From Sue

After you all ( and I've only heard from five of you by name) get your blog started, send your blog address to me and I"ll post them all on my blog so we can all be in touch with each other.  Good work Amanda, Marci, Sarah, Rebecca and Kim!  Please identify yourselves "bridezilla" and "mumbie"!  Also, it would be great if you all have a picture you could post.  Just download from a camera . . . and smile!

Sue

Confusion reigns! It will improve I learn more. Please read.

The order of listing and assignments are rather confusing.  I suggest that you read through them all at first.  Disregard the dates as some I posted during the early part of March.

This is the time agenda for turning in assignments through your blogs:
I will post the next weeks assignments each Wednesday by 5.  Those assignments will be due in your blog on each Tuesday by 5.

ATTENTION! Read this first!

These directions from Denvy Saxowsky will help those who have not blogged before.  Follow his directions to  my blog .  THANK  YOU!!
Getting Started with BloggingAs the usefulness of blogging becomes more apparent, it is necessary to support people develop their own blogs. There are many blog providers. I will walk through the steps using the google sites.

First we will setup an gmail account if you don't all ready have one.

With your browser go to Google.com.
Click on Gmail.
Click on Create an Account, and follow the prompts. Remember your gmail email address and your password. Write it on a sheet of paper and store it in your sock drawer. Some suggest in your mother's undie drawer because no one goes there.

Secondly we'll setup the blog.

Go to blogger.com
If you need to, sign in with your gmail account information.
Follow the prompts. About names: the first one requested is a general name that the public will see. Another is the title of your blog, always on the top of your blog page (think carefully about this one; it's like your brand, your sales pitch). Lastly you will enter a name for the URL address of your blogspot (simple is good).
You're ready to blog or post an entry. Do it.

Thirdly, find blogs that you would like to read on a regular basis, like that of your professor. Try "readmoreyal.blogspot.com". Click on "Follow" in the right column and follow the prompts.
Blogging is all about getting readers and interconnecting so follow blogs that interest you and follow blogs that are followed by those you follow.
Have fun but beware that blogging can be addictive. Questions: email me at saxowsky@gmail.com.

Getting familiar with Young Adult Literature (YAL)

Assignment 1
Read Chapters 1 & 2 that talks about the adolescent. Answer for yourself, 

"Were your readings as an adolescent part of that perspective?"
Assignment 2
I would like you to sum up your definition of an adolescent in one sentence (it can be a long sentence . Did the first two chapters change your mind as to what an adolescent really is? 

Post your response to this in the Week 2 forum "What is an adolescent anyway?" in the CLASS DISCUSSIONS block. Let's all help lend to easy online communication. Please use proper forum posting protocol.

Assignment 3
Write a literacy autobiography. This paper should be typed using APA style and should describe what you remember about learning to read and write. You may want to call a parent or sibling to help you with the details. You may want to share struggles as well as joys in learning to read and write. Some questions to ask yourself as you travel back to your preschool years are: 

• Who read to me the most? When and where?
• What was my favorite book as a child?
• Were my friends readers too?
• What were my first writing experiences? Do I have any of those early papers?
• What were my experiences as a reader and writer when I was in elementary school? middle school? high school? college?
• What kind of assignments did I have to do as a reader and writer during each level of schooling?

I never require a number of pages in assignments. I know that you will write enough to explain your situation in learning to read and write. Be sure to be descriptive so I can picture you as a young learner and tell me about one experience that you have as an adolescent reader and writer.

Upload your assignment file to the Literacy Autobiography link under Week 2 in the DROP BOX block.
Assignment 4
Read one of the newer winner or honor books list from the more recent Newbery list (see American Library Association link – ALA).
Just pick one of the Winner or Honor List/Newbery books from 1999 - 2009. As you are reading, I’d like you to jot down or on sticky notes what you’re thinking as you are reading. Here are some examples of questions you may ask yourself: 

• Why is that character acting like that?
• Where is the author going with this?
• Has something similar happened to me? (text to self, T-S)
• Have I read a book that deals with some of the same issues? (text to text, T-T)
• Is there something on a more global scale happening like this? (text to world, T-W)
• Perhaps there is language in the book that is particularly descriptive or interesting.
• Maybe there is a literary device that the author used that helped you to better understand the books.
• You may want to even make a list of vocabulary words that you found interesting.

Write all of this down.

Assignment 5

I will be dividing the class into Groups for small group discussions. In the GROUPS block of this course you will find your group forum, where you can discuss what you have read with your small group. 

Assignments for Week 1

Assignment for Week 1 (3/28-4/1)

This week's assignment will ask many of you to stretch yourselves technologically.  Since much of what we will do this term is sharing information with each other it is important that we feel comfortable in this electronic environment.  This is the week to experiment! Browse around and find out where everything is located.  Make sure you check out all sections of the course. 

You each will be setting up a blog so first go to Google and set up a gmail account.  Next go to blogger.com to set up your blog.  Follow the directions there.  Then, before you do anything else, email me your new blog address.  Of course, if you already have a blog, just send me the blog address.  Thanks!

Thanks to my friend, Denvy Saxwosky, a technology guru we have a link to a blog tutorial that will help you .  

Text:

 Cole, Pam B.  2009  Young Adult Literature in the 21st Century.  McGraw Hill.

 

 

Important information

- When choosing books to read for this class, look for books that have original publishing dates from 2000 to the present.  With hundreds of new books published each year, you will have no trouble finding good ones from the past ten years.  YAL has changed as times change so you always have to keep current.  This may mean stretching a bit by having to go to the library rather than talking about an older book you have read or one that is a favorite of your kids.  This, however, is one of the goals of the course.  You need to become aware of what is out there for your students to read.  

Remember, NEVER read a book to your class, as in shared reading, or ask them to read a particular book, unless you have read that book from cover to cover.  This is where censorship issues occur.  You must know what is in that book!  More later on censorship.  Please read the link from the Statesman Journal from 3/4/10 about a controversial book at Auburn Elementary School, Salem Oregon.

- A quick note – the Table of Literacy Appreciation is on p. 36.  It's rather confusing in this book.  Be sure to read and understand this table.  I'm sure that you will have memories of these stages and of what books you were reading at the time.  This table might also help you with your literacy autobiography by jogging your mind about early reading and writing experiences.

A note from Sue

I realize that for some of you this is the first online course you have taken.  That is why we are devoting some of the first week of the course to learn how to get around.  Please take advantage of this opportunity.  I encourage you to read each others postings and generally get to know your way around the course environment.  The first couple of weeks you may experience technological frustrations – many of us do when encountering a new technological environment.  However, these can be solved.  You can always reach me by email and I will try to find help for you.  I will try to solve the academic problems, if there are any.  I do not penalize anyone's grade for computer problems that are out of their control.

 

Blogs are a bit different but I will be learning along with you.  It is a less formal atmosphere so we can have fun with it, I hope. 

For those of you who have taken online courses before, please don't ignore that activities associated with this week's computer challenges. I encourage you to offer to mentor those participants who are new to the online environment.  As you know from previous classes, sometimes you each know how to solve a problem much better that the instructor does.   I appreciate your help in creating a fun and interesting online learning community.  In addition, please feel free to respond to each other's questions and comments. 

By the end of this term, you will be amazed at how much we have learned and shared with each other.  It is my hope that we are able to form a caring community within this online environment that assists one another and that is responsible to one another.  I look forward to an exciting and stimulating course.  I hope you are as well.

I found this interesting article in the Statesman Journal.