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Re: ccbc-net digest: July 30, 2011
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From: Linda Pavonetti <pavonett_at_oakland.edu>
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:05:52 -0400
Hi, Monica, Usually I only monitor this list, but I have to respond to your last statement, "My suggestion is to just not expect them to know much or anything and take it from there." I hope you did not mean that the way it came off. Knowing your passion for kids and history, I doubt that you did. I stand in front of classrooms of teachers or preservice teachers each week and wonder some of the same things. Why do they seem so uninspired? Why are they going into teaching? What do they do in their own classrooms? I know that, according to the statistics, more than half of them will leave the profession within five years, but that doesn't mean that I don't try to plant the seed while I have them for four hours a week. I still hope that some of them will be afire with curiosity to learn more about tarantula spiders because I introduced them to Sy Montgomery's book. Or maybe they will learn more about Jim Crow because they view the marvelous video that Weston Woods made from Christine King Farris' book, *March O n!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World*. About five years ago, the travelling exhibit of postcards sent from lynchings was in Detroit. While this is not an exhibit I would expose first graders to, I would certainly discuss the mental images that still remain with me in a discussion with older (5th grade up) students. That being said , what made this even more powerful to me was the conjunction of the exhibit with the book I finished the day before--*Daniel Half-Human and the Good
Nazi*. The connection between lynchings, which the US ignored--and to a certain extent still ignores—even when attendees sent postcards to their northern family and friends, and the Holocaust shook me to my core. I don't think we teachers make these kinds of connections concrete for our students . What are the similarities between Rwanda and Jim Crow and Hitler? I still believe that a topic that the *teacher* is passionate about will engage the students to learn and remember--not necessarily the facts, but more importantly, the concepts and problems behind the lesson. If the teacher and students engage in discussion and exploration, the ideas will remain. Even if only one child remembers, that is important. Linda
Linda M. Pavonetti, Ed.D., Associate Professor Vice President, International Board on Books for Young People—www.ibby.or g Oakland University, Department of Reading Office: 460 C Pawley Hall 2200 N. Squirrel Road, Rochester, MI 48309-4401 248-370-4683 248-370-4367 fax
_____________________________
Check it out! Authors & Illustrators 2011 web site is active! http://rla.oakland.edu/~childlit/RDG570/ ––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– Interested in promoting international understanding and good will through books for children and teens? Join United States Board on Books for Young People—www.usbby.org
Received on Sun 31 Jul 2011 10:05:52 AM CDT
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:05:52 -0400
Hi, Monica, Usually I only monitor this list, but I have to respond to your last statement, "My suggestion is to just not expect them to know much or anything and take it from there." I hope you did not mean that the way it came off. Knowing your passion for kids and history, I doubt that you did. I stand in front of classrooms of teachers or preservice teachers each week and wonder some of the same things. Why do they seem so uninspired? Why are they going into teaching? What do they do in their own classrooms? I know that, according to the statistics, more than half of them will leave the profession within five years, but that doesn't mean that I don't try to plant the seed while I have them for four hours a week. I still hope that some of them will be afire with curiosity to learn more about tarantula spiders because I introduced them to Sy Montgomery's book. Or maybe they will learn more about Jim Crow because they view the marvelous video that Weston Woods made from Christine King Farris' book, *March O n!: The Day My Brother Martin Changed The World*. About five years ago, the travelling exhibit of postcards sent from lynchings was in Detroit. While this is not an exhibit I would expose first graders to, I would certainly discuss the mental images that still remain with me in a discussion with older (5th grade up) students. That being said , what made this even more powerful to me was the conjunction of the exhibit with the book I finished the day before--*Daniel Half-Human and the Good
Nazi*. The connection between lynchings, which the US ignored--and to a certain extent still ignores—even when attendees sent postcards to their northern family and friends, and the Holocaust shook me to my core. I don't think we teachers make these kinds of connections concrete for our students . What are the similarities between Rwanda and Jim Crow and Hitler? I still believe that a topic that the *teacher* is passionate about will engage the students to learn and remember--not necessarily the facts, but more importantly, the concepts and problems behind the lesson. If the teacher and students engage in discussion and exploration, the ideas will remain. Even if only one child remembers, that is important. Linda
Linda M. Pavonetti, Ed.D., Associate Professor Vice President, International Board on Books for Young People—www.ibby.or g Oakland University, Department of Reading Office: 460 C Pawley Hall 2200 N. Squirrel Road, Rochester, MI 48309-4401 248-370-4683 248-370-4367 fax
_____________________________
Check it out! Authors & Illustrators 2011 web site is active! http://rla.oakland.edu/~childlit/RDG570/ ––––––––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––– Interested in promoting international understanding and good will through books for children and teens? Join United States Board on Books for Young People—www.usbby.org
Received on Sun 31 Jul 2011 10:05:52 AM CDT
