Your Task: Select a book
["children's novel"] that deals with diversity issues.
Refer to your textbook to determine what a "diversity
issue" might be.
Provide the following information
about the book:
-
title
-
overview or synopsis of the
book
-
grade level appropriateness
-
the theme of the book- what
diversity issue
-
how the book does indeed deal
with diversity
-
why the book might be
appropriate for young children to read
-
one internet produced review or
comment on the book.
[Probably you could do the assignment without
actually reading the book--- just read the
review.... But...Do read the book. It
probably will not take you over 20 minutes to do a
children's book. Some of you have already
read this:
Your Future
What is the message to you and
how does it relate to this project... rhetorical
question at this point.]
-
modified lesson plan on how you
would use the book/story
-
Rationale/purpose for
children reading the book
-
What you intend students
to learn from the reading
-
How you will introduce
the book or immediately generate
interest in the book
Due Date:
23 November. In a
small group you will present your book. Points
will be awarded for both the written report listed above
as well as the presentation that you will make to your
group.
Finding a Book: From EED
310/320 and/or Eng 300 you may have already been exposed
to multicultural/diversity literature. Visit
with the instructors of the above classes for
suggestions.
So, you may already have a book
in mind that you will use.
You might visit the local libraries
to find a book.
You might do a google. I
inserted "children diversity literature" and found
the following website.
Welcome to Multicultural Children's Literature Using
categories or titles from this webpage I might find the
name of a specific book that is of interest to me.
From there I could visit a local library or I could
order the book from Amazon, etc. Using google you
can probably find other websites with listings of
children's multicultural. Or....
Teaching Tolerance
open this page and insert "children's books" in the
white space at the top right corner.
Example: The Butter Battle
Book by Dr. Seuss
Major idea: "mine is
bigger than yours" military weapons military
might
What were my feelings about
this story? I think Dr. Seuss has a
wonderful way of making a point through stories.
His books are written and illustrated in such a way that
everyone, young and old alike, enjoy reading them
looking at the colorful pictures. In this story,
two different groups of people don't like each other
simply because they prefer to eat their bread two
different ways. This feud has gone on for years
and years, with each side trying to develop a better
weapon of control to destroy the other side. It
helps us realize what silly and ridiculous things we
allow to build walls between us, and those who may be
different than we are.
What does the title The Butter
Battle Book mean to me? It just tells
about the battle between two groups of people over which
side of the bread they eat their butter on. A
ridiculous thing but which apparently becomes important
to each group.
What is the lesson to be
learned from the story? We should not
judge other people because they do things differently
than we do. There are many different cultures in
the world and within the United States. No one
culture is any better than the other. We should
not dislike or mistrust someone just because they come
from a different culture. We should try to
understand and embrace our differences.
Ethnocentric is a major theme of the story:
"My way" is the only and best way of doing things.
What slogan or statement from
this book will enhance multicultural understanding?
If one side eats bread with the butter side up
and the other side eats bread with the butter side down,
they should come together and have a sandwich so that
there really is not a top or bottom.
Follow-up:
-
Have students read "The Wall"
by Robert Frost. Accept or reject the
argument of Frost that we need to have walls
between us....
-
What are some cultural
differences that we have within the United States
that might create a wall between us?
Review of The Butter Battle
Book.
Amazing what
one can find on the internet within about five minutes!
**thanks to a
colleague for the suggestions for this project and the
example