Learning Curation 6 – Module 10
Any time diversity in Education is brought up, I am always a little weary to see what is going to be covered. ‘Diversity’ can hold different meanings based upon personal experience. Growing up, I always thought of myself as the definition of diversity. I had a Chinese Mother and a Caucasian father and lived in an affluently Caucasian community. As I grew up, I started to question my identity a lot and felt like I needed to pick a side when it came to my culture and heritage, especially throughout my K-12 education. Whenever we did cultural projects, I was always pushed to identify with my Chinese culture, as l I was usually one of the very few students of Asian decent in my class. A lot of the time I felt that my mixed-cultural background was never accepted or celebrated. As an educator, I never want my students to feel like this is any way. To direct this back to my essential questions, I feel like it is important for me to share my story and experiences and make sure that we are not making the same mistakes.
In this Module we learned about the 4 Principles of Student-Centered Learning. If more teachers used these 4 principles of learning, then there would truly be a more student-centered approach to education that would not cause students to feel as if they are to categorize themselves all the time. It is best if we celebrate the diversity among our learners and encourage them to pursue their interests and passions.
To relate this back to my personal experience, if I had been given the option to create a project that celebrated who I was, rather than pick one side of my culture just to have a little ‘diversity’ in the classroom, I would have felt like I was being acknowledged as an individual and not a representation of a minority. If I look at the 4 principles of Student-Centered Learning, I was not given anything in the 4 areas of: Space, Voice, Place & Choice. Some of the most important things that I would have liked to have seen based on these 4 Areas would be:
- Space – Emotionally safe & Creative – I honestly never felt that my teachers understood where I was coming from. Many of my teachers were Caucasian throughout Elementary school, and it was only once I hit middle school that there was a little more diversity among the staff.
- Voice – That reflects who they really are – I was constantly being told to ‘pick one culture’ when it came to ‘celebrating my background’ but that was not who I was. I identified with both sides of my family. That would be like telling me to choose whether I feel more like my mother or my father.
- Place – That honors their history – My history included a story that brought two cultures together. That is something that I always wanted to share, but never got the chance.
- Choice – In content & priority – Again, by picking my Chinese side, I felt like I was checking off a diversity box in my classroom. I never got to share about the other part of me.
While researching on the topic of diversity, I came across this video which really spoke to me.
Hayley Yeates: It’s (past) time to appreciate cultural diversity
Yeates describes herself as a ‘Fasian’ or a ‘Fake Asian’ because she has the appearance of an Asian person, however, she grew up in Australia. I could relate in another sense, in which as I got older and met more Asian people, they did not see me as Asian because I was a ‘Halfie’, and my Caucasian friends always seemed to associate me with my Asian heritage and that is why I was good at Math. It does not feel good to be classified into different stereotypes. If we fast-forward to the present day, we are going backwards. My mom, who has lived in this country her entire life is being racially profiled more than ever as many people are blaming our current world state on Chinese people. Hopefully one day we can live in a world where stereotypes cease to exist, and this begins with providing our students with all the opportunities that we can to open their eyes to these issues.
What can we do as Educators and Teacher Librarians? Give students a voice. As mentioned earlier, we need to give students more opportunity for student centered learning and give them choice when it comes to projects such as ‘study your heritage.’ It is important that we celebrate each student as individuals and value who they are. In another TL course that I took earlier, I was presented with the following infographics about Diversity in Children’s books. There are two visual graphics, one from 2015 and one from 2018. It gives an amazing visual about who is being represented in children’s literature.
What I find a little amusing about the difference between these graphics is that the representation through animals’ doubles, yet visual representation of minorities does not change that much. I can understand that using animals will hit all demographics, however I would be curious to see what would happen if you did the same sort of diversity graphic on the animals themselves and their country of origin. Would they all still be more ‘Westernized’ animals such as bears, dogs, rabbits, etc. or would they represent a larger demographic using Pandas, Giraffes, Lions, etc.
My other curiosity about this graphic is the representation of mixed or blended races. When I did my last Diploma in 2012 on Early Childhood Education, I can remember trying to find mixed raced children and people represented in books and it was hard for me to find them in our school library. I ended up writing my own book titled, “Feeling only Half” which expressed a lot of emotions from my experience growing up as a mixed-race child in the 80’s and 90’s. I was often told that my Dad was not my Dad, or that I was not Chinese or that I was not White, which often gave me a lot of unsure feelings about my identity. I tried to find this book to show some of what I wrote but I cannot for the life of me remember where I placed it. I was able to find a few lists of books for kids that represented and talked about mixed races families. I would have loved to have a few of these books growing up to know that there were other kids that had similar families to mine and celebrated being part of two cultures.
Over 35 years later I am seeing much more diversity in the same neighbourhood that I grew up in and mixed families are extremely common. Therefore, I think I am extremely aware as an educator that “… it is essential to educate my students, so they do not see diversity as a problem, but rather as a strength of our country and community (Ishuzuka 2018).” We all come from different places and that is amazing and something that should be celebrated. I would love to see our libraries and virtual libraries shelve diverse collections “…where young readers can directly encounter the mirrors and windows in which they see themselves in books and others who are not like them (Ishizuka 2018).” I know that from personal experience, it would have been extremely comforting to see myself in books.
Lastly, I also feel that therefore it is so important to develop a PLN as a Teacher-Librarian. Once you are done these courses, now what? How do you stay current with best practice, be innovative and talk out issues that you are having in your own LLC space? Where can you ask others about book recommendations that you are seeking such as the best books with mixed race children. It is also the best way to create a community with like-minded people who can grow and learn together. As we have learned throughout the TL program, it is always best to collaborate and lead by example by being lifelong learners.
Works Cited:
Colours of Us. (2019, July 12). 70 Picture Books about Mixed Race Families. Retrieved from https://coloursofus.com/picture-books-about-mixed-race-families/
Dahlen, S. P. (2020, September 01). Picture This: Diversity in Children’s Books 2018 Infographic. Retrieved from https://readingspark.wordpress.com/2019/06/19/picture-this-diversity-in-childrens-books-2018-infographic/
Ishizuka, K. (2018, October 21). Can Diverse Books Save Us? In a divided world, librarians are on a mission. Retrieved from https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=can-diverse-books-save-us
SLJ Staff. (2019, June). An Updated Look at Diversity in Children. Retrieved from https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=an-updated-look-at-diversity-in-childrens-books
Teach thought. (2014, August 17). 4 principles of student-centered learning. Retrieved from http://www.teachthought.com/learning/4-principles-student-centered-learning/
Yeates, H. (2017, December). It’s (past) time to appreciate cultural diversity. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/hayley_yeates_it_s_past_time_to_appreciate_cultural_diversity