Bedtime stories now available on children's iPods

A company called audible.com is now making children's books available for iPods. While this may seem like an attractive concept, I believe it keeps children from actually learning to read and gives them a more convenient way of "reading" the book. While the company argues this will help reluctant readers to begin enjoying reading, the American Library Association believes it is important to correlate the reading of words to the text. While the idea coincides with our technology today, I would not encourage books on iPod to take the place of reading.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iVJ_FvIE3fhZEL9RqUEbAKmWw41AD90B3KV00

Valerie Hemingway Book Signing/Talk

As I was driving in my car yesterday back up to East Lansing from my hometown I heard an ad on the radio about a book signing and talk by the author Valerie Hemingway as part of The Great Michigan Read statewide reading program. She spoke tonight at the Library of Michigan; I'm sorry I am just posting this now in case any of you wished to have heard her speak tonight. I immediately thought of this class when I heard this announcement on 99.1, and it sparked curiosity that made me want to research a little bit more about her to see what she is all about. Valerie Hemingway is the author of Running with the Bulls, which is a memoir of her years as Ernest Hemingway's secretary. There is also going to be an exhibit at the Library of Michigan in Lansing that goes until May 5 that focuses on the influence of northern Michigan and the Nick Adams stories. It is open to the public 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. I hope some of you check this out if this interests any of you.

I thought it was interesting that on this random drive I heard an announcement that related so well to this class.

End of the Semester:(

Well Class,

This semester has been fun, I have had the privilege of learning a plethora of information as well as meeting new people. Valorie thank you for your hard work, help and concern for us as students. I wish you well and hope your contract and the strikes work in your favorite. Bye class, have a great summer!

Shane

Some housekeeping

Here are a couple of housekeeping reminders:

• Don't forget to bring your record of blogging to class. If you do, you need to email me the information ASAP.
• For those who had facilitator and artistic response roles for group choice, don't forget to submit your second papers!
  
• Rather than using the SASE method of returning finals, I'll email within a week to let you know your grade on the final and any comments that will help clarify the grade.
• By your final session (today for section 001 and Thursday for section 003), you should have received all assignments back with feedback. If you haven't, there's been a glitch. (Although I sent them, it seems like a number of people didn't get their Uglies responses back.) Please email me and I'll resend whatever you are missing. (Be specific about which paper you are missing.)
  

After grades are in I'll go through your feedback forms and post at least one more time to let you know how I'll use your feedback in my teaching next semester! (And I'm very happy to continue our discussions on this blog. I keep my "subscriptions" even after the class ends!)

TE348= Best Class!

I just wanted to take a second to reflect on this past semester. I really enjoyed this class a lot. Going into this semester I was very hesitant about this class. Growing up I was not much of a reader. The first couple of weeks I didn't have a lot to contribute to the class because I was unfamiliar with children's books. I didn't want to become the teacher who doesn't incorporate reading into the classroom, only because I am hesitant about literature. I was hoping that this class would broaden my horizons to learn and engaged in children's literature and it did just that! 

After the first group discussion I just fell in love with this class. I really liked how the class was set up and I enjoyed how much of an input we had in the course. The discussion were very insightful and interesting. 

I really liked this class is how all TE classes should be. Being engaged and involved in the learning process throughout really helped me connect to each and every book we discussed at a personal level. I have a whole new attitude towards reading. I loved the books that were covered, and I loved analyzing them on a deeper level. This class was amazing, I loved every bit of it! :) I'm sure many of you feel the same way!

Favorite Fantasy and Science Fiction Books

Hey everyone! I meant to post this back when we were talking about fantasy and science fiction but I forgot about it until now. Fantasy and science fiction are particular favorite genres of mine in children's and young adult literature. I thought I'd share some of my favorites from these genres that might be more unknown for you to check out.

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles- Patricia C. Wrede
Dealing with Dragons; Searching for Dragons; Calling on Dragons; Talking to Dragons
The Secret of Platform 13- Eva Ibbotson
Which Witch- Eva Ibbotson
Island of the Aunts- Eva Ibbotson
Eragon- Christopher Paolini
Eldest- Christopher Paolini
The Seventh Tower series- Garth Nix
The Fall; Castle; Aenir; Above the Veil; Into Battle; The Violet Keystone
The Wish- Gail Carson Levine
The Two Princesses of Bamarre- Gail Carson Levine
Gathering Blue- Lois Lowry
Messenger- Lois Lowry
The Cure- Sonia Levitin
A Wind in the Door- Madeleine L'Engle
A Swiftly Tilting Planet- Madeleine L'Engle
Many Waters- Madeleine L'Engle
An Acceptable Time- Madeleine L'Engle

Here is the list of resources and interview fro Christopher Paul Curtis:

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews/BuckingSarge.htm
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=983
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/articles/ 2000/jul00_lamb.asp
http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-curtis-christopher-paul.asp
http://school.familyeducation.com/reading/fathers/37548.html
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/Christopher paulcurtis/christophercurtis.htm

Plastic Surgery Children's Book

So I was reading Us Weekly.com and came across an article that was called, "New Children's Book Explains Mom's Plastic Surgery". I included a link below, but the article is written by a plastic surgeon who thought it was a good idea to write a book that explains that surgery helps moms feel better. I can only imagine that this is going to be a very controversial book and thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss whether or not people would have this book in their classroom.

http://www.usmagazine.com/new-childrens-book-explains-moms-plastic-surgery

Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Reward with Reading Programs

Hey guys,
So in class today we quickly mentioned the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards children gain from different incentive reading programs. I had mentioned that my elementary school participates in a program that dedicates March as 'reading month' and the whole school has a class by class competition to see which class can read the most books and the class that does read the most gets a pizza party at the end of the month. I found this competition for extrinsic motivation and reward less than desirable as a kid, but many found that it helped them. The reaction to this kind of competitive reading is inconclusive at best. I find that having "sleepovers" or parties that are dedicated to having kids read in a relaxed setting where they can read with their friends for fun is more beneficial for a school to conduct as to build on a child's intrinsic motivation to want to read for pleasure.
My question is: what incentive programs or just reading programs did your schools have and did you think they were beneficial?

TI: getting out of trouble?

In respect to Kalya's post about Snoop Dogg...

I was watching the news when I heard about the rapper, TI's, deal he made to reduce his sentence time for prison. I have very mixed feelings about this. Should a rapper who is known to have been buying illegal machine guns off of a convicted felon, be able to talk to children about gun savety and gang violence? He states in his website that
"TI also encouraged the youth to turn away from negativity and stressed that certain situations can interfere with positive growth and success in life."
also it states that:
"Later that day TI was pulled aside by a parent expressing gratitude and respect for TI and stated his message was heartfelt and sincere and will inspire her child to do better."

I have a hard time understanding how to believe messages from those who are 1) forced to talk to children about these things to keep them out of jail. (I would do almost anything to keep out of jail, and I bet he would as well.) and 2) Hearing this message from a man who sold crack as a teenager, went to jail for three years, and then was buying machine guns and silencers illegally...

What does everyone else think?
Should famous artists, like TI, be able to reduce and basically get rid of the charges by talking to our youth in schools?

http://www.trapmuzik.com/
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/WireStory?id=3727227&page=2

Boys vs. Girls toys

I was really interested in our conversation in class last week about how boys and girls are directed towards certain colors and toys from birth. My brother-in-law is a perfect example of a person who is responsible for assisting children in what they should play with or like. My sister and brother-in-law have two children, a three year old girl and a two year old boy. They designed the girl's room in pink and purple with princess dolls, Barbies, and ponies. My nephew's room was immediately themed in sports since the day he was born. My brother-in-law purchased trucks, planes, robots, and space toys for my nephew and encourages him to be interested in watching sports with his daddy. However, my sister stays at home with her kids and teaches both my niece and nephew that it doesn't matter what toys you play with. Although my brother-in-law is learning and understanding that it is not right to assign gender to toys, he reacted interestingly to my sister's Christmas list for their son which had a tea set on it. He is slowly getting over this phase of wanting his son to be a macho man. This has been a learning experience for me as well because as hard as it is with media and toy store selections, I want to allow my children to pick and play with what toys they want.


I wanted to research more about experiences with gender specific toys and found this website. Check it out!:
http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/2188/Gender-appropriate-toys-Is-it-a-big-deal-for-your-son-to-play-with-a-baby-doll/

Snoop Dogg writing children's books?

While looking on the internet for news on children's books. I came across many articles saying the Snoop Dogg is writing his own series of books for children. http://au.launch.yahoo.com/080414/10/1p3dp.html I thought this was interesting due to his reputation and behavior so I decided to check out the link to his site promoting the book. http://allhiphop.com/ The website reads "The world's most dangerous site". I found it interesting that a website promoting children's books would have so much inappropriate material on there for young readers. I don't understand why he would correlate his other work (targeted for a mature audience) with children's material. I was just curious if these factors would affect any of your decisions to read/buy/provide such a book in your classroom.

Also, happy national library week Apr 13-19. --learn something new everyday

Final exam

Hi everyone,

Our session next week will be our final exam. To study, I would suggest reviewing genre definitions and criteria and looking through power points from class (I just posted the ones that weren't up). As a reminder,

• When you come into class I'll hand you a picture book and an exam.
• Read the book, cover to cover, paying attention to the text and illustrations. (Remember that things like the publication date, author's notes, presence/absence of references, etc. may be important in your evaluation.)
• Respond to the questions on the exam, drawing on specific examples from the book, definitions from class, etc.
  
• Your responses will need to be concise and demonstrate what you've learned this semester. Your job is to evaluate/interpret, not just summarize/describe the book!
• If you would like your exam returned to you, please bring a self-addressed stamped envelope.
  

Other things to remember:

• If you haven't handed in the log of your blogging activity, please bring it to class.
  
• The second half of the facilitator and artistic responses for the group choice book are due before class.
  

If you have any questions, will you post them here so that everyone can read the answers?

Two poetry events!

Poem in Your Pocket
Thursday, April 17th

The Academy of American Poets has declared "Poem in Your Pocket" to be the theme of the 2008 National Poetry Month. They are encouraging all of us to put a poem, or poems, in our pocket (small poems) on Thursday, April 17th, and as we go through the day, reach into our pockets and pull out those poems to share with folks we encounter. You could have ten copies of the same poem in your pocket, or ten different poems. Or twenty. Or thirty.

TRILLIUM
College of Education Evening of Poetry
Wednesday, April 23, 7:00 p.m., Erickson 252

April is Poetry Month, and once again the College of Education is holding a Trillium Evening of Poetry. The evening will feature poetry by Laura Apol and Janine Certo. Open mike time will include readings by staff, students and faculty across departments and levels. Music of any form is also welcome.

Please consider participating in any way you wish: read an original work, read a favorite piece by another writer, read a translation or a poem in your own language, be a part of the audience, bring students and friends. If you are a visual artist, please consider displaying your work; if you are a musician, please consider performing.

Open mike readers and musicians will be given 3-5 minutes for their performance; please plan accordingly.
We are looking forward to another wonderful evening. Please plan to join us, and please announce this event to your classes and to the elementary, middle and high school teachers and students with whom you work.

Speak By Laurie Halse Anderson

Hey Class,

My group chose Speak for our groups book choice. I feel as though I didn't quite give it the best representation in class. It really is a great read, coming from an adult! I know summer is approaching and you probably have your mind set on just the opposite of reading. Sooo, I wanted to recommend the movie. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in class. I rented it from Blockbuster Video, it's in the Drama section. It's only like $4.00. Speak the movie is almost an exact replica of the book. Some of you might recognize it as a Life Time movie. Rape is a very serious topic, however, the movie does a splendid job of adding some High School humor to the whole production. This movie/book is a very interesting take on this subject. I highly recommend you guys take the time to watch the movie ( 1 hour and 30 min.) or read the book (198 pages) this summer. I promise you will truly enjoy yourself! Good-luck and I hope you all have a wonderful summer!

-Megan

Dove Campaign

I liked the message of the Dove campaign videos we watched in class, so I decided to check the other ones out after class. Some people may criticize these videos for being over the top but I think the media goes too far portraying beauty and body image to our society. This was illustrated in the video with the little girl who had thousands of images flashed past her throughout the day. Many people are affected by these images, especially when reading billboards or magazines, and these images may also affect people unconsciously. Even though I like reading magazines, I have to keep in mind that the models are not real people since many of them have been altered by a computer to fit the ideal standard of beauty. I think more campaigns celebrating the importance of real beauty should be advertised to our society because these standards and stereotypes have gotten ridiculous.

Here is the Christopher Paul Curtis Information:

Genre:

Historical Fiction
The Great Depression
-Hoovervilles
The Civil Rights Movement
-The Church Bombing
Contemporary Realistic Fiction
-Teenagers in Low-Income Areas



Literary Elements:
Humor
•To entice readers, especially children
•Bud’s Rules
Character Development
•Detailed, In-depth, believable, and relatable characters based on real life


Family:
In his Books
•Different Views of Families Shown
•Importance and Positive Aspects of Family
In his Life
•Uses as Inspiration, Ideas, Editors

Interview:
http://content.scholastic.com/brows media.jsp?id=92

Books:

•The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963
Random House 1995
•Bud, Not Buddy
Scholastic Inc. 1999
•Bucking the Sarge
Random House 2004
•Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money
Random House 2005
•Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission
Random House 2005
•Elijah of Buxton
Scholastic Inc. 2007

Resources:

Christopher Paul Curtis’ Website:
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/christopherpaulcurtis/index.htm
Offical Scholastic Website and Video Interview:
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/search/?query=Christopher+Paul+Curtis&Ntt=Christopher+Paul+Curtis&Ntk=SCHL30_SI&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&N=0&Nty=1&No=0
Biographies:
http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=493
http://www.answers.com/topic/christopher-paul-curtis
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2000/jul00_lamb.asp
Interviews:
http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-curtis-christopher-paul.asp
Teacher Resources:
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/curtis.htm

"A lot of fat kids who don't like to read"

“Rewards are not merely ineffective over the long haul but actually counter-productive.” Alfie Kohn’s A lot of fat kids who don’t like to read, discusses how children rewarded for reading are likely to have a greater interest in the reward, rather than the actual reading. A major topic in the article is Pizza Hut’s program called “Book it!” which rewards children for reading with pizza. I personally remember a similar bribe my elementary school used to “motivate” students to read (the class that collectively read the most in a month won a party). I’m interested to hear of other extrinsic motivators used in schools. Do you think this in fact had an effect on your interest, or lack of interest, in reading?

Response to Caroline's Post

Congratulations on winning nationals, I know how much hard work that takes! :) When I played Junior Olympic Volleyball in high school, I remember Nationals being the best time of the season...you got to spend more time with your team & being that you're in a different city there's always plenty of new things to do! Our Club Softball team actually just got asked to a tournament out in Las Vegas the weekend of the 26th so we'll have to decide if we're going or not, but we'd be playing a ton of colleges from out west, so it would be like our minnie nationals lol I also can't believe that this semester is almost over either! It seems like just yesterday we had our first day of class sitting with our little nametags on the desks HAHA This year has been really fun though, a great class that I would definately recommend to other students! :)

Volleyball Nationals

I just got back from our national volleyball tournament that was held in Texas tonight and we have been there since last Tuesday! Not that anyone really cares, but my team won our division for the girls, meaning we won the entire tournament and are now national champions!! It's all that i can really think about right now because I am still so excited so i just thought i would tell all of you my good news! I also can't believe how fast this semester has gone..only one more class and the final and then we're done with te348 which is so weird to me. I feel like this year has flown by like always, especially this second semester! Anyway i hope everyone had fun with our group choice books this week and i will see all of you in class tomorrow!!

Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

Today in class we talked about how The Uglies relates to Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. My group discussed these videos and how they relate to the themes in The Uglies. Here is a link to the website. http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/dsef07/t5.aspx?id=7373 We watched the first two videos in class today.
Kayla and I were talking about a club called RUBI (Respecting and Understanding Body Image). I also really like this YouTube video that I saw at a RUBI meeting. Check it out and tell me what you think! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQZwZVBDAHI By the way, if you are interested in this kind of thing and want to get involved, you might want to check out a RUBI meeting next year (they just had their last one of this year).

Session 13: Group choice and Pol/Econ of Reading

Hi everyone,

It's amazing that next session will be our last "real" session before the final exam session. This semester has gone by so fast! We'll have three foci: your small group book choice discussions; the politics and economics of storyselling; and preparing for the final exam. To prepare, please:

• Read and complete your role responses for class. Although I realize that you've seen your group members do your roles, I still encourage you to reread the syllabus to clarify what you need to do. (For facilitators and artistic responses, this includes writing a paper before AND after the session.)
• Read: Hade (2002): “Storyselling: Are Publishers Changing the Way Children Read?" AND/OR Kohn (1995): “A lot of fat kids who don’t like to read”. Come prepared with a hard copy of your article and ready to discuss and debate the highlights of the article. (There will be a quiz!)
  

• Although I'll accept them during the final exam session, you can hand in your blog participation log (last page of the syllabus) as well.
  

We'll also do some end of the year wrap-up like SIRS forms and feedback, so we'll be busy!

21

So I just went to go see the movie 21 and I absolutely loved it!! It was crazy how people could count like that in their head lol call me naive but do you think that could really work? I was thinking about it the whole movie. Not that I would ever try but it was interesting!! P.S- 5 dollar movies at NGC on Tuesdays is a great deal!!

The Uglies Series

In completing The Uglies it left me curious to what happens next. Did anyone go onto read the next book in the series. Or even better did anyone choose it as their group book choice? I would be interested in seeing how they enjoyed it in comparison, or would they recommend a completion in reading the series?

Horton Hears a Who

A friend sent me this note in an email and I thought I would pass it on to you!

Peter Sagal (from Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me) has an interesting editorial criticizing Horton Hears a Who for being sexist.

I haven't seen the movie, but if his description is accurate, it sounds like he has a good point.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89318829

Check Out a Museum!

hey guys! I was at the library recently and stumbled upon something really cool!

From October 25,2007 - October 24, 2008 You can check out passes at your local library to museums! These passes last up to seven days, and up to two or four people may be admitted on each pass. These passes get you into that museum FOR FREE!!!All you have to do is choose the museum you would like to visit from the stand located by the reception desk and bring the card for that museum to the circulation desk. The library will give you a museum pass that admits you inot the museum through the date printed on the slip. After that date the slip expires- no need to return it to your library.

This is a great opportunity to visit some really great museums-for free! I've already visited the DIA this way. You should really take advantage of this while it lasts!!

Folklore--The Jolly Postman

I just wanted to tell everyone about a great book that I found when digging through my childhood storybooks: The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters by Janet and Allen Ahlberg. This was one of my favorite books as a child because it was so different than any other book I had read, yet it incorporated common fairytales into the story in a unique and exciting way. The book is about a postman delivering the mail to some memorable fairytale characters. Each page consists of text on the left hand side and what looks like a real letter on the right hand side (the page acts as the envelope and there's actually a letter inside!). For example, the first stop on the postman's route is to "Mr. and Mrs. Bear" and the second stop is to "The Occupant, Gingerbread Bungalow, The Woods." The book is complete with six actual letters for each of the characters and their families--I think this is what I liked most about the book. I also enjoyed how the characters were portrayed as modern-day fairytales almost--their stories differed from that of the original fairytale story. For example, when the postman pulls up to Cinderella's Palace there is a sign on the outside that says "SOLD." Another reason why I took to the book so much was because of the rhyming, interesting text. Also. I was a big lover of fairytales when I was a child (especially Cinderella) and I think it was interesting for me to see a different representation of her than I was used to seeing. If you're looking for an interesting book that kids will absolutely love, try this one out. The book has so many surprises inside, kids will fall in love with it!

Session 12: Science Fiction & Fantasy

For session 12 we'll be talking about two of my favorite genres!

• Read "Fantasy and Science Fiction" (chapter 6 in C & G). What relationship do science fiction, fantasy, and folklore have to one another? How are they distinct? What criteria do C & G offer for the genres? How would you evaluate Uglies based on that criteria?
• Read Uglies and prepare for small group discussion. Be sure to mark passages that strike you as interesting, either because of their literary quality or because they would be interesting to discuss!

Weird Friends-juvenile nonfiction

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to share with you a great book where kids can learn science while having fun. For my SME class we were given individual topics to present and research on. I was given patterns of relationships between organisms. I had a very hard time coming across books that demonstrated this topic to younger children. However, I ended up finding a wonderful book called Weird Friends:Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey. This book teaches kids symbiosis in a friendly and fun way. It explains that even though we think animals hurt each other in certain relationships, they are forming partnerships that may even help each other. The text in the story never ends bad or sadly. For example in a predator-prey relationship they will explain that the predator sneaks up on the prey but then they end the paragraph with the traits that the prey has to escape.
The artwork is great in this book. The illustrations are swirled with watercolors and have very vibrant and bold colors. Although you can see in the drawings that some of the animals in the pictures are not happy with the result of their partnership, this book is one of the lest violent ones that I have seen. As I mentioned before, every paragraph ends with a happy and safe ending. I believe that the emotions on the animals faces are there to let the reader know who is unhappy and who is benefiting from the relationship.
Overall, this is a great book when teaching kids about organism relationships and partnerships without being violent and depressing. I know that I will be using this book as a resource for my SME class and when teaching about this topic.

Greek Week

Hi everyone I just saw the post about MSU's Relay for Life and just wanted to encourage everyone to try and get involved because its such a great cause. On a second note MSU's Greek Life kicked off greek week last Friday with their Relay for Life and it was a great turn out. We are already really close to our goal of a quarter of a million dollars. For those of you who don't know, Greek Week is events held all week with the different competitions all raising money for different causes. Although Relay for Life is one of our main donations money is also raised for Share Laura's Hope, Mary Beth Knox Foundation, Make a Wish Foundation through MSU stars and Special Olympics. This Saturday is Songfest which is a dance competition and it is $5 entry fee with money going to these great foundations and is at 3pm at the Aud. It is a lot of fun and would encourage you guys to attend =)

Tip for Uglies

I just finished reading the second round of responses from section 1's Esperanza discussion. Almost all of the facilitators said something about how it was hard to go back to the book and find examples as their groups talked.

For Uglies I would suggest that everyone come up with a post-it or note taking system so that people can find their favorite passages, moments that bugged them in the story, etc. (I'll do the same.)

Creative non-fiction

On Saturday I heard Ira Glass, the host of the radio show "This American Life", speak. If you haven't heard his show, each week he interviews people as they tell stories from their lives and then puts several together around a theme. He does a little commentary and uses music to set the tone of the story. (He's also in the second season of a tv version on Showtime. I haven't seen it.)

Glass talked a lot about the power of storytelling and the "narrative arc" that his program follows. He also had some words of encouragement for writers and artists along the lines of "Yes, your work is going to suck for a long time, but if you keep at it eventually it will get better." (He even played one of his early radio shows to demonstrate how far he's come.)

I guess I thought about our class because he's been so successful in creating a non-fiction format that is entertaining and informative. Several people in Monday's section talked a little bit about taking a creative non-fiction class. I'm curious to hear more. What did you read? What types of writing did you do? (Any creative children's literature, by chance?)