I thought that the conversation about the different book awards was very interesting. The majority of awards that we covered I had ot heard of before. I liked the way that each group focused on one award, and then shared the main points with the class. I found this to be useful and more managable than fully researching six different awards! I also liked that there were books from the collection that we are redaing for class that have recieved the awards we researched. It was nice to be able to associate a familiar title with the various awards.
In terms of how the awards are given, I think that they should be given for particular types of literature. I also think that everyone who writes a particular type of literature should be considered for the awards. I think it is important to view all authors equally. In my opinion insiders and outsiders should both be considered. Just becasue an author may be writing from an outsider perspective does not mean that they are unable to create quality work.
I also found it interesting that many of the award winning books that we picked up from the library did not have the award symbol on the front cover. In the case of the Schneider Family book award, the reason for this was because the award was so new, and the books were printed before the award was created. I know that it would be impossible to keep up with all of the new awards, but it would be nice to know that the book you check out was a winner of a book award!
Friday, October 19, 2007
final project
For the final project I want to focus on disabilities. I am a special education major so I am very interested in reading/finding books that incorporate characters with various disabilities. I am hoping to narrow my focus even further to find books about autism. I am not sure if this will work becasue I don't know if there is enough material on this topic, but I sure hope there is! If anyone wants to collaborate on the topic of disabilities in general, or more specifically on autism, that would be awesome. Also, even if you are not focusing on disabilities, but know of any good books that may be useful, I would really appreciate you sharing the titles with me! Good luck to everyone on your search for great books!
Monday, October 15, 2007
schneider family book award
There is not an official website for the Schneider Family Book Award, but there are other resources that provide information about the award; such as www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneidercriteria.htm and www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardmanual.doc . The second link is a manual. It answers questions about the history of the award, discusses the responsibilities of the members of the committee, and provides insight to their ideas about what to look for in a good book.
The Schneider Family Book Award is a newer award and has only been given out since 2004. It was started by Dr. Catherine Schneider, who has been blind since birth. She wanted to sponsor an award that would show that the disability is a part of the character’s life, not the focus of their life.
The Schneider Family Book Award honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child or adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are given in birth through grade school (age 0-8), middle school (age 9-13), and teens (age 14-18). The disabilities can be physical, mental, or emotional. The most important piece of criteria of the award is that it is not aimed to have the audience sympathize with the characters. Instead, it is aimed to portray their perspectives and everyday life experiences.
Some books that have received this award are: Dad, Jackie, and Me, written by Myron Uhlberg and illustrated by Colin Bootman and Looking Out for Sarah, by Glenna Lang. You can look up past award winners at www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardrecipients.htm
The Schneider Family Book Award is a newer award and has only been given out since 2004. It was started by Dr. Catherine Schneider, who has been blind since birth. She wanted to sponsor an award that would show that the disability is a part of the character’s life, not the focus of their life.
The Schneider Family Book Award honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child or adolescent audiences. Three annual awards are given in birth through grade school (age 0-8), middle school (age 9-13), and teens (age 14-18). The disabilities can be physical, mental, or emotional. The most important piece of criteria of the award is that it is not aimed to have the audience sympathize with the characters. Instead, it is aimed to portray their perspectives and everyday life experiences.
Some books that have received this award are: Dad, Jackie, and Me, written by Myron Uhlberg and illustrated by Colin Bootman and Looking Out for Sarah, by Glenna Lang. You can look up past award winners at www.ala.org/ala/awardsbuket/schneideraward/schneiderawardrecipients.htm
Sunday, October 7, 2007
using a blog
When I first heard that we were going to be using blogs in TE 448, I was a bit nervous. I have never blogged before, and the thought of starting to use a blog did not thrill me. It seems like I just finally got used to posting things on angel, and now a new and unfamiliar form of sharing my thoughts was thrown into the mix. After I created my blog site, however, I realized that the whole idea of blogging is not really that big of a deal. I am not saying that I like it, but I can see that it is useful for communicating ideas from and about class with my peers. On occasion I will click onto a couple of different peoples blogs to see what they think about a particular topic, but I have not yet posted a blog in response to someone else's posting. Although i am still a bit skeptical about blogging, I am trying to give it a fair chance. For the purpose of this class I think it can help open your mind to other opinions. It is a good tool to help see what other people besides yourself are thinking about the different topics we cover. Overall, I think blogs are useful for TE 448, but I will probably steer clear of them after this class.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
insider vs. outside debate
The insider vs. outside debate is very interesting to me. I chose to write this blog before reading the articles for this weeks class. I wanted to document my views and opinions prior to reading the articles so that I can compare the ideas that I have now to the ideas I have after reading the author's views.
I feel that it is important to read books that are from a variety of perspectives. While I believe that insider views in multicultural literature are critical to help everyone better understand differences, I do not think that their views are the only useful ones. I think that books writen by outsiders can be equally as valuable. It is possible for all authors to gather enough credible information to incorporate into their books in order to make them useful to their audience. If anything, I think that it is even more valuable to readers to read books that are written by a variety of authors both from inside and outside perspectives. In my opinion multicultural literature celebrates the differences among the people in our society-so then shouldn't we celebrate the differnces among the perspectives of the author's of these texts? I believe we should.
Although I believe that insider and outsider perspectives are equally important, I also hope that the outsiders do justice to the people that they represent in their books. Proper research and full consideration of those incorporated into the literature is essential. I also think that with the combination of insider and outsider perspectives there will be many more books available for people to read in order to gain knowledge about different cultures, races, ethnicities, genders, etc.
In closing, it will be very interesting to see if my views change at all after reading the articles about the insider vs. outsider debate. I also look forward to reading what other people have to say about this topic.
I feel that it is important to read books that are from a variety of perspectives. While I believe that insider views in multicultural literature are critical to help everyone better understand differences, I do not think that their views are the only useful ones. I think that books writen by outsiders can be equally as valuable. It is possible for all authors to gather enough credible information to incorporate into their books in order to make them useful to their audience. If anything, I think that it is even more valuable to readers to read books that are written by a variety of authors both from inside and outside perspectives. In my opinion multicultural literature celebrates the differences among the people in our society-so then shouldn't we celebrate the differnces among the perspectives of the author's of these texts? I believe we should.
Although I believe that insider and outsider perspectives are equally important, I also hope that the outsiders do justice to the people that they represent in their books. Proper research and full consideration of those incorporated into the literature is essential. I also think that with the combination of insider and outsider perspectives there will be many more books available for people to read in order to gain knowledge about different cultures, races, ethnicities, genders, etc.
In closing, it will be very interesting to see if my views change at all after reading the articles about the insider vs. outsider debate. I also look forward to reading what other people have to say about this topic.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Kiera's Blog
Hi my name is Kiera and I am a senior studying special education (learning disabilities). I am also working on getting my early childhood endorsement. I am interested in taking TE 448 to become more aware and familiar with diverse literature. I am very interested in learning about diferent cultures, races, ethnicities, religions, etc. We all encounter people who are different than us everyday, and I want to be educated about the things that make us each unique individuals. I think that it is extremely important to try and get a better understanding of one anothers differences so that we can work to help each other succeed. After previewing the book list for this class I am sure that we will all benefit from the wide range of diversity issues covered in the readings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)