Higher education. It is what we worked for all through high school. Think back. Who critiqued you? Guided you? Encouraged you?
Teachers work night and day to mold children and adults into the intellectual beings they are today. It takes someone with perseverance, a good sense of humor and patience to inspire students in these competitive times. At Eastern Michigan University, you can meet teachers like that everyday.
Gina Boldman teaches classes such as Multicultural Children’s Literature and Global Children’s Literature at EMU and has inspired many students to go beyond the classroom to teach
how books can shape a childhood.
“Children’s literature is so much of a reflection of or a reaction to our culture and how we feel about children or childhood,” she said.
This outlook on children’s literature is the basis of how she teaches her class.
The way she speaks so highly of the authors she teaches about in her classroom expresses just how important it is for students to go outside the pages of textbooks to learn real life lessons.
“It started when I took Professor Ian Wojcik-Andrews’ Intro to Children’s Literature course here at EMU,” she said. “After graduating with an English Language and Literature degree, I was working as a copy editor, and I wasn’t loving my work. I kept thinking of children’s literature and knew I wanted to study it.”
She then went on to receive her Master’s in EMU’s Children’s Literature Program. Afterward, she taught for a few years and was then hired where she received her education. She has been a part of the EMU staff since 2006.
Boldman recently discovered just how effective she can be when a student e-mailed her interested in how to send books to Native American reservations after learning how poverty-stricken they are.
“I was really touched that reading Sherman Alexie’s ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian’ had prompted him to act.”
So, do we dare to ask what her favorite children’s novel is?
“This is a tough question, like which of my children is my favorite!”
It’s more of a three-way tie for her, she said, claiming they each shaped her childhood: “Ramona the Pest” by Beverly Cleary; “Wanted Dead or Alive: The True Story of Harriet Tubman” by Ann McGovern and “Helen Keller’s Teacher” by Margaret Davidson.
Boldman is a teacher with a copious amount of knowledge to share. The lessons students learn in her classroom are worldly and eye-opening. If you are interested in taking one of her classes, it is well-advised, because it is clear she not only inspires, but is inspired by the very thing she teaches.
Boldman also praises her mentors Professor Ian Wojcik-Andrews and Professor Sheila Most, who are also part of the Children’s Literature Program.
“The Children’s Literature Program is filled with great people, teachers and students alike,” she said.
