We created a voicethread to respond to issues 1-6 of Runaways!
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label ECI 521. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ECI 521. Show all posts
June 19, 2011
June 16, 2011
Action Learning Project Proposal
Inquiry Question/Issue/Problem
How do adolescents respond when an adult reads fiction aloud to them? Do older teens (15-17) react to "read alouds" differently than younger teens/tweens (12-14)? Does hearing an adult read aloud generate a desire for peer-to-peer "read alouds"? Are adolescents willing to listen to fiction they might not be willing to read?
Relevance of this Inquiry to Young Adult Literature
As we have discussed, YA literature spans a wide variety of genres and styles. Increasingly, YA lit is not confined to stories about teens dealing with "teen issues." This inquiry will examine whether adolescents enjoy listening to non-YA fiction and whether hearing non-YA stories read aloud encourages adolescents to expand their literary interests.
How this Inquiry is supported by our Waves of Change Theoretical Framework
Many of the theories of literacy we explored focus on constructing the meaning of texts collaboratively. Reading aloud supports collaborative text analysis and meaning making by enabling every reader to - literally - hear the text in the same voice. This ensures a common starting point for understanding the text, even if listeners, upon further reflection, ultimately read the text differently.
Reading aloud simultaneously shifts the emphasis away from the mechanics of reading to the content of the literature and also, paradoxically, helps the listener better understand good reading practices by modeling how language can be read effectively (where to pause; which words to emphasize; etc.).
Project Design
I will read short stories to several groups of adolescents from Here I Am, a collection of Jewish short stories from around the world and from and The Best American Non-Required Reading series. Since the adolescents are all Jewish teens and tweens who are attending a Jewish summer camp, they have a basic connection with stories written by and/or about Jewish people. However, participants are unlikely to be familiar with these particular stories. In addition, because the stories are international (often translated from another language), literary (character-focused rather than plot-driven and/or unconventionally structured), and written using sophisticated syntax and diction, they may present a greater challenge than more traditional YA literature.
The reading will take place at bedtime, with a group of 8-12 participants. Before reading, I will lead a brief discussion about the role of reading and writing in Jewish culture. After reading, I will ask participants for reactions to the story. I will also make it clear that books are available if anyone wants read more stories.
I will collect feedback in several ways. First, I will record at least some of the reading session, and review the video later to see/hear participant response during the reading. Second, I will listen to participant reactions during and after the reading. Third, I will observe how many participants ask to borrow the stories. Finally, I will ask the counselors for feedback about the activity, whether their campers enjoyed hearing the stories, and whether the adolescents talked about the experience afterward.
Project Multimedia Report
I plan to create a video documenting the process of implementing my project and explaining my findings. I will discuss with the camp director whether it is okay to record camper images and/or how I can use such recordings. Even if I cannot use video of campers, I can use written transcriptions (ie, quotes) of their reactions. I can also provide video of counselors discussing the activity, and the sound of my own voice as I read to the campers.
How do adolescents respond when an adult reads fiction aloud to them? Do older teens (15-17) react to "read alouds" differently than younger teens/tweens (12-14)? Does hearing an adult read aloud generate a desire for peer-to-peer "read alouds"? Are adolescents willing to listen to fiction they might not be willing to read?
Relevance of this Inquiry to Young Adult Literature
As we have discussed, YA literature spans a wide variety of genres and styles. Increasingly, YA lit is not confined to stories about teens dealing with "teen issues." This inquiry will examine whether adolescents enjoy listening to non-YA fiction and whether hearing non-YA stories read aloud encourages adolescents to expand their literary interests.
How this Inquiry is supported by our Waves of Change Theoretical Framework
Many of the theories of literacy we explored focus on constructing the meaning of texts collaboratively. Reading aloud supports collaborative text analysis and meaning making by enabling every reader to - literally - hear the text in the same voice. This ensures a common starting point for understanding the text, even if listeners, upon further reflection, ultimately read the text differently.
Reading aloud simultaneously shifts the emphasis away from the mechanics of reading to the content of the literature and also, paradoxically, helps the listener better understand good reading practices by modeling how language can be read effectively (where to pause; which words to emphasize; etc.).
Project Design
I will read short stories to several groups of adolescents from Here I Am, a collection of Jewish short stories from around the world and from and The Best American Non-Required Reading series. Since the adolescents are all Jewish teens and tweens who are attending a Jewish summer camp, they have a basic connection with stories written by and/or about Jewish people. However, participants are unlikely to be familiar with these particular stories. In addition, because the stories are international (often translated from another language), literary (character-focused rather than plot-driven and/or unconventionally structured), and written using sophisticated syntax and diction, they may present a greater challenge than more traditional YA literature.
The reading will take place at bedtime, with a group of 8-12 participants. Before reading, I will lead a brief discussion about the role of reading and writing in Jewish culture. After reading, I will ask participants for reactions to the story. I will also make it clear that books are available if anyone wants read more stories.
I will collect feedback in several ways. First, I will record at least some of the reading session, and review the video later to see/hear participant response during the reading. Second, I will listen to participant reactions during and after the reading. Third, I will observe how many participants ask to borrow the stories. Finally, I will ask the counselors for feedback about the activity, whether their campers enjoyed hearing the stories, and whether the adolescents talked about the experience afterward.
Project Multimedia Report
I plan to create a video documenting the process of implementing my project and explaining my findings. I will discuss with the camp director whether it is okay to record camper images and/or how I can use such recordings. Even if I cannot use video of campers, I can use written transcriptions (ie, quotes) of their reactions. I can also provide video of counselors discussing the activity, and the sound of my own voice as I read to the campers.
June 09, 2011
Thinking about Critical Literacy and Social Justice
I'm organizing my thoughts in preparation for contributing to our class voicethread. Here are some quotes I liked from the reading:
Marc Aronson says, "The 'multi' in multicultural is, at its best, the many selves within each of us, not our melanin count or epicanthic folds." I love the idea that each person contains "many selves" and I also like Aronson's insistence that true multi-culturalism is about embracing the many facets of humanity, rather than merely noticing skin tone, socio-economic status, or nationality.
I also agreed with Aronson's critique of the "small world" approach to multi-culturalism. While it's true that people are people (as Depeche Mode so wisely explained) it's also true that there are many different ways for people to be people. Insisting that we are not really so different is like saying that because chocolate and strawberries and broccoli are all foods, they are really not so very different and should be treated as more or less equivalent. Any child knows such an assertion is plainly ridiculous.
Cummins and Sayers take a pragmatic approach to multi-culturalism in the classroom, asserting that "instruction that ignores or denies students' cultural identity is unlikely to be successful in improving academic achievement."
Linking multi-culturalism to literacy, the Tasmanian Department of Education reminds us that "language and literacy do not occur in a vacuum" and quotes Allan Luke: "Literacy ... is as much about ideologies, identities and values as it is about codes and skills."
When we read texts critically, according to the Tasmanian DoE, we take an "active, challenging approach" to analyzing and making meaning. Aronson suggests that what we read has an impact on how we read. Authentically multicultural texts give "all power to the reader" Aronson says.
In my opinion, a text invites critical analysis when it raises questions, introduces complex characters, represents multiple viewpoints, and/or explicitly acknowledges the author's own biases.
Learn NC provided the most comprehensive definition of critical literacy:
"The ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships."
In my opinion, this definition is overly restrictive, but I agree wholeheartedly that critical literacy is about reading texts actively, with an eye toward making meaning, not only about the text, but about the world in which we live.
Finally, I especially liked Edward White's succinct phrase "informed skepticism." I think that sums up the crux of critical literacy: asking questions about what one reads based on one's knowledge of the world. Ideally, this generates a scholarly cycle in which the reader filters texts through her knowledge/experience of the world, and then incorporates her reading into her world-knowledge and uses it to filter additional texts. The point is not merely to filter everything through one's own lens (although we all do that, anyway), but rather to read within the context of the world...and perhaps to "read" the world, in turn, through the multi-faceted lens reading helps us construct.
So...I think I'm gonna sleep on this, and record tomorrow...
Marc Aronson says, "The 'multi' in multicultural is, at its best, the many selves within each of us, not our melanin count or epicanthic folds." I love the idea that each person contains "many selves" and I also like Aronson's insistence that true multi-culturalism is about embracing the many facets of humanity, rather than merely noticing skin tone, socio-economic status, or nationality.
I also agreed with Aronson's critique of the "small world" approach to multi-culturalism. While it's true that people are people (as Depeche Mode so wisely explained) it's also true that there are many different ways for people to be people. Insisting that we are not really so different is like saying that because chocolate and strawberries and broccoli are all foods, they are really not so very different and should be treated as more or less equivalent. Any child knows such an assertion is plainly ridiculous.
Cummins and Sayers take a pragmatic approach to multi-culturalism in the classroom, asserting that "instruction that ignores or denies students' cultural identity is unlikely to be successful in improving academic achievement."
Linking multi-culturalism to literacy, the Tasmanian Department of Education reminds us that "language and literacy do not occur in a vacuum" and quotes Allan Luke: "Literacy ... is as much about ideologies, identities and values as it is about codes and skills."
When we read texts critically, according to the Tasmanian DoE, we take an "active, challenging approach" to analyzing and making meaning. Aronson suggests that what we read has an impact on how we read. Authentically multicultural texts give "all power to the reader" Aronson says.
In my opinion, a text invites critical analysis when it raises questions, introduces complex characters, represents multiple viewpoints, and/or explicitly acknowledges the author's own biases.
Learn NC provided the most comprehensive definition of critical literacy:
"The ability to read texts in an active, reflective manner in order to better understand power, inequality, and injustice in human relationships."
In my opinion, this definition is overly restrictive, but I agree wholeheartedly that critical literacy is about reading texts actively, with an eye toward making meaning, not only about the text, but about the world in which we live.
Finally, I especially liked Edward White's succinct phrase "informed skepticism." I think that sums up the crux of critical literacy: asking questions about what one reads based on one's knowledge of the world. Ideally, this generates a scholarly cycle in which the reader filters texts through her knowledge/experience of the world, and then incorporates her reading into her world-knowledge and uses it to filter additional texts. The point is not merely to filter everything through one's own lens (although we all do that, anyway), but rather to read within the context of the world...and perhaps to "read" the world, in turn, through the multi-faceted lens reading helps us construct.
So...I think I'm gonna sleep on this, and record tomorrow...
May 31, 2011
Literary Quality
“The dirty little secret of a great deal of YA reviewing is that the reader the adult has in mind is a female teenage bookworm quite similar to the person that reviewer once was.” Aronson, p. 118
“If a book wins an award, everybody’s going to be reading that, mainly young adults. It’s like, this won the Printz Award, it’s got to be good. They’re going to pick it up and say ‘this is kind of boring, maybe reading isn’t all that good. If this was the best book out of all the young adult books published this year and it’s not that good, then maybe we should just stop reading.’” – Megan S. (Clare Horne’s article)
Both of these quotes resonated with me, because I think they represent the crux of the YA quality debate. Quality can’t merely be determined by popularity, but does it make sense to select the “best” books without any regard to how accessible and exciting they are?
A book like Rot and Ruin is written with the kind of straightforward, deceptively plain language that allows the reader to “fall inside” the story. It’s a highly engaging novel, and teens evidently connect with it, if the Eva Perry Book Club is representative of the broader population. Yet it doesn’t receive the kind of critical attention one might expect.
You could argue that Rot and Ruin is “just a zombie” book, that it’s too silly to receive a Big Serious Award. But I think Rot and Ruin explores the zombie myth in a sophisticated way and uses it to connect with questions about humanity, community and family. If that’s not prize-worthy, I don’t know what is.
Or take a look at another example: The Spellbook of Listen Taylor. I think it’s one of the most intricately constructed and interesting YA books I have read. Yet it has been accused of not “really” being a YA book, in part because it’s a revision of the author’s previously-published adult novel, I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes. The focus on adult relationships survived the revision, and critics argue that teens won’t connect with the novel because of its excessive focus on the adults.
But Please Ignore Vera Dietz is as much about Vera’s father as it is about Vera, and I have no doubt teens can connect with it. And this argument doesn’t explain why another of Moriarty’s excellent novels, Feeling Sorry for Celia hasn’t been recognized, either.
In contrast, authors like John Green, Marcus Zusak, and M.T. Anderson appear on the Printz rolls more than once.
Now, I dearly love John Green, and I do think his work represents “quality” writing, but I find it hard to believe that he wrote one of the 4 best YA novels two years in a row. I didn’t connect with M.T. Anderson’s Octavian Nothing at all, but I loved Feed. The former were both honored by Printz; the latter didn’t make the cut. And Zusak’s The Book Thief is excellent, but I fail to see how it’s any more (or any less) “YA” literature than The Spellbook of Listen Taylor.
In contrast, The Hunger Games, which is easily one of the best YA books out there – “best” in the sense that it’s popular, but also in the sense that it’s extremely well-written, with a sophisticated plot, well-developed characters, and a strong voice – hasn’t been recognized. Neither has one of my favorite new(ish) novels, Ally Carter’s 2010 Heist Society, a book with a tightly constructed plot and a strong voice that simultaneously hearkens back to classic caper films and also introduces a cool new group of characters. Similarly, an author like Holly Black (whose Modern Faerie Tale series is excellent) doesn’t appear on the list even though I think her writing is lovely and her stories are well-crafted.
Before this devolves (further) into a bitch session about my pet books and how they’ve been shafted, I’m going to bring this thing full circle and wrap up.
When I look at a list of award winning books, I can’t help feeling skeptical, in large part because of the first quote above. The people who hand out awards have ideas about literary merit, sure. But they also have ideas about what it means to be “YA” literature. As the second quote makes clear, those ideas don’t necessarily resonate with actual young adults.
To be clear, I am not arguing for popularity as a benchmark for excellence. There are plenty of popular books that absolutely do not deserve to receive literary awards. Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampire series is a ton of fun, but I’m under no illusions that it’s high quality. The Pretty Little Liars books and the Vampire Diaries series are both extremely popular, but it makes sense to me that they don’t win major awards.
I guess I’m arguing that sometimes books are popular because they’re good: well-written, tightly plotted; full of compelling characters and intricately constructed language. I believe that sometimes awards committees reject the popular books out of hand because they want to “discover” work that no one else is reading or challenge readers with “edgy” or unique work. As the teen quoted in Horne’s article points out, awards have the ability to highlight the best of YA literature. Winners that conform to overly narrow definitions of “excellence” without also containing the kind of spark that attracts (teen) readers may convince young people that “real” literature is a bore.
Bookcast, Take Two
I think I've got the hang of bookcasting now. At least, I hope I do!
It came out longer than I wanted, but I think that's because of the intro cartoon. I considered deleting it, but in the end I just couldn't. It was fun to make, and even though it adds "bulk" to the final product, I decided it was sufficiently engaging to keep it in the movie.
The audio was so loud before I converted it to a youtube compatible movie. Post-conversion, it's kinda quiet. Note to self: next time, keep the sound a little louder to combat "conversion loss."
It came out longer than I wanted, but I think that's because of the intro cartoon. I considered deleting it, but in the end I just couldn't. It was fun to make, and even though it adds "bulk" to the final product, I decided it was sufficiently engaging to keep it in the movie.
The audio was so loud before I converted it to a youtube compatible movie. Post-conversion, it's kinda quiet. Note to self: next time, keep the sound a little louder to combat "conversion loss."
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