Anti-Bias Activity

I'm Special Book

    The activity that I chose to is an I'm Special Book.  I found this activity in the textbook Roots & Wings, by Stacey York.  This activity is a great way for teachers to implement at the beginning of the year because the books can be in the classroom all year long.  Staff members, families and students can have the opportunity to look at them and really get a chance to get to know one another.  If or when a new student enters the preschool, the teachers can have them do a book too, so that they do not feel left out.  I feel that this activity is a great way for children to share things about themselves and would make them feel good.  It will also help children to see differences and similarities between each other and realize that each of them is unique and special.
    The I'm Special Book is age appropriate for young children that are between the ages of 3 and 8.  Young children between these ages are very into themselves.  "During these early years children are forming ideas about themselves and their world" (York, p. 28).  This is a perfect teaching opportunity for teachers to let the children examine themselves and others.  Young children should be aware of each other's differences and start learning to accept them and learn tolerance too.

     The I'm Special Book connects to several of the multicultural concepts that children can understand.  For instance, young children will see that everyone is worthy, lovable, equal, and important.  Since all children can participate in the activity, every child will get a chance to see themselves and others in the books.  The children will gain respect for one another and see that everyone deserves respect no matter what they look like.
    Children will be able to see the differences and similarities in each other and learn to accept one another as individuals.  The children will realize that there is diversity in their community and that there are many types of families and that people live differently too.  For example, one child may live in a farm with extended family, and another child may be an only child and live with only their parents.  The book will help children learn from one another.
    This activity meets anti-bias goals by teaching the children to recognize, appreciate, and respect the uniqueness of everyone.  It fosters positive self-esteem and positive self-concepts in each child.  It provides children with a positive experience to explore differences and similarities.
    The I'm Special Book, may be used in different themes throughout the year, such as "I'm Me and I'm Special, Friends, Books, Alike and Different" (York, p. 204).  The activity can be introduced with a book called, All The Colors We Are.  This is a great book that talks about the differences in people.


I also found a second book that is relevant to the activity too.  This book is called, The Roots of My Family Tree, by Niki Alling.  This book will help the children see that they all come from a variety of families that are very diverse.  The children will become more interested in where they come from and who is in their family tree.
 

Explain to the children that they will be filling in their own books with pictures that they draw or can bring some from home.  They can include their family members, toys, pets, languages they speak, nicknames, birth day, and age.  Of course the teachers will be writing in the books for them as they fill them in with pictures.  They will want to include hair and eye color, skin color, and other physical characteristics, such as weight and height too.  When the books are all finished, place them in a special place in the classroom so that the children can look at them whenever they want.  This place could be a classroom library or a corner where the books will be safe and accessible to the children.      In order to do the activity, the teacher(s) will have to put the books together beforehand.  They will need construction paper (12X18 inches), yarn, hole punch, camera, marker, and glue.  Fold the paper in half (3 sheets per child).  Punch a hole or two into the paper, about 1/2 an inch from fold and then thread yarn through the hole(s).  Make sure to tie the yarn to secure it.  Use the camera to get a picture of each child (this may be done beforehand too), and have child glue it to the front of his/her own book.      An extension of this activity would be to allow children to share their book with their classmates.  They can stand in front of them and show everyone their own book and talk about it.  The staff members could also make their own books to share with the class.  A variation of the activity would be to make one book for the entire class.  Each child would have 1-2 pages of the book to fill in.  This too, could be put somewhere in the classroom for everyone to look at.      In teaching young children, it is a teacher's role, with the help of their family members, to help them grow into well-rounded individuals.  We (teachers) want children to be able to accept themselves and have a positive self concept, all while learning about others and accepting them for who they are.  By creating a classroom that reflects all children and cultures, and by implementing a culturally diverse curriculum, teachers will help children have a positive, and accepting upbringing.  After all, "what children do not see in the classroom teaches children as much as what they do see" (Derman-Sparks, p. 47).

   

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Book Analysis

Title of Book: A Day's Work
Author: Eve Bunting
Illustrated by: Ronald Himler
Original Date Published: 1994

    This book is about a young Mexican American boy named, Fransisco.  His grandfather came to live with him and his mother in California after his father passed away.   Fransisco tries to help his grandfather find work.  Since his grandfather does not speak English, Fransisco translates for him.  Fransisco talks to a man named Ben, about hiring his grandfather to do a gardening job for a day.  He tells Ben that his grandfather is a good gardener, even though he really has no idea about gardening.  Fransisco does this, though, because they need the money to put food on the table at home.  Ben drops them off at the site for the job and returns later in during the day.  He finds out that Fransisco lied about his grandfather's knowledge in gardening.  Fransisco learns an important lesson from his grandfather that day and in the process gains a greater respect for his grandfather (Bunting, 1994).

• The characters of this book are depicted as individuals.  Fransisco does not look exactly like his grandfather.  The boy is wearing jeans, white shirt, button up shirt, tennis shoes, and a Laker's cap.  Whereas the grandfather is wearing sandals, brown pants, and a button up shirt.  He borrows a straw hat from Ben (the gardener).  However, when Fransisco and his grandfather are waiting for people to drive by with job offers, there are other men doing the same thing.   They too, appear to be Mexican American and all of them look really similar to each other.   They all have dark hair and dark mustaches.  The two on the left are wearing almost identical clothing.  The two on the right are too, just different colored jackets. The image below is found on page 4 of the book.   According to the document, Evaluating Children's Literature, number 4, talks about how if the characters are the same ethnic group, they should be depicted as individuals and not look like on another ("Evaluating Children's Literature," n.d. para.4).

•  The characters representation does include some cultural information.  The boy translates for his grandfather, so that his grandfather can find work.  The grandfather also lives with the boy and his mother.  In Mexican American cultures, it is not unheard of to have extended family members living with you ("Mexican American Culture," 2010). 
• The gardener, Ben, has power in the story.  He has power in the sense that he has a job offer for people.  He is looking for someone to help him with a gardening job that day.  He uses his power to provide an opportunity for Fransisco's grandfather to earn money.  Even though Ben appeared to have the power, he uses it in a good way.

                 This is a picture of the grandfather, Ben, and Fransisco (Bunting, 1994. p. 25).  This image shows Ben upset at them for pulling up the flowers and leaving only weeds.  They were supposed to do the opposite, but since they did not know anything about gardening, this is the result.

• Ben has wisdom in the story.  His wisdom is his knowledge of gardening, but also his knowledge in recognizing one's mistakes and not holding them against them.  He knew that that Fransisco lied about his grandfather' s knowledge of gardening.  He also saw that the grandfather did not know what his grandson had done.  Ben also saw a good man in the grandfather when he refused to be paid the money until he and Fransisco fixed the mistake. The grandfather also possessed wisdom.  The nature of his wisdom was his values and morals.  He taught his grandson the importance of telling the truth and accepting the consequences of his actions (Bunting, 1994. p. 24, 26, 30).
• The consequence of Fransisco's lie, caused the grandfather to look incompetent at first, until Ben realized that the grandfather did not know anything about gardening. The behavior that was rewarded was Fransisco admitting that he was wrong in lying to Ben.  Also, the grandfather offered to fix the mistake the next day.  These behaviors were rewarded by Ben accepting the apologies and offering to still pay them half of the money that day and the other half the following day when it was fixed.  However, the grandfather refused this offer and only wanted to be paid in full after the job was done right.  This reaction proved to Ben that he was reliable and honest.  Ben even offered the grandfather a regular job with him and he would teach him about gardening.
• Language is used to create the image of the Mexican American boy, Fransisco and his grandfather.  The book is written in English, but the author does use some Spanish words when the boy and his grandfather communicate. For instance, on page 12, Fransisco sees a woman driving by and raises his hat and says, "Senora," to be polite (Bunting, 1994. p.12).  This helps people imagine the boy as a nice, polite young man.  There are a few other Spanish words used that help people feel more close to the characters and their ethnic background.  
• The artistic elements that help create theses images are the boy in his hat, and a smile on his face.  When he and his grandfather communicate with one another in Spanish, they are illustrated with different facial features that help you feel what is going on between the two.   
• The voices heard throughout the story are those of Fransisco, his grandfather and Ben, the gardener.  Even though, we do not hear the grandfather very much, his message to Fransisco and Ben were very important.
• The narrative and the pictures tell me that the Mexican American people are very hard working people.  They want to work to provide for their families.  They are honest and trustworthy.  The grandfather demonstrates values and morals that are important to him and that he wants to pass onto his grandson.  They appear to be in the lower class of society because it is mentioned that the grandfather needs to find work to help his family with food (Bunting, 1994. p.10).
• The illustrations may create or perpetuate a stereotype, as mentioned previously, the men waiting for work are standing around a trash can waiting for work.  The men look very similar and at one point it shows a man trying to take the gardening job from Fransisco and his grandfather, on page 11.  This image can make others think that Mexican Americans try to take jobs from others, selfish.  
• The storyline presents a problem with the boy and his mother needing the grandfather to work to help with money.  Another problem is that the grandfather just moved to California and does not speak English.  The problems are resolved with Fransisco's help.  He goes with his grandfather to help him find a job.  He communicates between his grandfather and Ben.  Another problem that occurred was when Fransisco lied to get his grandfather the gardening job.  This was resolved by the grandfather, though.  He offered to correct what they had done wrong and refused to be paid until the job was done.
• The author, Eve Bunting, is originally from Ireland and moved to the U.S. with her family and resides in California (she is Caucasian).  She has written many books, ranging from preschool age, middle school and so on.  "She never shies away from addressing difficult issues, including racial prejudice, death, troubled families, and war; at the same time, her work is infused with hope and beauty,"("scholastic," n.d., para. 2). 
• The illustrator is Ronald Himler.  He too, is Caucasian.  "He is well-known for his ability to express complex emotional messages through his painting"("ohiana-author," n.d., para. 1).  He traveled though Europe and did a lot of research at major art museums and has won many awards for his illustrations in children's books ("zolabooks," n.d.).
• I would recommend this book to people.  I believe that it has a great storyline and the images are amazing.  It sends a good message and teaches an important lesson about lying.  It also shows that people have to work hard to earn a living and I believe that children should know this. 

Reference List

1. Bunting, Eve. (1994). A Day's Work. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
2. Evaluating Children's Literature. n.d. retrieved from HD 25 notes.
3. Mexican American Culture. (2010). retrieved on March 20, 2013, from www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/mexico/mexican-american/1140
4. ohiana-author.org/himler/
5. scholastic.com/teachers/contributor/eve-bunting
6. zolabooks.com/profile/bio/Ronald-Himler