Esperanza

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

I really enjoyed this book because it teaches the humility and wisdom of class diversity through the experiences of Esperanza. The student can learn the differing behaviors and values of a wide range of classes in Esperanza’s fall from grace as a daughter of a wealthy Mexican rancher. After her father is killed during a conflict with a rancher relative, Esperanza and her mother, Mama, must work as immigrant workers in California in the midst of the Great Depression. I felt that it was heartbreaking to see anyone lose their home, but it teaches an important lesson about humility in a typically class divided culture. In my opinion, it is a great gift that Esperanza must interact with poor children of all races and understand how poverty eradicates racism, classism, and bigotry when there is very little money involved.  More so, it is the American Dream that gives Esperanza the opportunity to see real poverty in the hopes of improving their dire situation: “The work is hard in the United States but at least there we have a chance to be more than servants (Ryan, 2000, p.36). I feel type of theme can be used within the classroom because there are so many students from differing class backgrounds and racial identity. The heartbreaking poverty that Esperanza witnesses not only teach her humility, but it also allows her to experience diversity in racial and class-based lifestyles in the U.S. I really enjoyed this book because of Ryan’s ability to show that young women like Esperanza (from wealthy families) found humility and gratitude as typically privileged members of the upper classes. 

Summer Swans..................

The Summer of the Swans

I felt that this book was too focused on the way people and family members respond to the mentally disabled, which negates their own perspective of life.  While the book teaches compassion and care for the mentally disabled, it does very little to help the student learn about Charlie’s mindset and where he is coming from in the book. Actually, I was very curious as to why Charlie ran away and what he was thinking when he decided to disappear. I am not really fond of the other characters because they appear in a constant state of anxiety about caring for Charlie, especially in the character of Sara. I don’t think that I would recommend this book because it makes the caregiver the center of attention, when it is Charlie that deserves our full attention. More so, Charlie becomes the center of a mystery styled plot. This not only insinuates that no one the story really understands Charlie, but that he has become part of a cliché plot structure. I disagree with this type of plot and characterization of Charlie, which alienates the mentally disabled and puts an overt focus on the confused and often-irritated caregivers found in this story. While I do enjoy the compassionate way that Byers brings together the community to help the mentally disabled, I would not use this book as a means in which to better understand persons, such as Charlie. In the classroom, I would not recommend this book.

Skin......

The Skin I’m in

I feel that this book provides an important insight into the varying degrees of “blackness” that are part of minority communities. I was often stunned at the racist hierarchy of the students, which had caused Maleeka so much alienation and pain. For the most part, I think middle school students should know about this rarely mentioned problem of racism amongst minorities. I felt that it was extremely alarming that the closer a minority was to being white, the greater their popularity in the school. This book can definitely be used in the classroom as a way to help students of all races realize this various grades of racism outside of the typical black or white dualism. I have witnessed this type of minority racism towards a Kenyan girl in my classroom. She had very dark skin and some of the lighter skinned girls would often give her a hard time or demean her in the class. Often, she sat in the corner and seemed distant from the other African American students. I feel that this book is not just a historical story, but also one that can easily be understood by present-day behaviors of minority-on-minority racism. By having a dark skinned girl from Africa in the classroom, it is obvious that this book could have a major impact on racial behaviors that I have experienced. Yes, this book should be a mandatory because it would make the students aware of this aspect of racial identity amongst minority groups.

 

Birmingham

 

The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963

I agree with the fictional storyline of the Watson’s trip to Birmingham, since it really made me feel connected with the suffering of Kenneth and his family after the 16^th Avenue Church bombings. Of course, the lessons to be gained from reading this book is that of the “separate but equal” laws in America that hid much of hideous assaults on black people and their communities in the South. I really liked the main character, Kenneth, since his curiosity and intelligence provide a balanced view of Byron’s delinquency and his parent’s authoritarian mindset. I feel that Curtis created Kenneth as a middle ground in which a narrator can get all sides of the story. I agree that this book would be appropriate for the classroom of middle school students because they can understand how history tends to underscore the violence aimed at black people the South. For instance, the fear of being stopped by white “redneck“ locals and/or the police in the Deep South is one such danger that forces Kenneth’s father to keep driving non-stop into the night (Curtis 146). I feel that students can really get a historical insight into the danger that black people faced against violent white southerners. I disagree with the combative nature of racial language in the book through the usage of the N-word and redneck dichotomy between blacks and whites. While the racial tensions are real and we understand the hatred is mutual between the two races, it does not provide a means to understand the Civil Rights Era mentality of equality through Martin Luther King Jr. I think that this book can be really effective in making history come alive through the experiences of the Watson family in Birmingham.

 

 



Crash....crash....crash......

Reading and Comprehension in Crash by Jerry Spinelli: An Analysis of the Important Balance of Athletics and Intellectual Development in American Sporting Culture

The important quote taken from Spinelli’s commentary on the predominance of American sporting culture is defined through the main character, John “Crash” Coogan. John has earned the nickname “Crash” because he embodies the primal physicality of the all-star athlete at his middle school. When Spinelli writes: “On the football field I don’t run around people, I run through them. Life is football” (Spinelli 83). Of course, Crash is very popular, but he finds a counter-cultural force in Penn Webb, a vegetarian and pacifist Quaker. Crash constantly makes fun of Webb, but he soon learns that brute force does not equal power or genuine respect by his peers. Spinelli provides a young adult forum for disabled students to connect with Webb as the victim of Crash’s initial crudity, but more so, to understand how he transforms into a compassionate person that respects intellectual and/or creative people. This is one way in which Spinelli writes well in that he shows a subtle awakening in the Crash character as  means of forging a balanced view of intellectual and athletic respect in the student reader. In regards to the primacy of sporting culture often trumping intellectual development in American popular culture, disabled students might find a role model in Crash as a person wiling to let go of rigid stereotypes and to learn to respect others characters, such as Webb, that enjoy reading and participating in sporting events, such as track and field.

The reaction of disabled students to the bullying experienced by Webb from Crash is one that would certainly bring up emotions of anger and frustration. In this regard, I would implement a strong character driven analysis of Crash and Webb by the students to understand both sides of this athlete/intellectual duality:  “I think aloud and demonstrate how I analyze a character’s decisions and motivation [and] make personal connections to a conflict” (Elliot and Dupuis 32). This is one key factor in character analysis, which can bring down the stereotyped barriers that have been conditioned in student behavior. Spinelli is utilizing the characterization of Crash and Webb to break down dualistic mindsets, which can be merged and diversified in a polarized learning culture. In the classroom, this can be a very important tool in stimulating intellectual growth and respect even though sporting culture appears to dominate most American learning environments. Through the changes that Crash experiences in the book in respect to artists and creativity, classroom analysis of sporting culture can become more balanced in the school’s culture. Certainly, I do not intend to trump one activity over another, but the predominant American sporting culture can be equalized with an increase in student vigor to read and find diversity in the comprehension process.  By respecting both aspects of athleticism and intellectual pursuits in reading education, Spinelli’s young adult novel can help to encourage disabled persons at the middle school level to understand the importance of all facets of schooling environments.

 

Love.....dog.....

Free Verse Novel Love That Dog by Sharon Creech and Mary M. Dupuis

One of the most important quotes in Creech and Dupuis’ novel about reading comprehension and poetry is based on her main character, Jack, and his confusion when reading abstract poetry. When trying to read William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow”, he assumes that there is a complex and incomprehensible meaning that alludes him in the text: “I don’t understand/the poem about/the red wheelbarrow/and the white chickens/ and why so much’ depends upon/ them” (Creech 3). This is directly related to the way that Creech and Dupuis uses “free verse” style in order to show the student that it is actually a more simplified style of writing (Elliot 148). Soon after, Jack begins to more easily comprehend poetry and the mystique of complexity and difficulty in comprehension disappear. In the classroom, Creech’s text is invaluable in building a bridge between the oftentimes humorous and over complicated interpretation of poetry written by adults and simple reading exercises. For instance, the student can focus on free verse verbs and noun usage instead of conjunction interjections that might confuse the reading comprehension process. For the disabled student, the compound language of poetry could be a key style of writing that can increase reading comprehension, rather than be a deterrent. I feel that many students might initially react in a similar way jack in Love that Dog, but the “hostilities” would soon be abated after analyzing the simple poetry of William Carlos Williams in “The Red Wheelbarrow” that Creech and Dupuis exemplify in Love that Dog.

 

Who Killed Mr. Chippendale?

An important passage in Who Killed Mr. Chippendale reveals the powerful means of showing the student/teacher relationship within the classroom. Glenn (1996) writes about the experience a teacher named Robert Chippendale that allows the student to experience the inner thoughts of an educator: “By the babble of two thousand students--/Not a melting pot, but a multicultural mix,/Slouching its way toward Tower” (Glenn 2). This passage moved me because of its flow as a story of a teacher/student relations in the classroom (aka.The Tower), which reveals the more human side of teacher’s complex interactive stance on the school’s multicultural background. Narrative poetry can be an excellent way in which to easily communicate short and descriptive sentence to persons with special abilities that I work with in the classroom. With middle school students at this reading level, it is possible to more easily bring them into the multicultural tensions found in Glenn’s story. Narrative poetry has a way of capturing powerful emotions and ideas in short compact sentences. More so, the line-by-line poetic structure makes it easy to compartmentalize these ideas for students with reading comprehension cognitive disabilities. In this way, “students may enjoy a poetry in a familiar narrative form” (146), which can  be applied to Glenn’s poetry as a way of connecting the teacher to the student through the inner thoughts of Mr. Chippendale. Perhaps middle school students can find a stimulating means in which they can see that teachers are also human and that more intimate relationships can be developed when teaching reading skills in the classroom.

References:

Elliott, J. B., & Dupuis, M. M. (2002). Young adult literature in the classroom: Reading it, teaching it, loving it. Newark, Del: International Reading Association.

Glenn, M. (1996). Who killed Mr. Chippendale?: A mystery in poems. New York: Lodestar Books.