Habibi Discussion

While we were in our groups to discuss Habibi, many interesting conversations came up. When it came to writing the Questioning the Text Paper, I had a hard time coming up with ideas for a good question because I thought that the book did a good job promoting diversity and acceptance of others, however, once I heard the other question posed by Renee I began to look at the book from a new perspective. I hadn't really given the book a lot of thought from a Jewish perspective before. I felt that it was a good peice of literature in the fact that it portrayed Arabs in a positive light, and presented the idea of equality and peace, but it isn't fair in its representation of the Jewish characters. These characters don't really have a voice in this book, and when they are represented they are spoken about in generally negative ways. I can understand how a member of the Jewish faith may read this book and feel that it gives a negative portrayal of their religion. The group discussion really opened my eyes to looking at this book, and all books, in new ways and really questioning whether it is a good peice of diverse literature. It is important to discuss books with others and share opinions because, just like in this instance, you might be exposed to insights that you did not realize or think of on your own because it was not something you could personally relate to. Though I have new concerns when it comes to this book being a good peice of diverse literature, I still feel that in many ways it is a positive read in its promotion of equality, and acceptance of all.

Insider/Outsider Debate

This week in TE 448 our class will be discussing the "insider/outsider" debate when it comes to who is best qualified to write multicultural literature. In order to gain knowledge on this topic and be able to make a stand, I have read some articles on this issue.

These articles make many claims about who the author's of multicultural literature should be, and make it difficult to make a clear stand either way. First it is important to come up with a definition of what multicultural literature is. According to the Cai article, muticultural lit. is literature that covers all different cultures, focuses on people of color, or even that all literature is multicultural in nature. I see multicultural lit. as literature that represents a variety of different cultural groups. The question is who is most qualified to write this literature? I agree with the claims that Sims Bishop makes, that in order to accurately write about a culture you have to have personal and intimate experiences within the culture, but I would not argue with Harris either on the fact that an expert in literature could also write about multicultural lit. if enough research has been done on the subject to represent it accurately. However, though the expert may have done enough research to know the culture well, I do not feel that they would share the same intimate experiences necessary to write a book that someone from the culture could personally relate to in an influential way. Experts may be able to write books that would be beneficial in informing other "outsiders" about the culture, but the books may not reach out to members of the culture they are representing.

When it comes to the "insider/outsider" debate, I would say that "insiders" would be the best authors of multicultural literature because of the their personal experiences growing up a member of the group they are representing, however it is still possible for "outside" experts to compose books that would bring awareness to others about different cultures.

Post # 1

My name is Elisabeth Hartner, but I have always gone by Libby. I am a senior at Michigan State University majoring in Elementary Education, with a focus on Language Arts.

My love for reading started in Elementary school which has greatly encouraged me to take this class along with TE 348. I am looking forward to having a classroom of my own someday and hope this class will provide me with some valuable resources. I feel it is important for teachers to provide students with a diverse selection of books in the classroom. Books are a very successful way to expose children to other cultures and issues of diversity that they might not have personally encountered. I feel that the more children know and are exposed to the more open and understanding they will be when faced with issues of diversity. It is important to provide children the tools necessary to establish opinions of their own rather then take on stereotypes that are often portrayed to them. My future students will come from many diverse backgrounds, and I want my class to be able to embrace the differences among each other as well as have each student feel equally represented. I hope to provide literature that is directed towards many different groups of students rather than just one or two specific groups. From this class I hope to learn meaningful strategies for bringing diversity into the classroom and honoring students differences. Literature is an important way of introducing students to new ideas and concepts. As an aspiring teacher I want to learn effective ways to teach children to honor diversity, and hopefully they will grow into understanding considerate adults making the world a better place.