Attached is information about the Indiana University African Studies Program spring workshop for teachers. The workshop is FREE, will last 3 1/2 hours on Saturday April 9th, and the topic is Teaching Contemporary Africa through Film. Over the years, I’ve done several workshops through IU’s African Studies Center and if you’re at all able to attend, you won’t be disappointed!
The Young Adult Library Services Association launched the inaugural issue of its open-access, peer-reviewed electronic research journal, the Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults athttp://yalsa.ala.org/jrlya. The journal will be published quarterly beginning in November 2010, with issues following in February, May and August.
The first issue highlights paper presentations from YALSA’s Young Adult Literature Symposium, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Nov. 5-7 with a theme of Diversity, Literature and Teens: Beyond Good Intentions. The papers in the issue are:
The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults disseminates research of interest to librarians, library workers and academics who focus on library service to young adults, ages 12 through 18. It will also serve as the official research publication of the association, publishing annotated lists of recent research from YALSA’s Research Committee, Henne Award–winning research and papers from YALSA’s biennial Young Adult Literature Symposium.
Those interested in submitting a paper to JRLYA for future issues should contact the editor atyalsaresearch@gmail.com. Author guidelines and more information can be found athttp://yalsa.ala.org/jrlya.
One thing I’ve learned is that it’s very easy to criticize the decisions of policy makes. What’s not so easy is to have a larger vision that takes in the needs of a wide range of people. Just as an example, it was easy for me to criticize decisions to not support Google products by a school system because they felt unable to control student made content in that environment. Sounds crazy in this day and age, doesn’t it? The lack of control allows students to bully, antagonize and communicate other violence on the web.
I would so much rather see an environment that uses social media in the classroom along with conversations that teach students how to conduct civil discourse, validate sources, control one’s online identity and use the tools to gather and share information.
Could using 2.0 technology help fast track 9th graders reading at a 3rd grade reading level? Does the heavy hand of control really teach and protect? Would learning how to communicate in real life improve online communication?
HS Students place in top 5 in national competition
I know what I think, but . . . I don’t have a larger vision.
Watching these videos found over at LibrariesandTransliteration give me some hope for our kiddos of color. I can’t post the Vimeo videos here daggone it, but do go watch them! The short clips are from a public forum on digital literacy and children of color held by the United Negro College Fund with sponsorship from the MacArthur Foundation. I particularly liked this video from the event.
This “participation gap” refers to how youth of color engage with digital media. The concern is that they may be using technologies and tools that are less likely to encourage the development of sophisticated skill sets and literacies. Watkins was the keynote speaker at a public forum, “To Be Young Digital and Black,” held at Morehouse College in February and sponsored by the United Negro College Fund with support from the MacArthur Foundation.
He discussed how mobile technology has been one of the unexpected drivers in closing the access gap, but there are questions about the limited opportunities it provides for dynamic engagement and exploration. Watch the video for interviews with forum participants and students, as well as excerpts from Watkins’ talk. For more on this topic, read Spotlight’s interview with Watkins at spotlight.macfound.org/btr/entry/to_be_young_digital_and_black/.
The forum was the first in a series, “Digital Media and Learning in Multicultural Contexts,” designed to provide arenas for discussion of how youth, especially youth of color, use new digital media and social networking tools.
Although the pain in my neck tells me I’m living online, I do take the time to do offline, informative reading as well. Sometimes the journals pile up and wait months before I get to them, but this month there have been very informative articles that couldn’t wait. I’ve already mentioned the current School Library Journal. Another good one is the ALAN Review. So many great articles this month! “Similar Literary Quality” and “Scattering Light over the Shadow of Booklessness” both give compelling reasons for including YA literature in the curriculum, the former to support AP curriculum and the latter to keep students engaged in reading. In “Their Lives are Beautiful, Too”, we learn why Matt de la Pena decided to focus on the lives of urban teens in his books.
For urban teens who feel that their voices have gone unheard and the significance of their lives has gone unrecognized, Matt de la Pena’s novels provide a powerful space of affirmaton. The very existence of Matt’s work is testimony to the fact that these teens’ lives and voices matter. But Matt’s novels don’t just speak to urban teens. They also challenge readers whose lives have been shaped by race and class privilege to consider how the world looks to people who have less and live differently. As Matt reminds us, their lives are beautiful, too.(1)
“The Trouble with Normal: Trans Youth and the Desire for Normalcy as Reflected in Young Adult Literature” postulates that while the presence of GLBT sexuality is growing in YA lit, its not enough to give a sense of normalicy to other than heterosexual teens. While the author details three main purposes in GLBT fiction, he states “The third and probably the most important aspect of these novesl is to show trans youths’ need–destire–to engage in the quotidian activities of life, whether going to the mall, dating or simply using the washroom at school.” (2)
“Why Do Chinese People Have Weird Names: The challenges of teaching multicultural adult literature” developed from research conducted right here in Indiana. The authors visited midwestern classrooms to find the best methods for teaching multicultural literature. They had to teach the teachers how to select good books from other cultures.
While this list is necessary, I think it borders almost on the ridiculous that you have to develop it to help teachers find PoC books. When good books were selected (the authors provide a short list with the article), the teacher’s knowledge and comfort will help them develop strategies that work for engaging students in books from different cultures. Several strategies are discussed in the article which would help any teacher expand their repertoire to include books that reflect today’s world.
There are other articles as well as book reviews in this peer reviewed journal which is published by the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English. It’s published 3/year and subscription is provided with a membership to ALAN. ALAN does maintain a blogsite but articles are not available online.
Did I really just review a journal??? LOL”
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1.”Their lives are beautiful too: How Matt de la Pena illuminteas the lives of urban teens’ by Jennifer Beuhler; The ALAN Review, Winter, 2010 p. 43
2. “Why Do Chinese People Have Weird Names: The challenges of teaching multicultural adult literature” by Robert Bittner The ALAN Review, Winter, 2010 p. 35
3. “Why Do Chinese People Have Weird Names: The challenges of teaching multicultural adult literature” by Nai-Hua Kuo and Janet Alsup, The ALAN Review, Winter, 2010 p. 17-24
