Learning Letter and Plan of Action

I really enjoyed this course of Global View of Children’s Literature. I loved that everything was project-based rather than writing essays or having tests because I learned more out of my peers and myself than I would have putting everything on paper. Another thing that I found insightful was the blog. If I wouldn’t have taken this course I probably would have never created a blog, but now that I have it I would definitely keep it mind and try to post blogs on my future readings and new global issues. It’s a place where I can express myself and my thoughts as well as be creative because my blog background and pictures really illustrate a little bit about myself. 

Each project in this class had a purpose and meaning behind it. There wasn’t a single project we had in which I didn’t learn anything from. These projects opened up my eyes more on the world we live in and the people around us. However despite this, there were projects that I enjoyed the most and were relatable to my life. The museum display was one of my favorites because as far as my culture goes I am very prideful. I love being Mexican and I love how Mexican culture has been a huge part of my life despite being born in the United States and living my whole life here. But I never really thought about it until we had this project. With this museum display I was able to see how my family really does try to keep our culture a part of who I am for example, the dresses I used to wear for our celebrations as a child, the candy, the music, and the artifacts. In the museum display I was also able to learn a little bit about my classmates and it was very eye opening because I was able to see the culture of others, the different families, and traditions. This was very insightful because usually you don’t get to know your classmates in every course the way we were able to here. We are so caught up in our busy schedules, our own bubble, and our lives to take the time to get to know the people we sit next to. It’s actually sad to have noticed how distant we are as a society. 

The other two projects I enjoyed were the book project and the graffiti wall. The book project was very informational. We covered so many issues within the topic of family and due to that I was able to have a well rounded collection of books that can be used with my students in the nearer future. I was surprised that there were books on single parenting and gender roles because they can be quite controversial and different from what is considered “the norm.” My group chose the topic of extended families and the books I presented on were about an aunt and a grandpa. The aunt book was bilingual and to my surprise it didn’t just touch on aunts, but also on how the two children in the book had divorced parents and were trying to cope with that in their own ways. Therefore many of these books touched on multiple issues and not just specific issues. The graffiti wall was also another project I enjoyed because it was an opportunity for me to be creative. I really wanted to incorporate graffiti somehow into my project so I painted some on there. Usually when I think of graffiti I think of a splash of colors and a collage of artwork. So in my project I just threw pictures on there all over the place of what I feel war and peace is. All the topics we discussed in class like human trafficking, revolution, and boy soldiers are things that I would consider war. Perhaps not army against army, but definitely people against people and after I heard Sean say the same thing it really confirmed by belief. Not only did I make a collage of all of these topics to represent the chaos within war, but also to represent how I feel about all of these topics and how it was information all thrown at us in one quarter. It was a lot to take in. 

All the topics and discussions we had in class were very overwhelming. Some of these topics are really hard to talk about. Partially I think that was because it was about children and seeing the world through their lenses. Children were depicted as hopeless human beings that were very easy to manipulate, hurt, and exploit. This stirred a lot of mixed emotions within me because you wish you can fix these problems in an instant, but when you realize that you are just one person and that it might take years to make an huge dramatic changes in the world you are left feeling hopeless as well. It would probably be just as rewarding making a difference in one child’s life, but I wish I can help everyone. Of course the topic I most related to was immigration and the book “Crossing the Border”. It’s difficult because sometimes with all of these issues I always find myself having a hard time understanding the reasoning behind people’s acts. I don’t understand how us humans can be capable of such heinous crimes and I don’t understand how we can’t just get along. Why can’t we share the world, why can’t we be there to help each other out, why is everything based on ownership, power, and money? And, why do we fear people who are different than us?

With all this in mind I would love to make a huge difference on the entire world, but I think I might have to start small and hopefully work my way up. My plan of action after this quarter would be to sponsor a child somewhere in a third world country. After hearing Sean say that the commercials we see about starving children is true and that there are places in the world where children really do look like that, I feel that desire to help out. I know that many people say that we have problems of our own here in the United States and that we should help out our country before we try to help out other countries, but to me that’s a selfish thought. I’m not saying that there aren’t people in need here and its wonderful that we have people who do want to help out locally, but our country compared to other countries is very privileged and we probably have more organizations and resources for people who need that help than other countries. I love helping out my local community, but I feel that I can have a bigger impact on someone who doesn’t have 1/3 of what I have in this country. I think we need to stop thinking about what we can do to benefit ourselves, our country, and help out others who need it even more.