Final session (and beyond!)

It is Tuesday and I've realized that I may have confused people in the Wednesday session by putting this up too early. For Wednesday (section 001), all you have to do is post your final projects posts (3-5 reviews, 1 professional review, and 1 post reflecting on your project). I will go over the final post and public post in class on Wednesday.

I will say this in class, but thank you for a wonderful semester! Talking to you about books and reading your writing has helped me think of the books we've read and the ideas we've explored in new ways!

Please keep in touch. I'm always happy to talk about a new book or think about a classroom challenge! (I'm still subscribed to your blogs, so if you keep writing, I'll keep reading and responding!)

A final checklist: Everything is due by Monday or Wednesday of next week.

• Hand in blog log. If you don't have it in class, drop it by Erickson 357 (and drop me an email so that I know to expect it)
• On your blog you should have:
• Final project: 3 fiction reviews, 1 professional resource review, 1 post in which you reflect on an aspect of your project as a whole
• Final course post: Find some time in the upcoming week to reread your questioning the text papers, look over the course syllabus, and page through the course readings. Then write a short reflection that highlights how your thinking about diverse literature has changed over the semester. What have you learned? How has your reading/understanding of diverse literature changed over the semester? Do you have new questions/concerns? Where will you go from here? Focus on whichever prompt(s) make sense for you! (This is not a course paper. The idea is to highlight, in a concise manner, a few key points!)
• "Public post" for final project:
  
• In the next couple of days you will receive an email on your MSU account inviting you to be a contributor to the "Issues of Diversity in Children's and Adolescent Literature" blog. Respond as directed to this email.
• Post one or more of your final project posts to this blog. Remember to follow the model for a full citation and labels for the posts.
• Future classes will build on your work, so keep your eyes open!

I know this is a lot to do at a busy time of the year. Email if you have questions. (I'm also around to meet in person!)

For session 13

This week is a good reminder that topics doesn't always fit tidily into discrete sessions! I'm very aware that we are in the middle of some great discussions and don't want to artificially cut them off. At the same time, the end of the semester is near!

Here's my tenitive plan for Monday (11/26) and Wednesday (11/28):

• Housekeeping:
  
• Wrap up discussion of Jewish American literature and debriefing on blogging
• GLBTQ literature--if we need to extend this into next session, we will.
• Discuss plans for final session/Final project
  
• SIRS forms
  

Are there other topics that people want addressed this week? If so, write a quick comment. :-)

To prepare for class, please bring:

• Confessions of a Closet Catholic so that we can wrap up our discussion and think of what questions we want to ask Sarah Littman
• Boy Meets Boy, your questioning the text papers, articles for our discussion of GLBTQ literature
  
• Your updated log of blogging (last page of syllabus). You will not have completed your blogging, but I want to check my records against yours before the end of the semester.
• Ideas about how you would like our last session to look. For example, any preferences on how we share projects? (I have some options, but would like your input as well.)
  
• Any questions you have about the end of the semester and/or the final projects.
  

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?
  

What was it like to talk with your group on-line?

For those of you who held your discussion on-line what was that experience like? How was it similar or different from meeting in class? What seemed to be gained or lost? How might this experience impact how you think about your own future teaching?

What was it like to meet, in person, out of class?

For those of you who have met in person for your discussion, what was that experience like? (Where did you meet? How did conversation go? etc.) How was it similar or different from meeting in class? What seemed to be gained or lost? How might this experience impact how you think about your own future teaching?

"Free" applications/Feed by M.T. Anderson

The other day in class I shared the concerns coming out of the Dean's office about using Google applications for university business. (The main concerns being around copyright, privacy, and the fact that the information might not be backed up.) I'm going to start being more careful about reading user agreements before clicking "I agree" and would encourage all of you to check out the Blogger agreement. :-)

I've noticed that a couple of people's blogs have public service announcements in them now. If yours is one of them, did you place those announcements/ads there? Or did Google? Or did Google, with your permission? Why might this matter? Would it matter more if you were blogging with your own students? Are there shades of gray? In other words, is a public service announcement ok, but an ad for soda not?

What about applications like Facebook, which collect marketing data based on one's profile? Would that be ok to use in the classroom?

I don't want to scare people away from using technology, but I do think we have to become increasingly more savvy about our choices. Particularly as teachers! I haven't decided whether to stick with Blogger or move to Edublogs or another application for next semester... What do people think?

I can't end this post without mentioning one of my all-time favorite young adult novels--Feed by M.T. Anderson. What intrigues me about the book is that it suggests so much about how technology might change our lives--for good or bad.

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