Teaching Reading Skills For Children With Dyslexia

Teaching Reading Skills For Children With Dyslexia INTRODUCATION Reading is a necessary skill for success in all societies, and the ability to read throughout various contexts effectively likely to improve self confidence and social progress as well as ones potential carrier. However, Reading difficulties is the problem that faces many students with dyslexia across different educational system. It seems clear that there are two main methods of conceiving LD in general and the natural reality concept of dyslexia. One main definition relates to psychological/medical model and the other is social model (Kevin, 1999). It is frequently pointed out that reading skill is complicated because it is based on two main processes which are coding, comprehension. They require learning all alphabetical characters and the outcome of knowledge as well as interaction with the readers own experiences and access to results through the text. According to H. Lee Swanson, Karen R. Harris, Steve Graham (2006) reading difficulties is deficit in learning processes which are include visual perception and perceptual Kinetic perceptionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ etc. They established training programs for this processes which are prerequisite for learning to read, such as audio and visual perception. However, this trend has been criticized by researchers; because the theoretical philosophy was relatively weak and it was not grounded on scientific based evidence instead it was meant to see only virtual behavior. On the other hand, in the sixties and seventies of the last century has returned to focus on direct teaching and structured learning, which focus on Code-emphasis and Whole Language (Hoien, 2000). Unfortunately, it is clear that there is no known medical alternative to reduce the severity of cognitive processing delay in pupils with reading difficulties. Therefore, teachers are required to work instructional adjustments as a result, students with reading difficulties are to be successful in an suitable academic environment that help to reduce reading difficulties (such as eliminate any source of disturbance at mainstream classrooms and resource room). One of the most important instructional adjustments is use of basic procedures for appropriate intervention in early stage of educational ladder to avoid reading problems in students through use of various programs of intervention by specialized teachers and clinical psychologist. Another instructional adjustment which is methods of teaching students with dyslexia how do they read? (Kevin,1999). On the other hand, dyslexia friendly schools are an appropriate environment for children. They are to be provided with effective support and awareness of their additional requirements. The aim of this very brief essay is to discuss different definitions of dyslexia. Intervention to reduce reading difficulties in students with dyslexia will be discussed with a focus on stages of intervention in England; issues associated with intervention and also focus on Reading Recovery. Teaching Methods for students with reading difficulties will be examined in terms of Whole Language Instructions and Code- emphasis Instructions. Finally, Facilitating dyslexia friendly schools will be explored in brief. 1. Definition of Dyslexia It seems a controversial issue relatively in the beginning, because dyslexia has defined in many approaches, some of the definitions reflect the theories of causation, while the other definitions in an attempt to describe dyslexia. It seems clear that dyslexia involves more than one condition as it conveys a conceptual difficulty in reading skills for the child as well as a number of other reasons ((Rice, 2004). A hundred years have passed by since the first systematic definition of dyslexia as well as the diagnosis was established( Frith, 1999) and there is still considerable debate among professionals, professionals, psychologists and teachers about the conceptual issues of dyslexia, whoever in fact not far from agreement on their knowledge of concepts, skills development needs and capabilities, as well as diagnosis. Moreover, professionals and associations interested in special education differ in the definition of a large private educational terms, particularly in the case of attention deficit attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder(ADD) and dyslexia. In one community, has experienced difficulty in teaching reading as indicating poor reading skills that must be addressed by large-effective teaching methods. On the other hand, it is observed that another community the same way of reading difficulties in dyslexia, which contains an individual educational plan (IEP) that need to be highly efficient for the education of each individual case. Moreover, there are many of reliable definitions that have been adopted from a wide range of different instruction environments, such as definition of the British Association for Dyslexia (2001), which seems to be a descriptive definition , which indicate that dyslexia can be seen as : A combination of abilities and difficulties which affect the learning process in one or more of reading, spelling, and writing. Accompanying weakness may be identified in areas of speed of processing, short-term memory, sequencing, auditory and / or visual perception, spoken language and motor skills. It is particularly related to mastering and using written language, which may include alphabetic, numeric and musical notation ( Reid, 2002). It is agreed widely that reading skill is key for all people to complete the learning process successfully and appears to be agreement that the learning process needs to be a large number of simple skills, which requires the functions are ordered from different regions of the brain (both left and right from the Brocas area and Hamichaer ), moreover, the sequence of actions that may make it one of the most complex operations. It is clear that all teachers, practitioners and parents should have information about children with dyslexia and the most important problems they face, especially in reading to understand the definition of the educational process (British Dyslexia Association, 2003). On the other, the World Federation of Neurologists (1968) defined it as; Dyslexia is a disorder manifested by difficulty in learning to read despite conventional instruction and socio-cultural opportunity. It is dependent upon fundamental cognitive disabilities which are frequently of constitutional origin. (Mortimore, 2003, by Reid, 1994, p.2). If we pay enough attention to this definition it is clear that the greatest changes considerate on the late sixties that stress and characterized problems to complete reading process to be successful, and the new millennium, that is a interested far more than three different stages of description, the first, behavioural, which is the most important element for teachers and practitioners to work daily with children with dyslexia, particularly in the school, and second, cognitive which is more relate to teacher learning difficulties who is responsible for assessment of any kind of learning difficulties and then Preparation an individual education plan, third, the level of biological, which refers to dyslexia for kind of nervous-developmental in developmental deficit of biological origin(Frith, 2003). However, if we compare the definition of the British Dyslexia Association in the definition of (2001) of dyslexia with the equivalent, which presented by the World Federation of Neurology (1968), we will note other potential conflicts, according to the conceptual dimension to the definition of dyslexia. On the other hand, it is perfectly balanced in those who wish to present the strengths and weaknesses of children with dyslexia: dyslexia is a combination of difficulties, and capacity that may affect the learning process in one or more of the writing, reading and spelling. It might be possible, identify weaknesses in visual perception, processing speed of the short-term memory, sequencing, as well as audio, spoken language and motor skills. and that are relevant to mastering and using written language, which may contain the alphabet and identify the digital as well as musical. 2. Causes of Dyslexia According to ( Rice, 2004 ) there is still no consensus on the underlying causes of dyslexia. It is frequently point out that not all the difficulty in reading or writing means dyslexia. However, there are many scientists who believe that inheritance and hearing problems at an early age may cause dyslexia. This will be discussed in more details. 2.1 Inheritance May not be possible that dyslexia is not a strong characteristic that will be inherited, even if one or both parents have it. On the other hand, this may be possible. it clear that forty per cent of the people and explained that dyslexia has a history of learning difficulties in their family. According to Brain scanning of children with dyslexia by specialists in the field of medicine that bunches of cells beneath the surface in the front left side of the brain are responsible for reading problems (ibid.). This group of cells moving on the surface of brain cells while growing in the fetus, which does not occur with children with dyslexia. In addition, they have to be smaller mango cellular system, which is liable for recognition, for example, symbols and characters, which leads to difficult to read. They usually tend to use the right part for these skills, which are not designed for this job and that six times slower. It is clear that scientists consider these genetic variations and statistics that the inheritance is one of causes of dyslexia. 2.2 Hearing Problems at an Early Age It is frequently point out that the first five years of a childs life are important for the ability to read and write in accordance with natural languages. In the event that the child is suffering from colds or other continuously during the first years of his life, without medical intervention prior to the visit of the health center, may be exposed to ban prayer from time to time and thus may lead to hearing loss. This means that there is a break in the learning process of the child because of those problems in the hearing. If the child does not have the ability to hear words correctly, and thus lead to delays in the phonemic awareness of the child that leads to learning difficulties, such as dyslexia (Bradford, 2009). 3. Intervention for Dyslexia 3.1 Definition of intervention According to Wall (2003) definition of intervention as An intervention is an interaction between two people to bring about change and, therefore, early years practitioners undertake interventions each time they are working with children. Interventions may be short, medium or long term and will be planned carefully to ensure effectiveness and appropriateness. and He suggested idea which is what and how should practitioners draw up a plan or design different and useful intervention programs for each child as a case individually, by clarifying how it could encourage teachers or staff of these children collaborative work by each category of activity classroom, which can be caused by structured plan which made through specialists. It can be seen that intervention has become a significant key in resolving of psychological educational issues which is more effective to clarify access for these issues or problems and also it is useful in reaching positive results, especially for children with learning difficulties who are at risk for any particular type of learning difficulties. It is important to note that it should be look at if one parent has dyslexia, which is likely to move to one of their children as a result it is important there is focus on the family history, which may to be assisted to alert teachers and parents therefore, it may get appropriate intervention program for these children (Augur,1993 ). If we pay enough attention to Augur indicate that developmental dyslexia is justified for certain reasons, first reason, it may be very difficult to clarify kind of developmental dyslexia that a child is born through t according to the results of brain injury as a result of stroke or an accident, etc. Moreover, the second reason which is that many specialists agree that most of these children, who are smart in most courses with the exception of some basic academic skills that need to develop and therefore it is likely that the teachers are providing success and development of the natural growth of children with dyslexia, if they were with the fact that dyslexia may not be curable but it needs to useful intervention programs. 3.2 Stages of intervention in England According to DfES (2003) that stages of intervention used in schools in Britain, with almost identical stages in America, called (waves). Wave 1, which is refer to initial education for literacy in schools in that there must be effective integration of all children, high quality and a daily reading and writing hour with appropriate differentiation required. Whereas, if the children do not respond correctly to primary classroom of literacy guidance therefore, intervention will be necessary. In addition, Wave 2 shows a set of specific interventions which are additional a specific time, which refer to some children who are in need of support services to accelerate development and they can work at or above age-related t the highest of expectations . Wave 3 which is describes the governance for a small number of children and intervention is necessary to provide specifically for the processor speed of evolution or allow children to achieve their potential. It is Clearly that , this could i nclude the 01:01 or specific interventions, so when it comes to older children, which is usually refer to the approach set out specifically for children that have been identified as requiring special education support by working in the school environment. The best example, as noted by the researcher that Wave 3 intervention which is reading recovery. 3.3 Issues associated with intervention It is frequently point out that there is controversy about how to build effectively intervention programme. Researcher will present the most important factors agreed for potential success in the planning and production of the correct intervention program. First, it taking into accounts the assessment procedures and examination in psychology that can explain exactly what are the skills which need to develop in children. According to Fawcett and Lynch (2000) to examine dyslexia test (designed by Nicolson and Fawcett, 1996) will be the most successful for all the teachers to their schools. In addition, this test has become highly efficient because it is interested in semantic and verbal fluency as well as knowledge of numbers. Another reason which is how quickly the application of this test for example, it is take one minute to the task of writing and one minute in the skill of reading, moreover, spelling and other skills that could take two minutes. According to Pumfrey and Reason (2001) enhance the quantity and quality of cognitive development of children is significant factor to reach the appropriate intervention for them, it is important to take into account to confirmation that intervention at the earliest time that in order to that this procedure may not lead to a delay which is undesirable for children who have reading difficulties. In the same context, we may emphasize that the assessment procedures and examination need to be more focus by that stage, even before the application to avoid any future problems (Talcott,, 1997). However, the researcher as a teacher for special education as well as lecturer at the Department of Special Education recognizes that there are no tests in a uniform and there is a clear lack of evaluation of courses in schools in Saudi Arabia. It is clear that this is an opportunity for the researcher to obtain the correct method of assessing and screening for children who have difficulties reading in schools and the transfer of these measures and the right strategies for the development of the educational process in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Talcott (1997) indicate that there is another factor which is related to people who may play an active role of detection of children who have dyslexia. Therefore, there are some people around the children who have learning difficulties and they who provide full care to alleviate the difficulties that may be in these children as well as they are trying to find the appropriate methods in educational process such as, parents, professionals as well as specialists in health care. 3.4 Type of intervention for reading difficulties 3.4.1 Reading Recovery Reading Recovery has been designed by Marie Clay, who is a researcher in New Zealand (Reading Recovery Council , 2006). Mary did studies which allowed her to develop appropriate methods for the detection and intervention for reading difficulties for children. In addition, this program is studies based intervention that is applied in more than 10000 schools in New Zealand, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. it was a developed to offer intervention for children who have reading difficulties ( Au, Mason1990). According to Au, Mason (1990) The main of reading recovery is to be able to offer intensive one-on-one support children who have reading difficulties in first grade and thus provide appropriate intervention to help them succeed before they improve their reading difficulties (Savage, John 1994). Moreover, it is aimed at less than twenty percent of school classes in first grade classroom. It is clear that it is not easy to make a decision about who children should be given to this program. children are taking a test and depending on the lowest scores for this test and then to hold this program for children got the lowest scores by trained teachers in the application of this program for children who have difficulties reading to reduce these difficulties and to read well (Kline, Anne 1997). It is frequently point out reading recovery is developed to be compatible with the regular school system. Each school needs to confirm that teachers should have the ability to download the program continuously during the year. It is clear that it has the ability to work in a variety of levels for instance it works with teachers, in school, children, and in the education system to provide assistance in reducing reading difficulties in children (Reading Recovery National Network,2006 ). Savage, John (1994) pointed out that Reading Recovery which is a program works differently for each child who is in need of this program. Selection of children for this program based on the report which is submitted by the teacher, and a survey about what child has knowledge of letters and concepts about print process, text reading . In addition, the program begins with what the child is to have the ability to do, then it builds on what they are trying to do and work what child need to learn about reading (Reading Recovery National Network,2006 ).According to Chapman, Turner ( 2003) the program is designed to work one-on-one instruction for thirty minutes a day for a period of twelve to twenty weeks through trained teachers. Moreover, it is designed to regular classroom reading guide. In addition, It is set out to assist based on childs strengths. The main concentration on one-on-one lessons is concentrate on comprehending the various messages in reading and students have the ability to build messages in writing skill (Reading Recovery National Network). According to Savage, John (1994) reading recovery includes that: -Reading Familiar Books: students tend to read books that they enjoy. Teachers, however, will observe how child read these books then they will assist the child while children are reading this book. -Assessment of reading strategies: the students will have a book that have never read it, in the previous lesson, the child will read that book for the teacher, then the teacher will use recorder while the child is read. Working on Letter recognition: student will be trained to look at the different letters, and begins to be familiar with them. -Introducing new books: teacher will choose a number of different books that are suitable for students reading level. Reading new books: The teacher will show a new book for the student, and then the student will be supposed to read it in the next lesson. In addition, the teacher and student will discuss the book and provide assistance to prepare for the understanding of the story in that book before read it. It is clear that Reading program was designed to meet the special the individual needs of reader who has difficulties in reading, which seems different from child to child. Working Individually with students, preparing lessons to respond to the individual needs of the child, will help to develop childrens reading (hapman, Iversen, Tunmer 2005). It is clear that the reading recovery has extensive one-on-one instruction. Not surprising to anyone that the intensity of the program and work individually with students which is influential to stage of intervention for those students who have reading difficulties. Recent research indicates that the method of one-on-one is more effective in teaching in regular classes that lead to achieving the individual needs for each student (Chapman, Tunmer 2003). Reading Recovery Council (2006) pointed out that many of the children are in different levels reading skill, establishment of lesson for all student is not always effective to that a student who does not understand what may be understood by other child and therefore teachers can create a lesson that will contain five elements: working with letters, reading books which are familiar to student, observe and record what is read by the student and reading new curriculum (Barnes, Bonnie 1996). it is possible to assist students achieve effective reading performance by the individual needs of them early. In addition, working individually with students to guide them educating reading strategies as well as to provide some time for the application so that they will be capable to achieve in grade level (Educational Commissions System of the States 2000). It seems clear that the strategy of one-on-one which allows teachers to provide students all comments, compliments and questions that the teacher knows a student who has the ability to answer those questions. In addition to, the reading recovery teachers have the ability to help the student and give feedback for the work he is doing (Barnes, Bonnie 1996). On the other hand, reading recovery will take 30 minutes for each student .It must take into account that there are some things that may be affect the students when they are in the classroom, for example: days of illness, field trips and workshops (Barnes, Bonnie 1996). Barnes, Bonnie (1996) indicate that time consuming is one of the problems related to educating Reading Recovery through the amount of paperwork which are side by side with the teaching of reading recovery to individual students. For example, a written analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the child, the report of the expectations of progress through the identification of long-term and short-term goals to child daily lesson programme. Another drawback of reading recovery is teachers. Many teachers do not usually have support from their colleagues in the school as well as they have difficulty in access to feedback on their lessons. Moreover, there are many teachers in the classroom do not have a sense of the impact of reading recovery program on the children because it is presented only one or two students in their classrooms (Noble, Jo Anne 1995). In addition, There are many teachers who are working only has the half-time reading recovery teacher. Therefore, they have the abilit y to service only about eight children each academic year. In addition, many schools have approximately a hundred and fifty first grade students, this is evidence that only about five or six percent of children have the ability to receive reading recovery programme (Barnes, Bonnie 1996). As has been mentioned before the goal of reading recovery is to guide children in learning techniques and assist to practice time , children have the ability to deliver on grade level (Frankas, George 2000).However, reading recovery is working , regardless of economic status, gender and social status of the group of children that led to the acceleration of the effective progress this programme (Educational Leadership 1990). Centre, Wheldall (1992) pointed out that to make reading recovery programme more effective must change three elements: Behavioural change in teachers. The child behaviour change acquired through teachers. There is a need for the school to change the regulatory requirements for administrators and teachers. It is clear that the results of reading recovery program is that it offers effective intervention for students in grade school and then treatment, instead of falling into the failure in reading difficulties for these children. In addition, it is providing strong support for teachers and enables them to become more effective in reading recovery programme. Moreover, the most important outcome of the program is to be has number of children in grades 2-6 to have a few problems in reading difficulties once and then the program is implemented effectively and correctly (Noble, Jo Anne 1995). 4. Method of teaching reading skills for children with dyslexia As has been mentioned before is that in fact the intervention to address reading difficulties in children with dyslexia is a successful strategy to provide support appropriate for them. But it is frequently point out that , it is to look for on the strengths and weaknesses of the learner and learning styles appropriate through the school by the teacher, which is suited to the needs of each individual. Because it is known to us that each and every child with dyslexia is different according to the file and function of cognitive and learning styles appropriate to him (Reid ,1997). 4.1 Whole Language Instruction According to the study carried out by Frank, 1978, it was having an impact in supporting the Whole Language Instruction, teaching reading is a natural counterpart to learn to speak the sense of learning to read instinctive. In addition, Whole Language Instruction may focuses on education to be of total to the part and not vice versa (e.g. learning the skills not included in the Whole language instruction), and learning to write must occur through fun activities functional meaning, and the focus on education priority, instead of keeping the roots. Moreover, it consenter on the learner who is the center of education rather than the curriculum and education should be based on individual interaction. It is clear that it may supports education in a social environment. Moreover, the teacher is the one who set the curriculum to be concepts are interrelated rather than dividing them up into multiple skills or subsets of content and evaluation focuses on the strengths of the learner. It seems that Whole Language Instruction is a tool to deal with the class and adjust and it may provides disadvantaged students to be able to overcome reading problems ( Pressely, 1994). However, according to Mather (1992 ) Whole Language Instruction team believe that retail could disrupt learning process, so they are opposed to direct teaching of encoding, because it split the language into separate clips and skills, which may lead to the language is not used, as well as a waste of time. The Whole Language Instruction may provide meaning to the texts and it is focusing on both reading and writing, as learn the rules of language may be done without the need to teach voice. It is clear that Educators and researchers stress fact that learning may be the best when there is enjoyable environment for learning and learner will be active participant in learning process as well as the teacher must take into account individual differences between children. These principles focus upon the way of Whole Language Instruction in learning to read, the child will read full text and then he begins to recognize words and letters with helping by teacher and the child will feel motivation when he is reading and that is the most important needs, which increases the capacity of the child with dyslexia to learn to read correctly (Fuhler,1993 ) Learner (2000) pointed out that there are basics of teaching reading difficulties by using method of Whole Language Instruction as following: Firstly : Reading is one of the elements of internal language which is very close to oral language and written language, so teachers who use this method confirm the language written and oral reading lead to the child will be improved, when he learn to read and there is a relationship between linguistic vulnerability in children and reading difficulties, children who have language problems or mobility are likely to develop problems in writing in the early stages. Secondly: The method of verbal language may be acquired by the natural use, according to the teachers who use Whole Language Instruction that children may learn to speak without the need for special training and this means that children will learn to read naturally through exposure to learn to read by focusing on language and books which related to fluency of language. Thirdly : Teachers who use the method of Whole Language Instruction avoid use of separate teaching which does not focus on the link between parts of the meaning of language, as well as the way of teaching that focuses on use of separate exercises, and they believe that books that divide natural language into small pieces and mysterious that could make teaching is difficult. In addition, Whole Language Instruction users think that learning of characters is normally by way of education , it is clear that learning of letters should not be separate, but it is normally acquired through reading. 4.2 Code- emphasis Instruction It is clear that we should understand the strategies of coding in Whole Language Instruction or comic reading (Orthographic) , which are one of the strategies that provide the opportunity to children to read the words by this method because they saw these words for many times . Therefore, they have image of the words in the long-term memory, the image of words are not required to be stored in the same format and font but it will be merely images. To use this strategy, the reader should has knowledge of the alphabet and how to process link this letters together. Moreover, there are many of readers who tend to use this strategy because they have the satisfaction for the words through use of a number of consecutive times as a result, they are willing to remember these words at any time. However , when they are exposed to new words so they tend to use method of Code- emphasis Instruction so they used the analysis of these words and read them (Hoien,2000). According to Learner ( 2000 ) children with dyslexia often need to direct learning and systematic training on reading because the direct training on the skills of voice reading is significant due to the primary task which is a specific part which is used later for reading comprehension. However, children who start to learn to read slowly, they will become readers are strong later. It is clear that Code- emphasis Instruction is effective in that the reader have a broad reading skills in school and In the external environment, he will be able to read any textbooks or other books. In addition , Intensive reading may provide the opportunity for the growth of concepts and verbal knowledge for how to write and read the text. Therefore, children who do not learn by this method they wi

Beauty in “The Bluest Eye” Essay

The Bluest Eye is a brilliantly written novel revealing the fictional trauma of an eleven-year-old black girl named Pecola Breedlove. This story takes place in the town of Lorain, Ohio during the 1940’s. It is told from the perspective of a young girl named Claudia MacTeer. She and her sister, Frieda, become witness to the terrible plights Pecola is unintentionally put through. Pecola chooses to hide from her disabling life behind her clouded dream of possessing the ever so cherished â€Å"bluest of eyes†. The Breedlove’s constant bickering and ever growing poverty contributes to the emotional downfall of this little girl. Pecola’s misery is obtained through the touch of her father’s hand and the voice of her community’s struggle with racial separation, anger, and ignorance. Her innocence is harshly ripped from her grasp as her father rapes her limp existence. The community’s anger with it’s own insecurities is taken out on this poor, ugly, black, non-ideal, young girl. She shields herself from this sorrow behind her obsessive plea for blue eyes. But her eyes do not replace the pain of carrying her fleeing father’s baby. Nor do they protect her from the shady eyes of her neighbours. Though this book discuses negative and disturbing situations, it teaches a very positive lesson. The theme of The Bluest Eye is that of depending on outside influences to become aware of one’s own beauty and to fabricate one’s own self image can be extremely damaging. Topic Tracking: Beauty Beauty 1: Claudia is constantly faced with white ideals of beauty. For Christmas one year, she receives a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, pink-skinned doll. Rather than adore the doll, she destroys and dismembers it as a result of her anger. Claudia feels she can never measure up to the beauty of white children, the beauty that all the world reveres. Beauty 2: The Breedloves are poor and ugly. At least that is how they think the world views them. Their beliefs that they are ugly come from white American media always portraying whites as representations of what is beautiful. Because of this, they do not strive for more, for they think that they do not deserve to have more. Beauty 3: Pecola wishes that she had blue eyes. She thinks that if her eyes were blue, and therefore beautiful according to white American standards, then her problems would go away and her life would be beautiful. Then maybe, her classmates and teachers would not despise her and think she was so ugly. She so hates hersel f that she stares at herself in the mirror trying to figure out where her ugliness comes from. Beauty 4: For one year Pecola prays that her eyes will turn blue. She has many problems in her life, starting with family issues, and she thinks that if she had blue eyes, her problems might go away. And even more than that, if she had blue eyes, people would see her as beautiful, and then she would be able to see herself as beautiful too. Being a black little girl in a society that idolizes blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty, Pecola thinks she is ugly. Pecola sympathizes for the dandelions because she knows what it is like to be devalued. She finds beauty in the weeds, for she thinks that people see her as a weed. Beauty 5: A new little girl, named Maureen Peal, comes to Claudia and Frieda’s school. Maureen is revered for her looks, which people deem beautiful. She has lighter skin and eyes than most of the other children, and everyone adores her because of this. She is looked upon as beautiful because her characteristics are somewhat more â€Å"white† than other black people’s. This causes many to be jealous of her. However, Claudia and Frieda are not jealous. They see through the standards placed on beauty, and if Maureen is what is beautiful, this means that they are not beautiful (according to society). Beauty 6: When the girls are walking home from getting ice cream after school, they pass a movie theater with a picture of Betty Grable on the building. Maureen and Pecola both say that they love Betty Grable, an icon for white American beauty with her blonde hair and blue eyes. However, showing her disdain for such standards placed on beauty, Claudia says that she prefers the actress, Hedy Lamarr, who has dark hair. Beauty 7: In her younger years, Pauline Breedlove occupied herself by going to the movies. It was here that she got her first glimpse into what idealized beauty was. She saw the Hollywood blonde-haired, blue-eyed bombshells as being true representations of beauty. And anything that strayed from these looks, including her own, was seen as not pretty. American society placed their standards of beauty onto the world, and because of this, many people began to realize how far away they were from those standards. Beauty 8: Pecola goes to visit Soaphead Church with the hope that he will be able to fulfill her wish to have blue eyes. She thinks that with blue eyes, all of her problems will disappear and the world will love her because she will be beautiful. The world, seen through blue eyes, will also appear beautiful to Pecola. Beauty 9: Claudia prays that Pecola’s baby will survive. She needs the baby to live to counteract society’s standards set on beauty, which say that blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girls are all that is pretty. Claudia hopes that with this new black baby people will change and see blackness as something that can be admired and something that is beautiful. Topic Tracking: Culture Culture 1: Mr. Henry moves into Claudia and Frieda’s house. One day, the girls come home and when they walk in Mr. Henry greets them. He flatters them by telling them they look just like Greta Garbo and Ginger Rogers, two white American female actresses. These two actresses represented American society’s ideal beauty, with their blonde hair and blue eyes. They, and other actresses like them, were so idealized by the media that it forced young American girls, both white and black, to question their own beauty if it differed from the standard of blond hair and blue eyes. Culture 2: After seeing the cup with Shirley Temple on it, Claudia explains her ill feelings for her. Shirley Temple was the epitome of what all of America adored in little girls: her bouncy blonde curls and big blue eyes. This sickened Claudia, as she was so different from Shirley Temple and all of the other little girls who looked like Shirley. Culture 3: Claudia tells the story about the doll she recei ved for Christmas one year. This doll was a beautiful doll that had blonde hair, blue eyes, and pink skin. Instead of appreciating the doll like most other children would have done, Claudia dismembered and destroyed the doll. She was sick of having American ideals of beauty placed on her, which said that being white with blonde hair and blue eyes was what was deemed as beautiful. Culture 4: This excerpt from a first grade reading primer describes the perfect white family. Morrison uses these excerpts in many points of the story to illustrate the dichotomy between the ideal white family, and the family of blacks, specifically Pecola’s family. The reading book perpetuates the stigma that what is seen as â€Å"ideal† in American culture means having a neat little house, run by two loving parents, with two children, one of which has blonde hair and blue eyes, and a fun loving dog who plays with the children. This social stigma presses on children who are â€Å"different† that are reading these books, and makes them think they are abnormal and unacceptable. Culture 5: The Breedloves are described. They think they are poor and ugly, and it says that much of the reason they think this is because of the white American media. The media, as part of our culture, sets the standards for what defines beauty, and anything straying from these standards is viewed as ugly. Culture 6: Pecola is constantly faced with the standards set on her society by American culture. She cannot even enjoy a piece of candy without feeling that she is different and lacking in some way in terms of beauty. When she goes to eat her Mary Jane candy, she is mesmerized by the little girl of Mary Jane on the cover, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl. These cultural pressures of what defines beauty make Pecola aware of just how much she strays from that defined beauty. This eventually leads to her desire for blue eyes, which in turn leads her into madness. Culture 7: When Pecola, Maureen, Claudia and Frieda are walking home from the ice cream shop, they pass a theater with a picture of Betty Grable on it. Young girls are bombarded with American culture’s ideals of beauty, such as pictures of famous actresses. Betty Grable in particular , with her blonde hair and blue eyes, makes Pecola and Maureen want to look like her. However, despite all of their hopes and wishes, they will never be able to look like that, and they are left as the victims of a culture that standardizes and limits young children. Culture 8: During her younger years, Pauline Breedlove spent a lot of time at the movie theater. It was here where she learned American standards of true beauty. Constantly faced with actresses like Jean Harlow, the ultimate Hollywood blonde bombshell, Pauline was forced to examine her own beauty in terms of Harlow’s. She realized that she did not look anything like Harlow, and based on this, came to the conclusion that she must be ugly. However, her feelings of ugliness were purely based on cultural standards set on her through the medium of Hollywood. Culture 9: Claudia feels the need for Pecola’s baby to be alive and healthy. She wants the baby to survive because she wants to counteract the cultural emphasis placed on white girls with blonde hair and blue eyes, exemplified by the types of white baby dolls most children adore (dolls that look like Shirley Temple). If Pecola’s baby lives, maybe people can learn to love a black baby and see black as beautiful too . At least this is what Claudia is hoping for. Culture 10: Pecola beats her arms like a bird, and attempts to fly up to the sky. However, she cannot. The reason she cannot is because she has been held back by the culture in which she lives, a culture that values white beauty, and ignores black beauty. It was an inevitable end result that Pecola would never be able to achieve the standards of beauty she wanted to. She was born a black child, and unfortunately, her culture does not accept black beauty. Thus, her dreams would never be fulfilled. And even though she thinks she has blue eyes, the world around her does not recognize her as she wishes to be seen. And because of this, she is driven to madness, caused by the pressures and social standards of her culture.

Creating a Plan for a Culturally Diverse Essay

In the classrooms and schools today, cultural diversity is rising. The biggest challenge for teachers in our schools today and within the classrooms is how to amend their curriculum to meet all the needs of the students in the relation of culture. For a teacher in a multicultural diverse classroom, a teacher needs to augment their cultural understanding, shape their curriculum so that it is culturally related to all their students in the classroom, and to use supportive learning education. With these practices in place and along with other structural planning, it is important for the precise connection between multicultural teachings of students in a classroom (Merlino, 2007). The first step to accommodating students is to enhance cultural sensitivity from diverse cultural in the classroom. This requires teachers to interpret their multicultural diverse student’s behaviors within the cultural perspective of the child (Merlino, 2007). The environment in a classroom is an essent ial part to learning. The atmosphere in the classroom helps determine the accomplishment of the lessons being taught and the student’s behavior. All students are different, and therefore it is important for all students to respect one another in order for the efficiency of a classroom to be optimized (Ganly, 2008). The importance for a teacher is that they are able to create an atmosphere of tolerance, acceptance, and caring within the classroom. This is in order to provide for all the diversified needs for all students. Living in Melbourne which is located in Florida. Melbourne is about two hours from Orlando on the east coast. The population in Melbourne is Caucasian, Hispanic, Latino, African American, German, and Asian. In Melbourne, we have Christian and Baptist churches throughout the city. We also have Catholic, Islam, and Jewish churches as well. The people who live in Melbourne are of low, high, and middle class economic status, but many of the people who live here are middle to low working class. Melbourne seems like a quite little city outside of the busy, bigger city of Orlando, which have many tourists, but we are also diverse in several ways. Practicing tolerance and acceptance in classroom provides all students with the ability to be at ease with themselves. It will also help all students to release predetermined biases and teach the students to learn more about what is within another student instead of judging the student by their appearance. The use of tolerance, acceptance, and caring provides a nice, comfortable  classroom environment for all students that can be productive for their learning experience. This will help encourage teamwork, confidence, and respect that are all a part of the key factors for a flourishing classroom environment (Ganly, 2008). To construct a tolerate, accepting, and caring classroom atmosphere for my students in my classroom, there are many things I can do as a teacher. As a teacher in Melbourne, Florida, I would make sure to discuss diversity to my students and explain why it is an important, positive lesson in the classroom. I can create lesson plans that discuss the cultures of all my students in my classroom and the cultures within in our community. I would also discuss the different religious beliefs of our community. Discussing different religious beliefs in our community to my students lets us discuss their beliefs as well from the different cultures within my classroom. Discussing to my students about students with disabilities and students who are at risk, is a very important, necessary lesson that I would teach my students. The lesson would be to help my students comprehend that these differences do not make a person less of a person; but these differences make the person just as important as all students. Discussing with my students about socioeconomic issues and how they affect all students in many ways and the differences in gender is important. I believe teaching my students about gender issues is very important because of many gender stereotypes pressure how both females and males learn, and it is important for both genders to be given equal opportunities to learn inside the classroom. Discussing these issues is to help show all of my students that every person has needs, and I would stress that it is important for all students to recognize and help each other in order to benefit themselves along with the cultures that surround them. Being a teacher, I would want to discuss and teach that the differences in people make them interesting, and by creating lesson plans that would help show my students how their own distinctive differences that will help my classroom function appropriately. My lesson plans will be in place to help my students recognize and overcome their biases. During these lessons, I would also make sure to tell all of the students what I have learned from them by understanding their culture and their beliefs, and that they can find out about themselves and improve themselves. I feel that this is important for students to be conscious of the inequalities that  exist so that they can receive the education they deserve, and they can fulfill their educational goals. For me, being a teacher, it is important to make sure that my classroom atmosphere is comfortable to ensure the productivity of all my students. Teaching my students that differences learned from, is a way to help ensure a positive, comfo rtable, caring, and successful classroom. As a teacher, I will help all my students understand biases, and I will help them be able to accept the differences of the people and the cultures around them. I believe there are many ways a teacher can incorporate diversity lessons into their classroom. Getting to know your students is important to the understanding of their individual needs. I can learn about my students by working to assemble information about my students in the beginning of the course so that I can better meet their learning needs and their goals for learning, I can incorporate the experiences of nontraditional aged students into the classroom to develop classroom discussions and learning activities, I can recognize and provide assistance for my students with any physical and learning disabilities that they may have, such as test taking accommodations, supplemental class instruction, and reading (Stanley, n.d). Other ways to help me teach my diverse classroom are to: †¢Learn about my students’ different cultural backgrounds. This can be done by informally asking them about weekend plans or as simply reading historical books about their culture. †¢Giving all of my student’s equal amounts of respect. Avoid giving privileged treatment to anyone in the class, as this can easily be misinterpreted as discrimination. †¢Realizing that a student’s sexual preference has nothing to do with his or her ability to master material and contribute to classroom discussions. I would want to play it safe and do not ask about their private lives. †¢Avoid making assumptions about students’ attentiveness based on their physical appearance and behavior. Different cultures emphasize different ways of showing respect and attention. †¢Being sensitive to the students’ lives at home. A rough or distracting home environment can affect a child’s performance in school. Giving students the benefit of the doubt an d being as understanding as I can be is important. †¢Use a wide variety of teaching strategies that accommodate different learning styles. †¢Encouraging my students to respect and enjoy their diverse cultural heritages. Creating Food days and festivals is a way to celebrate diversity and also having fun  with all students in every culture (Stanley, n.d). In order to incorporate multicultural diversity in my classroom, I will create a bulletin board that will display multicultural diversity. The bulletin board will display the different cultures and religions in my geographic area. The bulletin board will also display many occupations that the student’s parents are currently involved in throughout the surrounding areas. I will also be sure to create an atmosphere of tolerance, acceptance, and caring in my classroom. This is important because I want all of my students to feel welcomed, and valued which I believe will promote fewer impulses to act out. With the atmosphere set for my classroom, it will make my students feel accepted, they will have no reasons to worry. I want my students to feel comfortable in their environment. After all, my classroom will be their learning environment for almost a year. For my bulletin board, I want to display the different ethnic backgrounds. I will make sure that the bulletin’s border will consist of different flags from around the world. In my area, there are many different cultures but the six main cultures are African American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, and German. I will make sure that these flags are displayed on the border that and will be hung around the edges of my bulletin board. To display many different religions in my classroom, I will make sure that the different symbols will be displayed throughout the board. I will make sure that Christianity, Catholic, Islam, Baptist, and Jewish symbols are displayed correctly to district guidelines regarding religion in school. For my classroom bulletin board, it will also contain fun information for all of my students to learn from. This bulletin board will change every month, and it will contain all of the different cultural holidays that we as a class can celebrate each month. The bulletin board will also contain different images that are associated with these different holidays with information that describes these holidays. Within my bulletin board, I will also include the birthdays of each of my students to remind them that they are all special (Ganly, 2008). The challenge as a teacher, I will encounter in the increasingly diverse society that we have in our country today. It will require me to use many of the best practices that I know to accommodate all of my students. A culturally diverse curriculum is the necessity no matter who is sitting at the desks in my classroom. The humanity that our children  will enter when they leave my classroom will be different, by being more complex and considerably more diverse than it is today. Students that are taught to respect and be inquisitive about different cultures will eventually develop a better understanding of the cultural differences that exist all around them. With this understanding, it will help them to be enhanced citizens and be more productive members of their culture. Both teachers and students need to embrace cultural diversity. Professional, reflective practitioners need to lead the way by ensuring all students learn the suitable content within the context of their own culture and every culture (Merlino, 2007). References Ganly, S. (2008). The Benefits of Diversity in the Classroom on the Teaching Environment. Associated Content, Inc. Retrieved March 24, 2011 from www.associatedcontent.org Merlino, R. (2007). Addressing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom. Helium.com. Retrieved March 26, 2011 from www.helium.com Stanley, C. (n.d.). Teaching Tips for the Success of All Students in a Diverse Classroom. Retrieved March 30, 2011 from www.cte.tamu.edu

The Old Testament - 1235 Words

With the completion of the Old Testament put a stop on the preaching and revelation of the prophets. Prophets were responsible for enlightening the Jews about the realities of life and resolved various issues that they had. The Jews were desperate to know the truth, and the teachings of the God and hence prophets aided these longings of theirs. Religious ritualism, social injustice, and idolatry were the three areas in which the prophets emphasized in their preaching and filled the hearts and minds of their believers with it. Prophets were enlightened and blessed beings that had much knowledge about the religious matters and their teachings are of still very significant and valid. The Bible instructs numerous cases of the Social Injustice, Idolatry, and Ritualism. God s picked prophets, for example, Hosea, Micah, Jonah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, give occasions of these themes. Through these picked prophets a superior comprehension of Gods expectations and implications can be found. An inside and out an examination of these points is expected to handle the importance of everyone better. Excessive admiration, this is a word found the Bible, however. Excessive praise as characterized the divine love of symbols. The expected significance of excessive praise in this viewpoint is the love of something man made of any material. The more suitable significance can be better clarified by Paul Helm. In his book, Mind, it is characterized as one brimming with philosophical enthusiasm,Show MoreRelatedThe Testament Of The Old Testament1645 Words   |  7 PagesThe Old Testament is the largest part of the bible nestled behind the leather binding in the front of the book. Unlik e most books, told from one-person or even two this is comprised of multiple, some stories even having two different versions in another point of view; over time it has become a large collection of ancient texts written and re-written by different authors and editors over the many years. The stories show the ancient Israelites, they show the laws, and rituals, which make up their religionRead MoreThe Testament Of The Old Testament Essay2307 Words   |  10 Pages1. The Old Testament consisted of a set of the spiritual text of documentations, which were written by different people at various times to a different audience. Most of the Old Testament contains short stories of traditional stories and those stories of distinguish ways God established mankind. These stories are often told to the people in narrative form, which are guidelines often referred to as laws, songs, genealogies, and list from these authors that composed the Old Testaments. The pressingRead MoreThe Old Testament E ssay1498 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction The Old Testament can be very hard for many people to look to for guidance. The difficulty often comes because the questions they have in today’s society may not relate to the Old Testament. â€Å"Much biblical scholarship is narrowly historical-critical and does not seek to draw out the ethical-theological dimensions of the text.† (297) Pastors have the task of relating the Old Testament to today’s problems and it can be quite a challenge. Addressing moral issues is a difficult issueRead MoreThe Old Testament1240 Words   |  5 PagesThe purpose of the Old Testament is to give historical background as well as to give prophesies to the world and also to look towards the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to transform and replace old laws with his sacrifice and free gift. He took the Mosaic divorce law and the law regarding the Sabbath. Jesus was tested by the Pharisees and he won every time. He knew how to answer, many times in the fo rm of a question, parable or story; he always had a response. I believeRead MoreThe Old Testament871 Words   |  4 Pagesof God stopped Abraham at last and kept his son from hurt, which implies that God just wanted to test Abraham, not a human sacrifice. As going through these plots in the Bible, how should people recognize the human sacrifice in the Book of the Old Testament? Is it just the test from God? Or God actually like human sacrifice? First, people should know what is the meaning of sacrifice. According to the Bible, people could conclude that the sacrifice is the way to atone for one’s sin or thank God’sRead MoreThe Old Testament Essay1457 Words   |  6 PagesThe Old Testament is tied together by a string of five major covenants that God made with His people. These five covenants are the Covenant with Noah, the Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic and the New covenant. The covenant with Noah was God’s promise that He would never destroy the earth and humankind with floods again. This sign of this covenant is the rainbow, this was after God sent a flood to destroy the wickedness that had become widespread on earth after the Fall of man: Genesis 9:11 â€Å"I establishRead MoreThe Old Testament And New Testament1373 Words   |  6 PagesThe names â€Å"Old Testament† and â€Å"New Testament† are inherently theological in nature. Because there is a difference distinctly built into givin g them different notations, it implies that there are differences between each the Old Testament and the New Testament, whether it is subtle in nature or obvious in nature. To Christians, the difference means that the Old Testament contains dealings between God and the world and even some of the rules made are made irrelevant by the interactions of Christ JesusRead MoreThe Old Testament And New Testament1704 Words   |  7 Pagesthe Old Testament to discover the story and character of God that is concealed within the pages of the Old Testament stories. By taking a little time to understand the context of the stories in the Old Testament readers can see the faithfulness, loving nature, and kindness of God. Most times people are dissuaded from reading the Old Testament books because they assume God is mean and harsh within those pages, but that simply isn’t the truth. God is revealed in every story in the Bible – Old TestamentRead MoreThe Old Testament And New Testament 1373 Words   |  6 Pagesstudies in the New Testament. The New Testament catches many attentions because it describes Jesus’ life and birth of the church. As people focus more on the New Testament, the Old Testament is viewed as an unnecessary book to read. Christians have debated whether the Old Testament is needed to be read. Many Christians have claimed that the Old Testament is unnecessary to the biblical study with the New Testament containing all the study materials needed. Even so, Old Testament is vital literatureRead MoreThe Old Testament Essay2294 Words   |  10 Pages1. The Old Testament consisted of a set of documentations of religious scriptures, which were written by different people at various times to a different audience. Most of the Old Testament contains short stories of traditional stories and those stories of distinguish ways God established mankind. These stories are often told to the people in narrative form, which are guidelines often referred to a s laws, songs, genealogies, and list from these authors that composed the Old Testaments. The pressing