Week 5: Connecting Written Text with Symbols and Imagination
Week 5: Connecting Written Text with Symbols and Imagination
September 21 2019
As urban educators one of our duties is to help students become engaged in everyday subject matters that should be culturally relevant. In this case of teaching literacy, it can be a hassle to bring some imagination to the table. The question is "How can we connect our students favorite iconic figures to the written text that is given"? I can recall when I was in third grade my teacher had me and my classmates to pick our favorite character from our chapter book from which we read for our reading log. By the end of the week we had to be able to act it out in class. Now at first I didn't understand why we had to do it because the chapter book was called "The Giver". It was briefly about a boy named Jonas living in a utopian society and is the "Receiver of Memory" of the community. This means he has to keep in control of the past memories and feelings. There is no pain, emotion, or color. Everyone is literally the same. I had the opportunity to play Jonas one time and it was scene of when he couldn't control it anymore. I had to act like I was going insane with these new emotions. Once I was done my teacher asked me "What was the point of this scene"? I didn't know what to say. Then he made me think about what do think about the social norms that are in the book and compare them to todays society". All in all it made me realize how much different the equality of man and nature would be . There would just be nothing interesting. There would be no diversity among people or any objects that would stand out as significant.
In "The Ninjas, X-Men, and the Ladies" article, the author sets up a fired dialogue between two to three students who are arguing about the roles of men and women while acting as their either the X-Men, a Ninja or This was a quantitively study of how children's symbols and social uses of superheroes stories to let the children make conclusion of the images of powers and gender in a elementary setting (Dyson, Haas Anne).
In chapter 2 of Rethinking Early Literacies, there is a section called "Rethinking Literacies: Repositioning Texts, Power, and Identity". The author explains the politics of teaching "requires problematizing power relationships that press and oppress lives" and stem from multiple perspectives. He also goes in to detail from the critical perspective of literacy allows students early access to inequities. I remember when I was in fourth grade when we had to read a 2008 newspaper during the time of when Obama was running for president. We read some of the political and social issues that that both candidates were tackling. There were symbols of the donkey and elephant that kept appearing on each page next to their faces. My teacher wanted us to understand why those cartoons represent them well . We didn't know why until someone said "I know that the Republicans are the rich white people and live in those fancy houses and stuff". After that we the class started to make connections from an anthropological perspective of the community around them , From their neighborhoods and the everyday working class we saw why people voted the way they did and why this election meant so much to the nation.
How can we get our students to make real world connections about social issues through symbols that are empowering? As future educators we have to be very aware of certain images that are about our students and how the world views them in either a positive or negative light. Whether it be the media, a newspaper, the Internet, etc... we have the tools and resources of books that can show our students that who they are doesn't have to be classified in one category. All of us are so complex in various ways to be put in a box. Inclusion is the one element that I took away the most. We can have culturally relevant books, e-Texts, and even posters as well.
Questions:
1. What are some of the best ways to educate our students on symbolism and incorporate it into your lesson plan on literacy?
2. Were there images in books, movies, or entertainment that reflected your race in a positively or negatively?
3. Do you think it would be appropriate to present historical figures such as MLK, Cesar Chavez, etc.. for only one month? Why or why not?
4. How can we help destigmatize social issues such as gender roles when its brought up in a written text ?
5. Why is it important to teach text and symbolism at an early age as culturally relevant educators?
In Chapter 2, it is stated "It is thus essential for early childhood educators and researchers to understand young children as literate beings, learning from their literacy practices-going from worlds to symbols, such as words-from infancy." So, to answer question number 5 "Why is it important to teach text and symbolism at an early age?", I go back to that statement. In that statement it is understood that young children are coming out communicating. So, it's important to teach text and symbolism at an early age because it's continuing their communication skills. It's getting them to a point to grow in their everyday life, thus building skills they are unaware of. In Chapter 2, under the Young Children as Literate Beings it talks about how when young children scribble, draw pictures and figures they are developing their own sophisticated symbol system. So, going back to your question, at an early age even if they are unaware children are developing a text and symbolism of their own, and when we teach both they already have some type of understanding that we didn't know they had.
ReplyDelete"It is thus essential for early childhood educators and researchers to understand young children as literate beings, learning from their literacy practices-going from worlds to symbols, such as words from infancy".
DeleteDesiree I definitely agree with that input of text you had there. Its crucial to understand that as an educator sometimes our kids communicate symbols as a response to emotions and/or allow them find meaning through text.
“Do you think it would be appropriate to present historical figures such as MLK, Cesar Chavez, etc.. for only one month? Why or why not? No, I don’t think it’s right to limit the celebration of one race, culture, etc. to one month a year. It’s sending the wrong message to children of diverse backgrounds that they are only special for this one month and that we get to learn all about your history, but after this one month, it’s not important anymore and we’re going back to Eurocentric conventions. This isn’t teaching culturally sustaining pedagogy where you value one’s identity, just because you mention diverse culture, history, background once a year doesn’t make it meaningful. This can be described and viewed just like literacy in the Tatum article; it goes beyond what someone might call culturally relevant. The article says, “It is important to note that meaningful texts, although important, are not sufficient to improve literacy instruction for adolescents”. “The texts should be as diverse as the students being taught. The texts should also challenge students to wrestle with questions they find significant.”
ReplyDeleteDora I agree with your statement on why celebrating historical figures shouldn't be just a one month occasion. I personally think its rude, oblivious and ridiculous for a country that has a cast of multi-racial historical figures that contributed greatly to the construction of this nation. Cramming important events and figures from black history or latino history into a month is tiring. When I was in fourth grade my teacher made me and my classmates do a report on whatever historical figure we wanted for either black , latino , Asian history etc... and tell the class on why and how they still important to this day.
DeleteI believe it is extremely important to teach text and symbolism at an early age because they are forms of communication. For me, when I see symbols connected to text I always remember the information better because I am able to picture the symbols in my head rather than the words. Creating meanings for symbols can help people have an understanding of the intended concept. If you think about it, we have always created or seen some type of symbolism whether we realized it or not. When we were little and drew pictures of ourselves, family, or pets we were creating symbolism. We have seen symbolism through books, posters, flyers, campaigns, movies, etc. It is important to know and teach symbolism so that we are aware of deeper meanings behind the symbols.
ReplyDeleteMia I agree with your statement especially on the part where you said symbols can create communication. I know when I was in third grade my teacher wrote a numerous amount of symbols that either related to a book we were reading and some of us never got it including me. Some of them had to do with race relations, fantasy characters and Later on I had a better understanding of what types of symbols have a deeper meaning in a cultural context. Symbolism allows children to import ideas and a way to test their creativity and imagination above their literature standard.
DeleteTo answer your question to question 2, I think everyone has seen their race shown in a positive and negative way in some form of media. I think as future educators though we should teach our students that things like this might happen, but they should not let that get them down or make them thing differently of themselves. As future teachers we need to make sure that we are lifting our students up, and not tearing them down.
ReplyDelete-Taylor Hall
For your third question, "Do you think it would be appropriate to present historical figures such as MLK, Cesar Chavez, etc.. for only one month? Why or why not?" I believe it is not appropriate to present those historical figures for a month. In classrooms when I was growing up, we would only talk about MLK during Black History month and that is not right. It is showing that someone's race is only important for one month. Then the classroom goes back into their "regular lesson", where most of what is taught in schools has been white-washed.
ReplyDeleteHayley,
DeleteI completely agree with you. I believe that the historical figures such as MLK and Cesar Chavez should be more of a thing that we talk about not just throughout their significant months. I don't recall knowing who Cesar Chavez was until I hit college. I believe knowing who they are, what they have done, and what effects they left and caused in the community is very important.
As a future educator, I believe it's important to teach students at an early age how to see and read symbolism. We use symbolism to tell of things around us. Using visuals in our literacy helps students language communication and interaction. It's important to teach students at a young age because it helps them transfer information faster. It allows information to be memorable. Students will remember something that they saw text with images rather than just text by its self. At an early age, students like looking at the pictures and try to figure the back meaning to the image and that, brings students understanding, enjoyment in what they see. We use symbols everywhere. When we ask students to draw a picture of their family they're showing us the number of siblings without telling us in written text. So answering your fifth question I do believe it's important to teach students symbolism at an early age.
ReplyDeleteI would like to touch on your first question, "how can we help destigmatize social issues such as gender roles when its brought up in a written text?" I think in a classroom of elementary kids, a great way to discuss issue around gender roles is to have discussion about the activities students like participating in, and explaining that its okay for girls to like to play sports and get dirty, and its okay for boys to like to dance and be creative. Discussing gender roles in the classroom and explaining that its okay to be "different" is a great way to get students to start being less judgmental towards each other.
ReplyDelete"There would be no diversity among people or any objects that would stand out as significant." Thinking about stripping one from color, emotion and pain is an uncomfortable thought. Just like you said, there would be no diversity and nothing would stand out as significant. This world would be so dull if we did not have the cultures, emotions and pain that we do. All of those things make us who we are. I think in the future we can do an activity like your teacher did to present this idea at a young age.
ReplyDeleteJordan I have seen so many books, movies, and entertainment that depict black people as so many types of things it's crazy, whether positive or negative they all are portraying a story. I have seen black men portrayed as rapists and criminals and black women portrayed as the ghetto baby momma, the list goes on. On the other hand though, I have seen books, movies and entertainment show successful black men and women who go out and prove that we are more than what people say/think we are. Even in my own life my mom has constantly broken down all the barriers that were put up against her and has been a great example to me and my sisters. Image is so important, schools should not be furthering stereotypes and racist/entitled thinking but should be teaching students how to think for themselves and see every race and culture as equal to their own.
ReplyDeleteChristian I agree with you on black people portrayed as negative stereotypes or categorized as the villain. I vividly remember watching Black Panther for the first time last year and I was so excited. After I saw it I felt a sense of pride coming form my native roots. This movie was more than just a phenomenon it was a symbol of Black power, black beauty and grace. It was also encouraging to see the young black kids get to see a black man as the leading role and not be casted as the comic relief, or dribbling a ball or picking up a mic. Presenting an idea like this to children at a young age is priceless.
DeleteI think it was reflected mostly negative because in movies because they go with all the stereotypes. Growing up watching movies there was usually one black caste member or no diversity whatsoever. I do not think it is right to present historical figures once a month because it should be talked about more often plus there is so much more historical figures that is not mentioned in school I learned elsewhere. The topics we have in history has almost always been the same no new people and there is also many important stories not shared in the classrooms.
ReplyDeleteTo respond to your second question, "Were there images in books, movies, or entertainment that reflected your race in a positively or negatively?"
ReplyDeleteA lot of books I was read to in class or books I checked out at my school's library did not ever contain of a Hispanic character. But as for movies, there was. And of course the Hispanic person was either a maid/housekeeper, drug dealer, lived in bad areas, and was in a gang. Then there were the brighter side of those that wanted the Hispanic to leave the gang life, move away from the bad areas and have a better life. This to me is often reflected negatively. Giving people the idea that this is the lifestyle for every hispanic.
"Why is it important to teach text and symbolism at an early age?" Being able to understand text and symbolism is an important part in advancing communication skills. Teaching these skills at an early age are extremely important because text and symbolism is everywhere so if not taught early students will put the wrong meaning to simple symbols.
ReplyDelete"Do you think it would be appropriate to present historical figures such as MLK, Cesar Chavez, etc.. for only one month? Why or why not?" Not at all. This puts an image on African American and Latin leaders saying they are only important one month out of the year. These historical figure need to be talked about through out the year and this can be done with simply introducing different leaders of color every week or even day in the classroom.
- Deja Shelton
DeleteThroughout movies and tv shows it seems that most superheroes are white males. A lot of the time in movies that have superheroes there aren't many African Americans in the movies. Like we we talking about in class, the hero in American history was the white male. This gives a negative outlook for diverse children because they aren't seeing themselves as the superhero. Recently, they have been making more movies where there are African American superheroes, cops, business owners, etc.This is amazing because children need to see this so they can see what their future can be like, they can see people who look like them doing great things. For example, in the movie "Into the Spider-Verse", it was an African American boy who was living with his father, who was a cop, and his mother. Spider-Man is a huge superhero, so making him a young African American boy that saves the world is a huge deal and could be an inspiration to many different children. Also in this movie, there was also a girl Spider-Man, which is also another big step.
ReplyDeleteMeredith I agree with you on the statement where you mentioned "Spiderman : Into the Spider verse" movie. I remember watching it as well and thought this would be great if Marvel decided to include him in the Avengers world. Or if there was a live-action Spiderman "Myles" movie too. It isn't a secret that Hollywood is still race-related due to racist propaganda . This began in the 1920s and hasn't stopped since then. There are still roles being taken by white people that were meant to be played by a person of color. For example, "Ghost in the Shell" the lead actor , Scarlett Johansen , was supposed to be played by an Asian person.
DeleteSymbols are very important to teach at an early age because there are a lot of good and bad symbols out there. You don't want any student to come into school wearing a symbol that hurts or makes another student uncomfortable. We should make them aware and also talk about the importance of why they are bad or good. We see symbols of different things in our day to day life and students can't be shut from reality in school and then have plain view when they leave. We must educate them and make them understand about harmful symbols and why they carry such a heavy meaning.
ReplyDeleteDo you think it would be appropriate to present historical figures such as MLK, Cesar Chavez, etc.. for only one month? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteNo, I do not think it's appropriate. In schools students are taught about a lot of white men and women. It glorifies them and every other culture is looked down on. This is teaching students that they are only important for one month. Whenever this happens the students whose are of the same color will only feel like they're important for a month. Schools should incorporate all cultures at all times. This will allow students to feel able to relate to their culture and maybe others.
To answer your question 4, a way us when we are future educators to destigmatize any social issue that comes up in a text is to educate the students about it. Even at a young age, they will experience when they get older so it’s important to let them learn about social issues as soon as possible. When these issues come up in a text, the students can have a class or group discussion on what they think that means to them and us teachers are then able to clear the concerns or questions students might have about it. Us teachers can then compare whatever social issue it is to people that have conquered it or went through hardships to show the students what it’s like to go through and also how to overcome these issues. Examples of people could be Ruby Bridges, Malala Yousafzai, Anne Frank, etc.
ReplyDeleteLastly, I thought it was awesome the way your teacher had you guys act out that specific book to let you guys come to realization that it’s completely fine for everyone to be different. Without difference, we could never learn from each other.
What are some of the best ways to educate our students on symbolism and incorporate it into your lesson plan on literacy?
ReplyDeleteOne of my teachers- I can't remember which one it was- provided us with a "cheat sheet" that held a bunch of common ideas of symbolism (i.e. snow is a purifier, fog means mysterious, if characters share a meal it means that they have something in common). Something like this is a really good example. The best thing that we could do is to train our students to pick it out. Put up a wall with some simple ideas about symbolism: an owl usually means wisdom. Then, tie it into your lessons and ask your students constantly to identify them. It's a really important concept because it helps you delve deeper into text meaning. If a character meets someone and says "they had owlish features", it could mean more than that they just look like an owl! It might be important to the story that this specific character is wise.
I enjoyed your connection to the reading by the telling of your third grade experience with the book The Giver. I love all of the form of The Giver I have experienced. I have read the book, seen the play at the IRT, and watched the movie. And although I have done all of these things I never perceived it the way you described it. I read your interpretation of it and thought back on its meaning and was baffled that I didn't see that. Having the class participate in that exercise to connect to the story was a great way to help connect students to the content. It allowed you and your fellow classmates to really investigate what the author was trying to convey in their work. I wished that I would have had that type of learning environment for a few of my tougher courses.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to #3, I do not think its appropriate to only presents historical figures like MLK and Cesar Chavez for one month. Although this is what schools typically do, I don't think its fair that students spend a whole school year learning about Eurocentric history and cultures but only spend a month talking about other historical figures. That does not show minorities that they matter, it gives them the opposite message. Imagine being a student of color and learning mostly about Eurocentric history culture... no representation of someone that looks like you is mentioned until a certain month comes up. I think a good way to incorporate different cultures is by having a "fact of the day" every morning about different cultures and you can further discuss it if students have questions.
ReplyDeleteI do not think it's appropriate to present historical figures for only one month because these are people who made an impact for MORE than a month. The things people in history have changed impacts everything. There is a cause and effect to everything. It would not make sense to only talk about these things during one month out of the entire year. We can help destigmatize social issues when it's brought up in text by flat out saying that even though the text says this that you can still do that not matter your gender or race.
ReplyDelete