For this week’s reading selection, I enjoyed reading The House on Mango Street because it was SO different from other things I have read. First of all, the novel was composed of vignettes that allowed the reader to briefly look into a character, place or setting. I will admit that I have not read many books which featured Hispanic cultures and characters. In fact, I honestly don’t know many Hispanics because the majority of people from my hometown are Pennsylvania Dutch. Where I am from, predominately Caucasian neighborhoods go to Middletown and predominately Hispanic or African-American neighborhoods go to Steelton-Highspire. However, this reading assignment has inspired me to find more books for me to read and understand different cultures better.
When I read the article about multiculturalism, I agreed with Hade when he said that he held a “tourist” view of multiculturalism (236). I have dabbed a little here and there with reading books with multicultural themes. I read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, The Sign of the Beaver and To Kill a Mockingbird in school. Last semester, I even took Teaching English Language Learners class with Dr. Slattery and I kept my 50 Strategies for English Language Learners textbook with many suggestions and ideas about including multiculturalism in your classroom (Cultural Reports, Role-Playing, Visual aids, Word Walls, etc). However, I feel like there is still so much for me to learn about using multiculturalism in the classroom.
So, what can a teacher do to include multiculturalism into the classroom? Hade writes about three different themes from multicultural literature that teachers should use in their classrooms. One of the themes I can clearly see in The House on Mango Street is “to affirm and celebrate differences while also seeking to cooperate and collaborate across different types of people” (240). The opening vignette “The House on Mango Street” was something I have not personally experience. When I was little (and I still do), I dreamed about restoring an old Victorian house with a wraparound porch. I would have NEVER image the idea of living in a house with one bedroom and the entire family living in it. An activity for a I could easily see working in a middle school classroom is having the students draw a picture or describe their home and read “The House on Mango Street” vignette. Next, I would have them use a Venn diagram to use words and phrases to describe their homes versus Esperanza’s home. This would allow students to analyze differences and similarities about their own homes and how Esperanza’s home is.
Here is a website that I found that has a lot of good ideas for teaching multicultural literature.
I really liked your idea for the activity with House on Mango Street. This would definitely be effective with students and comparing their lives with the narrator. Which would further illuminate the struggles present within the novel. I also agree with Hade we must celebrate all culture while seeking to work with different types of people.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there is so much to learn about multiculturalism and how we as teachers can incorporate it into our classroom. Your idea about using a venn diagram is a great way for students to see the similarities and differences.
ReplyDeleteI think that activity with comparing and contrasting their house (or dream house) with Esperenza's is a fantastic idea! It can really put them in the perspective of how different, or similar, their lives are.
ReplyDeleteI like how you enjoyed House on Mango because it was not like your typical readings. I really liked your idea of the drawing of their homes and making a list (diagram) of the differences and similarities of Esperanzas house and their house to understand how different students live. Great idea to give the students a better perspectives!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it's good to have kids to become more familiar with multiculturalism in our schools now, because it's coming on quickly as to how many incoming cultures we're going to have in our schools soon. Right now we think of it just being in urban school districts, but since research suggests that less than a hundred years from now the Latino population will be relative to the number of caucasion people in the United States. So, we should most definitely be breaking these stereotype/cultural barriers now and start knowing our neighbors; it's going to be acculturation to a high degree!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you enjoyed the vignettes, because I remember how I felt when I read it for the first time too. I also grew up in a "Caucasian" area and hadn't read much about Hispanic culture so it was hard to relate to some of the text, but it inspired me to read more into it. I love the activities you chose to help students relate to the text in a more personal way.
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