooms. Lastly, I loved the idea of using post-it notes. I get tired of the usual notebooks or compostion books in the classroom setting. They are boring, predictable. Post-it notes come in so many different colors, can be placed anywhere, and are great for book marking an idea. I love post-it's myself and use them frequently.

Things I didn't like:
I don't like the role sheets. I agree that students might need help with starting the discussions, but I think there are ways around it. Work-sheets are work-sheets. I don't think they are very helpful, because if I was a student with a role sheet, I would read only what I had to to get the sheet done. I wouldn't really care whether my answers were right because we weren't turning it in and it wouldn't be worth my time completing it. If I feel this way... I can only imagine how my students are going to feel. I believe that instead of role sheets, we could set-up our questions to guide the students to write in their log about the different roles with the same book to start for everyone. For example: the whole class could read the same novel and then the class could number off and work on a question assigned by the teacher that would relate to the "role" and write it in their log. The log can be informal, and after they are completed different groups can be formed with one from each role to discuss what they wrote. To clairify, if they number off by six... the group will consist of one from group 1, one from group 2 and so on. I think that this may be a more beneficial way to introduce the roles. From there the groups can branch off and join their own lit circles.

Off-Topic Ideas:
In high school, I read the book called, "The Absoluetly True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." Although it discusses topics such as masterbation that couldn't be discussed in a school setting... I think that it would be paired well with American Born Chinese. They are both coming of age novels about those trying to blend into the American Culture. Another book that does this, more indirectly, is Breadgivers. I recently read this in my Culturally Diverse Lit class, and LOVED IT! This idea of multi-culturalism was stuck in my head since last class, and I've been trying to think of the novels I read that would be considered under this genre.

Don't be a tourist...

Well, I'll start with "A Class Divided." I was honestly impressed with the results of the study done in the short film, and couldn't believe that within hours children had learned to discriminate. By telling the students that the color of their eyes made a difference in their intellegence and the way they should be treated in society, they became divided. It was interesting to see that in a short day, the third graders really understood what it meant to be discriminated against. The superior eye color felt better, and began teasing the other children because they were not as fortunite. This was strange to me that this happened in such a short amount of time. In one day a classroom full of friends, turned into enemies and at one point a child even punched another for the segregation between the two groups. One of the children described their experience in the lesson as being a "dog on a leash." If third graders can come to the conclusion that race is not a factor in intellegence and humanity, others can learn as well. Racism needs to be taught in a more concrete way, rather than by simply discussing the outcome. When students are in that situation, they have more empathy for others who have felt the same way. I can't imagine how those children felt, because I was never taught anything like this in my past educational experiences. I came from a prodominately white area, as did the kids in the film, and never really experienced multiculturalism. It amazes me even more that at the reunion the previous third graders still remember what it felt like and are embracing other cultures as adults. I wouldn't consider myself as a racist or someone who discriminates other cultures, but it is important to learn and embrace about other cultures and not just be a "tourist" in someone else's.


In the article by Hade, I learned that one of my favorite childhood movies, The Lion King, could be seen as gender specific and condescending towards females. This upset me, but after reading the two point of views by the author and his daughters, I understood why I didn't want to believe this horrible interpretation. The author was looking at the story from an educational stand point where his daughter was looking at the movie/story as a form of entertainment. Looking into more of Hade's side, I can now see the issues that he brought up. For example, he points out that the female lions are obviously stronger and could have taken the power from Skar, but waited until Simba returned. Simba was given the right to govern or control at birth, and the other characters didn't want to interfere a powerful male. After reading this I thought to myself, hmm I wonder what other children's books and movies have a similar theme. As he explains texts are multi-layered and have "implict as well as explicit meanings." I think that it's interesting that he used such a common story/movie to open his point with because I think it hits home with a lot of people. The Lion King was even the first broadway performance I saw, and since then have fallen in love theatrical productions. The Lion King implies basically that the role of women in society is to wait for a man to save them because they are uncapable themselves. From all this, I learned that the way we look at certain aspects of society such as race, class, and gender effect how we interpret different pieces of literature. So I guess the main question is how do we teach this? We need to appreciate other cultures, embrace them for their differences, and teach students the important aspects of differences so that they can be more understanding and tolerant of others. One way to do this is by relating to the students in the classroom. In my 9th grade class, we read a novel called "Tears of a Tiger." It was a pretty modern book, and it discussed the black culture in an urban area without degrading or appearing too stereotypical to black cultures. I loved this book, and to this day would suggest it to any teacher to use in the classroom setting. It was so beneficial to read it, especially in my town because I came from a white high school, and black culture was something foreign to me. After reading that novel, I had a deeper apprecation towards the African American culture. Additionally, I believe that as teachers we need to teach our students how to read other types of genres. Multiculturism is not any different, and sometimes we may need to be more bold with our lessons so that our students understand why we are studying something that might have spelling or grammatical errors on purpose. Hade suggests that if we teach the students to become tourists in another culture, they aren't really learning anything. Students need to understand the importance, but sometimes this requires a little push towards the right direction. On strategy was by comparing two books with a similar theme and seeing how they related. I really liked this idea, and I think that this could work with a lot other pieces of literature as well.

Pleasantly Surprised!

Before I discuss what was learned by the articles and Wilhelm's chapter on visual learning in a language arts setting, I first want to clarify that I was never much of a comic reader. I found them useless, mindless, and far from engaging. However, after reading American Born Chinese, I found a whole new love for this genre. The book was a quick read, however, there was much more to it than what meets the eye. Beyond the three stories that end up being connected, all three different characters face internal battles with themselves as a minority. As Jin Wang enters a new school he struggled with the stereotypes that come along with a foreign student. With slanted eyes and different hobbies, Jin ddint't fit in with his peers and found himself wishing he was something far from himself. I believe that a lot of people, especially in their late middle school and early high school years, struggle with fitting in and wish they were someone else. Unlike Jin, not everyone has the oppertunity to "magically" change into what he thought was a perfect depiction of popularity and success in a high school setting. He does not believe that who he is personally is good enough for the standards that society puts on him. This was my short love for the genre. I think a lot of students, "popular" or not can relate to this  novel because I believe everyone has a time in their life where they are unsure of themselves and their role.

Besides the novel, I was suprised at how postive the results were in Wilhelm's research of using visuals in the classroom to reinforce reader response actually were. In the cases of his three "test students," Wilhelm was able to gage the the progress from the different activies given in class and the actions of the students following them. In the beginning, all three students struggled to read and lacked the basic skills of concecting a picture to the words on page. As time progressed, some of the students were reading novels and searching for more books in the school library. This to me was amazing. I would not have guessed that using pictures in the classroom in the variety of projects that he used would have been as effective as they were. Relating it to the novel we read for class, I can now see the how pulling from different genres is important and can reach an array of different students. Especially in the lower levels, using pictures worked exceptionally well. One of my favorite techniques discussed in Wilhelm's chapter was the idea of picture mapping. Note taking, even for an advanced student, seems dull. Drawing pictures of the main events in the story, instead of simply writing a bullet point about them, is a lot more affective to the students because it allows them to make the connections to the plot, climax, conflict, and characters in the storyline. If they are pulling from their own imagination, they are more likely to remember the sequence of the story and better relate to it because what they are studying from is their own drawings. One way that I think I would use this technique in my own classroom would be to include it in the classics discussed in the previous class. Sometimes the classics, although demed "classic" for their importance, tend to confuse and turn students away from the meaning behind it. If we ask them to simplify the novels and break them down into their three parts: rising action, climax, and falling action. Once the story is simplified in the eyes of the student, it may be easier for them to understand what is actually happening and the importance of it.

Also, stepping away from Wilhelm's chapter, I found it interesting the role that simple techniques have in comic strips. For example, simply making CAPITAL letters or bolding a word can make a big difference on how the reader is to respond. I guess I always just over looked that these are important aspects to comic strips, and just simply read them for what they were. Especially in comics, it's interesting that even the shape of the word bubble can define what the character is saying, without using different word techniques. I found myself reading comics outloud and comparing the pictures with the tone of how my voice sounded with the words on the screen. I would then change my emphasis to another word and tried to compare how different they sounded, with just that small change. IF you're reading this, don't laugh but try it... you'd be suprised on how much one emphasis can change in the meaning. I think that this skill can also be used in everyday life. The way we confront our students is important, and we have to be aware of our tone when we speak to them. Even if we are having a difficult day as Wilhelm did with this struggling students, we must try to keep our composure and come across as the professional we are trying to be.