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From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 09:18:21 -0600
I want to go back to Deborah Hopkinson's comments earlier this month:
"I guess the interesting issues for me are how long this has taken, how challenging it is still to get these stories into children's hands (boys and girls), and how little, it seems, has changed in the way history is covered in textbooks and taught in average classrooms."
I'm not a teacher or the parent of a school-aged child, so I can't speak to how well women's experiences and perspectives have been integrated into the textbooks and the curriculum in general. But I suspect that it really comes down to the knowledge and commitment of individual teachers who seek out materials beyond what textbbooks have to offer. It's one of the many reasons trade books can be such an asset in the classroom.
The experiences of wome, or of people of color, are not an addendum to what happened to shape any nation or culture. I think in our work with children we have the opportunity to reintegrate those experiences and stories into the broader understanding of what "history" really is. The challenge is in finding the materials to make that integration possible.
And I can't imagine a day when we won't need excellent trade books that focus on various perspectives and experience to provide a view of the past that is multidimensional.
When I was a child I was given a biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, written for children by Mary Ann B. Oakley and published by the Feminist Press (1972). I had no idea then how rare such a book was. Today, we have many wonderful books to draw upon, but I still feel as if every one is rare, and also vital to broadening children's understanding of the past.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
ph: 608&2?03 fax: 608&2I33 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Wed 17 Nov 2004 09:18:21 AM CST
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 09:18:21 -0600
I want to go back to Deborah Hopkinson's comments earlier this month:
"I guess the interesting issues for me are how long this has taken, how challenging it is still to get these stories into children's hands (boys and girls), and how little, it seems, has changed in the way history is covered in textbooks and taught in average classrooms."
I'm not a teacher or the parent of a school-aged child, so I can't speak to how well women's experiences and perspectives have been integrated into the textbooks and the curriculum in general. But I suspect that it really comes down to the knowledge and commitment of individual teachers who seek out materials beyond what textbbooks have to offer. It's one of the many reasons trade books can be such an asset in the classroom.
The experiences of wome, or of people of color, are not an addendum to what happened to shape any nation or culture. I think in our work with children we have the opportunity to reintegrate those experiences and stories into the broader understanding of what "history" really is. The challenge is in finding the materials to make that integration possible.
And I can't imagine a day when we won't need excellent trade books that focus on various perspectives and experience to provide a view of the past that is multidimensional.
When I was a child I was given a biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, written for children by Mary Ann B. Oakley and published by the Feminist Press (1972). I had no idea then how rare such a book was. Today, we have many wonderful books to draw upon, but I still feel as if every one is rare, and also vital to broadening children's understanding of the past.
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
ph: 608&2?03 fax: 608&2I33 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu 608&2?03 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Wed 17 Nov 2004 09:18:21 AM CST
