English Update March 20, 1007.LA March 07

Language Arts. March 2007.
The theme for this issue is “inclusion,” i.e., including the disabled and other marginal groups in mainstream classrooms.

Parents….. How can teachers improve communication with parents of disabled children? Teachers need to learn how to communicate with parents, minimizing the use of jargon, or explaining it, and listening to them, to stories about their disabled children. J Tuten. LA (Mar. 07), 314-324.

Disabled….. What happens when children are treated as if they are disabled and therefore incompetent? “If children are repeatedly treated as incompetent and disabled and/or regard themselves in this way, they will begin to identify themselves as incompetent disabled human beings.” B Edmiston. LA (Mar. 07), 343.

Homophobia….. Why don’t university professors include gay issues in their curriculum? “I am frustrated that few university professors find time in their curriculum to integrate the topics of homophobia and heterosexism into their classroom discussions of other ‘isms,’ like racism and sexism.” JM Hermann-Wilmarth. LA (Mar. 07), 349.

Homophobia….. What will happen if teacher educators include gay issues in their curriculums? “It is my belief that as more and more teacher educators find ways to integrate gay and lesbian issues into their classrooms—using children’s literature, films and discussions—more and more elementary school teachers will find ways to integrate those same issues into their classrooms, which will, in turn, become more inclusive spaces.” JM Hermann-Wilmarth. LA (Mar. 07), 355.

Inclusion….. Do marginal groups want to be included in mainstream cultures that tend to exclude people because of social class, language, gender and race? “Inclusion into what? Do I want to be included in a system that is fraught with systematic barriers for certain groups?” AJ Artiles and EB Kozleiski. LA (Mar. 07), 363.

Literature….. Race….. What are some interesting novels dealing with race? Ernest J. Gaines. A Gathering of Old Men. 1983. 18-year-old white woman named Candy and 17 elderly black men all confess to a murder in defense of their peer who has shot a Cajun farmer. ML Gomez. LA (Mar. 07), 365.

Inclusion….. How define “inclusion”?…special needs children being bodily located in the same physical environment as children without special needs. K Edwards, et al. LA (Mar. 07), 385.

Inclusion….. What are UN goals concerning special needs children? UN Heads of State, 2002: “Each boy and girl is born free and equal in dignity and rights; therefore all discrimination affecting children must end. We will take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including equal access to health, education and recreational services by children with disabilities, and children with special needs to ensure the recognition of their dignity; to promote their self-reliance and to facilitate their active participation in the community.” K Edwards, et al., LA (Mar. 07, 389.

Archive
Reading….. Genre….. What should be the roles of narrative and expository material in the reading program? Strike a balance between narrative and expository reading in the elementary grades. LB Gambrell. RT (Mar. 05), 588-591.

Reading….. Habit….. How much time do people today devote to reading? People 65 and over read about an hour a day. Ages 15-24, 8 minutes a day. Overall average, 19 minutes a day for men and 24 minutes a day for women. Spend 2.5 hours a day watching TV. [The 15-24 age group amazes me—no reading in school or for school? Or, is this based on reading when you are not required? Ray. ] US Dept of Labor, 2003. Wrt (Jan. 05), 10.

Reading….. Habit….. To what degree do Americans have the reading habit? “…only 5% of North Americans can be thought of as habitual readers, or, to put it rather more urgently, 95% of all those who attend school will probably never take to reading as a matter of habit.” [I think I would amend this statement to “…never take to reading books as a matter of habit.”] LF Ashley. “Children’s Reading Interests and Individualized Reading.” 1088.

LA = Language Arts. Wrt = The Writer. RT = Reading Teacher.