From: Barbara Tobin <barbtobin>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 14:22:11 -0400

For teachers who are sensitive to and nurture the special talents of
'different' students who feel alienated or stifled, I love Taro Yashima's Crow Boy and Tomie dePaola's autobiographical The Art Lesson. In the latter, young Tommy is crushed by the stifling restrictions of his direct-instruction, controlling teacher, until a caring art teacher gives him freedom of expression. The rest is history :-)

Crow Boy was first drawn to my attention when recommended by Yetta Goodman as a good example of a 'whole language' teacher. Young Chibi
('tiny boy') is misunderstood, overlooked, and ostracized all through his schooling until the sixth grade, when the new teacher, Mr. Isobe, takes the time to notice and get to know Chibi-- and is amazed to learn of his special talents. The teacher gives Chibi the chance to demonstrate his knowledge/gifts to the other students and parents in a poignant performance at the school's end-of-year talent show.

"Every one of us cried, thinking how much we had been wrong to Chibi all those long years."

I like this gentle, thoughtful story, although a tad sentimental and old fasioned (1955), for its contrast to the burgeoning number of more contemporary picture books that use humor to ridicule teachers who suppress the creativity and break the spirit of students who are
'different'.

Not that I don't enjoy a smirk at an overblown stereotype if it is well done. How about Anastasia's atrocious poetry teacher? ? That made me cringe-- it was too close to the bone.

Barbara

Barbara Tobin (barbtobin at some.place)
Received on Tue 21 Sep 2004 01:22:11 PM CDT