Now We're Here

As we conclude this course, I am incredibly thankful to have needed the diversity credits. The readings in this class have opened my mind to so many cultures and situations. I also understand that this is only the tip of the iceberg. We only read six novels and some children's books. I now have a better understanding of what I don't know. I think it is crucial that I continue my global education beyond this class. As a future teacher, this is even more imperative because I will hold power to influence my students to open their minds to literature from around the world. I hope that they are better equipped than I was in the area of understanding diverse human circumstances. This is incredibly important in a world where empathy is often lacking. Opening our minds helps put us in the shoes of others. This has always been the reason that I have gravitated towards literature, and ultimately, decided to teach English. I love that books give us the ability to see through perspectives that otherwise we would never have the opportunity to.

Lesson Planning with Theme Sets

Out of all of the texts, this is the text I was most prepared for. This is a good thing! This means that the education I have been working toward for four years is paying off. My English and Education courses at Eastern have set up a great framework so the ideas in this text seemed like common sense to me. I could see how professor Shaffer was organizing the class according to the theme-sets, and I really appreciate an organized, clear unit plan. This text aims to help teachers achieve just that while allowing students to explore tough, relevant issues.

Theme-Sets for Secondary Students by Jeannine Richison, Anita Hernandez, and Marcia Carter discusses how theme-sets align with current best practice in education. They then take their readers step-by-step through the process. From here, they give us suggestions of grouping canonical literature with young adult novels, children's novels, and picture books to use as scaffolding and to encourage discussions around the books' themes. They give suggestions for theme-sets around migrant families, literature of war, bullying mentality and more. The text concludes with a call for an evolution of education that works to support students in the most professional and effective way.

More than anything, this textbook inspired me to be both creative and organized in the way that I approach teaching literature. Before this class, I thoroughly underestimated children's literature as a resource for secondary students. Now I see the application, especially after reading and enjoying many of these texts as a college student. Below is my immediate reaction to the text:

The theme sets textbook tied a nice bow around everything we have been working on this quarter. I can see how our children’s picture books were organized in conjunction of the young adult novels that we were reading each week. I think this is a logical and creative way to create units in a classroom. The textbook suggests incorporating picture books, children’s novels, YA novel and canonical texts in theme sets. I like this, but depending on time, I might omit the children’s novels for a high school class. Instead I would include other types of media such as visual art, music, and other modes of technology. I think visual art and music are often forgotten in ELA classes, but they fit well with the Common Core Standards, and they allow ELA teachers to teach the full breadth of the “language arts.”

As I am working toward teaching in a high school setting, I think the options are nearly endless as far as potential themes and depth of discussions. Social justice themes are especially important for a group of citizens who are either about to be legally allowed to vote or are new voters themselves. The structure of the theme sets also encourages important discussions with a great range of freedom. With that said, it’s important, as the teacher, to be flexible to the ways in which the discussions move and also to be able to recognize when the discussions are moving in an unproductive direction. This is where our roles as facilitators is the most important. We have to know what questions to ask that will keep the discussions moving forward and keep our students thinking deeper. In my practicum, I run my lessons very collaboratively. We often start the lesson with some individual predictions, move into partner or small group work and then come together as a class to discuss our learning. Even though the authors suggest primarily small group work, I see the theme sets fitting into this class format very well. There is no reason why whole class discussion wouldn’t be beneficial after the group work.

Visualizing with Zahra's Paradise

My experience with graphic novels is very limited. Last quarter was the first time I had a chance to really dig into their depth and variety as a genre. I had only really recognized graphic novels as manga, and the newness of them made me intimidated. However, James is a great resource in this area, and I now recognize how versatile they are. I also truly appreciate how artistic and unique each text is.

Zahra's Paradise is a text that follows a mother as she searches for her missing son,  Sohrab, during the Iranian election of 2009. Sohrab goes missing after a protest. The mother and her oldest son try to find him in prisons, at the morgue, and in the cemetery, but they come up empty handed. Eventually, the brother is able to hack into Iranian databases and solve the mystery of his missing brother who has been killed and buried in a grave marked only by a number. The text points out modern issues of the Iranian government and emphasizes both corrupt and positive uses of technology.

This text probably challenged me more than any other I read for this class. I am definitely not a master of reading graphic novels, and this one was especially challenging because I wasn't completely educated on the subject matter and parts of it were quite abstract. For example, it may seem impossible to portray a metaphor in graphic novel format, but this text does just that. I certainly appreciate the thought and talent that went into writing and illustrating this book, but it is not for beginners. As for the subject matter, I found it interesting, and I loved the implementation of technology to make this a truly modern story. Below is my immediate response to the text:

I found it interesting that there was such a wide variety in the global graphic novels that we had to choose from, and that each story connects in some way to themes we have already discussed in the class. The novel I chose to read was Zahra’s Paradise. I am not sure if it was just this graphic novel specifically, but I find myself incredibly challenged by this type of reading. I think that I am so accustomed to reading plain text that trying to follow the unpredictable format of the graphic novel was a struggle for me. I had to really pay attention to the subtleties embedded in the images in order to understand the full story. Furthermore, my text was written about the war between Iran and Iraq and the corruption of the governments mixed with some technology and mystery. I could have benefitted with doing some research on these topics before I read. There were a lot of references to people and historical events that went a little over my head even though this text is pretty modern.

Despite my trouble with the text, I could really appreciate the time and thought that went into the images of the book. The images I chose to share with my group were just a few examples, but I could have easily shared more. Each image was thoroughly thought out and no detail was spared. I shared one in particular that represented the interworkings of the Iranian government as a factory with civilians on a conveyor belt being tortured and fed into the mouths of two giant, corrupt leaders. Every time I look at this image, I notice something new. These analogies are also something I found challenging about the graphic novel because the reader has to truly understand when something is metaphorical and literal. It’s not explicit in the text, and you have to be able to decipher that for yourself, but once I was able to do that, I felt that I could appreciate the text even more. It is these metaphors that make the text most impactful. They truly resonate.

War and Peace with A Long Way Gone

 The war and peace text set was another tough one. War is always a difficult topic, but it's so much worse when we put it in the context of children's lives. The children's books we read tug at my heartstrings. One book specifically was called Faithful Elephants. This book was the first one I read during our library day, and it absolutely crushed me. War is also all the more difficult to process when we involve animals. I think this is similar to the feelings we have about children in war.  Both animals and children have pure intentions and are faultless in these situations, but they have to feel the harsh effects of war nonetheless.

The novel we read as a class was A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. This text was a little different because its genre was memoir. In this book, Beah writes of his experience growing up in Sierra Leon, Africa. Here he is forced from his village by violent rebels. Eventually he is captured and forced into become a child soldier. Beah writes honestly about how he became a changed, hardened person when he was forced to perform his duties. Beah is able to leave this situation, but it is a slow process to become himself again. With the help of some good people and the United Nations, Beah leaves Africa and is able to tell his story with the hope of spreading awareness and empathy.

This memoir was incredibly humbling. I felt like I had a very intimate glimpse into Beah's life, and I fully respect his ability to lay his trauma out for everyone to see, especially considering the horrible things that he was brainwashed into doing and feeling. His memoir reminds us that there are conflicts going on across the world, and even the people who may seem like the "bad guys" are often only trying to survive.

Feeling the Pains of Genocide with Kiss the Dust

Genocide is never an easy topic to discuss, but when it is talked about, it's usually only in the context of the Holocaust, or maybe Rwanda. In this text set, we chose from a range of books that exposed us to genocides that have occurred across the globe. I had no idea there were so many, and even if I knew how many had occurred I knew very little about the conflicts which caused their extreme violence.

The text I chose to read was Kiss the Dust by Elizabeth Laird. This book focuses on the a girl named Tara who grows up during the Iran and Iraq conflict in which Tara's people, the Kurds, were being fought and killed as a form of ethnic cleansing by the Iraqui government. Tara does not understand the oppression that her family faces until the are forced to leave their home in urban Iraq to live in a Kurdish village far away from her school and friends. When the village is bombed, Tara and her family must cross the border as refugees into Iran. From here, Tara has to navigate culture shock after culture shock. Eventually the family makes it safely to Great Britain. Even though this is also, a shocking experience, they are able to find peace.

Before reading this book, I had no knowledge of the Iraq/Iran conflict. I didn't even know what it meant to be Kurdish. I had to do some research before I started reading just so that I could fully understand the context of the book. I did realize, however, that I had an English teacher in high school who was an Iraqui refugee who moved to Spokane in the 80s. His story now makes more sense with this new knowledge I have gained. I think it is so important to learn about these histories because they continue to happen, even in modern day, and it is important to be aware of these injustices so that we can hopefully prevent them from continuing to happen.

Learning Harsh Realities with Sold

The next book we read was Sold by Patricia McCormick. This book was certainly a tough read. Before reading this text, I knew that sex slavery and even child sex slavery was a thing that happened in the world, but I had never so closely learned about it before reading this novel. I watched movies like Taken and herd warnings from my parents about wandering around by myself when I was young, but it never seemed like a reality.

Sold tells the story of a young girl, Lakshmi, from a village in Nepal whose step-father sells her (perhaps unknowingly) into sex slavery in India. She does not understand what is happening to her until it actually happens. She is led on a journey away from her village and her family and is sent to live in a brothel with other young girls who have endured the same fate that she does. The book follows Lakshmi as she navigates this harsh new reality, and how, if it is possible, to escape it.

After reading this book, watching the video clips in class, and reading the non-fiction articles on sex trafficking, I was truly stunned. I knew terrible things like this were happening, but I suppose I needed the reminder of just how real they were. It was especially terrifying that these issues are not exclusive to other countries, but we have the same things going on in Spokane, WA. I felt for Lakshmi as she experienced some of the harshest trauma that a woman can, and it made me want to be an advocate for these women. Below is my immediate response to the book:

Although Sold by Patricia McCormick was a difficult text to read, I did really enjoy it. The story of Lakshmi being sold into sex trafficking in India opens readers’ minds to a world which we often ignore because it is unpleasant and uncomfortable. One of the questions that my group did not have too much time to grapple with was that the text leaves things fairly open-ended. We know that the American returns to help Lakshmi escape from Mumtaz’s “happiness house,” but we don’t what happens after that, and the text supplies the readers with many potential outcomes.

One option is that Lakshmi goes with the American to become a refugee and/or is granted asylum in the United States. This ending might seem like a happy one, but being a refugee is never an easy route, and she would have to deal with a whole other type of culture shock. Also, this option would mean that Lakshmi is separated from her family forever, and it is clear that she has a special bond with her mother, the baby and her pet goat, even if she does not have a good relationship with her stepfather.

Another option is that the Americans help her return to her family. In this case, it is impossible not to fear that Lakshmi’s story might end up like Monica’s if she returns home. The stigma around sex work is so strong that families disown their relatives because they have been dishonorable by sleeping with men, even if it is out of their control. It is possible that this would happen to Lakshmi, but even if it doesn’t, her family will still be in the state that they were in when she left, and she may go back to feeling hungry more often than not and making other harsh sacrifices just so her family can get by.
Although there seems to be some relief in the ending, I think its ambiguity shows the reader that there is not a truly happy ending. Even if everything works out perfectly for her after she is freed, she still has to live with the trauma of what she has been through. The only way to truly make it better is by spreading awareness and preventing other girls from having the same fate as Lakshmi.

Crossing Borders with Crossing the Wire

                                                                                                                                                                 
The next text set we studied were border crossing texts. This text set is another important one, especially given our current cultural climate, and even more specifically since our last presidential election. I have always been sympathetic to immigrants because I think respect the need to do whatever it takes to make a better life for oneself and one's family. I think the main reason that people want to make our borders stricter and harsher is out of irrational fear. Stories like the ones we read in class are so important because they put the reader in another person's shoes. We are able to better understand the humanity of immigrants and better empathize with them. I definitely felt this way after this text set, and especially after the World Relief Refugee Simulation that I participated in last quarter.

Will Hobb's Crossing the Wire follows 15-year-old Victor as he makes multiple attempts to cross the border from Mexico into Arizona. Victor's family is struggling to make enough money to survive after the death of his father and poor farming seasons. Victor sees going to America to find work so that he can send money back to his family as his only option. Otherwise, his family may be forced into living on the streets and begging for money. Victor's journey is not quickly successful, but eventually he makes it to the United States and is able to help his family survive.

The thing that struck me most about this text was Victor's resilience. Time and time again, he gets close but fails to make it to safety. Nonetheless, Victor persists until he able to reach his goal. Through this book, I learned the absolute struggle that it takes just to make ends meet. This text helps readers to see that immigrants are not violent and they aren't selfish. In fact, it is quite the opposite because they are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to better the lives of their families. Below is my full response to the text: