jaimy michelle mann
Every moment I am teaching my daughter Querelle Magdalena, born February 2007. She knows approximately 40-50 American Sign Language words. I am now a mommy expert on contemporary baby-care and child-rearing guides, vaccine issues, breastfeeding and breastfeeding advocacy, and age-appropriate books, music, toys, and games. I am also a member of momsrising.org and several local parenting groups.
In 2005 I began individually tutoring South Korean children in their homes in Gainesville, Florida. Each student lived here for three months to over one year. We worked out of spelling, writing, and grammar workbooks. Often, the most pleasurable aspect was reading children's literature together. Each day I brought in a picture book or young adult novel and we read out of it for about fifteen minutes. Jane, a loud and vivacious ten year old girl with quite perfect English, really enjoyed the picture books I brought. These ranged from the culturally conscious African-American picture books by Christopher Myers, John Steptoe, Gregory Christie, and Chris Raschka to a large number of Caldecott Award winning texts to hidden artistic gems like Kveta Pacovska's Flying. Jane's commentary was always so funny. We met five days a week for three months and I really miss her. I also miss Su Yeon Lee, another ten year old girl. Su Yeon and I met three days a week for two months. She was incredibly motivated and hard-working, with tons of energy. My greatest experience, perhaps due to having them in my life for a year, was with Ruby, age ten, and her sister Lily, age eight. Their English was weaker than Jane's and Su Yeon's, hence their shier demeanor, however, I think their personalities were just more subtle than the other girls. Both of them are now huge Roald Dahl fans. Together we read The Magic Finger, ESIO Trot, The Enormous Crocodile, and the BFG and on their own they were reading seemingly every other Dahl book written. Some picture books they reacted strongly to were William Wegman's Farm Days, which evoked such a strong (and contagious) giggling fit in Ruby we couldn't even finish the book. Apt. 3 by Ezra Jack Keats also led to an intense giggle fit (yes, in both of us!), but this giggling was due to the discomforting level of what Ruby termed "nastiness." I also tutored one boy, Jaemin. Although the girls all complained about him -- Su Yeon was his classmate and Ruby and Lily's parents were friends with his parents -- Jaemin was respectful and entertaining. We read the Newbery and Coretta Scott King Medal winner Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis. I learned a lot from these children. Not only did they teach me about various South Korean specificities (the monetary system, marital surnames, ghost stories, national symbols, the history of kim chi), but they also provided incredible insight into Korean children's ESL acquisition and children's textbooks. Humor is the most difficult thing to translate. The child whose English is the weakest can have the most beautiful voice intonation and pronunciation when reading; The student with the worst pronunciation can have the best writing mechanically; It feels criminal to emphasize proper grammar when the phrase, story, or poem emerges so beautifully from the "flaws"; Some workbooks for children and publishers instruct nationalism and patriotism in their lessons to such a high extent that it's reminiscent of some of the first literature for children: moral conduct books.
California State University, Los Angeles. English 430: Children's Literature. Graduate Student Assistant. Lectures and power point presentations on African-American children's picture books, trauma literature, graphic novels, comic books, children's literature awards, lesbian & gay chldren's literature. Attendance and grading of exams, papers, and weekly Internet postings for lecture course of 75-100 students. Facilitate discussions for smaller groups of 4-40 students.
Hao Chinese School. Grade 4-6 English and Reading. Los Angeles, CA. 2004. Every Saturday for one semester, I would meet with 12 children. We read Philip Pulmann's trilogy together, pulling vocabulary words and literary themes and concepts out of the text.
Every PIcture Tells a Story. Curator's assistant. Register, photograph, PhotoShop and file original artwork and illustrations from childen's books. Assist curator in organizing outside exhibits including at The Museum of Tolerance and Skirball Cultural Center. Write/edit gallery promotional material, book reviews, book summaries, artist/author biographies. Organize author and illustrator children's picture book readings and signings. Maintain artist and author contact.
Hyde Park Elementary School. Kindergarten Teacher. Los Angeles Unified School District, CA. 2000-2001