As the facilitator for the chapter 6 reading from Reeves, I’d like to post a few questions for tomorrow’s discussion.

Valisha expressed interest in characters as positive role models, whom she could learn from, and events that related to real-life. How can we help her make connections with with not-so-obvious positive characters? (E.g. the medicine man in No Witchcraft for Sale).

Is it always/never necessary to give background/history on books from another era? Should researching this info be up to our students? Valisha did not comprehend the importance of the medicine man’s refusal to name the ‘drug’ he used- a big part of her also missing him as a postive character.

Some of Valisha’s teachers let things slide because they knew she was a Mom. One alternative to reading a book that is never offered to her (to my surprise) is listening to a book on tape of the assigned reading. Do you think this would be a good replacement for students (pressed for time, with other obligations) like Valisha? Any students at all?

Valisha states she doesn’t enjoy reading about slavery and how black people [were] treated. Her pain may be more profound in a classroom where she is a minority. How do we/should we approach reading a novel that may be painful or enraging to students of a certain race or background?

-Erica