The Stanford History Education Group released a study concluding students through college age lack the critical thinking skills to evaluate credible information. What more can be done to for Librarians to advocate the importance of information literacy, evaluating information, and deciphering credible resources? Well, in the meantime, this study provides validation for a seat at the table. What will we do with it?
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This story is about a young boy who has an idea that he believes in, but doesn’t want to share with the world. As his confidence grows so does the idea, and sharing the idea has an impact the boy didn’t expect.
This is a great book for getting students to believe in their ideas and themselves. To incorporate this as writing prompt or a classroom discussion creates relational moments, as well. Additionally teachers can have students find inventions or social movements as an example to generate real world application of ideas changing the world. Incorporate this in a writing lesson, as a read aloud, or pass this book along as a suggestion to the student who might ned it. Many teachers struggle with students remembering academic vocabulary, especially Tier 2 words. How do you fit a vocabulary strategy into an already packed curriculum that will actually have students remembering and applying these words with consistency? This strategy can be used across content areas to help make vocabulary more concrete. Try the following Word of the Day Remix strategy.
For the Word of the Day, have multiple quick activities to go with that word throughout the day. This strategy, for maximum success, should have full staff buy-in, including support teachers. For example, a 3rd grade Tier 2 word is ancient. If a class schedule was divided into seven periods, create 7 mini activities pertaining to the word ancient. The activities should be repeated in the same format, at the same time daily. Here are some examples of activities:
Getting students to use the word multiple times in the day will give them an opportunity to hear the word, to recall the word, to create background knowledge, and to use it in context. What do you think about this strategy? What strategies do you use to help students successfully remember and use academic vocabulary in context? Mock Spanish & Children's Literature: Criteria for Evaluating Negative Language Stereotypes10/6/2016 Before taking English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, I was not teaching to my fullest potential with English Language Learners (ELLs). I was hired in a new district with a significant multilingual population and received excellent ESL training from my district, transforming my worldview, as well as, my instruction for ELLS. Currently, I am an Education Librarian and one of my responsibilities is to purchase K-12 materials to support pre-service teachers. This position added a different perspective to my understanding of ELLs and bilingualism. I had to be more intentional and directed when purchasing books for multi-language learners. While searching for children’s books to purchase, I saw the following title: From the cover and the brief synopsis, I was intrigued. What struck me immediately was the main character being an Afro-Latino boy. He was a reflection of students in my classroom. So, I started looking up reviews to ensure this title would be a good fit. While reading the review an issue I'd never considered became apparent. Here is the review: Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2016 (Vol. 84, No. 1) A little boy searches for his lost toy. An unnamed but adorable young boy awakens to find his beloved Bongo missing. Painterly oil illustrations show the boy looking under his covers and his bed to no avail. The opposite spread presents him standing in his pajamas and socks with an endearingly realistic questioning expression and stance. A search commences as he asks various family members (humans and pets alike) if they know Bongo's whereabouts. No one does, but particularly astute readers may discover a clue as to who is responsible for Bongo's disappearance. Spanish phrases in the dialogue are followed by their English translations in a matter-of-fact manner. Scenes such as one in which his mom combs his sister's hair lend a warm, cozy feel. In a twist, readers discover who spirited Bongo away through the protagonist's cleverness. Velasquez's portrayal of a family that is both black and Latino (a rarity in children's books) is refreshing. His clever (if not subtle) inclusion of his previous title (Grandma's Records, 2001) may lead readers to seek out that worthy story. Unfortunately, Spanish words are italicized, a decision that perhaps should have been rethought given recent debate about the exclusionary nature of the practice. Still, this simple story with a twist should have wide appeal. Darling. (PUBLISHER: Holiday House (New York:), PUBLISHED: [2016]) Source: Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (BC access) http://www.clcd.com.proxy.bc.edu/#/singlebook/OgokKKnnkngnipKm/Velasquez,%20Eric,/Looking%20for%20Bongo Spanish words italicized is an issue? I did some further digging and I found this video putting this debate in context: I had no clue. I dug a little deeper because I was curious as to what other issues are involved with children’s books and language. One of the articles I found was this one: Sounding Out: Speaking “Mexican” and the use of “Mock Spanish” in Children’s Books (or Do Not Read Skippyjon Jones) https://soundstudiesblog.com/2014/05/05/speaking-mexican-and-the-use-of-mock-spanish-in-childrens-books-or-do-not-read-skippyjon-jones/ Mock Spanish? I’d never learned about this concept as a school librarian or a classroom teacher. I thought about books I’d purchased as an elementary school librarian. Did they reflect the cultural language properly? Probably not consistently. I know I’ve purchased Skippyjon Jones books as a school librarian. Although this debate primarily deals with the Spanish language, what about the other book selections in other languages? Cultural responsiveness is not a new concept in education, but responsiveness to language is not readily discussed. Defining criteria for appropriate language use in literature, especially children’s literature is an issue needing further discussion with classroom teachers and school librarians. (This is a plug for ESL/School Librarian collaboration and professional development.) Carmen M. Matinez-Roldan, who wrote an article about the Skippyjon Jones fiasco, gives a framework for looking at language through cultural authenticity using Latinos in literature as her example : “It is to analyze how the author contextualizes the story and, more important, how the representations in the story contribute to a better understanding and appreciation of the richness and complexities of Latino culture and literature and how issues of power are embedded in the text” Using Spanish makes this topic more comprehensible, due to cognates and my elementary understanding of Spanish. But what about other language portrayals in children’s literature? Educators and Librarians should be cognizant of appropriate language in children’s literature.
After assessing the appropriate use of language in children's literature, the following criteria was aggregated:
This is just an initial list. Please feel free to suggest additions to provide students a positive portrayal of languages represented in children's literature. Reference: MARTÍNEZ-ROLDÁN, C. M. (2013). The Representation of Latinos and the Use of Spanish: A Critical Content Analysis of Skippyjon Jones. Journal Of Children's Literature, 39(1), 5-14. (Link BC Access Only) http://proxy.bc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.bc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=87330985&site=ehost-live Spanish Literature Resources: Cooperative Children's Book Center: Spanish-Language Literature Resources https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/spanishdist.asp Book Selection Resources: Anti-Defamation League: Assessing Children’s Book Collections Using an Anti-Bias Lens http://www.adl.org/assets/pdf/education-outreach/Assessing-Children-s-Book-Collections.pdf |
T. FontnoEducator, Librarian, Chronic Web Surfer |