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Title: We Are One
Author: Param Patel & Pinky Mukhi
Illustrator: Devika Joglekar
Area of Focus: Different cultures (Diversity)

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The books that I've chosen for this literature folio include:
- Daddy, Papa and Me
- We Are One
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With students in Foundation/Level 1, they are far too young to compete any detailed and complex tasks using the picture book. However, there are still strategies that can be used in order to get the students thinking and participating in understanding the picture book without delving too deep into unknown grounds.
Strategies that can be used I the classroom can include:

- Reading out loud to the students and showing illustrations

- Whole class discussion

- ‘My Family’ activity

Although these strategies can be viewed as very basic, they do provide a foothold for students to gradually develop an awareness and eventually acceptance to difference when it comes to families with same-sex parents.

Reading out loud to the students and showing illustrations
The first strategy is an extremely simple one – the teacher gathers all the students into a group at the front of the class, and sits down to read out the picture book in front of them, showing the illustrations aside. From first glance, one may think that this method as a strategy is not accurate or proper enough to address the issues being presented in the book. However, the simplest methods can also be one of the most effective. When reading out loud to the students, not only are they able to follow along the short number of words on each page, they are also able to use the information presented from the illustration paired with it.

This method allows for exposure to patterns in text and can also act as an introduction to the beginner readers. Although the text is mainly dialogue, students in Foundation and Level 1 are mainly exposed to this form of communication and therefore will pick up the patterns in it more easily. Through recognizing it, they will in turn can absorb in the information presented through oral presentation (the teacher reading out loud). Showing the illustrations enables the students to relate the information being read to the a particular scene; through making connections between image and text (information), they will understand meanings on a deeper level. This will hence make it easier for the teacher to discuss with students the topic areas.

Whole class discussion

In this second strategy, the teacher would’ve already gone through the book at some point with the class and will engage the students into recalling information they remember about the story. Through a whole class discussion, it will enable the students to think back to the story and try to remember more about it rather than just leave it behind as something that happened in passing.

Talking together as a group allows the teacher to not only understand how much the students have understood about the story and the underlying topic, but also their reactions towards it if they’ve realized anything. By talking with the students, they can ask questions to ask for their opinion – even if not expecting in depth answers for such young students – it still starts up the building blocks to opinion making. Aside from that, whole class discussion can also enable the students to learn how to speak clearly and coherently, as starting young gives them more room for change and adjustment with the teacher’s advice. When students at this age are at home, not all are exposed to enough situations where they have to speak lengthily or with some sort of opinion behind it. Although they may not have in depth meanings or opinions, starting with something is better than nothing at all.

Even if the students are unable to give opinions due to their age, they will still be able to answer questions put down by the teacher. This will still give them an opportunity to reply in full or long explanations and even talk about themselves and possibly compare it to the story. The young students are hence provided with an environment and chance to expand their literacy skills in speaking which engaging in whole class discussion, creating a more concrete and stable literacy foundation for them to work with in the later years.

‘My Family’ activity

This strategy is more of an activity and gives the students a chance to engage in learning through something other than discussion. Keeping the students interested is important and with this activity, they can talk to their peers and get to know each other better. Although it might take a little more work to do this with young students, this will teach them the basics of how to work together and how to discuss with their peers.

If successful, the students will thereby be able to learn the skills to engage with their peers and share their thoughts. Even if they don’t actually discuss the story like older students do, it is likely they will bring up matters of their own family. For example, one student might ask another what their family is like and in turn say that their own has so many siblings and they have a mum and dad. What this allows is not just understanding their peers, but also the fact that not everyone’s family is exactly the same.

Aside from this, they’ll learn how to communicate, how to pace their words and build sentences orally. Speaking clearly and in a way that makes it easier for the other person to understand is an important skill in literacy and this activity will give them a place to practice with other students. Through talking with other students, they can get peer advice, albeit not distinctly but more so indirectly, and as a result improve on their sentence building. With someone else pointing out that they don’t understand what the student has said, it will allow them to adjust their words and therefore, become more proficient.

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The reason for choosing this book is because although it doesn’t directly discuss the fact that there are two fathers instead of a mother and father, it easily addresses the homosexuality in the story through the illustrations. The pictures clearly indicate the existence of two men as well as in the text through using the terms: ‘daddy’ and ‘papa’.

Although students of ages 6/7 may be young, with the explicit display through the use of both text and illustration, the students will be able to recognize the meaning of the story. This story demonstrates the fact that even though there are two men instead of a man and woman as the parents (through implicit actions described and shown in the picturebook), they are still like any other family. This will enable young students to easily and quickly understand that although some of their peers may have the same circumstances, they are no different from themselves. The use of this book to target such a young age group would be effective as the theme of same-sex parents is lightly explored; it adds elements alongside the issue that students recognise, such as playing with their parents or cooking together. These in turn not only impart the students with the diverse understanding we teachers aim to achieve, but also subtly develop their moral values.

In the 21st century, homosexuality is becoming more commonly seen in public – as compared to the past where they kept their real sexuality away from the public eye. Along with this fact, there is hence a call for students to have basic understanding and acceptance to the issue, so as to not develop negative bias towards families with same-sex parents. As a result of teaching them from an early age, young students will quickly be able to develop a more accepting perspective towards homosexuality and in turn, diversity in the classroom.

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Title: Daddy, Papa and Me
Author: Lesléa Newman
Illustrator:  Carol Thompson
Area of Focus: Families with same-sex parents (Diversity)

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This sort of topic is something that we as teachers need to promote in the schooling environment. Now in the 21st century, the people surrounding us and the environment in which we live, is becoming more and more diverse – we are sharing our lives with others that aren’t the same as us, but have their own worldviews.  The topic of diversity is extremely broad, and contains a number of branches; with varying student ages, the topics of the stories as well as the intensity with change to target their thought processes and moral values.

Although we always talk about teachers needing to be sensitive and aware of cultural and various other differences in the classroom – e.g. Prem S. Dean’s ‘Preparing Teachers for Education in a Diverse World’ (2007) – we have to realise that the students too need to be educated in this as well. Despite us teachers serving as ‘role-models’ for our students, sometimes a more direct approach to teaching students about the society they’re living in and the need for understanding of diversity, is more effective.

However, the method to imparting knowledge of this in a memorable way can at times stump us teachers. Therefore, the use of picture books as an aid to guiding students’ basic understanding and acceptance of diversity is practical – building up their understanding may take more time and effort in the classroom, but with a good foundation, getting students up to standard is a less arduous task.

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Diversity / Understanding & Accepting Difference