10/10/2014 NCTE 2014: “Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature | the becoming radical
the becoming radical
A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University)
POSTED BY
PAUL THOMAS POSTED ON
JULY 23, 2014 POSTED UNDER
EDUCATION, EDUCATION REFORM, LOU LABRANT, NAIL GAIMAN, NCTE, READING, SCIENCE FICTION COMMENTS
2 COMMENTS
NCTE 2014: “Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature
[At the 2014 National Council of Teachers of English Annual convention (http://www.ncte.org/annual)— themed Story As the Landscape of Knowing and held November 20-23, 2014, in Washington DC—Renita Schmidt (University of Iowa), Sean Connors (University of Arkansas), and I will be presenting as detailed below; I offer our proposal as a preview and hope you can join us as we need to raise our voices for both libraries and literature.]
“Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature (http://center.uoregon.edu/NCTE/2014AnnualConvention/program/session_details.php? sessionid=1996243)
Panel presentation, 75 mins http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/ncte-2014-why-do-we-need-the-things-in-books-the-enduring-power-of-libraries-and-literature/ 1/6 10/10/2014 NCTE 2014: “Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature | the becoming radical
(https://radicalscholarship.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/2014-ncte-annual-convention- participant-announcement-copy.jpg)
Teaching Reading and Children: Reading Programs as “Costume Parties”*
P. L. Thomas, Furman University
“[L]anguage behavior can not be reduced to formula,” Lou LaBrant (1947) argued (p. 20)— emphasizing that literacy growth was complicated but flourished when it was child-centered and practical (for example, in the ways many privileged children experience in their homes because one or more of the parents are afforded the conditions within which to foster their children’s literacy). Also, LaBrant (1949) identified the central failure of teaching reading: “Our language programs have been set up as costume parties and not anything more basic than that” (p. 16). This http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/ncte-2014-why-do-we-need-the-things-in-books-the-enduring-power-of-libraries-and-literature/ 2/6 10/10/2014 NCTE 2014: “Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature | the becoming radical opening talk of the panel will focus on the importance of access to books and libraries as an antidote to “costume parties”—highlighting the work of LaBrant and Stephen Krashen as well as the speeches and writings of Neil Gaiman and Ray Bradbury as life-long proponents of libraries.
The More Books the Better!: Library Books as Boundary Objects To Build Strong Girls
Nita Schmidt, University of Iowa
Libraries provide stories for helping us understand who we are and who we might become. Sometimes, those stories take us to places we cannot imagine and we need more stories to resolve the tension. Libraries provide the books that become boundary objects or, as Akkerman and Baker (2011) describe, artifacts that work as mediators during times of discontinuity. Drawing on sociocultural theories of learning (Gee, 1996; Wenger, 1998; Vygotsky, 1978), this paper will th th discuss the ways an after school book club works with 4 – 6 grade girls to consider new perspectives. Book club members visit the library every month, read books with strong female protagonists, discuss topics in the books that relate to the real lives of the girls, and help the girls start their own personal libraries to encourage girls to begin to see themselves as successful young women in a complex global world. A bibliography will be provided.
Speaking Back to Power: Teaching YA Literature in an Age of CCSS
Sean Connors, University of Arkansas
If, as the narrator of John Green’s (2009) Paper Towns suggests, imagination is the machine that kills fascists, then literature, as English teachers and librarians know, is the engine that drives it. Despite the current education reform movement’s insistence on reducing the study of literature to a set of narrowly defined, measurable skills, and arguments which associate “close reading” and “textual complexity” with canonical literature, educators who value Young Adult fiction know that, like literature for adults, it is capable of creating a space for readers to examine complex issues related to race, class, gender, etc. This presentation calls on educators to recast arguments for teaching YA fiction in an age of CCSS by foregrounding its ability to encourage critical thinking. The presenter will share examples of (and guidelines for producing) student created digital book trailers that, rather than promoting books, instead “speak back” to oppressive ideologies featured in them.
*Portions adapted from the following blog posts:
Teaching Reading and Children: Reading Programs as “Costume Parties” (http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/teaching-reading-and-children-reading- programs-as-costume-parties/)
Common Core in the Real World: Destroying Literacy through Standardization (Again) (http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/common-core-in-the-real-world- destroying-literacy-through-standardization-again/)
“Fahrenheit 451″ 60 Years Later: “Why do we need the things in books?” (http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/fahrenheit-451-60-years-later-why-do- we-need-the-things-in-books/) http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/ncte-2014-why-do-we-need-the-things-in-books-the-enduring-power-of-libraries-and-literature/ 3/6 10/10/2014 NCTE 2014: “Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature | the becoming radical
Neil Gaiman Should Be U.S. Secretary of Education: “Things can be different” (http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/neil-gaiman-should-be-u-s-secretary-of- education-things-can-be-different/)
References
Akkerman, S.F. & Baker, A. (2011). Boundary crossing and boundary objects. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 132-169.
Bradbury, R. Fahrenheit 451, 60th anniversary edition (http://www.abebooks.com/Fahrenheit- 451-60th-Anniversary-Edition-Ray/6604576887/bd).
(http://www.abebooks.com/Fahrenheit-451-60th-Anniversary- Edition-Ray/6604576887/bd) Fahrenheit 451: 60th Anniversary Edition
Neil Gaiman lecture in full: Reading and obligation — http://readingagency.org.uk/news/blog/neil-gaiman-lecture-in-full.html (http://readingagency.org.uk/news/blog/neil-gaiman-lecture-in-full.html)
Gee, J.P. (1996). Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourse. New York: Routledge.
Green, J. (2009). Paper towns. New York: Speak.
Krashen, S. (2014, January 4). The Spectacular Role of Libraries in Protecting Students from the Effects of Poverty. http://skrashen.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-role-of-libraries- in.html?m=1 (http://skrashen.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-spectacular-role-of-libraries-in.html? m=1)
LaBrant, L. (1949). A genetic approach to language. Unpublished manuscript, Institute of General Semantics, Lakeville, CT.
http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/ncte-2014-why-do-we-need-the-things-in-books-the-enduring-power-of-libraries-and-literature/ 4/6 10/10/2014 NCTE 2014: “Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature | the becoming radical LaBrant, L. (1947). Um-brel-la has syllables three. The Packet, 2(1), 20-25.
LaBrant, L. (1944, November). The words they know. The English Journal, 33(9), 475-480.
LaBrant, L. (1940, February). Library teacher or classroom teacher? The Phi Delta Kappan, 22(6), pp. 289-291.
LaBrant, L. (1931, March). Masquerading. The English Journal, 20(3), pp. 244-246.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice, learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind and Society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: President and Fellows of Harvard College.
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2 thoughts on “NCTE 2014: “Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature”
1. Jeanette says: July 23, 2014 at 3:24 pm Edit Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most inspiring books about reading. Every middle school student should read it. If not read by 8th grade, it should be a class book for 9th graders. Another inspirational book on reading is Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me.” For more advanced students in high school I’d have students read Toni Morrison’s Nobel Prize Acceptance speech.
Reply http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/ncte-2014-why-do-we-need-the-things-in-books-the-enduring-power-of-libraries-and-literature/ 5/6 10/10/2014 NCTE 2014: “Why do we need the things in books?”: The Enduring Power of Libraries and Literature | the becoming radical 2. Pingback: Florida Retention Policy a Blight on Literacy, Children across US | the becoming radical | Edit
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