Asian-Pacific American Literature

This week in our semester long discussion on multicultural literature we focused on Asian-Pacific American literature. I have really enjoyed learning about all the different classifications of multicultural literature. This specific genre of literature I have the least amount of knowledge on so I was eager to learn more about it. I thought that it was really cool the way that we started off class this week. We started off by viewing some stand up comedy by Margaret Cho. It was very entertaining and funny. During her standup she was poking fun at herself and also her mother. I thought it was good introduction to what we were focusing on this week. One big thing that I learned is actually how many countries are included, that I would have never thought, in the title of Asian-Pacific. Obviously Hawaii is included in this grouping, which I already knew, but because it is one of the 50 states it didn't come to my mind right away but I was reminded when I did the readings for the week.
I believe that this is one genre of literature that is the most under represented. When I look back on my educational careeer I can't really remember reading a lot of books by or about Asian-Pacific Americans. The only books I sort of remember had to do with WWII and I don't really know if they were good representations. By watching Margaret Cho it put it out there that there also isn't a big representation in the media. Yeah there are famous actors and actresses who are Asian-Pacific, but I can't think of one prime-time show that the main family unit or group of friends are Asian-Pacific. And then Margaret Cho mentioned in her comic performance that the producers of the show didn't think she was being "Asian" enough on her series, but then pulled her the opposite way by saying her face was too round. I thought that was ridiculous. I don't like how a lot of things are going on in Hollywood. Nobody is ever perfect as themselves there is always something to change about yourself and it really effects young children. I know I have been pulled into the nonsense of what Hollywood thinks the perfect body is.
This week opened my eyes to some new ideas to think about when it comes to multicultural literature especially when picking out my classroom library. I want to make sure to represent ALL cultures and do it successfully with credited authors.

Personal Philosophy

Today in class we discussed a lot about critical pedagogy and critical literature, which are big components in our own personal philosophies on teaching literature to our own students. The main reason on why I am here in this specific class is so that I can have a more elaborate philosophy and actually be able to reach my own goals about multicultural education when I have my own classroom. This class will and is giving me the tools to go about multicultural education especially when it comes to literature. So in fact this class connects a lot to my professional goals. I want to create an environment no matter where it may be that is culturally aware of others and most importantly accepting. This is class is helping me reach this by starting with the library and literature I will share with my students.
Issues of diversity play a lot of roles in literacy teaching and learning. An indirect role it has is that no matter what piece of literature you read there is some type of culture or race represented in that text. However the way these different cultures may or may not be represent correctly or fairly. So this is when multicultural literacy teaching and learning comes into play. Teachers need to recognizes this and teach their students about the cultures or races they are reading about so that their students have accurate knowledge and accepting views of people who are different from them. These are important things to do in school because that is where students become culturalized a lot of the times because they meet and interact with a diverse group of students and outside of their home life. My personal views on multicultural education definitely are going to be included in my classroom. I think it is very important to be a teacher and have a diverse view on education because you aren't going to get students who are clones of eachother. There are going to be diverse back rounds. I don't think that it is appropriate to ignore that fact and should embrace it so your students will as well. This will make, I think, a more comfortable and inviting learning environment. Literacy is a great way to introduce new cultures and races and good representations of multicultural literature should be included in all classrooms. There are many ways to include different multicultural literature in all subjects.
When I think about multicultual education and my own classroom of course there are concerns I have in insuring that I do it correctly and well. I am very nervous being a white female I will have a difficult time relating to some of my students, but I will try my hardest and try to bring in as many resources I can so that everyone feels that they have good role models. I also am concerned about choosing the right literature. I am excited to see what I can do and what resources will be available to me. For starters I think this class is giving me some great ideas and representations of multicultural literature to use on my own.