Anti-bias activity: Flat Stanley variation

The project I’ve chosen is a variation of the traditional Flat Stanley pen pal project. You will create a ‘Flat Stanley/Stella’, which is a puppet like figure, and engage as pen pals with other classrooms around the world exchanging pictures and letters about your cultures and experiences. Your students will also create their own 'flat selves' and will use them to interact with one another and discuss their own cultural traditions, clothing and skin color.

Materials Required:

Flat Stanley templates

Clothing swatches

People colored crayons

Glue (non toxic)

Book: Flat Stanley

Book: Children Just Like Me

Camera 

Printed photographs of your children with Flat Stanley/Stella

Postage Stamps

White Butcher paper, to create large envelope display (optional)

Laminator (optional)

(Image from Anderson Early Childhood Center)

I chose this project because it is fun and engaging for all age groups, abilities and comprehension levels; children are encouraged to explore themselves physically and culturally as well as the friends in their classroom and are exposed in a personal way to children from around the globe. It is also an activity that can be integrated throughout the entire school year, not simply used as an isolated cultural experience. A Flat Stanley curriculum may be designed to be engaging for all children ages 3yrs - 6^th grade. While children ages 3-4 may not grasp every concept they will definitely still benefit from the exposure to culture and self-exploration. Children in the preschool age group are beginning to notice differences between themselves and others and enjoy exploring what they mean. Children ages 3-4 are very literal and make overly broad associations, "If they see a Native American on horseback with bows and arrows on television, they may deny that their classmate is a Native American" York, pg. 18. This is why it is appropriate and important to introduce a project like Flat Stanley and incorporate 'Children Just Like Me' in the preschool environment; children will be exposed to real life examples of various cultural backgrounds. They may ask questions for example about what makes them a girl or a boy and how they can tell others are girls or boys, what others eat and wear or how they talk; they begin to notice physical differences like color, size or physical disabilities obvious to the eye, all of these concepts are outlined in the Roots and Wings text, York, pg. 13. The Flat Stanley/Children Just Like Me project addresses and builds upon children's natural curiosity in the preschool years.

“Multicultural education is at least three things: an idea or concept, an educational reform movement, and a process.” York, pg. 125. Through the Flat Stanley project outlined in this blog children will be exposed to invaluable themes such as encouraging a true sense of self, York, pg. 128 (Bliss, Goals for Anti-Bias Curriculum). This project is to be used as “an intentional, sustained effort” NOT as a “one time event or thematic curriculum” York, pg. 129 to encourage exploration of various cultures throughout the year while exploring their own. Through the inclusion of everyday cultural experiences such as eating, playing dress up and seeing children represented in their everyday attire creates an environment of anti bias by challenging “the sources of stereotypes”, York, pg. 134. Discussing the many similarities and differences between themselves and the children they learn about and exchange letters and photographs with is an excellent positive exposure to diversity. (Bliss, Goals for Anti-Bias Curriculum) By reading ‘Children Just Like Me’ and creating a culturally inclusive curriculum to support the Flat Stanley project children are armed with the knowledge and experiences of a culture instead of seeing only celebratory traditions or garb. This encourages the respect of other cultures (Bliss, Goals for Anti-Bias Curriculum) while increasing their ability and confidence to interact with people of cultural backgrounds different from themselves.

Flat Stanley is a story and tradition that has been around for 50 years. The original Flat Stanley storybook written by Jeff Brown, published in 1964, explains that Stanley’s bulletin board fell on him as he slept, but it DIDN’T hurt him! It just made him flat. Stanley embarks on a series of adventures, including being mailed away to visit his best friend who moved far away. In 1994 Dale Hubert decided to have his class create their own ‘Flat Stanley’s’ and mail them away to their family and friends, he also contacted other educators offering to “host” Flat Stanley’s with his class. The popularity of his idea was tremendous and educators jumped at the chance to share cultural and geographical lessons in this fun and unique way. As the popularity of the project continued to grow Jeff Brown wrote a sequel, forty long years after his original publication. “Today, the Flat Stanley Project is a uniquely multi-generational, global literacy activity that engages hundreds of thousands of children on a daily basis. The Project encompasses more than 6000 schools registered in 88 countries around the globe, and is included in the curriculum for more than 15% of schools in the US.” Flatter World inc. 2011.

The project begins by reading Flat Stanley; I encourage flexibility when reading the story with preschoolers, as it is a bit wordy. The illustrations are fun and make excellent jumping off points for conversation. It is not important that they hear or even that you read all of the words so much as they absorb and enjoy the concept of a flat boy who can be mailed anywhere! With facilitation the children will then create their very own Flat ‘Stanley’s or Stella’s’
there are a great many templates to choose from that can be personalized to represent any cultural background. Allow the children a variety of materials to choose from to clothe and accessorize their ‘flat self’ including material swatches to glue on for clothes and people colored crayons to color their skin. Remember that a 3yr olds version of their flat self and an 8yr olds will obviously be worlds apart and that is absolutely OK! The process will be enjoyable for all ages and for an attentive teacher holds potential for excellent enriching conversation for the children. I recommend laminating the finished product as they can be used for various activities throughout the year.

This is an excellent ‘getting to know you’ activity for the beginning of the school year; after creating their ‘Flat Self’ the children can discuss with one another their clothing and skin color choice, their hobbies, family life and pets etc. The children’s flat selves should have a special board in the classroom where they can be displayed all together. These ‘flat selves’ may be used as tools to resolve conflict, expressing their emotions with one another through their flat selves. Children may also feel more comfortable communicating difficult life experiences they may be going through at home with the use of their flat selves. “By expressing feelings through Flat Stanley it should be easier for students to share sensitive information. Students would be encouraged to examine their emotions and to display the appropriate flat self that reflects how they are feeling. By expressing emotions and attitudes through their flat selves it is hoped that students won't have to act out as much to show how they are feeling. The teacher can be sensitive to the moods of the flat selves and prevent blow ups and unexpected emotional outbursts.” Flatter World inc. 2011, flattered emotions. 

This project requires some special involvement; as an educator you must be prepared, by using the Flat Stanley website, to connect with at least one, but ideally several other teachers globally to exchange Flat Stanley’s/Stella’s with. This project may be as culturally inclusive into your classroom as you wish. I personally would theme the class materials (sensory bin, snacks, music, dramatic play, guest speakers…etc.) based upon where your flat character is headed, as this will increase the children’s understanding of culture as a people’s way of life, not just pictures and stories.

Upon identifying the first destination for your class’s Flat Stanley/Stella to embark you will use the ‘Children Just Like Me’ book. As a class you will read about where your character is headed. Children should be exposed to ‘real life’ images of diversity, as provided in ‘Children Just Like Me’, not only in cartoon form as the Flat Stanley/Stella characters. ‘Children Just Like Me’ is an excellent resource that provides photographs of children from around the world in their everyday clothing and explains the homes in which they live, food that they eat and aspects of their ordinary daily lives.

I personally recommend sending a ‘flat Stella’ as ‘flat Stanley’ seems to get around quite a lot and be well represented, it seems to me that ‘flat Stella’ should be included in more globe trotting experiences. As far as what your Stella/Stanley should look like I recommend modeling him/her to look like the country he/she will be traveling to based upon the children you read about in ‘Children Just Like Me’. The teacher will create the class’s flat character and introduce him/her to the class during circle time. If you have chosen an all inclusive classroom approach for the project you should also discuss at this time all of the ways the flat character’s country of origin will be incorporated into the classroom through sensory bins, snacks, dramatic play, music, books…etc. For example; if your Stella/Stanley happens to be traveling to Mexico you may post photographs of Mexican cultural activities throughout the classroom, taste traditional Mexican foods at snack time, practice counting in Spanish, listen to Spanish language songs throughout the day and perhaps invite a member from your local community who is a Mexican native or expert to be a volunteer guest speaker.

You may choose to incorporate all elements of the project:

Reading Flat Stanley

Creating 'flat selves'

Introducing the Stella/Stanley you will be mailing

Reading Children Just Like Me

Incorporating the cultural destination of your character

Taking photographs

Addressing your envelope and associated lesson

Visiting the post office

Over the course of a week or even more!

 Preschoolers will develop a better understanding of the culture their flat Stanley/Stella is to travel the longer they are exposed to play materials, no need to rush. Ensure that copies of Flat Stanley and Children Just Like Me are available during free play times for children to look through and explore freely, answer any questions they may have and encourage discussion about their own lives and cultures. As you engage in story time, playtime, snack time etc. take pictures of your class’s flat Stanley/Stella with the children. Ask the children what they do everyday that they would like to share with children who live in said country where your character will be traveling and take pictures of them engaging in these activities with their flat character as well.

After several pictures have been taken write a letter of introduction to the class where your character will travel and read it aloud at circle time, then place the character, photographs and letter in to an envelope; explain what you’re doing as you address and stamp your envelope. You may choose to organize a field trip to the post office to mail your flat Stanley/Stella. You can create a giant addressed envelope to display in the classroom; it is good for preschoolers to see an addressed envelope even if they don’t fully comprehend it’s meaning. This is also a place in the classroom where you can post the pictures and letters your class receives from around the globe. Discuss why it is important for them to know the name of the street where they live and begin practicing their phone numbers.

Post the letters and pictures you receive from other classes while reviewing the materials, music, toys, dress up materials and food you ate from that country or state. Answer any questions they may have and discuss their preferences; what did they enjoy and would like to try again?!

Even President Obama is a big supporter of Flat Stanley!

References:

Roots & Wings, Stacy York
Goals for Anti-Bias Curriculum, Bliss
Flatter World.Inc., https://www.flatstanley.com/user/home

Wreck it Ralph - Analysis

Disney, released 2012


         I chose this movie because it is one that my daughter and I both absolutely love. Many people seem to have intense and very differing opinions on Wreck it Ralph. There are definitely some things that struck me as hard to swallow in regards to teaching diversity and anti bias lessons that I will go into detail on below; but as a whole, I think the movie has a positive overall message to share.

A quick plot summary:   

        Ralph is a ‘bad guy’ he lives inside of an arcade game where his job is to smash up a building as Fix-it-Felix follows behind and repairs the damage with his magic hammer. 

(later in the film Felix realizes his ability to 'fix' everything is not always an asset!)

        Ralph lives in the garbage dump and is completely ostracized from everyone in his game. He goes on a mission to prove that he can earn a medal and be just as ‘good’ as Felix so he doesn’t have to live in the dump anymore.

         Ralph leaves his game and embarks upon his journey to earn a medal. Ralph takes a medal from a war type game, Hero’s Duty, and inadvertently brings an infestation of robotic bugs to the “Sugar Rush” game. The military leader of Hero’s Duty, a woman named Seargant Calhoun, follows in search of the bugs.

        Upon Ralph's entry into the candy themed racing game Sugar Rush he stumbles into the adorable, Vanellope Von Schweetz; a little girl who, like Ralph, is an outcast, considered an accidental glitch in her game. She steals his medal to enter a race and their journey together begins. She must win a race to be accepted and earn back a coin, which she promises to give to Ralph as his medal.

        At the end of their journey of many ups and downs Ralph discovers that Vanellope was never a glitch after all but an original character who King Candy deleted from everyone’s memory. After Ralph kills the bugs and saves the day he decides he belongs in his game and has a job to do; he invites all the outcast and disregarded players from other games to join a bonus level in his game “Wreck it Ralph” and builds himself and the new players homes. 

         As I mentioned, there were many biased undertones. Firstly, Ralph is a very stereotypical depiction of a lower working class white male; he’s in fact almost Neanderthal like in his appearance and mannerisms. He’s made fun of throughout the movie for being smelly and having bad breath, it’s even referenced at least twice, that I noticed, that Ralph is a heavy drinker. Ralph is the epitome of every stereotype of a ‘big dumb grunt worker’.  

         Drinking in children’s movies is somewhat of a personal pet peeve. Just off the top of my head I can think of Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast and more recently Tangled that depict drinking; I’m certain there are many more but even with an internet search I was unable to find a comprehensive list. In Wreck it Ralph specifically, Ralph goes to “Tapper’s”, which is one of many retro game references; upon leaving he encounters an intoxicated soldier from Hero’s Duty. When Ralph leaves the game and doesn’t show up for the first time during game play of Fix it Felix, Felix states, “He probably fell asleep in the restroom of Tapper’s again.” It was a quick and subtle statement that was completely appalling to me. Fortunately I watch many movies now that I loved as a child, like Goonies, and notice things like this that completely evaded me as a child. I’m certain most children wouldn’t notice the reference to being ‘passed out in the bathroom of a bar’, still it was not only inappropriate but offensive due to Ralph’s status as a ‘bad guy’ and ‘grunt worker’.

         The depiction of Ralph as an outcast, over indulgent drinker whose only job is to smash things and lives in a garbage dump is extremely classist in my opinion. The movie seemingly makes light of itself and references ‘racial profiling’ when Ralph is stopped for a ‘random safety check’. I actually appreciated this reference and think it’s a good example of the way the movie balances the obvious stereotypes throughout.

         King Candy could easily be viewed as the typical negative stereotype of a flamboyantly gay male. While it is not made blatantly clear that he is in fact gay, such as having a same sex partner, he speaks with a high pitched lisp, dresses flamboyantly and has his castle decorated all in pink. Ralph jests him about his ‘pink castle’ and King Candy states that clearly is it salmon; which only adds insult to injury that he’s acting defensive and ashamed. 

        I found an excellent blog in which a man, Chris Bogia, expresses his painful experience of growing up as a gay child whose only relief was found through gaming. He was ecstatic about seeing Wreck it Ralph, only to be devastated by the homophobic biases depicted. At one point Ralph calls King Candy a “nelly wafer”, the blogger points out that ‘nelly’ used to be a common gay slur. I was also very offended the first time I saw the film at the obvious depiction of a ‘crazy flamboyant king’ with no other apparent positive connotation towards the LGBT community. I, as well as Chris Bogia,  was surprised by the many ‘gay friendly’ and actual gay/lesbian actors in the film not being offended or speaking up against the seeming biases.    

        I can see where some may take issue with seeming sexism in the film as well. Felix becomes infatuated with Calhoun based solely on her ‘beautiful face’. 

        Later the otherwise super strong, hardcore character of Calhoun becomes suddenly smitten with Felix when he ‘rescues her’ in a Tarzan like moment. It was slightly insulting to see an otherwise overtly strong female character be made to appear helpless. The best example of sexism that I encountered was a reel girl blog pointing out that all of the advertisement posters in her city depicted the secondary (at best) characters who are all male despite the obvious female characters who are much more pertinent to the story.

        To counter these sexist stereotypes however is the awesome (I think) character of Vanellope. While many may call her a brat, I see her as spunky, sassy, independent and strong. There are many times that she is put down or discouraged to follow her dreams and she insists that on the inside she KNOWS who she is no matter what anyone says. At the end of the film Vanellope is realized as the actual true princess of Sugar Rush; she is magically transformed into a fancy beautiful princess with a big poofy dress. Just as I became disenchanted and offended that they dare change the adorable untraditional character the following happens:

(skip to 1:09 and stop at 2:32 for relevant clip, the sound is unpredictable as well, SORRY!)

        Vanellope is then immediately questioned about what the people of Sugar Rush would do without a princess she says she will be the leader, but was “…thinking more along the lines of a constitutional democracy. ‘President Vanellope Von Schweetz’, has a nice ring to it don’t ya think?” (AWESOME!)

        In my research I stumbled upon a boy, Perry S. Chen who is an award winning, 12yr old, child movie reviewer. In his review of Wreck it Ralph he maturely notices the social commentary the movie is posing about classism. His only complaint, which I find very cute, is the predictable mushy stuff. After all, what 12yr old boy wants to see romance in their otherwise engaging, action packed cartoon movie?

        I think it’s also important to mention that Wreck it Ralph was highly nominated including an Oscar and Golden Globe as best animated picture. It won several awards as well, not the least of which is the very telling “Kids’ choice award”.

        My daughter, who is 11, loves Wreck it Ralph. She also doesn’t like the mushy stuff but greatly appreciated that Vanellope was unique, smart and didn’t do the typical “girly princess” stuff. She loved that Ralph found his place without changing who he was and that even though he didn’t really seem to have any friends he was always thinking of others and kind; like sharing his cherries with ‘homeless characters’ and later building them homes.

                   
References:

Wreck it Ralph, Disney 2012
  www.gamefaqs.com, NeotheLight, 2012
disney.wikia, Hey1234, 2012/JaDangerz, 2012
  www.commonsensemedia.org, Caroline Knorr, 2010
 charredlot.tumblr.com, charredlot, 2012
www.huffingtonpost.com, Chris Bogia, 2012
www.urbandictionary.com, DurtyWilly, 2008
reelgirl.com, Reel Girl, 2012
www.perryspreviews.com, Perry S. Chen, 2013
www.imdb.com, 
www.youtube.com

Children's book analysis: I Wish that I Had Duck Feet

I Wish that I Had Duck Feet

By Dr. Seuss *writing as Theo.LeSieg

Illustrated by BTOBEY

Published in 1965

'I Wish that I Had Duck Feet' is a story of a young boy who wishes to change various parts of his body into animal parts. As he makes these wishes he considers how it will affect his everyday life and interactions with other individuals such as the antagonist, a bully, "Big Bill Brown", his mother, father and teacher Miss Banks. After considering the pros and cons of each part he chooses he would be better off without that particular animal part and then considers another. Eventually coming to the conclusion that he should have ALL of the animal parts at once; duck feet, a tiger tail, elephant trunk, whale spout and deer horns! But with all of the parts together people are afraid of him and he gets locked up and thrown in the zoo. Finally the boy decides he is better off just being himself after all. 

Every character in this book is an extremely mainstream caricature of upper middle class white America in the 1950's-60's. The book paints a picture of a small town where all the children go to school and play together. The culture of that time of children playing 

together without a lot of adult interaction/supervision is well depicted. Stereotypes 

such as that of the classic 'big bully', the stay at home mom who is always cleaning and rather bossy, Dad who's role is basically lounging and ordering chores to be done, an older female teacher and public servants who are solely male are all strongly represented in the book. The society is clearly patriarchal and there are literally no people of color represented 

in any way, everyone is very pale complected. Along with everyone being very 

white the children and women in the story all have light brown, orange, yellow or gray hair, only men are depicted with black hair.

Clearly white males have the authority and are the ‘active doers’ as described under section 1.Check the illustrations in the 10 quick ways handout, in everything other than housekeeping and the elementary school classroom. Even within the social structure 

of the children in the story the largest male has the power. The Father in the story uses his power to take advantage of the boy’s new animal parts having him wash the car and house with his elephant trunk. The male authority figures, police and zookeepers, lock him up 

and keep him in the zoo with poor treatment. The bully holds the power and torments the boy, even tying him in a tree by his tiger tail at one point in the story. The mother is only depicted as being inside the house and upset because the boy has gotten water on her floor from his duck feet and his whale spout. She has a stern disposition and YELLS at him both times, with capital letters and everything. 

In her first appearance she has an apron on and a vacuum in her hand, the second she is standing above him on the stairs yelling and 

pointing down at him. The teacher, Miss Banks is depicted as pleasant and the boy is clearly eager to please her. She is only shown as being happy with the benefits of the boy’s newfound animal parts. Her power is that of positive reinforcement.

Miss Banks shows some amount of wisdom in the story, as she is not quick to 

negatively judge the boy’s animal parts and finds benefits to them instead. The character showing the most wisdom is in fact the boy himself. He is creative, a critical thinker 

and ultimately finds strength and confidence from within himself.

The rewards and consequences in this story are very telling; there are little to no consequences for bullying behavior exhibited by Big Bill Brown. The only 

consequences doled out to the bully are that of the boy’s imagination when he beats 

him in a game or otherwise upstages the bully due to his animal parts. In the 

boy’s imagination he is belittled by his mother, exploited by his father , judged by society and ultimately locked up for being different.

Language is used creatively, as is the style of Dr. Seuss. “Big Bill Brown” sounds appropriately intimidating for a bully. There is really no use of slang or terms that could be considered anything other than common and appropriate for an early reader. The way language is used in the book gives a good overall idea of the individual’s motives and personality through the way they speak. Miss Banks speaks positively, like on pg. 37 of I Wish that I Had Duck Feet stating, “No other boy in town can hit a fly so far away” about his tiger tail. The mother speaks harshly, “Not in the house! You shut that off! You take that spout away.” (pg. 28, I Wish that I Had Duck Feet) when referring to his whale spout. Interestingly the boy’s father doesn’t speak, the lack of conversational language is just another nod to the power of the middle aged white male. He sits back, inappropriately with a pipe in his mouth, and it is understood that the boy must do as he wishes.

Surprisingly to me, even with all of the previously stated issues I found of complete race exclusion and sexism, I couldn’t find a negative word about I Wish that I Had Duck Feet anywhere. Literally the most negative thing I found was someone who stated that as a child the book spooked her slightly because as the reviewer, Cathy, stated, “It's funny b/c I see that my brother gave this book 5 stars! It creeped me out when I was little. I think that I was always worried that the boy wouldn't be able to get rid of his new animal parts.”  (goodreads.com, 1 star reviews) However, through research I found that Dr. Seuss himself is much more controversial than I was aware. He drew many racist cartoons as advertisements and as posts in newspapers. (openculture.com) While the culture was clearly different at the time of these illustrations and he did issue public apologies these cartoons remain extremely shocking and offensive. I believe the book is so “white” and sexist because that was the society and culture in which Theodor Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss, lived at the time, this is described as the “author’s perspective” under section 7. of the 10 quick ways handout. Segregation, racism and sexism were an accepted and common part of society when I Wish that I Had Duck Feet was written which makes it outdated at the least.

        

I could find very little information on the illustrator BTOBEY, but obviously he lived 

in the same time as the Dr. and therefore likely subscribed to the same 

racially discriminatory and sexist points of view.  

What I do find valuable in the story is the voice of the boy and his brilliant imagination so colorfully portrayed. The voice of society in this book is that of white males where both women and men alike are un-accepting of differences. I believe the voice of girls, women and any type of minority are extremely lacking. The boy imaginatively rejects the status quo with his desire to break out of his place in society but is sadly shut down with negativity until his glorious realization that it is wonderful to be himself.

I have to be honest; this has always been a favorite of my daughter’s and mine to read together and there’s a copy of it in the ‘Dr. Seuss’ section of my preschool library.

 As discussed in the Evaluating Children’s Literature, Bliss, section 1. this book is very well written; it lends itself to funny voices, creative and critical thinking and discussions about

 the wrongness of bullying and smoking. However a children’s book shouldn’t 

incite conversation based upon what’s ‘wrong’ with it and I can't help but feel deeply concerned that racism in America is so strongly immeshed in everyday culture that I couldn't find a single negative review in such a blatantly biased children's book. Still, Many teachers value I Wish that I Had Duck Feet as a teaching and creative experience. (firstgradewow.blogspot.com)  

The narrative of I Wish that I Had Duck Feet is not so offensive

 as are its illustrations; the illustrations are so stereotyped as 

discussed under section 1. Check the illustrations, of the 10 quick ways handout, that 

a child viewing the illustrations would be led to think that only physically perfect

 Caucasians live in the town where I Wish that I Had Duck Feet takes place. I realize 

that with copy writes and such it would be nearly impossible to alter a beloved classic

 but it would be absolutely amazing if this book were re-illustrated to demonstrate 

today’s beautifully diverse society. Maybe really shake things up and have the 

protagonist be a black elementary school girl in a wheel chair!

References:

I Wish that I Had Duck Feet, Dr.Seuss, (1957)

10 Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books For Racism and Sexism, California State Department of education (1998)

Evaluating Children's Literature, Bliss

goodreads.com, Goodreads Inc (2014)

openculture.com, Crow, Jonathan (2014)

firstgragewow.blogspot.com, VandenBurge, Nancy (2013)