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Taking Social Action: Social Media’s Relevance to Students’ Lives

By Jeanne Gilliam Fain & Christina Davidson

Following the discussion of Julia Alvarez’ s Return to Sender (2009), the fourth grade students jointly decided that the novel would be powerful as a movie. Vasquez, Tate, and Harste (2013) argue that social action includes a strategic move of school curriculum to the community in order to create relevance for students. For whatever reason, students created relevance in trying to advocate for Julia Alvarez to create a movie version of the book that they came to deeply care about. Continue reading

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Tackling the Socio-political: Exploring social structures inside and out

By Jeanne Gilliam Fain & Christina Davidson

As the fourth grade students move toward the end of the book, they begin to discover that the definitions of citizen, American, Mexican, immigrant, and illegal have multiple interpretations. The discussions include a look into Mari’s life, her status as an immigrant, and the lack of power that she has over her life. Fourth graders thoughtfully tackle the issue of immigration as they moved to think about the consequences of breaking the law within the United States. They begin to question the depiction of the border and implications of following and breaking the law. Continue reading

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Gaining A Critical Perspective: Multiple Perspectives & Unpacking Notions of Immigration

By Jeanne Gilliam Fain & Christina Davidson

We experienced a temporary sense of accomplishment in our attempts to grapple with literature critically in the classroom. After an in-depth discussion of the term, immigrant, many fourth graders wholeheartedly agreed that immigrants are terrorists. For this group of students, this was the dominant idea as troubling as it was for us, we reflected upon the reasoning for such views. Continue reading

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Gaining A Critical Perspective of Literature: Starting Points — Disrupting the Commonplace

By Jeanne Gilliam Fain & Christina Davidson

At the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year, Christina Davidson (fourth grade teacher) and I (teacher educator) decided to collaboratively examine how fourth graders in the reading/language arts block develop critical perspectives of literature. Critical literacy research informed our understanding of building intentional space in an already jam-packed literacy curriculum that explored and wrestled with issues of power (Vasquez, Tate, & Harste; 2013). Christina teaches in a rural school located two hours outside of Nashville, Tennessee. Fourth grade students understand the complexity of living in a small town and many often arrive with in-depth knowledge about the economy, government, farm animals, football, hunting, and religion. Their worldview is heavily influenced by the fact that several of the students rarely travel outside of their town. Continue reading

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The Choice to Make a Difference: Concluding Thoughts

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

Finally, my focus turns to the questions that were asked at the presentation entitled “The Choice to Make a Difference” by Jacqueline Woodson, Jerry Pinkney, and Vaunda M. Nelson at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 9th, 2013. Continue reading

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The Choice to Make a Difference: No Crystal Stair

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

Today’s post is a continuation of the presentation with Jerry Pinkney, Jacqueline Woodson, and Vaunda M. Nelson that I attended on March 10, 2013 at the Tucson Festival of Books. The presentation was entitled “The Choice to Make a Difference”. This week, Vaunda M. Nelson describes the writing of her book No Crystal Stair. Continue reading

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The Choice to Make a Difference: A Ripple Effect

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

This is the second blog in a series sharing a presentation by Jacqueline Woodson, Jerry Pinkney, and Vaunda M. Nelson entitled “The Choice to Make a Difference” at the 2013 Tucson Festival of Books. Here, Jacqueline Woodson shares her process for writing her book Each Kindness. The book tells the story of a young girl, Chloe, who ignores the new girl in school, even though Maya tries to make friends. After Maya leaves, Chloe realizes she missed an opportunity to show kindness to another person. Continue reading

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The Choice to Make a Difference: Music Trumps Racism

by Ann Parker, Pima Community College, Tucson, Arizona

This month’s blog will share the discussion of three wonderful children’s book creators (Jacqueline Woodson, Jerry Pinkney, and Vaunda M. Nelson) at the 2013 Tucson Festival of Books in March, 2013. The presentation was entitled “The Choice to Make a Difference.” In it, the authors each discussed the creation of one of their books and answered questions from the audience about writing and illustrating books. In this first blog, Jerry Pinkney shares his work on a book he illustrated entitled Sweethearts of Rhythm. Continue reading

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Inquiry into Cultural Authenticity in Traditional Literature: Sita’s Ramayana

by Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University

“…Myth might be defined simply as ‘other people’s religion,’…”
Joseph Campbell

Sita’s RamayanaWhile folktales and fables are traditional literature of a secular nature, myths are sacred narratives. To people within a particular religious group, myths are true accounts of past events. Myths explain how the world came to be and how people’s behavior, societal customs, and institutional norms were formed. The main characters in myths are usually gods or heroes with supernatural powers and the humans with whom they interact. “…Myth might be defined simply as ‘other people’s religion,’ to which an equivalent definition of religion would be ‘misunderstood mythology,’ the misunderstanding consisting in the interpretation of mythic metaphors as references to hard fact” (Campbell 27). Continue reading

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Inquiry into Cultural Authenticity in Traditional Literature: Aesop’s Fables

by Judi Moreillon, Texas Woman’s University

Fables are another form of traditional literature. They are short stories written in prose or verse. The main characters are most often anthropomorphized animals whose behaviors demonstrate moral lessons. Fable tellers and writers end their stories with a maxim, or a statement that encapsulates the moral. The most famous fables in Western culture are attributed to a Greek named Aesop. Continue reading