Field Findings

So as many of us in this class are I have been doing field work in some of my other TE classes. I think this is a great opportunity to be observant in the classroom about what literature is used in the classroom and how it is used. I was pleasently surprised to find that there was a good amount of multi cultural texts in the class and school library. While working with 1st graders during silent reading alot of the students ask the TE students to read them their books since they can not read it own their own. Today one of my student ask me to read him a book called "My name used to be Hussein". This is a book about a muslim family who is forced to take american names. I was glad to see that he had access to this kind of literature and took interest in it. Also I noticed a poster outside the door that said that from september 17 to october 18 is mexican heritage month. So in the classroom their were many picture books written in spanish and many books about latino families. In such a diverse community like Lansing I think it is important to have books that reflect the culture of each student in the classroom. I was pleasently surprised and impressed.

Insider/Outsider Debate

As far as the insider/ outsider debate goes I fall in the middle with where I stand. I always think that it is good to be an insider in writing on the topics that concern you. Insiders most of the time have a more intimate knowledge of the topic they are writting on. They are able to show in addition to tell what it is like in that certain culture. When an insdier writes about his or her own culture the reader can get a better sinceof what is is like to be apart of that culture according to that insiders experience. But this can also work in a number of ways.

One way in which there might be a problem with the insider writting about the own culture is if they were not brought up in that culture. A person with Native American hertiage but who was raise around whites would be no better of a resource than someone without that heritage. In that same repect someone who is not apart of that culture biologically but has been immersed in it or has done a substantial amount of research on that culture should be able to produce some worth while reading.

The question that I would ask about this subject would be the issues that I have brought up here. Most would assume that writers should be insiders to the subject that they are writting about but is it all that nessecary if they have done the research?

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