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Middle Passage
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From: Shelby Wolf <wolfs>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 18:16:10 -0600 (MDT)
Dear CCBC, I agree with Dean that The Middle Passage is a work that must be taught in context. Just handing it over to a group of little kids would never be my intention. I think a work so powerful must be delivered in an equally powerful way. Luke's shock (and my own) stemmed from the fact that the second grade teacher he observed WAS teaching her children about this passage, but made the voyage seem like a relatively simple ride. In contrast and in the context of units on African American heroism, my two colleagues-?rcy Ballentine (2nd grade teacher) and Lisa Hill (4th grade teacher) have shared Feelings' text in depth in their classrooms, and thus drawn children into more complex understandings of yet other texts about the African American experience.
I would like to say that at the core of this discussion there are at least two relevant issues. The first is the portrayal of the African American experience. It would be wonderful to think that we have moved past the days when a teacher's first reflex would be to use The Slave Dancer rather than explore Feelings' text (see, for example Joel Taxel's writings about the former). The second is the issue of children and what we should or should not show them. Consider Perry Nodelman's stance on this topic:
The more we believe that children are limited in various ways, the more we deprive them of experiences that might make them less limited. If we believe that children have short attention spans, we won't expose them to long books; if we believe they cannot understand complicated language, we will give them only books with limited vocabularies; if we believe they are susceptible, we will keep them away from interesting books that may contain potentially dangerous ideas or attitudes; and if we believe they like only certain kinds of books, we will not give them access to other kinds. Deprived of the experience of anything more than the little we believe them capable of, children often do learn to be inflexible, intolerant of the complex and the unconventional (Nodelman, The Pleasures of Children's Literature, 1992, pp. 356).
To compare Tom Feelings' work on The Middle Passage to Steven King (as one response to my earlier email did) is, to say the least, a shocking statement. While I don't wish to slight Mr. King--he deals with easy horror. Mr. Feelings' work could never be put in that category. The horror he speaks of is not a bit easy, and has much to say about who we are as a nation. While the Middle Passage is over, we all live in its painful wake. And children, even young children, can, with the help of an accomplished teacher, come to understand this history.
Shelby
Shelby A. Wolf Home: University of Colorado at Boulder 5579 Mesa Top Court School of Education Boulder, CO 80301 124 Education Building Campus Box 249 (303) 581?46 Boulder, CO 8030949 (303) 581w88 (FAX)
(303) 492?60 wolfs at spot.Colorado.edu
Received on Tue 22 Jun 1999 07:16:10 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 18:16:10 -0600 (MDT)
Dear CCBC, I agree with Dean that The Middle Passage is a work that must be taught in context. Just handing it over to a group of little kids would never be my intention. I think a work so powerful must be delivered in an equally powerful way. Luke's shock (and my own) stemmed from the fact that the second grade teacher he observed WAS teaching her children about this passage, but made the voyage seem like a relatively simple ride. In contrast and in the context of units on African American heroism, my two colleagues-?rcy Ballentine (2nd grade teacher) and Lisa Hill (4th grade teacher) have shared Feelings' text in depth in their classrooms, and thus drawn children into more complex understandings of yet other texts about the African American experience.
I would like to say that at the core of this discussion there are at least two relevant issues. The first is the portrayal of the African American experience. It would be wonderful to think that we have moved past the days when a teacher's first reflex would be to use The Slave Dancer rather than explore Feelings' text (see, for example Joel Taxel's writings about the former). The second is the issue of children and what we should or should not show them. Consider Perry Nodelman's stance on this topic:
The more we believe that children are limited in various ways, the more we deprive them of experiences that might make them less limited. If we believe that children have short attention spans, we won't expose them to long books; if we believe they cannot understand complicated language, we will give them only books with limited vocabularies; if we believe they are susceptible, we will keep them away from interesting books that may contain potentially dangerous ideas or attitudes; and if we believe they like only certain kinds of books, we will not give them access to other kinds. Deprived of the experience of anything more than the little we believe them capable of, children often do learn to be inflexible, intolerant of the complex and the unconventional (Nodelman, The Pleasures of Children's Literature, 1992, pp. 356).
To compare Tom Feelings' work on The Middle Passage to Steven King (as one response to my earlier email did) is, to say the least, a shocking statement. While I don't wish to slight Mr. King--he deals with easy horror. Mr. Feelings' work could never be put in that category. The horror he speaks of is not a bit easy, and has much to say about who we are as a nation. While the Middle Passage is over, we all live in its painful wake. And children, even young children, can, with the help of an accomplished teacher, come to understand this history.
Shelby
Shelby A. Wolf Home: University of Colorado at Boulder 5579 Mesa Top Court School of Education Boulder, CO 80301 124 Education Building Campus Box 249 (303) 581?46 Boulder, CO 8030949 (303) 581w88 (FAX)
(303) 492?60 wolfs at spot.Colorado.edu
Received on Tue 22 Jun 1999 07:16:10 PM CDT
