Critical Evaluation of Little House on the Prairie

The Kuhlman article was very enlightening as to her views regarding the well known Little House on the Prairie books. As a child I too read these books and seemed to thoroughly enjoy them. It was not until after reading this article that my opinion on them has been drastically changed. Kuhlman makes a great statement that "Literature is a powerful tool for fostering understanding and influencing beliefs" (L\o& Leahy, 1997), and this books proves to be a prime example. Often time youth become so familiar with consistently hearing and seeing inaccurate representations of other groups that it quickly becomes the norm to them. I believe i fall into the category of a person who was so familiar with inaccurate representations of other minority groups that i mistook them for the norm. I found Kuhlman's interaction with the fifth grade class she visited to be very interesting. She showed that not all children will be directly affect, but those who are do not let it go unmentioned. As a future teacher i appreciated Kuhlam's advice in first taking a critical look at the book before presenting it to a classroom of impressionable children. She recommended questions to ask yourself as a reader, and to pose to the children as well.

Al Capone Does My Shirts

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko was a surprisingly enjoyable book. Prior to reading it I had little knowledge about Al Capone, Alcatraz, and what this story was about. However, there were many aspects of this story I enjoyed. I found it incredibly interesting that the author chose to tell the story of two individual characters through only the voice of one. I also noticed Choldenko’s attempt to possibly make her book more relatable to younger children by formatting each chapter as a journal entry stating the day and date. This story was unlike many books I had read before, in that the family was not the stereotypical one depicted within America society. Considering the time period in which the book took place, it was rather unusual to read of a family that was so diverse in their jobs, attitudes, and characteristics as the one in this story. The idea of Moose’s sister having a disability, that I interpreted to be autism, was played out perfectly by the author. Choldenko chose to represent Natalie as apparently different yet the same as any other child. This book did an outstanding job of breaking stereotypes.

Middle East Book Club Award

The Middle East Book Award was created in 1999 to "recognize books for children and young adults that contribute meaningfully to the understanding of the Middle East." Awards are given in three categories; picture books for children 3-8, literature for children and young adults, and reference books for children and young adults. Books may be nominated by educators, librarians, or the general public. Books must be published between January 1st of the previous year and August 31st of the current year. The winners are announced in November at the MEOC annual meeting which is during the Middle East Studies Association conference.

The Middle Eastern Outreach Council, MEOC, was established in 1981 and sponsors this award. They are a group of non-profit "educators dedicated to disseminating apolitical and nonpartisan information, resources and activities furthering understanding about the Middle East." The MEOC hopes to reach K-12 and college level audiences in order to increase their knowledge about people, places, and culture in Middle East specifically, Israel, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan.

Books are chosen based on the authenticity of their portrayal of Middle Eastern subject as well as on their characterization, plot, and appearance for the intended audience. Some titles include Counting Your Way Through Iran, The Librarian of Basra, and Habibi. Unlike Newberry and Caldecot winners, the Middle East Book Award is not recognized publicly on or in the books. The book winners are only available online. The Award itself does not have its own website, but rather can be found through the MEOC website. Websites listed below reference the award and previous recipients.

The committee for the Middle East Book Award consists of 7 volunteer nationally recognized educators chosen by the MEOC.

Below is a list of websites

/sources:http://socialscience.tyler.cc.tx.us/mkho/MEOC/http://www.outreachworld.org/article.asp?articleid=45http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/outreach/news/meoc_200http://socialscience.tyler.cc.tx.us/mkho/MEOC/middle_east_book_award.htmhttps://listserv.byu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0711&L=arabic-l&T=0&H=1&P=6302http://www.danahall.org/news_and_notes/september-october.html

Poetry In Classrooms

During our class discussion about the Bronx Masquerade we talked about poetry within the classroom. We related our book to the movie (and also book) Freedom Writers, which implemented the same idea of a powerful teacher’s idea which ultimately led to the transformation of the students. Later in the week I attended my TE 491 class, all about poetry. As a class we had watched a television interview with prominent Hispanic poet, Martin Espanda. Throughout the interview Espada talked about the impact of poetry on the lives of children, particularly minority groups. During the interview clips were shown of a class of minority children, mainly Hispanic, whose teacher applied the same idea as Open Mike Fridays to her classroom. The children were shown reading poems and discussed how poetry has become an outlet from their daily struggles. If you want to check out the interview here is the website http://www.pbs.org/moyers.