Best Books 2007

Here's a link to the School Library Journal's Best Books 2007.

I think some of the same questions we asked about awards might pertain to these types of lists:

• What do people notice about the books as a set? In what ways are the books "diverse"? Or, whose stories are being told? In what genres? By whom?
• How was this list constructed? How are these lists helpful? What are the limitations of such lists?
• Anyone find a book that they think they otherwise would have missed? Any favorites that are missing from the list?
  

Talk on No Child Left Behind

“Considering the Policy and Practice of No Child Left Behind”

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
Erickson Hall, room 252
Refreshments served

Since it was signed into law in 2002, the reauthorization of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (more commonly known as No Child Left Behind – NCLB) has been a controversial piece of federal legislation designed to improve the educational opportunity and achievement of students across the country. For this conversation, we have invited panel of educators to talk about the law from their perspectives, including involvement in reauthorizing the law, urban classroom teachers, and urban principals. We will explore the disparities and connections between the policy and the practice, as well as the effects and potentials of the law.

Additional Information:
Overview of No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/education/no_child/basics.html

Evaluating 'No Child Left Behind' by Linda Darling-Hammond. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070521/darling-hammond

A Chance to Make it Better: Reauthorization of the ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act by Sharif Shakrani. http://www.educ.msu.edu/neweducator/spring07/NewEd-spring07.pdf, see pp. 28-31.

Urban Perspectives is offered through the Urban Educator Cohort Program -MSU College of Education

The Holocaust in Literature

Choosing which novel to use for the week on Jewish American literature was difficult. As you'll see in the memo that you've been assigned for session 12, one of our considerations was whether to choose a book which focused on the Holocaust or whether to choose a book that was contemporary realistic fiction. Although we chose the latter, the ways in which the Holocaust is remembered is obviously a significant part of Jewish American culture. (Or, more broadly, American and world history.)

In addition to the books listed in the memo on Angel, you might check out:

• "What makes a good Holocaust book?: Beyond oral history". (Posted on Angel and available through MSU electronic resources.)

• Art Spiegel's Maus: A Survivor's Tale is an interesting text to consider because it is such a compelling example of a memoir told in the form of a graphic novel. (We didn't consider it for the class because it is really adult or maybe young adult reading.)

• "Michigan Teacher's Workshop on Holocaust Education". This day-long event is a chance to meet with other educators who use literature related to the Holocaust in their classrooms. The year I attended the focus was on the use of memoir. Although we did discuss students' responses to texts, the focus was much more on our readings and what is intellectually and ethically complicated about representing such a significant and horrific historical event. Spaces are limited and there is an application process. If you are interested, check the MSU Jewish Studies website for information early next semester. (And if you do want to attend and want help writing your personal statement, email me!)

I'll add to this list as I think of other resources. We can also have a conversation around the topic. What resources do you know of to support this type of work? What questions or concerns do you have?

Child_lit mailing list

For anyone who likes keeping up on news having to do with children's literature and/or wants to join a virtual community of people who are interested in children's literature more generally, I would suggest joining the child_lit list serve.

To give you a taste of the types of conversations that we have I went back to look over the emails from the last several days. Right now I'm following a spirited debate about religious objections (and, for a few, praise) to Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy. (More on that later.) Yesterday there was a strand of discussion on "basketball poetry" and representations of jail/prisons.

For more information about the list serve, including how to subscribe, visit:

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~mjoseph/childlit/about.html

The only downside to the list is that it can fill up your box pretty quickly! There is an option to subscribe and receive everything in a a daily "batch" email.

Safe Schools Seminar this Thursday!

For anyone who wants to continue our discussion of the Harry Potter series and get a preview of some of the ideas we'll be talking about in class later in the semester, come to the Safe Schools session! If you haven't attended one, I think you'll find them low-key and informative. Everyone is welcome.

Beyond Dumbledore’s closet: Issues and Trends in

GLBTQ Children’s and Adolescent Literature

--Why is everyone talking about the Harry Potter series? Why does representation matter?

--Where can you find GLBTQ adolescent and children’s literature? What professional resources are available to help you think about these books?

Time: 5:00-6:30 FREE PIZZA

Date: Thursday, November 8th

Location: Erickson 252

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?)

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.

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.

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.)

Suggested reading: McIntosh

The questioning the text papers and class discussion around "Heart of a Chief" made me think of an article that I read when I was in college (and sometimes use with classes). The article is fairly short and (I hope!) interesting.

The article is "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh.

The article introduces the idea of "white privilege": the idea that white people may or may not have had a chance to recognize the significance of race in day to day life. Although McIntosh thinks in terms of race, I think the idea of privilege can be helpful in thinking in more general ways about how those with majority identities sometimes haven't had a chance to explore common experiences of people with socially marginalized identities. In fact, I just came across an article which uses the concept of privilege to think about heterosexual privilege called "The Daily Effects of Straight Privilege".

What do people think? Did anything in McIntosh's article "ring true"? Was there anything that you questioned? What does "privilege" have to do with our identities as readers?