IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT ME? HELPING YOUNG

ADOLESCENTS EXAMINE MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES IN

TEXTS

Roberta Linder, Ed.D.

Aurora University

2008 IRA Conference

May 8, 2008

Atlanta, Georgia

rlinder@aurora.edu

Multiple Perspectives

To understand experiences and texts from our own perspectives and the viewpoints of others and to consider these various perspectives concurrently

Why read texts from multiple perspectives?

Promote thoughtful literacy (Allington, 2001)

Attend to the cultural diversity in our classrooms and our society (Garcia, 2005)

Component of effective literacy instruction for adolescents (Alvermann, 2002)

Develop new skills—be active rather than passive consumers of media (Buckingham, 2003; Hobbs, 2007)

Recommendation of National Middle School Association (NMSA) “Instructional materials and resources

are most worthwhile when they reflect multiple viewpoints and encourage young adolescent to explore new ideas.” (p. 25)

Preparation for Exploring Multiple Perspectives Critically examine the text to

be presented to the students. Determine the perspective(s) present in the text as well as those absent from the text.

Determine what, if any, supplementing will be necessary in order to provide the students with information about the absent perspective(s).

Select an appropriate activity or strategy.

Questions to guide critique of texts

How does the adult author construct the world of adolescence in the text?

What does the author want us to think?

Who gets to speak and have a voice in the novel and who doesn’t?

What/who is left out of the novel? How might alternative viewpoints

be represented? How would that contribute to

your understanding of the text? Does the author represent an

insider or outsider look at a culture?

Preparation for Exploring Multiple Perspectives

So Far from the Bamboo Grove (Watkins)

Critically examine the text—what is presented and what is absent

Determine what point(s) of view are absent and should be added

Select appropriate activity or strategy

Presented: viewpoint of Japanese living in Korea at the end of WWII

Absent: details about the Japanese occupation of Korea and the dropping of the atomic bombs

Strategies/activities Website on Korea Construct timeline

of 19th and 20th century events in Korea

video tape of the atomic bombs

Multiple Perspectives Web

Mind Portrait/ Alternative Mind Portrait

Steps in

examination process

Steps I followed

with this texc

Activities and Strategies for Examining Multiple

Perspectives

Character Perspective Charting

Mind Portrait/Alternative Mind Portrait

Discussion Web Theme-based Units Voices of American Teens

project Media projects

Features of Character Perspective

Charting (Shanahan & Shanahan, 1997)

Engages students in a form of story mapping

Highlights the interrelatedness of the goals and conflicts of the characters

Demonstrates how different themes are derived from a story’s different perspectives

Used with short stories or chapter of novels

Different perspectives can be charted concurrently or individually

“Pulling Up Stakes” by David LubarFirst Crossing

Character: Adrian Setting: Alaska during the winter

months Conflict: Moved from Transylvania

and some students think he’s a vampire

Goal: To make friends Attempt: Goes inside when the

sun rises at the end of the Alaskan winter

Outcome: Students believe he’s a vampire and are glad to be friends with him

Reaction: He’s glad he was able to do this for them

Theme: People should accept others for who they are, not who they want them to be.

“Pulling Up Stakes”—Contrasting Character

Perspective Charts

Setting: same Problem: think Adrian

is a vampire Goal: find out whether

or not Adrian is a vampire

Attempts: hold a cross in front of him, extra garlic on pizza, put gel in his hair and have him look in a mirror

Outcome: believe he’s a vampire because he leaves at sunrise

Reaction: feel like the luckiest kids at school

Theme: accept people for who they really are

Setting: same Problem: thinks Adrian

is a vampire Goal: find out whether

or not Adrian is a vampire

Attempt: follows Adrian back inside his home, kisses him, then wants him to kiss her on the neck

Outcome: believes Adrian’s a vampire because he leaves at sunrise

Reaction: appears very interested in getting to know Adrian, perhaps as a boyfriend

Theme: accept people for who they really are

Characters

Mack & Jonah

Character

Zinah

Additional Classroom Ideas

“The Highwayman”—highwayman, Bess, Bess’s father, Tim (the ostler), the Redcoats

“Charles”—Laurie, Laurie’s mother, Laurie’s father, Laurie’s teacher

“All Summer in a Day”—Margot, parents, teacher, classmates

“The Circuit”—Panchito, older brother, younger siblings, father & mother, teacher

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie—Steven, brother Jeffrey, mother, father, Renee

Features of Mind Portrait/Alternative Mind Portrait

(McLaughlin & Allen, 2002)

Students visually represent two different characters’ perspectives

Students share the portraits of their character’s perspectives

Through discussion of all the various perspectives, a more complete interpretation of the text is possible

Procedure for Mind Portrait/

Alternative Mind Portrait

Read/listen to the text Mind portrait side: draw outline or

illustration of main character’s head; write phrases or sentences describing the thoughts of the character

Select a person representing a different point of view

Alternative Mind Portrait side: draw outline or illustration of character’s head; write phrases or sentences describing the thoughts of the character

Discuss and share characters and their thoughts

Classroom Applications for Mind Portrait/Alternative Mind Portrait Novels

So Far from the Bamboo Grove

Picture book read-aloud Baseball Saved Us

Short stories “The Emperor’s New Clothes”

Poems

Features of Discussion Web

(Alvermann, 1991) Students must provide both

positive and negative responses to a proposed question

Students must work with group members in order to arrive at the best responses to the question and to reach a conclusion based on their written responses

Involves reading, writing, speaking, listening

Procedure for Discussion Web

Prepare students for the reading of the text with pre-reading activities or brainstorming a list of groups who all have a stake in the issue

Pose a question based on the reading selection; students work individually or with a partner to generate ideas for both columns

Two sets of partners work together to reach a conclusion

Determine which reason best supports their conclusion

Write individual responses based on the original question

Classroom Applications

Culmination of research on Olympics Should professional athletes be

allowed to compete in the Olympics?

Preparation for persuasive essay Should pop be sold in the school

cafeteria? Should students have to wear

uniforms? Narrative text

Should Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones have turned Roger in to the police?

Nonfiction text (news articles) Would our school district benefit

from changing to a four-day school week?

Should middle schools have single-sex classes for the students?

Theme-based Units

List the possible perspectives that encompass the suggested topic (especially those usually absent from instruction); brainstorm with other people, if possible

Compile a text set that corresponds to the various perspectives and also addresses the reading needs of the students (reading levels, preferences) Narrative & expository texts; leveled

readers Primary source material Graphic novels / texts Picture books Magazine articles / reader’s theater Websites Videos/DVD’s

THEME-BASED UNIT

WORLD WAR II Contributions Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War Two (Joseph Bruchac) The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark (Carmen Agra Deedy) Mama Played Baseball (David A. Adler) Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story (Ken Mochizuki) Bombing of Japan Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People and War (Yukio Tsuchiva)

Hiroshima (Laurence Yep) Hiroshima No Pika: The Flash of Hiroshima (Toshi Maruki) Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (Eleanor Coerr)

Japanese Internment Baseball Saved Us (Ken Mochizuki) Farewell to Manzanar (Jean Wakatsuki Houston) A Boy No More (Harry Mazer) Ben Uchida: Citizen 13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp (Barry Denenberg) War in Asia and the Pacific A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor (Harry Mazer) Heroes Don’t Run: A Novel of the Pacific War (Harry Mazer) So Far from the Bamboo Grove (Yoko Kawashima Watkins) When My Name Was Keoko (Linda Sue Park) War in Europe Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank) I Never Saw Another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944 (Hana Volavkova, ed.) Number the Stars (Lois Lowry) The Devil’s Arithmetic (Jane Yolen) The Upstairs Room (Johanna Reiss)

Baseball“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind

of America had better learn baseball.” Jacques Barzun

The Black Sox (1919) Field of Dreams (video) Website of Chicago Historical Society

http://www.chicagohs.org/history/blacksox.html Integration of baseball

“The Noble Experiment” The Jackie Robinson Story (video)

Women in baseball (AAGPBL) A League of Their Own (video) Exploratorium website—”The Girls of Summer”

Science of baseball Exploratorium website

http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball Individual team websites—check DL lists

Comparing timelines of baseball historical dates and American historical dates

Reading box scores from the newspaper

Using RAFT activities

Role Audience

Format Topic

Jackie self diary Should he join the Dodgers?

Rachel parents letter People’s reactions

Branch Rickey

Brooklyn Dodgers staff

memo Decision to integrate

Brooklyn Dodgers manager

Sports writers

Interviews—April 1947 & Sept. 1947

His analysis of Jackie

European American fan

Son Conversation after a game

What is happening to baseball?

African American fan

Son Conversation after a game

Pride & new opportunities for African Americans

Scout from another team

Manager of opposing team

Scouting report

Jackie’s abilities to play baseball and ignore remarks

Voices of American Teens Project

The project was designed to engage seventh grade readers in the study of short stories that would capture their interest with universal adolescent themes (e.g., friendship, family relationships, emerging independence) and would also challenge them to view teenage experiences through a cultural perspective different from their own. Expose students to teens who have backgrounds different from theirs—student population becoming increasingly diverse Utilize high quality adolescent literature Expand the titles offered in the classroom library and the building library

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING MULTICULTURAL LITERATURE (Martinez & Nash, 1998)

Cultural accuracy, cultural details, cultural issues (Stoodt, Amspaugh,

& Hunt, 1996)

Diversity and range of representation, avoidance of stereotyping, language considerations, and the perspective of the book (Huck, Hepler, Hickman, & Kiefer, 1997)

Authentic representation of cultural details, consideration of whether

the author writes from and inside or outside perspective (Temple, Martinez, Yokota, & Naylor, 1998)

Basic criterion—cultural authenticity (Cai, 1995)

EVALUATING MULTICULTURAL LITERAUTRE FOR AUTHENTICITY AND ACCURACY (Taylor, 2000)

THEME—realism of the message, free of stereotypes, emphasizes

central values of the focal group, demonstrates real-world relevance and connection

CHARACTERS AND THEIR EXPERIENCES—physical appearance,

attitudes, language, behaviors, values and beliefs, role in life (e.g., job, socioeconomic level, place in society), family behaviors and interactions

ARTISTRY AND AUTHORSHIP—artistry is consistent and relevant to

the time period, artistry is free from bias or stereotypes, author is a member of the focal group or has been acculturated into the focal group about which he or she is writing

Voices of American Teens

What is diversity?

How are people’s lives affected when different cultures live together?

Read/listen to a minimum of 2 short stories representing a teen from a different culture—work independently or with a partner

Complete a summary sheet for each story

Select favorite character

Complete a project for the character

Essential Questions

Student Activities

Project on American Teen character

Choose the character you liked best from the stories you read. Choose one of the types of projects listed below and complete it for your character. Your project must be completed by ___________________________, and it must include the following information (use this as your checklist). ________ Title and author ________ Name of the character ________ Your name(s) and class period ________ Summary of the story ______ Main conflict of the character (struggle) ______ Theme (author’s message) ________ Things you learned about the character’s culture ______ Language ______ Clothing ______ Families ______ Native country ______ Holidays ______ Food/eating ______ Religion ______ Education ________ Compare yourself/yourselves to the character (similarities) Circle your type of project: PowerPoint Interview with character Poster

Preparation for the project

Presented and discussed the project sheet

Modeled the process Read and listened to “The Circuit” Took notes on summary sheet for the

story Presented examples of a PowerPoint,

poster, and interview Allowed students to make decisions

regarding which stories to read and whether or not to work with a partner Provided lists and summaries of stories

in anthologies Enter their selections on their

project sheets

Example of Story Summaries

FIRST CROSSING: STORIES ABOUT TEEN IMMIGRANTS “First Crossing” by Pam Munoz Ryan Marco’s father has crossed the border into the United States illegally several times to make money to support his family in Mexico. Now it is Marco’s turn to make the dangerous journey. “Second Culture Kids” by Dian Curtis Regan After political violence disrupts Amina’s life in Venezuela, will she be able to find happiness in Houston, Texas? “My Favorite Chaperone” by Jean Davies Okimoto Adjusting to a new culture is never easy, but Maya’s biggest problem may be dealing with her Russian parents. Discover how Maya helps her brother out of trouble by being a little creative in the way she translates into Russian for her father, and find out how her brother returns the favor. “They Don’t Mean It!” by Lensey Namioka Mary Yang’s family is adjusting very well to American life, but Mary’s friend Kim doesn’t quite understand some of the Chinese customs. “Pulling Up Stakes” by David Lubar Americans are sometimes bewildered by the customs of immigrants, but Adrian’s friends are totally confused by his behavior. After all, he had moved to Alaska from the part of Romania called Transylvania!!

Student Responses--Project

“It was cool and exciting learning about other cultures, especially the culture in ‘Fox Hunt.’ In that story, the culture was Chinese.” “I really enjoyed talking and reading and doing projects on other cultures and other families and their languages and food and ways of doing things.” “First of all, during this unit, I really liked being able to hear about other cultures and being able to know how kids my age are the same as me, but most of all I liked to see and hear about the situations kids have to face every day.” “I thought the idea about reading about another culture was good. When I read ‘They Don’t Mean It!’ it was good for me to learn about the Chinese.”

Student Responses--Stories

“The best book that we read in class was ‘Pulling Up Stakes.’ I thought it was funny and sad all at the same time.” “I liked ‘The Swede’ because the people who were picking on him got busted for destroying his car. Just because he is from a different country doesn’t mean he is different from everyone else. He doesn’t deserve to be picked on.” “I really enjoyed the story ‘Pulling Up Stakes.’ Their school was much like ours. Many people think and believe rumors that aren’t true. I can relate to Adrian a lot. Not because I’m from another country but because I’m singled out and my name is one that could belong to the opposite gender.”

Media Activities

Magazine advertisement analysis

Advertisement webs Questioning the Author

Questions for Critically Reading

Media Who is in the text / picture /

situation? Who is missing? Whose voices are

represented? Whose voices are marginalized or discounted?

What are the intentions of the author? What does the author want the reader to think?

What would an alternative text / picture / situation say?

How can the reader use this information to promote equity?

McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004

Questions for Critically Reading

Media What are you thinking about or

feeling while you are reading? How are these thoughts and feelings influenced by your background, your experiences, and other texts you have read?

What is the text asking you to think or feel? Do you agree with the point of view offered by the text? Why or why not?

What events or points of view might have been left out of the text?

What view of men / women does this particular text promote? How is this different from the views constructed in other texts? Why?

Do you agree / disagree with the images presented? Why or why not?

Kempe (2001)

Magazine Advertisement

Analysis Collected magazines for analysis

& placed 3 issues in large envelopes (Seventeen, Game Pro, Road and Track, People)

Students selected which magazine they wanted to analyze and recorded data related to the number of pages containing ads, types of products advertised, and types of people featured in the ads

Completed statements using data Classroom discussion to highlight

ad placement in magazines (audience), prevalence of advertising, absence of certain populations in advertising

Advertisement Web

Goal QueryInitiate discussion

What has the author done to capture the reader’s attention? How does the author hold the reader’s attention?

Focus on author’s message

What message does the author convey in the images? What message does the author convey in the words? Why did the author choose to use pictures and no words? What does the author want the reader to think/feel about this product? What message is conveyed by the author’s choice of music?

QUESTIONING THE AUTHOR (adapted from Beck & McKeown)

When working with various types of media, there may be additional questions which readers should consider as they make meaning from the texts. Many of these questions have been modified from Five Key Questions That Can Change the World (2005) available from the Center for Media Literacy (http://www.medialit.org).

Goal QueryLink information to values and points of view

According to the author, what lifestyle is valued in our society? According to the author, what values guide our society? What does the author communicate about politics, economics, race, gender, age, etc.? What ideas or points of view may have been left out? How does the author establish a relationship with the reader?

Identify difficulties with the way the author has presented information or ideas

What information has the author accurately presented in the words or pictures? What words or picture elements have been exaggerated by the author? What information has been left out by the author? What stereotypes (gender, age, race, etc.) have been portrayed by the author?

Use of technology How did the author make use of technology in constructing the text? How did the author customize the text to the technology (for example, print magazine / e-magazine)? How has the author made use of different media for his/her message?

Changes in the way teachers read texts

Changes in the way teachers present comprehension instruction

Changes in the way students understand texts