Sunday, March 27, 2011
LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX'S "RUNNING OUT OF TIME"
RUNNING OUT OF TIME. By Margaret Peterson Haddix. Scholastic, 2004 (originally published 1995). 184 pages. M. Shyamalan’s The Village has a plotline suspiciously close to Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Running Out of Time. A nineteenth century backwoods settlement is completely artificial; we’re actually in the present. When a medical emergency prompts residents to seek a twentieth century cure, a young girl is asked to escape the guarded perimeter of her make-believe world. Despite the striking resemblances, the film’s producers called charges of plagiarism “meritless.” Haddix and her publishers considered litigation, then didn’t bother suing, probably because The Village was less than wildly successful, to put it charitably. All a fascinating sidelight, but not one that really matters when you’re reading Haddix’s debut novel. The author of the fabulous Shadow Children series has written a novel far superior, not to mention slightly more plausible, than Shyamalan’s humorless clunker of a movie. Since Running Out of Time is aimed at an audience that is willing to suspend disbelief, readers might excuse the lack of planes flying overhead. Or the children of the ersatz 1840s Clifton, Indiana, not wondering about the cameras in the trees. Unlike The Village, the town in Running Out of Time is not a thought-control experiment. Instead it’s a tourist attraction that’s morphed into a study of immunology. The conspiracy, and conspirators, behind the artifice are more down-to-earth and realistic. What really distinguishes Running Out of Time, as in the Shadow Children books, is its utterly true and finely drawn child protagonist. Jessie Keyser is a resourceful, yet vulnerable, kid, with the same sources of strength, and the same insecurities, as seventh and eighth graders in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Her encounters with adults and other children carry a straightforward verisimilitude. Jessie runs into all kinds of suspenseful action as she, like all children coming of age, searches for truth in an untruthful society imperfectly managed by its elders. And, like all childhood heroes should do, she saves the day. Recommended for fifth graders on up.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
WORLD OF LEARNING: TALKING MATH
"The Importance of Clarifying Language in Mathematics Education" ScienceDaily 3-22-11
Many math concepts are counter-intuitive (measurement units, place value, the number zero, fractions, negative numbers), which makes them challenging. Presenting them abstractly (as in merely demonstrating an algorithm) makes them even harder to understand. The challenge for teachers is finding clear language, a variety of metaphors, and a variety of concrete contexts.
Or this can happen: "Many consumers believe 36 months is longer than 3 years."
Another connection in this precious post.
Many math concepts are counter-intuitive (measurement units, place value, the number zero, fractions, negative numbers), which makes them challenging. Presenting them abstractly (as in merely demonstrating an algorithm) makes them even harder to understand. The challenge for teachers is finding clear language, a variety of metaphors, and a variety of concrete contexts.
Or this can happen: "Many consumers believe 36 months is longer than 3 years."
Another connection in this precious post.
WORLD OF LEARNING: FEAR ITSELF
"Masked Fears: Are Fears That Are Seemingly Overcome Only Hidden?" ScienceDaily 3-20-11
A good reminder of how persistent fear is.
A good reminder of how persistent fear is.
WORLD OF LEARNING: WORKING MEMORY
"Brain Has Three Layers of Working Memory, Study Shows" ScienceDaily 3-21-11
Working memory really interests me. No matter the number of layers, or amount of items that can be held, it seems clear to Daniel Willingham in Why Don't Students Like School? that working memory's space is not only finite, it's extremely limited. You can cheat that by squeezing more into each item--chunking--or by quick and easy access to patterns in long-term memory--automaticity.
The lead author of this particular study put it this way: "Predictability can free up resources so a person can effectively multitask. When you do the same sequence over and over again, your memory can be partially automatized so you have the ability to do another task concurrently."
Two parents have recommended Milton Dehn's Working Memory and Academic Learning, so I just ordered it.
Working memory really interests me. No matter the number of layers, or amount of items that can be held, it seems clear to Daniel Willingham in Why Don't Students Like School? that working memory's space is not only finite, it's extremely limited. You can cheat that by squeezing more into each item--chunking--or by quick and easy access to patterns in long-term memory--automaticity.
The lead author of this particular study put it this way: "Predictability can free up resources so a person can effectively multitask. When you do the same sequence over and over again, your memory can be partially automatized so you have the ability to do another task concurrently."
Two parents have recommended Milton Dehn's Working Memory and Academic Learning, so I just ordered it.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
RECENT NEWS: MY REVIEW OF "MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES"
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES: NEW HORIZONS. By Howard Gardner. Perseus Books Group, 2006. 300 pages.
Working on a daily basis with children who have been diagnosed with deficits—problem learners—I’m attracted to educational theory which holds that individuals are amalgams of unique characteristics. Strengths as well as weaknesses.
My conception of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences played into that attraction. School is in large part based on psychometrically determined intelligence quotients and the ability to apply intelligence to written language and mathematics. Stretching that view a bit might allow kids who are academically unsuccessful to see that they have capabilities that can be realized with effort, and allow society to make use of unrecognized potential.
After reading Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons, I find my conception was fairly accurate, but I remain confused about how to translate theory into practice. I’m also more skeptical about the theory itself, while still agreeing with Gardner that we need "to nurture all of the varied human intelligences."
It’s interesting that Gardner has been surprised by his audience. He originally formulated his theory in 1983 as "a psychologist who thought he was addressing his fellow psychologists." However, he did not find a warm welcome among his colleagues, to whom Frames of Mind "seemed somewhat exotic." Among those whom Gardner, perhaps with a hint of derision, labels "psychometricians," "the book aroused antipathy."
However, the book was a huge hit with another constituency. "For reasons that I do not fully understand," writes a baffled Gardner, "the theory of multiple intelligences spoke immediately to educators—loudly and quite clearly."
The dichotomic reception of Frames of Mind set off warning signals in my mind to approach the theory of multiple intelligences with caution. I came to Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons after reading Daniel Willingham’s excellent Why Don’t Students Like School? The cognitive psychologist’s critical view of Gardner’s work increased my wariness.
The presentation of Multiple Intelligences didn’t help. It’s not an updated edition of Frames of Mind, but a poorly organized mish-mash of collected essays, some written with co-authors, and randomly ordered reflections on a theory by its creator a quarter of a century down the road.
Readers looking for an outline of that theory need go no further in this book than its first chapter, twenty-five pages aptly titled "In a Nutshell." Or, with even more brevity, you could note that Gardner posits seven intelligences: musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal. Maybe an eighth, too—a naturalist intelligence.
Most readers, I would think, come to this book with that outline more or less already in place.
Gardner does contextualize his work and its effect over the years, and acknowledges an impediment to more widespread acceptance of his ideas—a lack of supporting clinical evidence for multiple intelligences.
While it’s hard to argue with his plea that "psychologists should spend less time ranking people and more time trying to help them," it leaves a question unanswered. How?
Good teachers have long recognized that different students learn in different ways. I’m not really sure that determining which intelligences are in which classrooms will make for an improved version of tailoring instruction to varying needs and abilities, even to the moment.
To be fair, Gardner does address the issue of application in the second part of this book where he discusses the Project Spectrum elementary school program, learning through projects, the Arts PROPEL high school program, and using broader, more inclusive forms of assessment. The problem is that the information is sketchy. Gardner repeatedly reminds readers of the positive reaction to his theory among educators, rather than tell them exactly how educators can put theory into practice.
A chapter called “Multiple Entry Points Toward Disciplinary Understanding” offers an interesting and helpful way of framing instruction—narrational, logical, quantitative, foundational, aesthetic, experiential, or collaborative. Likewise, while considering Project Spectrum, Gardner includes a questionnaire which puts forward useful criteria for determining a child’s learning style through observation.
But is connecting learning styles to teaching really have much to do with intelligences as separate categories? Gardner says no, that "style and intelligence are really fundamentally different constructs." Ironic, given that I found the questionnaire and entry point framework the most practical takeaway from Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons.
Gardner tackles those "new horizons" in a final section that I thought was pretty much fluff. A chapter on multiple intelligence theory and the workplace seemed downright goofy.
The ostensible goal of this book is to introduce Gardner’s theory and to explain its application. It fails on both counts.
___________________________________________________________________
COMMENT FROM JULIE AT ALL EARS ON GOODREADS 3-20-11:
So interesting that he didn't think that educators would be a primary target for this info!
COMMENT FROM CLIF ON GOODREADS 3-21-11:
What obsesses me about education is - how to trigger motivation. I did very poorly in school because I simply wasn't interested in the subject matter. On my own initiative, however, I was fascinated with meteorology and avidly read and re-read books on weather, something not even covered in (elementary) school.
As it turned out, I couldn't go into the field professionally because I had (and this gets to multiple intelligence) absolutely NO aptitude for math. I am entirely a word, not a figure, person!
But regardless of what aspect of intelligence one may have - triggering the desire to use it is key. How do we do that? And why is it that I am insatiably eager to learn in subjects that interest me? If we could turn that on with a switch in students!
MY RESPONSE:
Julie, not only did Gardner fail to see that it was obvious that the people most invested in realizing kids’ intelligence would be the most significant audience for his theory, he still seems somewhat befuddled by his rock-star status in the educational community. I think his myopia tells us more than we’d like to know about him.
Clif, one reason why I am critical of Gardner’s work is that I believe it’s more important to look at what good teachers do than to look at psychological categories of intelligence, especially when the evidence base underlying that categorization is inchoate.
Good teachers go with core curriculum, but empathize with their scholars-in-training. They are aware there are different cognitive styles and personalities in their classrooms and adjust accordingly.
People who remember a favorite teacher often say that the reason the teacher was so great was that the teacher “motivated” them to learn. Of course, motivation is really internal; no one can turn it on but you. What good teachers do is connect curriculum to their students’ lives. They also really know the material, and are really enthusiastic about teaching it.
I would wager that some of your difficulty in engaging with school subject matter was caused as much by the way it was taught as by the content itself.
Almost all children are curious and creative. They love to play. They love to meet challenges if they believe they can improve. There’s a lot there education can tap into. Instead, it is often the case that all those qualities are stomped out of kids as soon as school starts.
Besides that, meteorology should be covered in elementary school!
Working on a daily basis with children who have been diagnosed with deficits—problem learners—I’m attracted to educational theory which holds that individuals are amalgams of unique characteristics. Strengths as well as weaknesses.
My conception of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences played into that attraction. School is in large part based on psychometrically determined intelligence quotients and the ability to apply intelligence to written language and mathematics. Stretching that view a bit might allow kids who are academically unsuccessful to see that they have capabilities that can be realized with effort, and allow society to make use of unrecognized potential.
After reading Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons, I find my conception was fairly accurate, but I remain confused about how to translate theory into practice. I’m also more skeptical about the theory itself, while still agreeing with Gardner that we need "to nurture all of the varied human intelligences."
It’s interesting that Gardner has been surprised by his audience. He originally formulated his theory in 1983 as "a psychologist who thought he was addressing his fellow psychologists." However, he did not find a warm welcome among his colleagues, to whom Frames of Mind "seemed somewhat exotic." Among those whom Gardner, perhaps with a hint of derision, labels "psychometricians," "the book aroused antipathy."
However, the book was a huge hit with another constituency. "For reasons that I do not fully understand," writes a baffled Gardner, "the theory of multiple intelligences spoke immediately to educators—loudly and quite clearly."
The dichotomic reception of Frames of Mind set off warning signals in my mind to approach the theory of multiple intelligences with caution. I came to Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons after reading Daniel Willingham’s excellent Why Don’t Students Like School? The cognitive psychologist’s critical view of Gardner’s work increased my wariness.
The presentation of Multiple Intelligences didn’t help. It’s not an updated edition of Frames of Mind, but a poorly organized mish-mash of collected essays, some written with co-authors, and randomly ordered reflections on a theory by its creator a quarter of a century down the road.
Readers looking for an outline of that theory need go no further in this book than its first chapter, twenty-five pages aptly titled "In a Nutshell." Or, with even more brevity, you could note that Gardner posits seven intelligences: musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal. Maybe an eighth, too—a naturalist intelligence.
Most readers, I would think, come to this book with that outline more or less already in place.
Gardner does contextualize his work and its effect over the years, and acknowledges an impediment to more widespread acceptance of his ideas—a lack of supporting clinical evidence for multiple intelligences.
While it’s hard to argue with his plea that "psychologists should spend less time ranking people and more time trying to help them," it leaves a question unanswered. How?
Good teachers have long recognized that different students learn in different ways. I’m not really sure that determining which intelligences are in which classrooms will make for an improved version of tailoring instruction to varying needs and abilities, even to the moment.
To be fair, Gardner does address the issue of application in the second part of this book where he discusses the Project Spectrum elementary school program, learning through projects, the Arts PROPEL high school program, and using broader, more inclusive forms of assessment. The problem is that the information is sketchy. Gardner repeatedly reminds readers of the positive reaction to his theory among educators, rather than tell them exactly how educators can put theory into practice.
A chapter called “Multiple Entry Points Toward Disciplinary Understanding” offers an interesting and helpful way of framing instruction—narrational, logical, quantitative, foundational, aesthetic, experiential, or collaborative. Likewise, while considering Project Spectrum, Gardner includes a questionnaire which puts forward useful criteria for determining a child’s learning style through observation.
But is connecting learning styles to teaching really have much to do with intelligences as separate categories? Gardner says no, that "style and intelligence are really fundamentally different constructs." Ironic, given that I found the questionnaire and entry point framework the most practical takeaway from Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons.
Gardner tackles those "new horizons" in a final section that I thought was pretty much fluff. A chapter on multiple intelligence theory and the workplace seemed downright goofy.
The ostensible goal of this book is to introduce Gardner’s theory and to explain its application. It fails on both counts.
___________________________________________________________________
COMMENT FROM JULIE AT ALL EARS ON GOODREADS 3-20-11:
So interesting that he didn't think that educators would be a primary target for this info!
COMMENT FROM CLIF ON GOODREADS 3-21-11:
What obsesses me about education is - how to trigger motivation. I did very poorly in school because I simply wasn't interested in the subject matter. On my own initiative, however, I was fascinated with meteorology and avidly read and re-read books on weather, something not even covered in (elementary) school.
As it turned out, I couldn't go into the field professionally because I had (and this gets to multiple intelligence) absolutely NO aptitude for math. I am entirely a word, not a figure, person!
But regardless of what aspect of intelligence one may have - triggering the desire to use it is key. How do we do that? And why is it that I am insatiably eager to learn in subjects that interest me? If we could turn that on with a switch in students!
MY RESPONSE:
Julie, not only did Gardner fail to see that it was obvious that the people most invested in realizing kids’ intelligence would be the most significant audience for his theory, he still seems somewhat befuddled by his rock-star status in the educational community. I think his myopia tells us more than we’d like to know about him.
Clif, one reason why I am critical of Gardner’s work is that I believe it’s more important to look at what good teachers do than to look at psychological categories of intelligence, especially when the evidence base underlying that categorization is inchoate.
Good teachers go with core curriculum, but empathize with their scholars-in-training. They are aware there are different cognitive styles and personalities in their classrooms and adjust accordingly.
People who remember a favorite teacher often say that the reason the teacher was so great was that the teacher “motivated” them to learn. Of course, motivation is really internal; no one can turn it on but you. What good teachers do is connect curriculum to their students’ lives. They also really know the material, and are really enthusiastic about teaching it.
I would wager that some of your difficulty in engaging with school subject matter was caused as much by the way it was taught as by the content itself.
Almost all children are curious and creative. They love to play. They love to meet challenges if they believe they can improve. There’s a lot there education can tap into. Instead, it is often the case that all those qualities are stomped out of kids as soon as school starts.
Besides that, meteorology should be covered in elementary school!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
WORLD OF LEARNING: CONFIDENCE AND FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE
"One Hour Confidence Exercise Can Boost GPA, Study Finds" Curriculum Matters Blog/Education Week 3-17-11
I can't find it, but there was another well-known study a few years ago that used similar evidence to arrive at similar findings. My suspicion is that it was done by Carol Dweck.
I did find a connection to seventh graders.
There's a rather fine balance here. Students need to be confident but not so confident that they feel they don't really have to learn. David Brooks addressed this issue in a recent column called "The Modesty Manifesto."
I can't find it, but there was another well-known study a few years ago that used similar evidence to arrive at similar findings. My suspicion is that it was done by Carol Dweck.
I did find a connection to seventh graders.
There's a rather fine balance here. Students need to be confident but not so confident that they feel they don't really have to learn. David Brooks addressed this issue in a recent column called "The Modesty Manifesto."
WORLD OF LEARNING: CREATIVE STYLES AND ADHD
"Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Score High in Creativity" ScienceDaily 3-17-11
I liked the way the questionnaire for this studied categorized creative styles into four basic types: clarifiers, who define and structure problems, ideators, who generate ideas, developers, who elaborate or refine ideas and solutions, and implementers, who incorporate a refined idea into a final product or solution.
I liked the way the questionnaire for this studied categorized creative styles into four basic types: clarifiers, who define and structure problems, ideators, who generate ideas, developers, who elaborate or refine ideas and solutions, and implementers, who incorporate a refined idea into a final product or solution.
WORLD OF LEARNING: DON'T LEAVE IT TO THE KIDS
"Digital Gaming Goes Academic" Education Week 3-14-11
Adds on to this earlier post. Parents need to participate, and teachers "know how to use the game effectively."
Adds on to this earlier post. Parents need to participate, and teachers "know how to use the game effectively."
WORLD OF LEARNING: KIDS RULE
"Let Kids Rule the School" Susan Engel/New York Times 3-14-11
Kids who own their learning will be better learners.
Kids who own their learning will be better learners.
WORLD OF LEARNING: STEREOTYPING MATH
"Gender Stereotypes About Math Develop as Early as Second Grade" ScienceDaily 3-14-11
I think the message here goes beyond gender stereotyping. Speaking from personal experience, I know I stopped pursuing any interests in math somewhere in the middle school to high school era, because I concluded I just wasn't a math person--even though today, I love math. I work with girls and boys who appear to have come to a similar conclusion, and they are often surprised to find that not only can they understand math, but that math can be fun.
I think the message here goes beyond gender stereotyping. Speaking from personal experience, I know I stopped pursuing any interests in math somewhere in the middle school to high school era, because I concluded I just wasn't a math person--even though today, I love math. I work with girls and boys who appear to have come to a similar conclusion, and they are often surprised to find that not only can they understand math, but that math can be fun.
Friday, March 18, 2011
LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF CARLOS COLLODI AND ROBERTO INNOCENTI'S "PINOCCHIO"
THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO. By Carlo Collodi. Translated by M.A. Murray. Illustrated by Roberto Innocenti. Creative Editions, 2005. 192 pages.
Three years ago, Robert Brock’s translation of Pinocchio garnered a fair amount of attention, including mine. I realized I knew nothing about the darker original story, despite the Disney movie being a childhood favorite.
Actually, though, I couldn’t remember too much about the movie, and thought I should see it again. What really stuck in my mind was Jiminy Cricket, and even more, the voice of Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket singing “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Bliss.
Three years later, I haven’t yet returned to the movie, nor read Brock’s translation of the Carlos Collodi story. But then Pinocchio drew me back.
In her superb blog, the Children’s Book-A-Day Almanac, Anita Silvey devoted an entry to the Robert Innocenti-illustrated edition of the book. The sample she provided of his work was too enticing to let Pinocchio slip out of consciousness once more.
Innocenti delivers. Collodi’s story, of course, is far longer than would fit in a picture book. Innocenti lavishly supplies many, many more pictures than normally found in a chapter book, in large format and lush color. He places the action in a hyper-realistic small-town Italy full of magic and foreboding, in a not-too-distant past—photography’s there and motor scooters are on the horizon. It’s a magnificent book to look through.
As for Collodi’s tale…. It’s probably no surprise to anyone that Disney homogenized the contents. Pinocchio will surprise, though. That cute little cricket is a large all-too-real insect creepily crawling up a wall. The cricket does talk, and offers the wooden puppet, whose life ambition is to ‘eat, drink, sleep and amuse myself, and to lead a vagabond life from morning to night,’ some sound advice.
Don’t run away. Don’t rebel. Obey your parents. Go to school, or at least learn a trade. If not, ‘you’ll grow up to be a perfect donkey.’
Pinoccio grabs a mallet and smashes the cricket’s head. Innocenti unflinchingly depicts a line of goo running down the wall to the discarded weapon.
Definitely not Disney.
There are moral overtones to the tale, and as in the movie, goodness transforms the puppet into a boy. But the original Pinocchio never really seems quite ready to walk a straight and narrow path. You get the feeling he never really learns his lesson, and never will.
Indeed, you get the feeling that is not what the story is really about, and that Collodi enjoys observing the evil mischief of his protagonist.
A violent story that glosses over morality might be considered inappropriate as children’s literature. I’ll leave that up to you, and any little devils looking for something with a little jolt. Fairy tale land can be unsettling. And thrilling. Ask the Grimms.
Highly recommended for unsqueamish fourth graders on up.
Three years ago, Robert Brock’s translation of Pinocchio garnered a fair amount of attention, including mine. I realized I knew nothing about the darker original story, despite the Disney movie being a childhood favorite.
Actually, though, I couldn’t remember too much about the movie, and thought I should see it again. What really stuck in my mind was Jiminy Cricket, and even more, the voice of Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket singing “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Bliss.
Three years later, I haven’t yet returned to the movie, nor read Brock’s translation of the Carlos Collodi story. But then Pinocchio drew me back.
In her superb blog, the Children’s Book-A-Day Almanac, Anita Silvey devoted an entry to the Robert Innocenti-illustrated edition of the book. The sample she provided of his work was too enticing to let Pinocchio slip out of consciousness once more.
Innocenti delivers. Collodi’s story, of course, is far longer than would fit in a picture book. Innocenti lavishly supplies many, many more pictures than normally found in a chapter book, in large format and lush color. He places the action in a hyper-realistic small-town Italy full of magic and foreboding, in a not-too-distant past—photography’s there and motor scooters are on the horizon. It’s a magnificent book to look through.
As for Collodi’s tale…. It’s probably no surprise to anyone that Disney homogenized the contents. Pinocchio will surprise, though. That cute little cricket is a large all-too-real insect creepily crawling up a wall. The cricket does talk, and offers the wooden puppet, whose life ambition is to ‘eat, drink, sleep and amuse myself, and to lead a vagabond life from morning to night,’ some sound advice.
Don’t run away. Don’t rebel. Obey your parents. Go to school, or at least learn a trade. If not, ‘you’ll grow up to be a perfect donkey.’
Pinoccio grabs a mallet and smashes the cricket’s head. Innocenti unflinchingly depicts a line of goo running down the wall to the discarded weapon.
Definitely not Disney.
There are moral overtones to the tale, and as in the movie, goodness transforms the puppet into a boy. But the original Pinocchio never really seems quite ready to walk a straight and narrow path. You get the feeling he never really learns his lesson, and never will.
Indeed, you get the feeling that is not what the story is really about, and that Collodi enjoys observing the evil mischief of his protagonist.
A violent story that glosses over morality might be considered inappropriate as children’s literature. I’ll leave that up to you, and any little devils looking for something with a little jolt. Fairy tale land can be unsettling. And thrilling. Ask the Grimms.
Highly recommended for unsqueamish fourth graders on up.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
WORLD OF LEARNING: SCREEN TIME POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES
"Screen Time for Kids: Is It Learning or a Brain Drain?" MindShift Blog/NPR 3-11-11
The key here, as it is with television, is that the medium is not viewed as a babysitter. The story quotes a pediatrician who says, "Most parents don’t understand the need for their participation." I know there are good video games and apps for portable devices, but kids are going to be attracted to the dreck, just as they are to candy.
The key here, as it is with television, is that the medium is not viewed as a babysitter. The story quotes a pediatrician who says, "Most parents don’t understand the need for their participation." I know there are good video games and apps for portable devices, but kids are going to be attracted to the dreck, just as they are to candy.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF CLARE VANDERPOOL'S "MOON OVER MANIFEST"
MOON OVER MANIFEST. By Clare Vanderpool. Random House Children's Books, 2010. 368 pages.
A nice safe choice for the Newbery people, but not one that knocked my socks off.
The best historical novels, of course, trick you into learning about their periods. The reader never notices he’s sitting still for a history seminar, but is swept up in a story that happens in history. Vanderpool’s intention to teach World War I, the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Great Depression, is quite transparent.
Not to mention her desire to impart a feel-good messages about diversity (that is, the diversity of European immigrants in a Kansas town), and self-confidence. You know the bad guys are going to lose because, well, they’re bad. And they’re in the Ku Klux Klan
The structure of the novel makes for some snags in the stream, as well. There are four narrators, the delightfully feisty Abilene Tucker, 12-years-old and making do without family as a new resident of Manifest, Kansas, the author of a somewhat hokey homespun newspaper column, the doughboy scribe behind a trove of letters Abilene comes across, and a Hungarian fortune teller.
If that isn’t enough stutter-stop narration for you, you also have to keep switching back and forth between two time frames, 1918 and 1936.
Too bad, because Vanderpool has some strong characters, a fascinating little window into an unsung time and place, and a nice bit of mystery regarding Abilene’s father.
I especially liked the cousins who quickly become Abilene’s buddies, the spunky Lettie and Ruthanne, and wished I could have followed more closely on the three girls’ heels as they kick up the dust in the streets of Manifest. In the 1918 flashbacks, a boy called Jinx is also a strong and complex character.
The adults, with the exception of Abilene’s caretaker, Shady Howard, both a man of the cloth and the bottle, are one-dimensional and predictable. Like a nun named Sister Redempta, and those guys wearing hoods.
If I’d come to Moon Over Manifest as an unheralded debut novel, I might have been more forgiving of its flaws. I expected more from the Newbery Award winner, especially in a year with so many great chapter books, and for that matter a fantastic non-fiction book about World War I, Russell Freedman’s The War to End All Wars.
A nice safe choice for the Newbery people, but not one that knocked my socks off.
The best historical novels, of course, trick you into learning about their periods. The reader never notices he’s sitting still for a history seminar, but is swept up in a story that happens in history. Vanderpool’s intention to teach World War I, the Spanish Flu pandemic, the Great Depression, is quite transparent.
Not to mention her desire to impart a feel-good messages about diversity (that is, the diversity of European immigrants in a Kansas town), and self-confidence. You know the bad guys are going to lose because, well, they’re bad. And they’re in the Ku Klux Klan
The structure of the novel makes for some snags in the stream, as well. There are four narrators, the delightfully feisty Abilene Tucker, 12-years-old and making do without family as a new resident of Manifest, Kansas, the author of a somewhat hokey homespun newspaper column, the doughboy scribe behind a trove of letters Abilene comes across, and a Hungarian fortune teller.
If that isn’t enough stutter-stop narration for you, you also have to keep switching back and forth between two time frames, 1918 and 1936.
Too bad, because Vanderpool has some strong characters, a fascinating little window into an unsung time and place, and a nice bit of mystery regarding Abilene’s father.
I especially liked the cousins who quickly become Abilene’s buddies, the spunky Lettie and Ruthanne, and wished I could have followed more closely on the three girls’ heels as they kick up the dust in the streets of Manifest. In the 1918 flashbacks, a boy called Jinx is also a strong and complex character.
The adults, with the exception of Abilene’s caretaker, Shady Howard, both a man of the cloth and the bottle, are one-dimensional and predictable. Like a nun named Sister Redempta, and those guys wearing hoods.
If I’d come to Moon Over Manifest as an unheralded debut novel, I might have been more forgiving of its flaws. I expected more from the Newbery Award winner, especially in a year with so many great chapter books, and for that matter a fantastic non-fiction book about World War I, Russell Freedman’s The War to End All Wars.
Friday, March 11, 2011
WORLD OF LEARNING: TOO MUCH INFORMATION?
"I Can't Think!: How the deluge of information paralyzes our ability to make good decisions" Sharon Begley/Newsweek 2/27/11
Apparently, this was the swan song issue of the old Newsweek, prior to Tina Brown's makeover. Which is fine, unless the magazine loses Sharon Begley.
Cutting to the chase: "Some people are better than others at ignoring extra information. These 'sufficers' are able to say enough: they channel-surf until they find an acceptable show and then stop, whereas 'maximizers' never stop surfing, devouring information, and so struggle to make a decision and move on. If you think you’re a maximizer, the best prescription for you might be the 'off' switch on your smart phone."
Begley gets it. There is a flip side, though, I think. Sometimes limiting the influx of information is an excuse to ignore viewpoints with which we don't agee. You see that in spades on comment areas on the internet.
Apparently, this was the swan song issue of the old Newsweek, prior to Tina Brown's makeover. Which is fine, unless the magazine loses Sharon Begley.
Cutting to the chase: "Some people are better than others at ignoring extra information. These 'sufficers' are able to say enough: they channel-surf until they find an acceptable show and then stop, whereas 'maximizers' never stop surfing, devouring information, and so struggle to make a decision and move on. If you think you’re a maximizer, the best prescription for you might be the 'off' switch on your smart phone."
Begley gets it. There is a flip side, though, I think. Sometimes limiting the influx of information is an excuse to ignore viewpoints with which we don't agee. You see that in spades on comment areas on the internet.
WORLD OF LEARNING: NO QUICK FIX DOES NOT MEAN BURY YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND
"'Brain-Based' Research: Run From It" Larry Cuban/Answer Sheet Blog/Washington Post 2/28/11
Run from it? I find Cuban's tone condescending, as if teachers are too ignorant to understand that neuroscience offers no easy solutions for education. Keeping up with the exciting research that is going on, as well as learning what we know about how we learn--for example by reading recent works by neuroscientists Stanislas Dehaene (Reading in the Brain) and Antonio Damasio (Self Comes to Mind)--can only enrich teaching. I know the words "brain-based research" are often part of a slick sales pitch, but anyone who's looking for a quick fix is probably not a very good teacher, wherever he might turn for the magic pill.
Run from it? I find Cuban's tone condescending, as if teachers are too ignorant to understand that neuroscience offers no easy solutions for education. Keeping up with the exciting research that is going on, as well as learning what we know about how we learn--for example by reading recent works by neuroscientists Stanislas Dehaene (Reading in the Brain) and Antonio Damasio (Self Comes to Mind)--can only enrich teaching. I know the words "brain-based research" are often part of a slick sales pitch, but anyone who's looking for a quick fix is probably not a very good teacher, wherever he might turn for the magic pill.
LAR'S LIBRARY: MY REVIEW OF GARETH HINDS'S "THE ODYSSEY"
THE ODYSSEY. By Gareth Hinds. Candlewick, 2010. 256 pages.
I’ve read Gareth Hinds’s Beowulf and King Lear. Both fantastic examples of what can be done with the graphic novel form. With The Odyssey, however, Hinds has really outdone himself.
He’s outdone himself in size—The Odyssey is 250 pages long—and scope—it includes all of the elemental parts of Homer’s epic. And he hasn’t left out any of the excitement and drama that figure in his other works. If anything, those aspects are intensified. Hinds’s spectacular artwork, rich color, and superior page layouts are icing on the cake. Such a lovely book.
Readers of children’s literature know that The Odyssey is a source tapped by many authors. How could kids not like a story jam-packed with magic and adventure, monsters and gods? Of the many adaptations, this is now the one I will recommend first. It’s the most comprehensive, and the most thrilling.
Highly recommended for sixth graders on up.
I’ve read Gareth Hinds’s Beowulf and King Lear. Both fantastic examples of what can be done with the graphic novel form. With The Odyssey, however, Hinds has really outdone himself.
He’s outdone himself in size—The Odyssey is 250 pages long—and scope—it includes all of the elemental parts of Homer’s epic. And he hasn’t left out any of the excitement and drama that figure in his other works. If anything, those aspects are intensified. Hinds’s spectacular artwork, rich color, and superior page layouts are icing on the cake. Such a lovely book.
Readers of children’s literature know that The Odyssey is a source tapped by many authors. How could kids not like a story jam-packed with magic and adventure, monsters and gods? Of the many adaptations, this is now the one I will recommend first. It’s the most comprehensive, and the most thrilling.
Highly recommended for sixth graders on up.
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