"The highest result of education is tolerance." - Helen Keller
I have reviewed the websites over the past week many times, and each time, I found myself, surfing the internet for more information thinking to myself "Am I staying on task?" I constantly had to remind myself, I must get back to work, and review the website I originally had to search. As these websites have ignited in me a fire to deepen my knowledge I couldn't help but think about our region and how we have an oral tradition with our literature. I especially liked the I Love Libraries: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/booklovers/recreading/default because in the TRIO Programs we deal with student who are college bound, and I know the other programs I work for, the paraprofessionals I have to deal with this semester will benefit from this information I have found. I am definitely going to share this website with them and show them the different books listed for the college bound and lifelong learners.
My passion is anything dealing with our pacific islands and the last two websites: Promoting Pacific Literature: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~lll/promote.htm Contemporary Micronesian Literature: A Preliminary Bibliography: http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/21202/Skinner_.pdf?sequence=1 I have reviewed, I found to be very interesting. I began to do google searches on some of the information presented on these websites. My search has deepened my knowledge in the Chamoru culture. The webiste/pdf file on the Contemporary Micronesian Literature: A Preliminary website when I read through the pdf document, I found particular interest in William Peck, whom was mentioned throughout the document. I began to search on him, and the research he has conducted with the Kantan Chamoritathroughout the Marianas. I myself am a weaver, and this was of particular interest to me, because I have heard other weavers telling their stories of how they remember when they were younger that they would sing, when they weave. I found this to be very interesting, because when you are engaged with the art of weaving, for me atleast, it is very comforting, giving me time to think, go into deep though not only about what I am creating through my weaving but letting my mind wander in thoughts of the day.
I have come to know that the classroom today is very diverse, our students are coming from many different backgrounds, and once we know our culture our existence, we can tap on the students to share theirs.
Quote Taken From: http://www.creating-positive-change.com/diversity-quotes.html
Image Taken From: http://bestofbellevue.net/site/cultural-diversity
Joe,
ReplyDeleteAlthough the websites that caught our interests are not the same, nonetheless they do have one common factor That ties them together besides the fact that they deal with children's and young adult literature. They focus in on peoples of diversified cultures. Having done research on finding excellent strategies to help ELLs become proficient readers, I came across one very significant factor that impacts their learning abilities, and that is that they learn best when they are taught in their primary language, first. Although that would be ideal, realistically, it is highly unlikely here in our school system since we don't have the financial resources or manpower to follow through with this finding. What makes our Chamorro culture stand out from other ethnic cultures is that our children, for the most part, are being raised up speaking English as their primary language. Therefore, in my opinion,in general,having this advantage over other students of different ethnic backgrounds would be a plus in the learning environment.