Analyzing children’s books was an eye-opening activity. I don’t understand why some authors feel that it is alright to promote stereotypes and biases within their books, or why authors wouldn’t be more selective in their verbiage unless their goal was to offend. Describing two people as extreme opposites because one is fat and the other is thin is completely inappropriate. Having an image of a toddler drowning is repulsive. If I had been reading the book that used the terms fat and thin, I would have definitely noticed as I am sensitive to that type of categorizing. However, I am not sure that I would have seen the drowning toddler if I had not been critiquing the book. That kind of worries me and makes me aware of the amount of scrutiny I need to utilize when selecting a book to read to students. I am afraid that I will miss something offensive or overlook biases that I am not aware of. It’s going to be difficult for me to stock a classroom library. I also an not sure where I would draw the line if a book was incredibly valuable for one group of students, but slightly bias towards another. How do you make that call?
Though I understand the reasoning behind being asked to write a lesson plan in class, it was overwhelming for me. I am not very good with a productive struggle when I am not in the correct mind frame to work on whatever I am struggling with. I normally like to brainstorm and think for a while before I start writing a lesson plan. I also had difficulty using an activity that I would not have selected. Through the process of working with a partner, I learned that I have developed a personal formula for writing a lesson plan. I hope that this is a good thing. Being able to discuss our lesson plans with the class and learn why some ideas are better than others will be very beneficial. Maybe we could create a quality lesson plan as a class to better grasp what is expected? I know that getting a sample unit plan in science was unbelievably helpful. I do want to thank you both for your guidance, suggestions, and support as I have struggled through my own lesson plans!
Hi Jennifer, I wonder if author’s write books with bias because they are not familiar with their own bias. You might also have to consider the date of publication and consider how aware people were at the time that doing something such as singing the Ten Little Indians was very offensive. I think it would be a good idea to review books for bias with your PLC or your school librarian. Having discussions such as this brings important awareness to the challenges of bias in children’s books.
I truly appreciate your honesty regarding lesson planning during class time. I regret the uncomfortable feelings you experienced but hope that by the end of class you got a few good ideas. We will follow up with this activity on Tuesday. We will review the outcome of the activity and continue to talk through each section of the lesson plan. Please feel free to ask questions. My hope is that by the end of class everyone will feel more secure in their writing of lesson plans.