Discuss how literature can be used “to heal” and deal with children’s
concerns.
Literature is one of the important elements in life. Why? Because
through literature, we can express our feelings, convey our thoughts and show
others our concern regarding matters in our daily life. To be able to use literature
as a medium of communication, we have to get used to it at a young age. But,
just like the adults, children also have their own concerns. And one of the
ways to deal with this situation is by using bibliotherapy method. So, what is
bibliotherapy method? What are the children’s concerns? In this essay writing,
I will elaborate more about these issues.
Pardeck (1994) defines
that bibliotherapy generally refers to the use of literature to help people
cope with emotional problems, mental illness, or changes in their lives. Based
on this definition, we can understand that bibliotherapy is actually one of the
methods to assist people settle down of emotional problems, mental illness and
the changes that happen in their daily lives by using literature. The use of books,
poems, short stories, rhyme, and poetry are the example of literature elements
that actually we can use to help people around us. But in this writing, the
focus is on the children’s concerns. Children concerns can be defined as the depression,
conflict or situation that is faced by the children. Usually, these matters
will affect the children mentally, emotionally, and physically. So, why should
we use bibliotherapy instead of any other method?
This is because
bibliotherapy can help the children to identify and understand their own
feeling. Children will know that they are not the only one who faced the
problem, because the other children also faced the same situation. Adams and
Pitre (2000) state that reading books give clients the chance to learn and
relate to the experience of other people. From the experience of the others,
children will be able to find a solution to the conflict by themselves. We as
an adult are not responsible to find them the way, but we need to assist them
in the way to make it. This is because it will help the children to be matured
and thinking more often. Bibliotherapy also responsible to help a client to
develop self-concept, increased understanding of human behaviors, and reduce
emotional or mental pressures (Aiex, 1982).
But, how can we use
literature “to heal” and deal with children’s concerns? Actually, there are
some ways to make it possible. Firstly, we as a teacher should identify the
needs of individuals or groups of students. This is because we need to choose
literature that deals with emotional and developmental difficulties or
unfortunate situations that the students may be or will be experiencing. Then
we can read the literature itself and let the students to hear it or we just
simply recommend it to them. If we
choose to read aloud or to refer to some students regarding a particular poem,
short story or books, we have to be sure whether it is suitable to the child’s
age, gender, maturity and background. This is because the use of the
appropriate materials will help the students more effectively. This also causes
the students to respond directly to the materials they are given, so that
change is effected through catharsis (a cleansing of the emotions, primarily
through art), insight, or the “copying of character behaviors”
(Gladding & Gladding, 1991).
Next,
the characters and the plot should be realistic and include honest problem-solving.
The logic and truth regarding the stories are very important because we cannot
simply let the students to follow something that does not even exist. By having
something that is realistic and complete understanding of the situation, it
helps them to copy the action or create their own solution to the
problems. Moreover, students may read
assigned stories or books on their own or in small groups. By this way, the
children who have the similar concerns could meet with each other. We should
engage the students with activities that help them reflect on what they read,
such as group discussion and dialogue journal writing ((Palmer, et al., 1997;
Anderson & MacCurdy, 2000; Morawski & Gilbert, 2000). This will help
them to get a better understanding of the conflicts that they faced.
Furthermore,
we can make the activities exciting because children or students love something
that is fun to be done with. We can design activities such as asking open-ended
questions, retelling stories and writing reactions. We even can ask them to act
out the roles or maybe just using puppets to make the plays. The use of tape
recording thoughts various art materials are highly recommended because all
these things help the children discover some important aspects in their lives.
Firstly, other children have similar feelings when confronted with the
confusing situation. It makes them realise that they are not the only ones who
experiences dilemmas because all children are actually encountering some
difficulties in their lives.
Moreover, this kind of activities actually shows
the students that facing the problem is the first step to solving it rather
than running away from it. It is also telling them that there are a variety of
ways to deal with the dilemma and they can decide what kind of action that
should be take place. It maybe takes time to deal with the situation and they
ought to be unsuccessful at first. But, it makes them realise to think of
something else to settle the problems. Actually, we encourage them to encounter
the situation and make decisions of their own, or choose which alternatives
that they should take.
In conclusion, bibliotherapy is one of the best
methods that should be used to encounter children’s concerns. But, the use of
literature as an element in bibliotherapy will make the process of “healing”
and deal with children’s concerns more effective and easier. If possible, we
can involve children’s parents as well because they are the ones that most
children believe and close to. By this way, both the parents and teacher can
assist “to help” and deal with children’s concerns.
References:
Adams, S., Pitre, N.L. (2000).
Who uses bibliotherapy and why? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 45(7), 645.
Aiex, N.K. (1982). Bibliotherapy
fact sheet. Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearing House on Reading and Communication
skills. ED. 234338
Gladding, S. T. & Gladding,
C. (1991). The ABCs of bibliotherapy for school counselors. School Counselor,
39(1), 7-13.
Palmer, B. C.; Biller, D. L.;
Rancourt, R. E.; & Teets, K. A. (1997). Interactive bibliotherapy: An
effective method for healing and empowering emotionally-abused women. Journal
of Poetry Therapy, 11(1), 3-15.
Pardeck, J.T. (1994). Using
literature to help adolescents cope with problems. Adolescence, 29(114),
421-427.
