Session 11: Asian Pacific American literature

Read:

• Project Mulberry
• Siu-Runyan (2002): This article focuses on "Books that teach about the Asian and Pacific Island peoples of Hawaii". What does it add to your understanding of that population? Of the purposes and need for multicultural literature in general?
  
• Yamate (1997): As of 1997, what was the state of publishing for Asian American texts? What type of research might you do to explore whether anything has changed over the last 10 years? What themes might you find in Asian Pacific American literature?
  

Write (Group B):

• Write a questioning the text paper and submit it by the Angel dropbox by 6pm the night before class

Blogging:

• If you are a "C": Please post before the class session. The topic is "open"--you can write about Project Mulberry, either of the two readings, or something else!
• If you are an "B" or "A": Respond to at least one post from a "C" before session 12.

Publishers and books

A friend who is a librarian sent me this email and then gave me permission to post it here for our class' consideration:

Here are some interesting articles from Publisher's Weekly about publishers and books. (just in case we had any doubt that publishing was not about the bottom line...)

The Book That Takes Off Running
Read the full article at:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6492857.html.html?nid=2788&

MySpace Does Branded Book with HC
Read the full article at:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6493884.html?nid=2788&

Identity Crisis? Not Really
Read the full article at:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6492859.html?nid=2788&

Manga as a genre/Different blog format

I've been poking around to see how other instructors use blogging in their literature/literacy classes and I found Everyday Literacies. Here's a link to a post two students did on Manga, a genre we aren't addressing! (Although I will bring in a graphic novel in a couple of weeks.)

I thought that it was interesting that:

• Rather than each student having a blog, all the class members are authors of the same class blog
• The writing style seems more "chatty" or relaxed(?) than the type of writing we've been doing.
• The writing seems to serve multiple purposes: collaboration, sharing information, floating ideas, etc.
  

One of the key ideas I want people to have as they leave this class is that our design choices have pedagogical consequences! After looking at this site, do you see any advantages or disadvantages to the blog's design? (Or maybe it makes sense to talk about this in terms of different purposes?)

Stereotyping Native Latin Americans in the Film Industry

The Carney Latin American Solidarity Archive (CLASA) at the University of Detroit Mercy presents:

(Sorry for the incorrect information in class! I thought this was on the MSU campus!)

Dr. Rocio Quispe-Agnoli, MSU
“The Fear of the Other: Stereotyping Native Latin Americans in the Film Industry”

Tuesday, October 30 (Tomorrow morning!)
10:00 am
Jane & Walter O. Briggs Building, Room 10

ROCIO QUISPE-AGNOLI is Associate Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial Latin American Studies and Acting Director of the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University (MSU), and is also affiliated with MSU’s American Indian Studies Program. She earned a Master’s degree and Ph.D., both in Hispanic Studies, at Brown University. She has published “La fe ind�gena en la escritura: asimilaci�n y Resistencia en los Andes coloniales” (Lima: Universidad de San Marcos Press, 2006). She recently edited “Beyond the Convent: Colonial Women’s Voices and Daily Challenges in Spanish America” (2006). She has co-directed an intensive summer institute for teachers which, among other topics, critically examines how Latin America/Latin American-ness is represented and how stereotypes may be reinforced in K-12 textbooks and curricular resources. Dr. Quispe-Agnoli will discuss the films “The Royal Hunt of the Sun,” “Cabeza de Vaca,” “Pocahontas” (2005), and “Apocalypto” (2006), with critical emphasis on how the films portray Native Latin Americans. She will also mention how a new documentary by Nova helps to dispel myths about the Andean Indigenous past. Historians and archaeologists are discovering new data which has helped them to rewrite Incan history.

Co-sponsored by Women’s and Gender Studies

For more information contact CLASA Director Dr. Gail Presbey at 313-993-1124 or visit the CLASA Website at http://liberalarts.udmercy.edu/clasa/.

Remember to log blog activity!

This weekend I spent some time looking at your blogs and catching up on reading posts and comments. Today I realized that I wasn't systematically recording people's participation! (Good news in terms of what it says in terms of how engaged I am in your writing, bad news in terms of record keeping.)

Please continue to keep track of your posting and commenting activity on the log that is at the end of the syllabus! It will help me "catch" any work you've done that I've missed!

Weight as a disability?

I'm still thinking about our discussion about how weight might be considered a disability. (For those who weren't there, we weren't talking medically, but about how people's bodies are sorted into those that are "normal" and those that are "unacceptable" socially.)

I'm not going to do a full review, but I think The Earth, my Butt & other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler treats weight in an interesting way. The main character, Virginia, struggles with how people see her as well as how she sees herself. Although she loses weight in the end (trope of disability), she does so on her own terms and makes a clear statement to others about whether her body is up for discussion.

I wonder if it is "possible" to write a story about a "person of size", as I've heard say, and not have them "resolve" their weight "problem"? (Take the quotes seriously!)

This is a fun read. I would love to talk about it! (And if anyone wants to take on the challenge of thinking about size and disability, it might be an interesting project. I would want to talk about what might be tricky about how it is framed.)

Session 10: Exploring Latino/a Literature

This week we'll continue to talk about critical literacy (bring the Kuhlman article to class) and then focus on Latino/a children's and adolescent literature.

Read:

• Becoming Naomi Leon
• Ada (2003): This chapter is from the book A Magical Encounter: Latino Children's Literature in the Classroom. Why does Ada use the term "Latina" to identify herself? How is this connected to her understanding of self and history? What does she add to our understanding of the insider/outsider debate? To our understanding of the Pura Belpre award?
  
• Barrera and Quiroa (2003): This chapter is from the book Stories Matter: The Complexity of Cultural Authenticity in Children's Literature. Why is it important to consider the use of Spanish in texts? When does it enhance the text? When does it detract from the text? How might audiences of Spanish/English and English speakers be accommodated?
  

Write (Group A):

• Write a questioning the text paper and submit it by 6 pm the night before class.

Blogging:

• If you are a "B": Please post before the class session. The topic is "open"--you can write about Becoming Naomi Leon, the Ada or Barrera and Quiroa articles, or something else!
  

• If you are an "A" or "C": Respond to at least one post from a "B" before session 11.
  

Collaboration on final projects

I've posted the class list with project topics and contact information on each section's Angel site. Please check to see if your information is correct. If you want to make a change to the list, email me and I'll update it as needed. Remember that if you include your email, you are indicated that you are willing to have a classmate contact you! (If or how you collaborate is up to you.)

Where does the term handicap come from?

Related to our discussion last night:

Here is the proposed change to the language used in Michigan laws. The background section (page 2) includes information on the derivation of the word "handicap". (You'll notice that I was wrong about the horse connection coming first!)

Here is the source for that information.

Reactions to Charlie's POV (Monday section)

Since we didn't have time to do share everyone's reactions to From Charlie's POV, let's continue the discussion here on our blog.

• What were your reactions to From Charlie's POV? What ideas captured the interest of your small group? What new questions do you have about the book? Does anything seem unresolved?
• Does listening or reading the speech "Blindness: Is Literature Against Us?" by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan, former head of the National Federation of the Blind, add anything to how you read the text? I found the first 15 minutes and then the conclusion to be the most relevant. (Wow. He talks about "the blind detective" as a trope!)

I said this in class, but there were so many different reads of the text! I hope people will share!

Address for audio:

http://www.nfb.org/Images/nfb/Audio/BanqSpeech/BSP-1974.mp3

Address for list of banquet speeches:

http://www.nfb.org/nfb/Speeches_and_Reports_Banquet_Speeches.asp?SnID=4

Jim in Bold: Safe Schools Event

Here's an announcement up the Safe Schools
event that is happening this week!

Jim in BOLD
View the award-winning documentary film
Jim in BOLD. This film explores the
complicated struggles and hopes of gay
and lesbian teens in America.
Discussion will follow the film.

Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007 4:00 - 6:00 252 EH Erickson Hall
Pizza will be served.

What do we mean by "ally"?

In our discussions of how one's own identity impacts one's reading of the text, people have used the term "ally". I'm worried that we haven't explored what we mean by that term! Here's one definition:

An ally is someone who speaks up or takes action against oppression not target towards themselves. (Yeskel, 1997, p. 249)

Often people who use the term emphasize that being an "ally" means working with and listening to members who belong to the oppressed group. It is often connected to the idea of recognizing and responding to privilege.

For me the term is helpful in thinking about how I acknowledging my own privilege as a white person and how/why I might work to end racism, for example. As a woman, it also helps me think about how men can be a part of dismantling sexism.

Here are some other resources that I found which might help you think about the term and what it helps you see or do:

• A more developed definition of ally from Bishop
• A list of "characteristics of an ally" from "Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice", p. 108. I don't have an electronic copy of this (and it's too long to quote), so I'll bring the book to our next class..
  
• Adversary vs Ally, a list of concrete actions one can take from the University of New Hampshire Residential Life page
• A lesson plan from Teaching Tolerance that explores how you might think of the concept with students

Feel free to comment with questions, ideas, connections to literature, etc.

Rowling "outs" Dumbledore

A friend just sent me a link to an article about a comment that J.K. Rowling made stating that her character from the Harry Potter series, Albus Dumbledore, is gay.

Keeping in mind that he is a fictional character, I'm trying to think about how he is being constructed and how what it means to be gay is being constructed in her comments, the text, audience comments, and the media. I'll post on this later after I've had some time to mull it over.

Read the article and let me know what you think!

Citing sources/Giving credit for ideas

Although we've talked about how blogs are somewhat informal writing, I want to clarify that you still need to give credit for the sources from which you draw ideas. (And certainly need to indicate direct quotes and their sources, regardless of whether they are from print or electronic media.)

For example,

• If you use a direct quote you need to put it in quotation marks or off-set it and give the source.
  
• If you paraphrase someone else's idea, you need to indicate that you've done so.

In most cases I think that doing this informally is fine. (Meaning you don't have to do a reference list like you might in a course paper.) For example, indicating the author's name and year of publication when you are drawing from a course reading or including the web address of where you drew a quote or big idea.

Here's where things get a little fuzzier, since a lot of our work is collaborative.

• If you are summarizing ideas formed in group discussion or sharing an idea that one of your classmates developed, you need to indicate that.

For example, if your analysis of a book is the product of a whole group discussion that helped you think of the book in new ways, say so. For example, "Class discussion helped me see..." or "One of my group members helped me understand..." or "Our debriefing after the such-and-such activity made me realize..." Or maybe leading with, "One of my group members wrote a questioning the text paper that made me look at the book in a different way".

Several positive things come out of acknowledging sources: it allows readers to track down written sources, it reminds us of the value of talking through ideas and hearing multiple interpretations of text and it keeps us "honest" in terms of sharing the credit for ideas.

I know there may be times when the issue of what counts as one's own idea and what is drawn more directly from others may seem blurry. Let's keep this conversation open!

Reactions to Al Capone Does My Shirts

Wednesday session:

Since we didn't have time to do share everyone's reactions to Al Capone Does My Shirts, let's continue the discussion here on our blog.

• What were your reactions to Al Capone? What ideas captured the interest of your small group? What new questions do you have about the book? Does anything seem unresolved?
• Did viewing Autism is a World make you think in new ways about Al Capone? If so, how?
  

Session 9: Critical Literacy/Material Culture

Although the focus of this session is, broadly, "critical literacy", we'll think about the topic in several ways. First, we will meet at the MSU museum for the first hour of this session to talk about what we can learn from "reading" a historical artifact--a quilt created to raise money for the KKK. Then we'll return to Erickson to discuss Witness and how one might lead students in thinking about texts more critically.

To support our discussion of critical literacy:

• Read Witness by Karen Hesse. Complete the graphic organizer I've provided in class for the character you've been assigned. (You will find a list with your character assignment posted on Angel. I've also posted the graphic organizer in case anyone wants to work from an electronic copy and/or didn't get one in class.)
  
• Read Kuhlman. Did you read Little House on the Prairie as either an adult or child? What were your responses to the text? What does Kuhlman mean by "critical reading"? Why and how does she engage students in this type of reading? (What does it "look like"?)
• Optional: Post a blog entry on your response to Witness or the Kuhlman article
  

To prepare for the museum visit:

• Optional: Read "The KKK Fundraising Quilt of Chicora, Michigan" (posted on Angel)
• Optional: Write a blog entry on your response to one or more ideas in the article, any questions or expectations that you have as you anticipate our visit to the museum, or connections you see between Witness and the museum trip.

Please remember that we will begin class at the MSU museum! (You are welcome to arrive a little early!)

Signing up for projects

I had a moment today, as I was puzzling over the most efficient way to post project topics/contact information in an easy-to-read electronic format that maintained confidentiality, when I realized that sometimes the good old-fashioned, low-tech option makes the most sense!

During our next session I'm going to ask each of you to sign up for the topic that you think you'll be exploring for you final project. Those who are interested in collaborating with others will have a space to indicate their email addresses. I'll then combine the two class lists, scan them, and post them to Angel. (OK, so there's a little "tech" in my plan.)

In the meantime, some people have started to indicate their interests through blog posts. You are welcome to contact people that way as well. And, if anyone wants to indicate their topics as a comment to this post, go for it!

Session 8: Preparing for Charlie's Point of View

Note: This is the only session for which the Monday and Wednesday sections have different assignments! This post applies to the Monday (002) section.

Blogging:

• If you haven't already done so, post the results of your group's award research. Be sure to cite and/or link to electronic resources you found helpful.
  
• Optional: Where do you stand in the awards debate? What purposes do they serve? Should awards be given for particular types of literature?
  

Read:

• From Charlie's Point of View
• Linton (1998): What does Linton say about the power of language? What terminology do you prefer when discussing this topic? Why? What would it mean to read Charlie's Point of View from a "disability studies framework? What types of questions would you ask about the representations in the text? How would you analyze those questions?
  
• Tal (2001) and Williams, et. al. (2005): In what range of ways have people with disabilities been portrayed in text? What criteria might one use to evaluate books that include people with disabilities? Is there anything you question about the criteria presented?
  

• Optional: Check out Richard Scrimger's website and/or blog. (I suggest after you read the book!) You might even write him and then report back to the class! On a less adventurous note, what can you learn about him from his on-line writing? What don't you learn about him?
  

Write (Everyone):

• Write a questioning the text paper and submit it to the Angel dropbox by 6 pm the evening before class.
  

In class we'll listen to a speech by the president of the National Federation for the Blind and talk about how the speech may raise new questions about From Charlie's Point of View.

Session 8: Preparing for "Al Capone..."

Note: This is the only session for which the Monday and Wednesday sections have different assignments! This post applies to the Wednesday (001) section.

Blogging:

• If you haven't already done so, post the results of your group's award research. Be sure to cite and/or link to electronic resources you found helpful.
  
• Optional: Where do you stand in the awards debate? What purposes do they serve? Should awards be given for particular types of literature?
  

Read:

• Al Capone Does my Shirts
  
• Linton (1998): What does Linton say about the power of language? What terminology do you prefer when discussing this topic? Why? What would it mean to read Al Capone Does my Shirts from a "disability studies framework? What types of questions would you ask about the representations in the text? How would you analyze those questions?
  
• Tal (2001) and Williams, et. al. (2005): In what range of ways have people with disabilities been portrayed in text? What criteria might one use to evaluate books that include people with disabilities? Is there anything you question about the criteria presented?
• Optional: Check out Gennifer Choldenko's website. (I suggest you read the book first.) What do you learn about her? What don't you learn?
  

Write (Everyone):

• Write a questioning the text paper and submit it to the Angel dropbox by 6 pm the evening before class.
  

In class we'll watch part of a documentary in which a woman who is autistic shares a little about her experience and talk about how the film may raise new questions about Al Capone Does my Shirts.

Final project

The final project is an opportunity to practice selecting, reviewing, and researching books on a topic of your choice. More importantly, you'll be sharing your work with a larger educational community!

During session 7 we will read through the directions and rubric for the final project. (You should have picked up a hard copy of these documents in class last week. They are also posted on Angel.)

Here are some links that you might find helpful:

• Sample book review that models the format of the review: MLA citation, book cover, summary of book, critical component, labels. (Remember that "critical" can be a positive or negative evaluation. The important aspect is that you draw on our work in the class to thoughtfully consider the text as a piece of literature.)
• Sample professional/critical resource: Remember that this can be a review of a resource as a whole OR can be a post in which you share a focused idea/question from the resource.
  
• Link to "public site" at which you'll post one or more of your reviews. (Don't worry about this now, I'll provide directions on selecting and posting your final work later in the semester.)
  

Although this is an optional post, you might want to write about why you are focusing on your topic and/or where you are "coming from" as a reader. Here's an example post in which one of your classmates talks about her interests.

Please post questions and comments about this project here. That way everyone will benefit from the discussion and responses that result from your queries!

Teaching Tolerance arrived today!

I just went to my mailbox and my copy of "Teaching Tolerance" had arrived! I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I can already see that there are articles on a number of topics we've discussed in class in recent weeks. The cover story is:

• "One Nation, Many Gods: A California school district learns how studying religion can open minds rather than close debate"

But there are also articles on inclusion, integration, "dismissing stereotypes about people living in poverty", "Christian normalcy", and gender-based bullying.

Blogging idea: Check out the on-line Fall 2007 edition of Teaching Tolerance and choose an article to read. Then summarize it and respond to one of the ideas presented in the article. (Remember, responding can be about elaboration, challenging, questioning, etc.)

Blogging: Which posts seem to invite comments?

As an author of a blog I want people to read my posts, but I also want responses and interaction from my readers!

You might also analyze what has been happening with our own posts. (In a similar way to what I did when I read through the blogs to analyze how we were using them.)

• What moves you to comment on a post? (No fair saying that it fulfills an assignment!)
  
• What do you notice about the structure or content of the posts that seem to provoke comments? (And I mean provoke in a nice way!)
• How might thinking about the genre of blogs/our discourse community shape how you write in the future!

Blogging ideas, take 2

It seems like there's an even split in the class between those who like the very open nature of blogging and those who feel like they need more guidance in thinking of what to write. For those who feel like prompts constrain them, keep writing as the spirit moves you!

For those who want more direction, you might be inspired by what your classmates are doing! Here are a some of ways that I've seen people using the blogs so far:

• Erin wrote a book review
  
• Lindsay and Laura responded to articles that were available in class, but we didn't discuss
• Lindsay and Stephanie commented on current events that they connected to themes of the class
  
• Lisa tried to clarify a term
• Tara extended a class discussion by adding a perspective that we didn't hear in class
  
• Tricia raised a question about an article
• Trisha made a connection to a community event
• Courtney reflected on how discussion changed her reading of a text
• Jessica shared a resource related to a class reading
• Katie made a connection with an idea from class and another text (In this case, a Disney movie)
• Katie D. posed a question about a Habibi that prompted a discussion of gender
• Many students have used a prompt from class to state their position on a key topic (I linked to Lauren's as an example). This one was assigned, but you could do this with any theme from the class. In class prompts and those in the "Sessions" posts might give you ideas.
  
• Mike introduced himself by letting use know about his reading interests
• Molly shared background information on an author we are reading
  
• Paula share questions from her questioning the text paper

Remember that blog posts are generally short and focused. You don't need to take on the world in your post, you just have to share an idea, question, resource, etc.

As people have other ideas, add them as comments! We should be able to build quite a list by the end of the semester!

Community event: Cowboys and Indians

This isn't really a "community event" in the sense of how we've used the term so far, but it is happening in our community...

A friend of mine has a daughter who goes to East Lansing High School. She mailed me today and wrote:

It's homecoming week, 2007. Students dress up every day with a different theme. Yesterday was CEOs and Secretaries. The theme of Homecoming this year is Cowboys and Indians. The seniors are the Cowboys.

What do you think? (I'll weigh in later!)

Session 7: Awards assignment

The co-themes of session 7 will be "practicing close readings of text" and analyzing awards for diverse literature. You'll only need to prepare for the second!

Everyone:

• Read the Aronson and Pinkney articles. What are the arguments for and against honoring books in specific cultural/social categories? What assumptions does each position rely on?
  
• Where do you stand in terms of the debate?
  

Award jigsaw: Research the following information for your assigned award.

• Is there an official website for the award? Are there other resources that provide information about the award? (Sometimes libraries or author blogs feature information not available on the official sites.)
  
• Why and when was this award created? What is the rationale for the award?
• Selection criteria: What books, authors, illustrators are eligible? How are the books judged?
• Who sponsors the award?
• Selection committee: Who chooses the winners? How do you get on the committee? How transparent is the process?
• Bring in books that have won or have been honored by the award. This will mean a trip to the library--you can coordinate this within your group. How easy was it to find the books? Do they have seals or other indications that they are award winners?
• It would be helpful if one person in the group could bring in a computer.
  

In class we'll teach each other about the awards, share books, and talk about the questions that our research raises. The "product" of your group work will be a collaborative post on your award. (Although you'll have time to work on this with your group, most of your research should be done in advance of class.)