Sunday, November 8, 2009

Research in the Community Observations

I was surprised by the difference in the set-up of the library and the bookstore I visited. In the bookstore, there was a labeled corner for books on subjects such as “religion” and “social studies/history”. However, there was no such labeling in the library. On one hand, I guess this is a good thing because then you are not separating those books from any other stories, you are saying they are just as valuable as any other book in the library. On the other hand, if a parent wants to teach his or her child about diversity, it may be hard to find a bunch of books on it because they are scattered around the library with all of the other books.

I was also surprised with the way many of the books seemed very similar to one another in terms of stereotypes. For example, if the characters were African American, their skin was always very dark. If the characters were Asian, they always seemed to be wearing very traditional clothing and had extremely slanted eyes. I understand that the clothing is traditional, but this seemed to be a recurring theme in all of the books I looked at.

I never knew how many books were written about different cultures and traditions. After reading a wide variety of such books, I have thought about how I can use all of these types of books in my classroom as a teacher. I want to show my students that just because someone looks different from you or has different traditions than you does not mean one of you is better than the other. Everyone is equal and everyone is special in his or her own way.

I was also surprised by how many times the media uses children’s literature. These links show the different ads and songs I found that show just how prevalent children’s literature is in our everyday lives:

Love Story by Taylor Swift:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRkoGKQ8qQ

Cinderella by Play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L39XYjxtrU

Hansel and Gretel AT&T Commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psDA54IBYqw

Japanese Ad with Little Red Riding Hood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq8xuVnB-Pk

Bassett Furniture Commercial (Goldilocks and the Three Bears):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggjM7dnxEbA

Capital One Credit Card Commercial (Princess Kisses Frog):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFn4cxy05HA

1 comment:

  1. Tweet for Literacy is giving away over $1600 worth of literacy-related prizes throughout the month of November in honor of National Family Literacy Month. In order to enter, click the link below and follow our 7 sponsors (authors and bloggers). Then include the hashtag #Tweet4Lit and the URL in your tweet about the contest on Twitter. http://bit.ly/Jj4Ky

    Linda Thieman, author
    Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story
    Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish

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