For this week, I thought I would share some inspirational videos with you. We all know that as we get farther and farther into our education, it can become frustrating. Sometimes we can lose site of why we originally wanted to teach. Teaching is one of the hardest professions and sometimes, it seems as though it is one of the most unappreciated. I know that I personally get frustrated at times, but always seem to become inspired once again when I remember how I can change lives and be an inspirational person for many children. In my TE 401 class this week, our teacher showed us two videos on youtube.com. One was that of Taylor Mali titled "What Teachers Make" It can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU. We have previously talked about this clip in TE 448, but if you haven't checked it out yet, I really suggest that you do. It can really inspire you when you realize how much money we really are not going to make. The other clip we watched was of a young ten year old boy named Dalton Sherman. He gave a speech to about 20,000 people at a school districts start of the year conference. This clip can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZm0BfXYvFg. Please watch this clip whenever you might be doubting whether teaching is something you want to do. This child inspires you to be the best teacher you can be by believeing in not only yourself but your students and collegues.

Arab Stereotypes

For this week we studied something that I am very passionate over. We studied the idea of Arab stereotypes and how they affect childrens literature as well as the media in general. If you think about it chances are, most of the media you've seen or been exposed to with Arab characters usually portrayed them with negative stigmas playing the villan or causing trouble. We are also made to believe that every Arab is Muslim thanks in large part to the stereotypes our media paints for us. In reality only 20% of Muslim practicers are Arab. The question comes though, who do we blame for these stereotypes? We can blame it on the media, or even the news that reports on everything negative in the Middle East, but should we blame our schools as well. Personally, I feel that school is a place to break our stereotypes and learn about diversity in a positive way. In their article, "The Minority of Suspicion: Arab Americans" Tami Al-Hazza and Bob Lucking claim that there are still many textbooks that portray Arabs as living in the desert, riding camels around. In reality a very small percentage of Arabs still live like this. They rather live in modern cities with those amenities that Americans have. A good way to break these stereotypes and educate our students in a good way are thorough books, such as "Habibi".
In "Habibi" a young girl moves to Palestine from America, and struggles to adjust to her new lifestyle. This is a good book because not only does it talk about peace between the people, but also because it shows this young girl living in modern city, in her own house, with her family. We must provide our students with more books like this. In the article, "Arab Children's Literature: An Update" by Tami C. Al-Hazza, the author provides us with an array of different books perfect for exposing our children to the reality of Arab Americans and Arabs around the world. "Habibi" author Naomi Shihab Nye has another book on the list, along with "Habibi". This picture book, "Sitti's Secrets" is about a young girl who travels to Palestine and builds a relationship with her grandmother, or Sitti. This would be a good book because not only will it tell a different side of the Arab culture but also give children something to relate to. There are resources out there to teach our students about Arab culture. It is just a matter of finding them and using them in the correct way. If we are able to do this though, we may be able to change a whole generations way of thinking and give Arabs the respect that they, and everyone else deserves.

Last Wednesday in class, my group had a very good discussion about using Native American terms or tribes as mascots. Jessica attended Milford high school where they were the Milford Redskins. She told us about how they decided to change the name after some parents sued the district. Jessica told us there was a lot of disappointment over the name change. Many students felt that they did not need to change the name since none of them seemed to be offended by the mascot. This brought up the point of whether everyone was completely truthful and forward with their opinions. How does anyone know that someone who may have been offended did not choose to stand up simply because they did not want to be different? What if those who truly did not like the name just wanted to be like everybody else and go with the majority rule? We can never be sure that everyone is being true to their word and spreading their true feelings.
The insider/outsider debate is something that I never really thought of until the readings. I basically assumed that if an author is telling a story involving a certain culture, chances are they belonged to that culture. The more we read and looked into different books, I was beginning to see that I was very mistaken. There are good books out there that are true to the culture and their ways, written by someone who did not belong to the culture. I feel as though if someone is well educated about a subject, they have the right to spread their knowledge. Who says that I, as a white girl, could not tell a story of Native American history. As long as I am well educated in the area and feel as though I can draw an accurate portrayal, there should be nothing stopping me. I am not saying that anyone can write whatever they want about whoever they want. I do love when you can get a true "insiders" point of view. It does feel more genuine, but I argue that as long as they are knowledgeable and true to the culture, we should not judge who writes the book.

My first blog!!!

Hello everyone!
My name is Erin Verona and I am a senior this year at Michigan State University. I am majoring in elementary education, concentrating on social studies with an emphasis in geography. I am looking forward to this year. I can not wait to gain more knowledge and experience before I graduate in May. I am from Brighton which is just 45 minutes west of East Lansing. I would love to go back and work somewhere in the Brighton district since I had such a great experience there. I am looking forward to working with everyone this semester in TE 448. I think we have a great group and will learn a lot from each other!