Blog 6- Stories That Bind Us

        “The Story That Binds Us” by Bruce Feiler is an article that I believe should be read by all educators and families. It emphasizes and proves the importance of developing a strong, open, and unified multigenerational family unit through a vital study. It encourages families to develop and share “family narratives”, which can incorporate a family’s history, struggles, triumphs, and etc. More importantly, the study found that students who have a strong and solid “intergenerational self” do better in school and have higher self confidence. Additionally, this “intergenerational self” assists students with overcoming challenges and decreasing the effects of stress. Furthermore, Feiler (2013) states, “Mr. Collins recommended that families create a mission statement similar to the ones companies and other organizations use to identify their core values” (p. 2).

        Nevertheless, I believe it is imperative for all educators to be aware of and reflect upon the findings in this article. In my own second grade classroom, I plan to incorporate the findings in the article into various projects throughout the school year. First, I plan to send out monthly family newsletters, which will feature various ways parents can share their family history and develop their own unique “family narrative” with their children. Furthermore, I would discuss with my students who the members of an extended family are through a read aloud. Subsequently, vocabulary words such as determination, struggles, and etc. would be taught through a variety of activities. Then, I would have my students collect pictures of their family and extended family members with the ultimate goal of creating a collage. Lastly, I would have my students write a paragraph about what makes their extended or multigenerational family special and determined to them. Subsequently, twice a month, I would like to have an extended family member of each students to visit the class and share an appropriate aspect of their culture or special story as discussed with me.

Blog 5: Bedtime Stories

1.       I found both of the videos very entertaining and interesting. As a reflected upon both of the videos, I found that they both possessed important and common themes for young children to learn. The themes presented by both of the videos were to never give up, to be determined, and the importance of friendship. But, perhaps, an even more important lesson both of the videos portrayed is the need to help one another and that we are dependent upon one another no matter our differences. Furthermore, in both of the videos, there are friendships between characters that would unlikely occur in real life. Additionally, both of the videos possessed similar features. In both of the videos, animals and things defy real life through talking. The characters are portrayed as having human characteristics such as determination, fear, loyalty, and developing social relationships. They are also presented in manners that are very appealing to children through their bright colors and animation.

2.      I found the bedtime story, “The Four Friends” to be very enlightening for I had never heard of the story before. Furthermore, I would like to share this charming story about the importance of friendship and loyalty to my students. The bedtime story was particularly appealing to me because it possessed animal characters. Even though, I was not able to understand the language, I do believe I was able to grasp the concept of the beloved Russian bedtime story. In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to four main characters, a deer, a crow, a mouse, and a tortoise who are best friends that dwell and look out for one another in what has become a forest full of traps set up by human hunters.  Additionally, these four friends help other animals of the forest to escape the traps such as doves that get trapped in a net. Ultimately, the mouse rescues them and sets them free to fly. Furthermore, each of the four friends develops a plan to set each other free if they get trapped. They all work together to overcome their challenges and fear through showing dedication and loyalty to one another.

3.      Bedtime stories are an important part of almost every culture. Furthermore, these stories vary from culture to culture. In some of these bedtime stories, critical aspects of culture are taught where as others are used to teach a moral to young children. Bedtime stories are an important “literacy event” for young children because they expose them to oral language and contribute to the development of their imaginations. Additionally, bedtime stories are particularly critical to the school oriented middle class. Bedtime stories prepare children for school in a variety of manners. They prepare children for “participation in settings involving literacy”. More importantly, they promote the readiness for social development and social situations. Bedtime stories promote the development of an expected set of behaviors, which vary in different middle class cultures. Furthermore, bedtime stories also encourage parents to interact with their children and be actively involved in their learning. Research has also shown that “literacy events” like bedtime stories enhance high achievement in school and socialization. Subsequently, the children learn a variety of skills which range from listening to comprehension of the stories as well.