Reading Culturally Diverse Literature and Critical Practices

In this blog I will be discussing culturally diverse literature and critical practices and how to use these in the classroom. I will discuss these topics through the books Separate is Never Equal by Duncan Tonatiuh and One Last Word by Nikki Grimes.

Resources and articles talked about in this blog post will either be directly linked or on my resource tab.

Author and illustrator: Duncan Tonatiuh

He is Mexican American and grew up in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and went to school in New York City.

http://duncantonatiuh.com/

Setting: Westminster, California during the 1940's

Characters: Sylvia Mendez, Mr. Mendez- her dad, David Marcus- their lawyer, her aunt Soledad and her cousins, her brothers and mother, the superintendent- Mr. Kent, other families that helped testify.

Plot: Sylvia and her family's journey to help desegregate schools in Westminster by taking the county to court.

My Vlog on Separate Is Never Equal

One Last Word by Nikki Grimes

This book is a collective of poems from the Harlem Renaissance. Nikki and then takes a part of the poem of the whole poem and writes another poem in the format of golden shovel.

https://www.nikkigrimes.com/books/bkonelastword.html

My Vlog about One Last Word

"Graphic life writing refers to the construction of a life story through image and text in forms such as the picture book or comics."

Questions to consider when reading graphic life writing:

• How does the subject of this auto/biography maintain hopes and dreams in the face of barriers?

• How do the illustrator and/or author communicate their story in images and words?

• Does the author include or write in more than one language or dialect? Are certain literary forms used in the book, such as parables or poems?

• What knowledge or lessons do young people in these auto/biographies use that come from their families and/or communities?

• What documents, photos, or information do the author and/or illustrate include in their life writing? Why?

• Upon what networks of people in the community do the author and/or illustrator rely?

• How do youth navigate through institutions like the school that are not set up for communities of color and/or indigenous peoples?

• In what ways do youth resist unfair treatment or discrimination?

***questions are pulled from the article Counter-Storytelling through Graphic Life Writing by Elizabeth Marshall- found on my resource page

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Golden Shovel Poem:

Examples and information on how to write a golden shovel poem

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/92023/introduction-586e948ad9af8

https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/poetry-friday-golden-shovel-books-children/

Anchor Poem:

Theme for English B

Langston Hughes, 1902 - 1967

The instructor said,

Go home and write

a page tonight.

And let that page come out of you—

Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it’s that simple?

I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.

I went to school there, then Durham, then here

to this college on the hill above Harlem.

I am the only colored student in my class.

The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,

through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,

Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,

the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator

up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It’s not easy to know what is true for you or me

at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I’m what

I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:

hear you, hear me—we two—you, me, talk on this page.

(I hear New York, too.) Me—who?

Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.

I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.

I like a pipe for a Christmas present,

or records—Bessie, bop, or Bach.

I guess being colored doesn’t make me not like

the same things other folks like who are other races.

So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.

But it will be

a part of you, instructor.

You are white—

yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.

That’s American.

Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me.

Nor do I often want to be a part of you.

But we are, that’s true!

As I learn from you,

I guess you learn from me—

although you’re older—and white—

and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

My Shovel Poem:

Because you are American

Taylor Dale

I am me and you are You

we are alike and we are

different. What separates us the most is I am white

and you are black. We are friends yet

our families and society try to keep us apart. Without a

proper reason as to why. We are now part

of their show like puppets attached to strings. There is no way of

escaping this trap. Why can't I just be me

and you be you and we be friends? It is as

if somewhere there is a rule maker of society that creates these traps. I

cannot comprehend this rule maker. I am

no longer a puppet. I will not stand for this. There is a

revolution brewing inside. Why be a part

of something that separates me from my friend based on skin color? Because of

people like the rule maker we have to take a stance. For you

I will risk disowning, abuse, mistreatment because That’s

what you face everyday and why? Simply because you are American.

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Resources:

http://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/background-mendez-v-westminster-re-enactment

https://unctv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/osi04.soc.ush.civil.mendez/mendez-v-westminster-desegregating-californias-schools/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/12/28/federal-judge-tells-arizona-it-cant-ban-mexican-american-studies/?utm_term=.deebe9297a62

https://www.ducksters.com/history/civil_rights/little_rock_nine.php