Monday, July 23, 2007

100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature -- The One Year Anniversary

A year ago, Franki wrote this post:
Okay so I am totally loving the lists from Jen Robinson's Book Page blog--Cool Boys from Kid Lit and Cool Girls From Children's Literature. I loved reading over these lists and thinking about these great characters we love.

I soo loved the idea that I started thinking. Could we come up with 100 Cool Teachers from Children's Lit? What do you think? So many teachers in books are these stereotypic, mean, dumpy people who are worn out. So, let's start putting together a list of 100 Cool Teacher's in Children's Lit. I am going to start with Great Aunt Arizona from MY GREAT AUNT ARIZONA by Gloria Houston. I also think The Giver in THE GIVER is a cool teacher. I would also like to add Mrs. Granger from FRINDLE by Andrew Clements. She is cool in disguise. We're looking for thoughtful teachers who understand kids and learning and are active, intelligent people who love their work. Do you think we can find 100? We are taking suggestions from readers!
A year later, and our list has over 100 cool teachers! (The list has a permanent home in our sidebar, too.) Thanks for all your suggestions! Surely there are some cool teachers in the books you've read recently -- let's keep the list growing!

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:30 AM

    Happy anniversary to the Cool Teachers! And thanks for the reminder to keep an eye out for cool teachers in newly read books.

    Some day, when I have a bit more time, I'm going to update the cool girls and boys lists, too. That's much overdue.

    Have a great week!

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  2. Anonymous12:10 PM

    Now could you guys come up with a way to bring them all to life to teach our own kids? You can do that, right?

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  3. Anonymous1:20 PM

    Happy list-anniversary!

    I am so happy to have just seen your name, Mary Lee, on the RSVP list for the Chicago conference. Woo hoo! Is Franki going to be able to come??

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  4. Jen -- Lots of cool new girls in children's lit this summer. (Probably boys, too, but none jump into my brain right now...) Put out a call. We'll help you update!

    Liz -- I'm thinking Trisha (Miss Rumphius) needs to use our list in one of her preservice teacher courses! Or maybe school staffs need to use our list for professional development!

    Jules -- I'm sure you just set off Franki's Guilt-O-Meter, but sadly, she won't be able to make it. :-(

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  5. How about Mr. Lema, from Francisco Jimenez's The Circuit? He doesn't get a lot of stage time, but has a couple of very significant scenes in this memoirish immigrant story.

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