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.