An introduction...
My name is Cally and I am an Elementary Education Major at Utah State University. I am a mother, a wife and a student working to balance life and learn everything I can. Teaching techniques, technology, storytelling, music, behavior management, diversity and technology are some of the things that I am working and adding to my knowledge base in order to help me become the most effective teacher possible.
A little history....
As I progress through my educational experience, I hear from many of my fellow classmates in the educational training program that they have wanted to be a teacher for as long as they can remember. This is my experience also. As a young girl I played school with anyone who would play along, always taking on the role of teacher myself. I taught my older brothers, my neighbors and friends, and my nephews. I love working with others and helping them to discover and improve their abilities.
A hope for the future ...
I hope that in the near future I will be able to have my own classroom where each student feels safe, cared for and important. I hope for each student to find success in something whether it be academic or personal. I want them to learn to love learning and be able to enjoy school. I hope by implementing a wide variety of techniques and tools I will have a class full of success.
Blogs can be an effective tool in education. This blog was originally created to share examples of diversity in literature. Here are a few examples of other blogs which could be helpful to educators:
Vicki Davis says " I write a lot about teaching, staying motivated, and how to connect with other teachers. Being organized and using technology well is important all of us so you’ll get quite a bit of that as well as the latest news & trends." Her blog can be found here. Cool Cat Teacher Blog.
Science Fix is a fun science blog geared toward middle school science teachers, but it contains fun videos, experiments, and some great science information for any teacher.
For some comic relief, and some reassurance during those inevitable times when things seem to go wrong, visit fourth grade teacher, Edna Lee's, blog here.
Another fun blog with some fun activities is Learning is Messy by Brian Crosby.
Kindness
| Kindness Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between the regions of kindness. How you ride and ride thinking the bus will never stop, the passengers eating maize and chicken will stare out the window forever. Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho lies dead by the side of the road. You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night with plans and the simple breath that kept him alive. Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. You must wake up with sorrow. You must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread, only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say it is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you every where like a shadow or a friend. |
 | Naomi Shihab Nye from The Words Under the Words: Selected Poems |
What is empathy? How does empathy affect the way you treat anther person? How does a person learn empathy? Must we personally experience the loss and sorrow that Naomi Shihab Nye speaks of in this poem in order to feel kindness towards others? I believe that as we learn about others and their strengths and their goodness and about the challenges they have overcome we become more kind. We become that person in the crowd to show the kindness that others are looking for.
Literature is a powerful tool. Reading literature about other people's experiences of immigration can help students develop empathy and understanding toward their classmates, neighbors and friends. It will help foster kindness. The books found on this blog are about children who have come to the United States for many different reasons and from many different places. Some long ago and some not so long ago. Some were welcomed, some were not. As we learn about their experiences we will gain greater understanding of loss and of sorrow which will help us grow in kindness.
Literature is a powerful tool. Reading literature about other people's experiences of immigration can help students develop empathy and understanding toward their classmates, neighbors and friends. It will help foster kindness. The books found on this blog are about children who have come to the United States for many different reasons and from many different places. Some long ago and some not so long ago. Some were welcomed, some were not. As we learn about their experiences we will gain greater understanding of loss and of sorrow which will help us grow in kindness.
"Bibliotherapy is the process of using books to help children think about, understand, and work through social and emotional concerns. Reading with children can be therapeutic.... Adults can use reading to help children come to grips with issues that create emotional turmoil for them. Reading can also be...very effective in preventing and resolving behavior problems."
- from Positive Child Guidance by Darla Ferris Miller
Angel Island History
Many Chinese immigrants entered the country as "paper sons" by pretending to be the child of a US citizen. All immigrants passed through a difficult screening process undergoing many difficult interviews and health screens.
 |
| Men's Barracks |
Immigrants spent an average of 16 days living in the barracks though some detainees spent much longer. As they waited, they carved their thoughts into the walls.
sources: Island: Poetry and History of Chines Immigrants on Angel Island 1910-1940
KQED: Pacific Link
Angel Island - The Poems
Second Edition
Edited by: Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, Judy Yung
Published by: University of Washington Press, Seattle and London
Summary: A collection of poems written by Chinese Immigrants held at Angel Island awaiting entry into the United States. It contains both the English translations and representations of the original works in Chinese. This work also contains historical facts, pictures of the island and oral histories.
Learning Objectives: Students will be able, through poetry, to explore the experiences and emotions of immigrants entering the United States through Angel Island in the early 1900's. They will also better understand some of the hardships of the voyage to America. Teachers will be able to gain a broad understanding of the history of the island and the people who passed through.
The Poems:
The barracks on Angel Island are carved with poetry left by immigrants as they waited to enter the United States. A poem by One Named Huie, from Heungshan, Consoling Himself. (poem number 38)
(photo taken at the barracks - does not correlate with this poem)
Over a hundred poems are on the walls.
Looking at them, they are all pining at the delayed progress.
What can one sad person say to another?
Unfortunate travelers everywhere wish to commiserate.
Gain or lose, how is one to know what is predestined?
Rich or poor, who is to say it is not he will of Heaven?
Why should one complain if he is detained and imprisoned here?
From ancient times, heroes often were the first ones to face adversity.
Several other poems:
15.
Abandoning wife and child, I crossed an entire ocean. I do not know
how much wind an frost I've weathered; it was because my
family was poor that I searched for white jade.
Bidding farewell to relatives and friends, I drifted ten thousand li. It is
difficult to keep track of all the ran and snow I've endured; it is all
due to an empty purse and my reverence for copper coins.
106.
The young children do not yet know worry.
Arriving at Gold Mountain, they were imprisoned in the wooden building.
Not understanding the sad and miserable situation before their eyes,
They still want to play all day like calves.
View more poems here and here.
Baseball Saved Us
Written by: Ken Mochizuki
Illustrated by: Dom Lee
Published by: Lee & Low Books, New York, NY
Lexile Measure: AD550L
"I glanced at the guardhouse behind the left field foul line and saw the man in the tower, leaning on the rail with the blinding sun glinting off his sunglasses He was always watching, always staring. It suddenly made me mad."
Summary: In 1942, during World War II, the United States Army moved people of Japanese descent away from the West Coast and into internment camps. This is the story of one such boy. He and his family move from their home first into horse stalls and then into barracks. As the previously busy and hard working people become agitated and restless in their new cramped quarters, his father realizes they need an outlet. Baseball becomes the unifying activity as they work together to create a field. The men build bleachers from wood scraps around the camp. Women sew uniforms from mattress covers. Baseball brings the people together as they "endure injustice and humiliation".
Learning Objectives: This is a short picture book and a good story. This book does not mention Utah, but many Japanese immigrants came to Utah from the West Coast because of the internment camp located near Delta, UT. (Standard 2, Objective 1 a.)
It also introduces several questions for students to think about.
- What do you think about the army placing people in internment camps based solely on their descent?
- Why do you think the Japanese people were agitated?
- moved away from their friends/family/traditions/jobs
- placed in small, cramped quarters
- angry at United States Army
- What purposes did Baseball serve?
- unified them
- gave them something to do
- gave them a physical outlet for their frustration, energy, anger, etc.
- Do you think it was Okay for the Army to imprison the Japanese people or did they make a mistake? Have you ever made a decision that you would like to change later?
- In 1988 the United States admitted that they had made a mistake.
This story can also be used to discuss the History of World War II and Pearl Harbor.
Letters From Rifka
Letters From Rifka
Written by: Karen Heese
Published by: Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY
Published by: Henry Holt and Company, New York, NY
"America," the girl repeated. "What will you do there?"
I was silent for a little time.
"I will do everything there," I answered.
Summary: Twelve year old Rifka shares the story of her family's journey to America through letters to her cousin Tovah. Tovah remains in Russia as Rifka's family flees because her older brother, Nathan, deserted the Russian army to save his younger brother Saul from the horrible treatment Jewish soldier receive and now they are in danger of being put to death for treason. Rifka remains strong and brave as she endures embarrassing examinations, illness and loneliness. The family travels to Poland together and then Rifka is forced to travel to Antwerp, Belgium to receive medical treatments while her family sails on to America. There are kind people along the way. She writes to Tovah about a milkman who helped her find her way after she became lost one evening, "How do you thank people for such kindness? I never knew strangers could be so kind." (pg. 65). Rifka is finally allowed to join her family in America but suffers more heartache as she looses her new friend is thrown overboard in a storm. She arrives at Ellis Island where she writes, "As I was finishing this letter a cry went up from the deck. when I went out to see what it was, I found all the passengers gathered on one side of the ship, looking up. They were looking at Miss Liberty, Tovah, a great statue of a woman standing in the middle of the harbor. She was lifting a lamp to light the way for us." (pg. 91) Unfortunately, her troubles are not over. The treatment she received for ringworm caused her to loose her golden, curly hair and the health examiners will not let her enter America because of her continued baldness.
Learning Objectives: Letters from Rifka offers students a firsthand account, based on the actual experiences of the author's Aunt Lucy, of an immigrant experience from Russia during WWII. There are parallels between the Russian Jewish experiences and the German Jewish experience. They will learn about some of the hardships experienced by immigrants. They will gain a greater perspective of why people wanted to come to America and learn about the process immigrants went through as they arrived. There are several issues in the story that may warrant sensitivity to young readers. Rifka's family is ordered to endure a strip search at the Polish border. Rifka speaks of her mother's breasts and talks about how the doctor made her feel dirty. There are also several deaths throughout the story. It is written tastefully, but some might find it inappropriate for such a young audience. One of the things I enjoyed most about this story was seeing Rifka's strength as she overcame obstacles. Along the way she is kind and helps those around her. At one point she helps a young boy. She realizes that he is a Russian peasant, as she says "an enemy of my people". At first she hates him but soon realizes that "he was just a little, hungry boy." She also helps to take care of a Polish baby whose mother has died from Typhus. Through all of her experiences she comes to accept all others saying, "To turn my back on the part of me that is Russian is impossible. I am Jewish, yes, but I am Russian too. I am both Jewish and Russian. And I am also more. I am so much more." (pg. 117)
My Grandfather's Coat
Retold by: Jim Aylesworth
Illustrated by: Barbara McClintock
Published by: Scholastic Press, New York
Lexile Reading Level:AD910L
"My grandfather loved the coat,
and he wore it,
and he wore it.
And little bit
by little bit,
he frayed it
and he tore it,
until at last . . .
he wore it out!"
Summary: A story retold and based on the Yiddish Folksong "I Had a Little Overcoat". ("Hob Ikg Mir a Mantl"). It tells the story of a man who came to America with "little more than nothing at all". He works hard as a tailor and eventually marries. He makes a new coat for his wedding. The coat wears out so he takes the worn coat and makes it into a vest, etc. until the coat eventually becomes a nest for a little mouse.
Learning Objectives: A simple children's story that is fun to read with rhyming verse and repeated phrases. There is a deeper meaning to be found in the text though. With teacher direction students will learn that many immigrants come to the United States with little or no possessions. They do however have many valuable qualities that can help them find success in their new home. The author's note states, "(the) immigrants who came to America from everywhere in the world, they typically brought with them the attributes of hard work, thrift, and conservation, which served them well as they built their new lives here."
This story could also be used as a resource for folklore or storytelling.
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