Anti-Bias Activity - It's Me!

It's Me!

Description: Have the children create a self portrait.  Invite them to use mirrors to analyze the specific characteristics that make them each unique and then create a portrait of what they see.  Some children may need some guiding to realize their own personal characteristics, such as their hair being long or short, curly or straight, or even light or dark.  Reassure them that they are able to use the mirror throughout in case they need to refer back to it.  Once all children have completed their self portraits, have the everyone share them together in one whole group.
Materials:
* Mirrors (Unbreakable)
* Skin-color art supplies - paints, markers, crayons
* Construction or drawing paper

I selected this activity, because of the importance of self appreciation, as well as the use of their artistic abilities to create something that is so personal to them, as it is a portrait of themselves.  I thought it was wonderful to see the use of the mirrors to allow the child to study their unique features and perhaps notice some things about themselves that they might not have noticed before.  Referring back to the mirror throughout the project helps the child not feel stressed out about getting it correct from memory, as the mirror is available for constant use.
The age that I feel this project is appropriate for is as young as 2 years old, as that is when they are starting to make realizations about their own personal physical characteristics and those around the (Roots & Wings 26).  While the idea of the project is suitable for the young age thought process, it might require them to be slightly more towards the 4-6 year old age range in order to understand the project fully and how to use the mirrors in relation to the self portrait.  Additionally, these children are beginning to notice these differences more and starting to question them.  Addressing them now would allow them to have better self acceptance and work towards some of the Anti-Bias goals in regards to acceptance and respect towards ones self and peers around them.  After that age, it would be appropriate for anyone in the older end of early childhood as well.  Personally, I think it would be interesting to have this type of project be an annual thing that is done, and then children can see how their interpretations of themselves have progressed as the years have gone by.
This is a very appropriate theme in my opinion because it requires a child to look at themselves first and really see what makes them who they are.  Children begin to notice that they share similarities and differences (Handout, 2).  After looking at their own faces, they can better see how peers are similar to them, as well as the things that make them each unique and different.  Just as it is important for us as teachers to evaluate our own personal beliefs, cultures and identities, this is an important beginning for these young children to start self evaluating by using something that is familiar and understandable to them.
Anti-Bias Goals:
* Recognize, appreciate and accept the uniqueness, beauty, value and contribution of each child.
* Provide children with a positive experience exploring similarities and differences.
* Help children live happily and cooperatively in a diverse world (Handout, 1).
How are these Goals Met?
First off, these children would be able to see a creative representation of each child's interpretation of their faces.  By using the skin tone colored art materials that best matches their personal tonality, it creates a more accurate depiction of how they differ from one another.  As these self portraits are discussed and then hung around the classroom, everyone can then see how everyone fits in and is a key member of this community in their own way.  The second goal is met by this activity being simple and understandable for these young preschoolers.  The subject matter is something they are around on a daily basis and should be something they can proudly interpret without any negative insight since it is their own face.  The third and final goal can be met by the sharing of each peer's self portrait, and being able to relate to similarities and differences.  Being able to make a connection with each individual in the classroom is a valuable experience, and after seeing that these physical similarities and differences don't have to affect their shared interests, it would allow the focus to shift from looks towards feelings and respect.

Children's Books to Support:
All About Faces - La Zoo
I feel that this book would be a good starting point, as it discusses the different shapes and attributes faces can have.  Since this project is primarily about a child evaluating their own face, this book would be a good introduction in order to help label what specific features are on their own face, as well as the individuals they see around them in the classroom and in their day to day lives.
What I Like About Me - Allia Zobel Nolan
This second book is a good second step towards the self portrait project, since it discusses things about the individual child.  It goes in to talking about different hair, height, feet size, eyebrows, ears and other various features that often stand out if they appear to be different from the normal.  Instead, each child in the story says what their feature is, usually side by side with someone that has an opposite feature, and says what they like about it.  I feel that this book would be an excellent introduction the day of the project, as it concludes with a mirror and asks the question, "What is it you like best about you?"  This creates a positive opening to the project at hand, and introduces them directly to seeing specific differences and that it is okay to be you.
A Rainbow of Friends - P.K. Hallinan
I found this book to be a good conclusion, and as a stepping stone from looking at what each person looks like physically to discussing the idea of respect and community within the classroom.  It uses the view of a rainbow to discuss the various differences between each individual and what they have that might be different from you or your peers but in the end if everyone works together as a team with the same goals in sight, it creates the finished "rainbow" of each individual in the classroom as a whole unit.  I especially liked how this book didn't just discuss skin color differences, but also their abilities.

Additional Activity Ideas:
Something that could be done to expand this type of project would be to use a full length piece of paper and trace the child's body on it to scale.  After their body is traced, they can refer to a full length mirror to see not only what their face looks like, but also what their clothing looks like in order to relay it on to their body tracing paper.  Once finished, the papers can be cut to size and displayed around the classroom to not only give a visual of what they noticed about themselves and each other, but also include differences such as height and cultural clothing choices if applicable.

Another idea would be to have the children draw directly on to the mirror they are looking at themselves in and trace their features.  This might be a good starting activity for younger children that are still exploring faces and shapes before moving forward to transfer what they see on to a piece of paper.
A third idea that could be done with this type of project would be to explore drawing another individual in the classroom.  Instead of using mirrors, the pairs would sit across the table from each other and draw what they see.  This activity would really work on their respect for individuals that are different from them, and require them to recognize that these physical characteristic do not solely define the person for who they are as an individual.
Conclusion:

In conclusion, I feel that this is a wonderful activity that can be used to raise awareness with one's self as well as those around them in the classroom.  It seems that so many young children grow up being told by society that their own physical features are undesirable and they should change their hair, skin color, eye color, etc.  It would be wonderful to help these children at a young age embrace who they are and like themselves for what they have.  Once being introduced to their self awareness of what makes them unique, they can then begin to look at the classroom around them to recognize how unique and special each of their classmates are in a positive, respectful manner.  Art is a wonderful means of self expression, and one their self-portrait has been created they can share with the class all about what makes them who they are.
References:

Bliss, Professor Kelly. (2014). Goals for Anti-Bias Curriculum. Retrieved from https://sierra.instructure.com/courses/245205/files/21938426/
Hallinan, P.K. (2005). A Rainbow of Friends. Nashville, TN: Ideal's Children's Books.
Nolan, A.Z. (2009). What I Like About Me!. Pleasantville, NY: Reader's Digest.
York, Stacey (2003). Roots & Wings:Affirming Culture in Early Childhood Programs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Zoo, La (2009). All About Faces. New York City, NY: Seven Footer Press.

Children's Film Review - Thumbelina

Title: Thumbelina
Release Date: March 30th, 1994

Summary:  In this film, a young girl named Thumbelina feels alone as the only small person she knows.  As her mother reads her a story at the beginning of the film, she asks, "Oh, mother, please. Are there any stories about... about little people?" (DioGuardi).  Her mother begins to read her a story about people that are her size, but have wings instead.  Thumbelina learns about these fairies, and then begins to yearn for these wings that she doesn't have herself.  That night, she falls in love with a boy who comes in through her window and then finds herself pining for him.  After a family of toads hear them singing, Thumbelina is kidnapped and ends up on a twisting journey through the entire forest to find her way back home.  A minimum of three other characters "fall in love" with Thumbelina and fight for her hand in marriage.  Thumbelina is steadfast in her ways of being set on marrying Cornelius, because he is not only her size, but also a fairy.  Cornelius finds his way back to Thumbelina, then marries her and they live happily ever after.

Analysis:  Instantly, I picked up on the amount of times Thumbelina commented on how her size was a negative factor for her.  She suggested that her mother read her a story about people that were "like her" as well as picked up on that she was the only human her size around her.  She assumed happily ever after could only happen for people of the same size, and that she could not be happy with someone who wasn't like her.  Thumbelina states, "I... I must be the only little person in the world. I wish I were big." and her mother reassures her by saying "Oh, no, Thumbelina. No. Don't ever wish to be anything but what you are" (DioGuardi).  I feel that her mother was trying to reassure her that it is perfectly okay to be exactly who you are, but Thumbelina just wouldn't accept any of that as an option.  I feel that from this film, children could be picking up on the idea of falling in love the moment you meet someone that is just like you is what is bound to happen.  Thumbelina fell in love with Cornelius because he was the same size as her.  In a sense, this projects some of the stereotypes of sizeism, telling children that if you're shorter, you're not meant to be with someone who isn't a mirror image of yourself.  Throughout the film, a frog, a beetle and a mole all try to marry Thumbelina for various "love at first sight" reasons, but Thumbelina is set on Cornelius and won't give any of these other critters a second glance at any sort of conversation or friendship.  Additionally, it shows that falling in love is only based off of physical and vocal qualities, as none of these individuals that set their hearts on marrying Thumbelina know her for more than her appearance or her singing voice.

Outside Response: A few reviews that I found in regards to this film is that it was considered to be sexist, as Thumbelina is unable to do anything for herself.  She finds herself almost in multiple arranged marriages, and is usually saved by Cornelius or the sparrow who appears sporadically throughout the film.  I have to say, I agree with this label for this film, because Thumbelina had so many opportunities to thrive on her own and be her own person.  Instead, she felt she needed a man to guide her in her life, and wasn't standing up for herself.  At first she fought being kidnapped by the toads, but by the end of the musical number, she was enjoying the situation she was in.  She allowed the beetle and other bugs to decide for her how she should feel about herself, whether she was pretty or ugly in the course of one song.  Mrs. Fieldmouse wanted Thumbelina to understand that she needed to marry the Mole to keep him company, and that marrying for love was overrated and would simply end in death like Romeo and Juliet.  In the song, Mrs. Fieldmouse even tells her, "Poor Thumbelina, you're brain's so itty bitty.  I hate to be a pest, but I know what's best for you"(Feel Like a Kid Again HD).  Money is a main "selling point" for her reasons to marry the mole, which she almost goes through with to please those around her.  It is very unfortunate that this character who was told in the beginning of the film to be just who you are and nothing more, finds herself changing herself time and time again to please those around her to fit the female typecast. 

A second factor that some consider appearing in this film is the racist profiling of some of the characters.  Primarily, the toads are said to be poor representations of Latin culture.  The mother toad is portrayed as curvaceous bodied frog with an elaborate hair do and the three sons are very costume-esquely dressed.  A review in the New York Times states that in creating this sort of Latin singing group gave the composer of the film (Barry Manilow) the ability to create a song in the style of his own hit "Copacabana" from the 1970's.  I find the racial tones to be a little less than the sexist ones, but I can absolutely agree that they exist in this film as well.
One last thing that was pointed out was that the Fairy King & Queen were noted to be strongly enforcing gender norms towards their son, and not allowing the idea of his gender identity to waver (Lange).  In the film, the son Cornelius is noticed to have run off again, and the King tells the Queen, "I think he feels a bit silly riding that white butterfly we gave him... It doesn't quite make the right impression on the young ladies" (DioGuardi).  In this instance, the King seems to be telling the Queen that it wasn't quite manly enough to be riding around on a butterfly, and that is something much more feminine than what a prince should be doing.  Instead, Cornelius is seen to be riding around on a bumble bee that his mother seems to resent, much like a motor cycle in the real world.

I found it interesting that I couldn't find anything on my original statement of feeling that the movie was heavy on Thumbelina not feeling like she was able to do anything because of her size.  I presume that this is because sizeism isn't as widely known as things like racism or sexism to viewers, and people would think more of those being considered harsher stereotypes to apply to films.  

References:DioGuardi, Jamie, (2014, November 29). Don Bluth's Thumbelina - Full Movie HD. [Video File].  Retrieved from http://youtu.be/iieJoCOTWV0

Feel Like A Kid Again HD, (2014, November 29). Thumbelina - Marry The Mole. [Video File].  Retrieved from http://youtu.be/SjJNpk73vhk
Golbarg, Bashi. (2013, October 20). No Title. [Blog Posting]. Retrieved from http://golbargbashi.tumblr.com/post/64592095557/the-1994-cartoon-thumbelina-by-don-bluth-earns
Holden, Stephen (1994, March 30). Hans Christian Andersen s Thumbelina (1994)

Review/Film; The Great, Big Worries of Such a Tiny Girl. The New York Times.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE2DE143FF933A05750C0A962958260 

James. (2008, May 7). Thumbelina, or How to Deal with a Sexual Predator [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://ayearofamilliondreams.tumblr.com/post/42968077491/thumbelina-or-how-to-deal-with-a-sexual-predatorLange, Ariana. (2014, March 30). "Thumbelina" Is Actually A Terrifying Movie. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/arianelange/thumbelina-is-actually-a-terrifying-movie
strawberryummies (2013, February 16). Member Reviews [Msg 10]. Message posted to https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/thumbelina/user-reviews

Picture Book Analysis & Evaluation - The Five Chinese Brothers

Book Title: The Five Chinese Brothers

Author: Claire Huchet Bishop
Illustrator: Kurt Wiese

Original Publication: 1938
Intended Age Level: Kindergarten through Second Grade

Description: In this book, five identical brothers live with their mother in China.  Each brother has a special talent that prevents things from happening to them.  The first brother takes a young boy out fishing, and when he uses his talent to swallow the sea the young boy does not listen to him as he signals to return to shore.  The first brother releases the sea from his mouth, the young boy is lost, and the village arrests him, and condemns him to have his head cut off.  The brothers each take turns tricking the executioners by asking to go home and say goodbye to their mother and switch places to avoid the death sentence.  In the end, the brothers were assumed to be innocent and sent on their way home to live happily for the rest of time.

The individuals in this book are characterized as looking the same, much like the stereotype of all Asian individuals looking exactly alike, regardless of which country and region they originated from.  The drawing style shoes all characters in the book with yellow skin, slanted lines for eyes, and the exact same wardrobe choice.  The author was born in Switzerland and the illustrator was from Germany, which leaves these two to be outside of the culture represented in this story.  It was interesting to see that the author did thank her father on the acknowledgements page for making her love China which makes me curious about the background that helped create this storybook (Bishop, 1938).

I selected this book initially when I saw it on the suggestion list because I remembered my Grandmother having it at her house when I was growing up.  Since it was originally written in the 1930s, almost 60 years later when it was read to me, it was already well past the decade mark mentioned on the Evaluating Children's Literature list (Bliss, 2014).   There is no mix of culture shown in this story, as it remains based solely in China and about the five brothers.  When looking at who might hold the power in this story, at first it appears the judge as they are trying to execute the first brother but in a turn of events it seems as if the brothers take the power from the authorities to avoid the punishment from an act that turned out to be a complete accident since the young boy ignored the signals from the first brother.

I looked at many public responses to this book on forums, and many people commented on the yellow skin, the identical look of the brothers and the stereotypes shown were considered to be demeaning.  I found myself looking high and low for support of these statements in a literary article, but instead I came across one that was supportive of this book.  Selma Lanes comments about the skin color shown, and how others previous to her discussed it as "bilious and vile" but instead she sees it as "being the color of sunshine or butter, cheerful and highly appealing"  (Lane, 1977)  I also find it interesting that she discusses that the country is almost irrelevant to the story line, as it could take place in any country.  She states that the fact the brothers all look alike is in part to the trickery on the judge and public and not to comment on the stereotype that all Asian individuals look the same (Lane, 1977).  Personally, I feel looking at this book now versus when I was a child, I can understand where both sides could be coming from.  I think that if this book was written as it is, but illustrated by a traditional Chinese artist, it may have a completely different reaction from current audiences.

Looking at this book now, I think the larger issue might be looking at discussing what exactly an execution is with young children.  This heavier topic may be unfamiliar to children, and might be harder to explain than the answers we could give when a child asks about why certain people look different.  The five brothers then resorted to trickery to avoid the punishment the first brother was to receive, which in a sense could confuse a child over what to do in the case of something happening accidentally.  The young boy ignored the signs from the first brother which caused him to disappear (presumably drowned) and lead to the trial.  While there were no witnesses to this incident, we as the reader see that the brother was not intentionally harming the little boy.  The story ends in such a way that after all the ways the brothers switched places to avoid death, they lived happily with their mother for many years.  While it shows that they were able to have a happy life in the end, it still avoids any conversation about what happened to the young boy in the first place.

While this story is primarily intended to be fun, there are some certain things to it that I feel would render it unfit for young children.  There was still an uneasy feeling about the illustrations in this book being exceptionally outdated, despite the authors who tried to put a positive spin on things.  Combined with the book being originally written 76 years ago, I feel it is safe to say there are better books out there to use in early childhood programs.   I thought it was interesting that when I searched for this book through the Placer County library I couldn't find it available anywhere but when I searched the Sacramento Public library, there were multiple copies available to check out.

References:
Bliss, Professor Kelly. (2014). Evaluating Children’s Literature. Retrieved from https://sierra.instructure.com/courses/245205/assignments/2570955
California Department of Education, Council on Interracial Books for Children. (1998). 10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Racism and Sexism [Brochure]. Sacramento, CA: Bill Honig.
congerjan, (2014, September 18). The Five Chinese Brothers. [Video File].  Retrieved from http://youtu.be/j2Fb3842OjY
Lanes, S. G. (1977). A Case for The Five Chinese Brothers. School Library Journal, 24(2), 90.