Return-Path: <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f4HEWjf18464; Thu, 17 May 2001 10:32:45 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 10:32:45 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <200105171429.KAA20590@swiftsure.cnchost.com> Errors-To: alcrsb@langate.gsu.edu Reply-To: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: Deborah Schwartz <deborah@alri.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-womenlit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-WOMENLIT:1452] Re: X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain Status: O Content-Length: 4531 Lines: 82 funny, I always feel like I'm being the politically incorrect one- saying that students can and should have access to difficult and "literary" work. Around here the movement has been toward-- bringing in "anything" as long as they're reading! And I have been called elitist because I think everyone deserves access to Toni Morrison. But there are no easy answers. I love using children's books! I love reading them! (and I don't have children in my house so there's no excuse that I have a bookshelf of children's books) The conversation that we're having on this list, I used to have them with my students in the classroom. I think it's these conversations that help us sort out what to do. It does take a willingness to learn from each other, though, huh? And I think it's harder to not judge and make assumptions on a list. Dorothy Allison who maybe folks know from her novel "bastard out of Carolina" spoke about teaching reading for the first time, as the key note speaker of a Lesbian/Gay writer's conference. And among other things, she said: "I bring what ever'sin on my floor, my desk, my bookshelf- which inevitably means "Good Housekeeping" and superman comics and ask my students to make a list lists about why they would want to read something and why they wouldn't." I love this approach. It asks for conversation. Again, it's in the conversation about tastes and likes and dislikes that help us all learn, who we are, where we came from, how we're different, and what we want to do about it. And speaking of "trash," Allison's first collection of stories called "Trash" has been one of my most provocative and fun collections to share with students. I guess that's cause I love it so much. See that's the thing- we're going to share with our students what we would share with each other. Deborah PS...and I watch bad t.v.! ---- AWilder106@aol.com wrote: > Dear Deborah and all, > > I read all sorts of books, from "trash" to "good books." I put those in > paren because I turn to certain books for certain reasons, I re-read > children's books that are old favorites, I even re-read my mother's > children's books. > > For years I have suffered in silence while people tout "good books" which I > found dull, and I went back to my chidlren's books or trash on my own. A > bookseller friend of mine was recently shocked when he looked at my upstairs > bookshelves. And I have a doctorate.... > > BUT this story has a happy ending. Last week in the Chronicle of Higher > Education I read an essay on this very topic, a college teacher starting > with the books her students loved, then trying to build on from there a > capacity to appreciate "good books." > > Last paragraph: > > "For many years now, I've taken my students' love for their summer books as a > good starting place; my plan has always been to move them from an affective > to an intellectual response, from loving a text to understanding it. What I > didn't consider was that loving might be a way of undeerstanding, not merely > a precursor to it. How that works, I'm still not exactly sure. When I find > out, well, that's where my next book will come from." > > On myself: if I had had to learn reading from the dreadful little passages > that seem to be adult literacy staples I never would have, or it would have > been much harder. > > When my brother and I were little we (mother) subscribed to magazines, etc. > They were our very own. I took Jack and Jill, my brother, older, had comic > books --many--later Time magazine. > > My mother subscribed to scads of magazines, I certainly do--just hold me > back--and 3 newspapers. During graduate school I cut back, due to expense, > and felt the loss of the newspapers keenly. > > This is very un PC, but oh, well--I had a friend who was down and out stay > with me for a couple of months because he had no place to go, and the first > night he was here he asked "Where is your pornography?" Feeling I was > somehow derelict myself in being a hostess, i went down to a bookstore and > bought him some HIGH CLASS BUT LOW PRICE pornography--called literature, but > the line is kind of fuzzy, frankly. > > On this topic, there is a sexually frank book that is recommended for adult > ltieracy classes??? By "Sapphire?" Have i got that right? Now, that shocks > me, or I should say, adult lit people's reaction to that shocks me. Gotta > run. I love this conversation, Deborah is right, it is real. > > Andrea > >
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