Children and Cultures in Conflict

Culture and Conflict Text Set Bibliography

2009-02-17T08:33:00.000-08:00

Culture and Conflict Text Set Bibliography

Ex. Author. Date. Title. Publisher

Aronson, Marc-Campbell, Patty. 2008. War is…. Candlewick Press

Bausum, Ann. 2008. Denied, Detained, Deported. National Geographic.

Cart, Michael-Aronson, Mark-Carus, Marriane. 2002. 911: The Book of Help. Cricket Books.

Cavanaugh, Jan Stephen. 2004. The Age of Terrorism: Reflections of a Civilian Vietnam Veteran.Global Peace Movement.

Chin, Oliver. 2003. 9 of 1: A Window To The World. Frog, Ltd.

Doak, Robin. 2007. Conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. World Almanac Library.

Ellis, Deborah. 2003. Mud City. Groundwood Books.

Ellis, Deborah. 2008. Off To War. Groundwood Books.

Ellis, Deborah. 2009. Children of War. Groundwood Books.

Ellis, Deborah. 2002. Parvana’s Journey. Groundwood Books.

Ellis, Deborah. 2000. The Breadwinner. Groundwood Books.

Jacobson, Sid-Colon-Ernie. 2006. The 9/11 Report. Hill and Wang.

Kalman, Maira. 2003. Fireboat. Scholastic, Inc.

Khan, Rukhsana. 1998. The Roses in my Carpets. Holiday House.

O,Brian, Tony. 2008. Afghan Dreams. Bloomsbury Children's Books.

Mortenson, Greg. 2009. Listen to the Wind. The Penguin Group

Nye, Naomi Shihab.1994.19 Varieties of Gazelle. HarperCollins.

Popov, Nikolai. 1995. Why? North-South Books

Ringgold, Faith. 2004. What Will You Do For Peace?. InterRelations Collaborative,Inc.

Students from H. Byron Masterson Elementary. 2002. September 12: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right. Scholastic, Inc.

Vaughan, Brian K.2006. Pride of Baghdad. DC Comics.

Walker, Alice. 2007. Why War is Never a Good Idea. HarperCollins.

Winter, Jeanette. 2005. The Librarian of Basra. Harcourt, Inc.

Text Set on Culture and Conflict

2009-02-17T08:24:00.000-08:00

I have created a themed text set on children and cultures in conflict to cricially engage elementary readers. The text set includes children's literature, digital images, video, and articles that suggests a broader definition for what counts as classroom reading material. I invite teachers to consider meshing different types of texts in content areas to provide a broader and more critical perspective for student learning. Text sets not only invite multiple perspectives, but serve as a way to frontload knowledge to develop more proficient comprehension (Bishop, Reyes, Pflaum, 2006). Ways in which texts grouped into sets can work as a tool for building background knowledge and develop vocabulary will be demonstrated. One outcome of the use of text sets is the ability to build deeper meanings as well as increase student motivation to read about a particular topic (Soalt, 2005).

Bishop, Reyes, & Pflaum. (2006). Read Smarter, Not Harder: Global Reading

Soalt, J. (2005). Bringing Together Fictional and Inforamtional Texts to Improve Comprehension. The Reading Teacher, April 2005.

Critical Conversations

2009-02-16T14:01:00.000-08:00

I am a former elementary teacher who is now a teacher educator in a university located in the Mid-West. In my various literacy courses I introduce pre-service teachers to books that allow us to have deep conversations about life in the world of the 21st century. I invite pre-service teachers, practicing teachers, and students to participate in ongoing critical conversations.
Although the quality and quantity of children’s literature about race and class is on the rise, teachers and librarians remain unsure about whether or not conversations about these topics are important and appropriate for children in schools. Many teachers I work with are quick to say that issues of class are “not us,” or “not in our school.” That may be true, but all of our students and the pupils they work with could tell their own stories of exclusion and victimization. My aim is to engage educators and students in what I call “critical conversations” with responses to literature, bringing issues of violence, religion, sexuality, race, and homelessness into classroom reading and conversation.
In this blog I discuss children’s books that depict social issues surrounding children and cultures in conflict and show how these books can be used to open critical conversations in the classroom. My intent is that this blog will help teachers and librarians deepen discussions with students in non-threatening and positive ways, while also establishing and building classroom community.