I’m just back from the American Library Association’s (ALA) 2009 annual conference, which was held in Chicago, IL. This was my first time at ALA and it was incredible.
I was deeply touched by the passion for learning, reading, and educating that I witnessed at the conference. At the Newbery Caldecott Wilder awards banquet, I realized that we, the crowd, were giving standing ovations for books! We clapped until our hands stung for authors and illustrators. We cheered and shouted and even teared up when the award-winners (Neil Gaiman, Beth Krommes, and Ashley Bryan) spoke about their processes, their art, and their personal journeys.
I overheard someone seated next to me in the crowd say, “These are our Academy Awards and the authors are our celebrities.”
TeachingBooks.net gives you and students the opportunity to feel connected to literary celebrities. In fact, our brand new Curriculum Resource Center features many literary celebrities: authors and illustrators who are the recipients of the Coretta Scott King Book Award.
At ALA, we debuted this free, online K-12 collection of audio clips, book readings, videos, primary source materials, and lesson plans. Many incredible African American authors and illustrators participated in this Coretta Scott King Curriculum Resource Center.
I would like to introduce you to this Coretta Scott King Curriculum Resource Center with the original audio recordings we created with Maya Angelou.
To start, do you know how to pronounce her name?
Listen to Maya Angelou pronounce and speak about her name.
Also, did you know that Dr. Angelou almost didn’t write her classic novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Random House, 1969)?
Listen to Maya Angelou introduce and then read an excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Can you imagine sharing these online resources with students the moment they’re reading and studying this book? Use the Coretta Scott King Curriculum Resource Center to teach the Coretta Scott King Award-winning books.
Who’s your most cherished literary celebrity? Do a search for them using the purple search box on TeachingBooks.net and see what new information you uncover!
PS Please feel free to share the Coretta Scott King Curriculum Resource Center by using the following link: www.TeachingBooks.net/CSK
Posted by Danika L. Morphew-Tarbuck, MLS, Web 2.0 Content Producer
Leave a Reply