Covid-19, #OperationReadAloud, #MinnesotaProud

I Had Ambitious Plans For The Sequester

I was going to interview educators to help parents facilitate learning at home.

I interviewed one. Mollie Welsh Kruger, Supervised Fieldwork Advisor and Course Instructor from the Bank Street College of Education. Currently, she serves as co-chair of the Bank Street College Children’s Book Committee https://www.bankstreet.edu/center-childrens-literature/childrens-book-committee

Her takeaway is that parents should know that teachers care about their students and that everyone was doing the best they can to assure healthy learning. Parents can facilitate learning by providing everyday opportunities like art, music, reading aloud, cooking, and experimenting. Follow the child’s interests and see where that leads their learning during these times.

#UMNProud

“Parents balance home-schooling with work during health emergency”

Annie Mason,PhD, program director of elementary teacher education at the University of Minnesota was interviewed by Angela Davis on Minnesota Public Radio on March 19th, 2020.

Listen to the MPR program

Annie Mason gave a terrific overview of how to continue a child’s education at home. She agrees with Mollie Welsh Kruger that this is not a time is not to add to the pain and stress of the quarantine. Parents do not need to suddenly become their child’s substitute teacher but to find the joy in learning in this unique situation. Of course, parents teach every day crises or not.

Mary Schultz, formerly an instructor of Reading and Writing with Deaf and Hard of Hearing students (and past president of the Kerlan Friends) reminded me to emphasize the amazing teaching that teachers are are doing through the internet and hopes that parents help the students not to feel overwhelmed.

She recommends #OperationReadAloud to help lighten the load as the postings of authors and illustrators are entertaining as well as support home learning.

Dr. Pauline Boss

Are you familiar with the work of University of Minnesota Professor Emeritus, Pauline Boss?

Dr. Pauline Boss is known as a pioneer in the interdisciplinary study of family stress. For over thirty years, her work has focused on connecting family science and sociology with family therapy and psychology. Dr. Boss formulated the concept of ambiguous loss that guides clinicians in the task of building resilience in clients who face the trauma of loss without resolution. For more information about ambiguous loss.

In this interview, Dr. Boss describes the impact of pandemic on us and how we can cope in this time of ambiguity.

UMN family therapist Q&A: Grieving the losses amid coronavirus pandemic

Good Enough

 

 

 

I am working on the good enough. Will I learn to cartoon as I had hoped from Lynda Barry’s Making Comics and Ivan Brunetti’s Comics as Easy as ABC?  Alas for the life of me, I have no idea where I put those two books. My composition notebook is around here somewhere! Or not. Are they now quarantined in my office at the Elmer L. Andersen Library? Probably.

 

 

 

I will be continuing the work of the Children’s Literature Research Collections from the home office.

 

Look for author/illustrator videos and resources on FaceBook #OperationReadAloud.

#OperationReadAloud

This Facebook site is in response to the need to aggregate children’s book creators read-alouds while children are sequestered at home. Please post author/illustrator videos of creators reading aloud.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/138080447610791/?hc_location=group

Download Writing Boxes

Free download of writing and art activities K-12 to support literacy

https://www.lib.umn.edu/publishing/writingboxes

 

Stay Safe, Stay Well

and there might be some comic making after all.