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Adolescent Literature

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About Me:: I'm a middle school librarian and I love my job. I am married to a great guy and have two teenage kids (boy 13,girl 16). I love to spend my time with my family, friends, running, gardening, reading, cooking and pursuing spirituality.

Current position and employment location: Middle school librarian in Boulder, CO

Favorite Book:: That's a toughie, there are so many. A few favorites include: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Red Tent, & The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian.

Favorite Library:: My hometown librarian in White Bear Lake, MN (for nostalgia's sake).

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Multicultural Literature

The article "Multicultural literature and young adolescents: A kaleidoscope of opportunity" by Susan M. Landt was a bit boring. I agree with Josie Z. that upon first reading the article I was pretty annoyed. The first part of the article seemed like the author was justifying the need for multiculuralism. Her goal of "connecting students to the world by providing a wider view" is laudable...I guess I am overly optomistic when I think that the case for mulitculturalism should be obvious. I don't… Continue

Posted on July 19, 2008 at 3:08pm — 4 Comments

Reflection on "Ain't Gonna Study War."

While I think that Colman McCarthy's ideas of teaching pacifism sound intriguing, I'd probably opt to blend teaching pacifism with the historical perspective. But I'd be tempted to study more about peace than about war. It would be useful to study specific cases from history, but then to emphasize peace as a goal, would be powerful. There are some cool webquests (www.bestwebquests.com) dealing specifically with teaching peace. Some are general ("PeaceQuest" & "Students United for Humanity")… Continue

Posted on July 10, 2008 at 2:16pm

Reflection on "Sports and the Game of Life."

I realize that sports and the American psyche are inextricably linked. There's no getting away from sports in America - it's on every newspaper's cover page, on TV, in magazines, a huge part of middle and high schools. I used to think sports were pretty great - a way for kids to be involved in the school community, healthy, models of good sportsmanship, etc. But as I get older, I am not sure exactly how I feel about organized sports; it's certainly not a black and white issue for me. I'm trying… Continue

Posted on July 9, 2008 at 1:35pm

Reflection on "Adolescent Literacies."

I must admit that I didn't get much out of the article "21st Centure Literacies." I was a bit confused and confuzzled by all the terms, since some of them seemed to greatly overlap - what's the difference between "Media Literacy" and "Visual Literacy?" Then the list just kept growing and I was feeling incredibly incompetent as a librarian - Information Literacy, Multicultural Literacy, Media Literacy, Visual Literacy, Political Literacy, Religious Literacy, Computer… Continue

Posted on July 9, 2008 at 1:08pm

Reflection on "Finding Refuge."

Michael Cart's essay: "Finding Refuge from Life and All That" really got me thinking. I agree that books can provide a wonderful refuge from the problems of today's world. As I was logging on to my computer, in order to get to the UCD course page, I first had to view my opening page which is the New York Times. Early this morning, the front page story and photo were of Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai pulling out of Friday's presidential election, fearing that people voting for him could likely risk… Continue

Posted on June 22, 2008 at 4:20pm

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At 9:40pm on June 19, 2008, Charlotte Brooks said…: Thanks for writing back. Perhaps we haven't met, although we obviously know some of the same people! Lisa Sobieniak has helped me out a great deal with this library master's program so far; she's wonderful! And I think our current assistant principal, Chris Meyer, used to teach at Manhattan? Do you know him? Perhaps we'll meet face-to-face one of these days!

At 8:30pm on June 18, 2008, Barb Miller said…: Adolescent Lit. class - Sports comments (Week 5): After reading Diane's blog in the class "Reflections," I agree from my own personal experience, that I loved being on sports teams in junior high and middle school. I felt I belonged to each sport's group (gymnastics and tennis) and loved being physical. I enjoyed the attention at the pep rallies, the meets, etc. I loved the athleticness of it.
But after reading Chris Crutcher's Whale Talk, I see a bit of a different side to it too. There were/are definitely popular, "in" sports (football, basketball) and sports deemed not so cool (soccer -sometimes seen as the sport for the small guys, who couldn't make it in football). I don't agree, but I've heard that opinion voiced. I do get tired of athletics running schools, especially at big colleges. While I was growing up (graduated in 1975), Title IX was just barely starting, and the rampant discrimination against women's sports was sickening. Related to this was the viewpoint that THE sport for women was cheerleading. Ugh. I was captain of the cheerleaders in 9th grade and then "saw the light" and realized I'd rather have people cheer for me, than me cheer for the boys. I joined sport teams and never looked back. I'm not saying that cheerleading is inherently wrong or bad, but at my high school, it was mostly a popularity contest and quite cutthroat. Not much good sportswoman values going on there.
As usual in life, nothing is black and white and the same goes with how I feel about sports in schools. They can be great for kids, and probably torture for some kids who are left out...

At 12:41pm on June 15, 2008, Charlotte Brooks said…: Barb-
Where do you work in Boulder? I'm a teacher at Centennial M.S., but I'm taking a leave of absence next year. I'm having a baby and trying to finish this master's program! How long have you been a teacher/librarian? Your name is really familiar to me... I wonder if we've met somewhere?!