Tuesday, July 27 (DJ #1)

Following the readings for today, I couldn’t help but feel slightly to mostly overwhelmed and humbled by the magnanimity of the task before me. The list of questions that Smagorinsky poses have been on a constant reel through my mind since I finished the article. However, he makes some very interesting points, many of which I found particularly intriguing. For example, he asks, “Can a member of one cultural group authentically write about the experiences of another?” (Smagorinsky 291). I think this would be an incredibly interesting question to pose to my future students. A question of this depth would require a series of other questions including but not limited to: what does it mean to write “authentically?” Where are the borders drawn for where one culture ends and another begins? How do cultural groups with little or no written language get their stories told to more reading/writing-based cultures? What makes one person’s experience an authentic representation of a given culture? These questions have definitely come to mind when reading YA literature particularly from authors like Laurie Halse Anderson who writes from a variety of perspectives, a number of which are outside of her “home” culture. Another questions he poses is: “At what point do the selection principles become censorship?” (Smagorinsky 291). I would be lying if I didn’t admit that this question made me want to hang my head and cry. There is no point at which our decisions as teachers become apolitical. That is extremely overwhelming to consider. There is no text that we can choose that will be a perfect representation of one group or another and we will never choose texts that please everyone. Now that I’ve let this truth be known, I guess I can begin to construct the ways in which to best approach the teaching of texts to students in a way that is the most rigorous and least offensive to all parties involved. Smagorinsky captures this concept well when he says, “Teachers can give their preferred interpretations, and students can pass tests on them, but this does not stop readers from seeing something else in the literature” (Smagorinsky 293). I can blab all I want about politically correct language and being social justice-y, but when it comes down to it, I really want my students to grow from my classes rather than just regurgitate Ms. Rose’s liberal propaganda. From this sentiment, I think it was good for me to begin the Vinz text because it allowed me to see some examples of multicultural strategies one might use in a classroom. This idea of “becoming other(wise)” is a very intriguing idea to me and I think the way it is phrased is a great way to describe the modern multicultural classroom. I think this question “what’s in a label?” emphasizes the challenges we face as educators to be inclusive without categorizing. But then why do we feel the need to post the demographics of our students’ ethnic, religious, socioeconomic, racial backgrounds on our school websites? What does categorizing our students do for them as members of common communities of practice in our classrooms and schools? Her mention of Korzenny’s simile of culture being like water for a fish resonated particularly strongly with me. I think that this would be a great way to get students to understand what culture is in a way that they can picture. I can imagine actually bringing in a fish tank (and maybe a fish!) to represent this to my classes and show them a very tangible example of culture and how changes of a culture—perhaps the image of the fish being brought home from a carnival in a plastic bag would be helpful—can affect the individual and how the individual affects the culture. The example of Mr. Gordon’s classroom project was extremely appealing to me as well. I think that his idea of having students really get into their characters is an excellent way to allow them to really see multiple perspectives. Although I doubt it would be possible to spend that much time on one novel, but I could definitely see using some of the strategies he used. I might use a online role play to achieve a similar goal.