Stereotypes in Al Capone Does My Shirts

On Wednesday, we addressed issues in the book Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko. One question I asked was: does Natalie, Moose’s sister with autism, solidify the common stereotype in this book that she is only a burden to Moose, his family, and society? I told my group to look at certain aspects of Choldenko’s book that could lead to stereotyping.

Firstly, we looked at how Moose constantly talks to Natalie using baby talk and refers to what is going on in her mind as “Natalie’s world.” It stereotypes how children with autism can only understand broken English and this is how we should talk to them so they can understand us.

Next, we looked at how Natalie’s mother always searches to find a babysitter, often delegating Moose for the job. Shifting the responsibility to others or even neglecting to find a responsible babysitter happens many, many times throughout the book when Natalie is on the island that it is hard not to generate the stereotype that children with autism will always need to have somebody by their side to look after them because they don’t have the ability to be independent.

Finally, we looked at how Natalie’s mother feels like the only way to make people to understand her condition is to pretend she is just five years younger than her real age. It seems like she has to hide Natalie behind false pretenses for her to be accepted in society and shield Natalie away from reality. Does this also suggest that children with autism should be considered biologically younger than “normal” children just so that others won’t question or be uncomfortable with their condition?

From reading Al Capone Does My Shirts, we can actually see how frequently stereotypes have the chance to form when Moose and Natalie’s mother treat Natalie differently and shelter her from the real world. Hopefully discussions framed from Gennifer Choldenko’s book can help to break stereotypes instead of formulating them, which I hope would accompany this book when reading it in the classroom.

The Schneider Family Book Award

The Schneider Family Book Award is given annually by the American Library Association. It honors an author or illustrator for the artistic expression of the disability experience for children and teen. There are 3 categories, which include books directed at birth through grade school, middle school, and teens. Its purpose is to recognize quality literature in the area of physical, emotional, and/or mental disability. Winners of the Schneider Family Book award are picked by the Award Commitee, which is made up of 9 committee members who are elected for 2 year terms. Each member is chosen by executive board of the American Library Association based on recommendation. For the commitee to select quality literature, the book must exhibit an aspect of living with a physical, mental, or emotional disability. It must also focus on artistic expression of children or adolescents living with a disability. Previous winners and year awarded include Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements (2004),My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir by Samantha Abeel (2005), and Tending to Grace by Kimberly Newton Fusco (2006).

Final Project Topic

For my final TE 448 Blog project, I am going to focus on learning disabilities. What draws me to this subject area is that when going to our placements each week, I see students all around that have different learning styles, some of which I believe to be the beginning signs of a learning disability. As a teacher, I want to be effective in guiding every student towards learning and if I cannot understand how certain students are affected, I cannot do that. Some learning disabilities are less severe than others, nonetheless just as important to be knowledgeable about. I want to know what teaching styles are the best for certain learning styles and what else I can do to help a particular student learn, despite their disability.

Some helpful sites I came across are:
http://www.ldonline.org/index.php
http://www.ldworldwide.org/
http://www.ldaamerica.org/

Are Awards Beneficial?

How quick are we to classify books that have seals from awards as "good literature?" Does it necessarily mean that because a book has been honored, it must be an appropriate piece of work? Awards allow a book to be recognized, but there is still a bit of controversy in what the awards actually do.

On one hand, awards, such as the Newberry and Schneider Family Book Award, honor pieces of literature with exceptional criteria. Awards like the Coretta Scott King award, honor literature featuring exceptional African American works of literature. All of these works are written by insiders, so therefore know the subject matter quite well. Also, awards allow authors representing the non-majority a chance to be acknowledged without being swamped over by the mainstream popular pieces of literature.
On the other hand, what “the criteria” a book contains, is also debatable. Some of the criteria for selecting a book for the award are so strict and whittled down, which could be excluding some books with great content. Other books are selected simply by a jury vote using generous standards, which can easily let a book with poor subject matter (like full of stereotypes) under the radar without ever knowing. Also, by honoring only certain pieces of literature, are readers being drawn away from other great books just because they don’t see “the seal of approval?”

Overall, there will always be a debate over the efficiency of book awards and each side makes some valid points. It all boils down to finding a balance between the two.

Nikki Grimes--Living the "Bronx Masquerade"

Nikki Grimes knew after she had written her first poem early in her life that she was going to be a writer. As a child growing up in the 60's, she experienced first hand the nationwide aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination, Martin Luther King Jr.'s historical speech, multiple political demonstrations and sit-ins, and the Harlem Renaissance. So what makes her qualified to write literary works such as Bronx Masquerade? She lived it!

Nikki Grimes experienced living in the Bronx first hand, which is the inspiration for the book. She attended High School in the Bronx, and is considered an insider on multiple levels: she is of similar cultural and social backgrounds as many of the characters in the book, she lived and went to school in the inner city of New York, and survived some of the meanest streets where gang violence and physical fights trumped peace. This is the reason why the inner city is often the setting for her works. According to Nikki, “the city street is the territory I know best.”

A great web site article to read is her autobiography, called “Historically Speaking.” In it, she shares about her life and how events in her past helped shape her writing style today. It is very informational and offers tons of insight into her life. She reflects on her experiences and even post pictures from her past that make the article also very entertaining to read. Check it out here:
http://www.nikkigrimes.com/hspeak.html

A Controversial Debate

Especially after reading these four articles, I never imagined how controversial the debate between writing literature as an insider or an outsider could be. I consider multicultural literature covering a wide variety of culture and exploring the experiences of people with different backgrounds. But who has the right to write about these? As an insider, the author of literature has personal experience "inside" the cultural group. While those considered an outsider don't have personal experience within a cultural group but can also be experts on the subject. According to Sims Bishop, outsider writers frequently bring their fiction about a cultural group that is not well informed as those who have been acculturated. Writers have to know a culture intimately if they are going to reflect it accurately. I believe this is true, except I also believe that is entirely possible for an outsider to accurately reflect multiculturalism in writing. By excluding writers that are outsiders, we are excluding a lot of great literature in the classroom. That does not mean that all outsider literature is accurate--it would have to be studied to make sure the evidence is factual. But who is to say that insider authors portray accurate information either. Just because a person has a specific background from a cultural group does not necessarily mean that they can correctly portray a culture.

Basically, I believe that it is the teacher's responsibility to look at literature with an extensive eye. That means that I, as a teacher who wants to incorporate multicultural literature in the classroom, have to make it is my responsibility to use the resources available (like book reviews, critique’s opinion, general responses to the book) to determine if the book is appropriate for the schools. I should not include a book that is written by anybody that does not portray culture in an accurate light.

My Introduction

Hi everybody! My name is Molly and I am a fifth year senior. My major is Elementary Education with a concentration in Language Arts. I am also interested in the TESOL program as well. I will be graduating this spring and, after five years here, it will be quite sad to leave Michigan State behind.

I am interested in diverse literature because it can teach a child so much about the world we live in today. Also, literature provides an intriguing way to promote diversity within communities. Children become exposed to the similarities and differences of multiculturalism through reading choice literature. As a teacher, it is important to introduce books that have diversity represented in order to reflect the diversity of the classroom, schools, and society.

I am looking forward to gaining knowledge from this class that I will be able to apply to my own future experiences in the classroom. Powerful literature can fuel so many different feelings, and it will be interesting to see what issues it digs up in me.