Journal of Education for Library and Information Science
This article describes a faculty response to two challenges of online education: diversity engage... more This article describes a faculty response to two challenges of online education: diversity engagement and professional socialization. Reviewing the literature, we develop a rubric to help assess the potential of new assignments for meeting these challenges. Using that rubric, we assess several assignments and projects that students evaluated positively, to better articulate the efficacy of the assignment in meeting our diversity education goals and future barriers to access. We conclude by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of our model for assessing diversity awareness and professional socialization in the LIS curriculum.
Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research performed betwe... more Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research performed between 1974 and 2002, this qualitative study explored tbe gender assumptions and expectations of Language Arts teachers in a graduate level adolescent literature course at a university in tbe Midwestern United States. Tbe tbeoretical framework vi^as structured around a social constructionist lens, including reader response and gender theories. The methodology employed ethnographic methods, as well as critical discourse analysis. This study explored tbe ways participants identified with or resisted gender expectations in their book discussion groups. It looked at the kind of discourses that were maintained and disrupted in the groups and within tbeir personal blogs and written responses. Tbe participants sbov^/ed diversity within gender, which calls into question tbe use of gender as a major consideration for making reader's advisory, collection development, programming, or pedagogical de...
Across the United States, one in five children has or will have a serious mental illness. This pr... more Across the United States, one in five children has or will have a serious mental illness. This project intended 1) to determine current efforts among rural school libraries and communities to promote mental health literacy, and 2) to determine rural school libraries’ capacity to promote community health literacy. This project used a mixed method design, including activities such as a quantitative survey of mental health support administered to rural school librarians, counselors, and administrators; qualitative interviews and focus groups with rural school librarians, counselors, and administrators; environmental analyses of school libraries where best practices are happening.
Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 2014
IntroductionFor years literature has been seen as a gendered medium and reading has been viewed a... more IntroductionFor years literature has been seen as a gendered medium and reading has been viewed as a gendered practice (Bleich, 1986; Cherland, 1994; Flynn, 1983; Holland, 1977; Linkin, 1993; Millard, 1997). Much of the research on gender and literature preference is more than ten years old, yet book and media marketing relies heavily on gender stereotypes based on the findings of those studies. Teachers and librarians still say, "I don't know if I would use that book because it would only appeal to girls" or "boys won't read a book with a female protagonist." This demonstrates the continuing pertinence of the question of whether literacy practices are gendered, and what that might look like today.When responding to literature, the reader approaches the text through the lens of their sociocultural identity constructions. These constructions are reflective of our interpretive communities and are based on shared assumptions about language, the nature of kno...
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2012. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instructio... more University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2012. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Dr. Lee Galda. 1 computer file (PDF); vii, 298 pages, appendices A-P.
ABSTRACT Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research perfor... more ABSTRACT Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research performed between 1974 and 2002, this qualitative study explored tbe gender assumptions and expectations of Language Arts teachers in a graduate level adolescent literature course at a university in tbe Midwestern United States. Tbe tbeoretical framework vi^as structured around a social constructionist lens, including reader response and gender theories. The methodology employed ethnographic methods, as well as critical discourse analysis. This study explored tbe ways participants identified with or resisted gender expectations in their book discussion groups. It looked at the kind of discourses that were maintained and disrupted in the groups and within tbeir personal blogs and written responses. Tbe participants sbov^/ed diversity within gender, which calls into question tbe use of gender as a major consideration for making reader's advisory, collection development, programming, or pedagogical decisions. It indicates that preservice librarians should be offered a variety of opportunities to examine and redefine our current strategies for motivating readers and recommending library materials. As library educators it is essential tbat we offer librarians lenses beyond gender in which to view tbeir clients.
... Presents the highlights of a survey of achievement in literature in Flemish-speaking and Fren... more ... Presents the highlights of a survey of achievement in literature in Flemish-speaking and French-speak-ing Belgium, Chile, England, Finland, Iran, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States. ... English Journal, 1973, 62, 224-229. ...
Literacy behaviors that we used to think were gendered are crossing genders now. Whether it is du... more Literacy behaviors that we used to think were gendered are crossing genders now. Whether it is due to changes in gender expectations or changes in how writers are addressing teen readers, we are seeing boys who exhibit literacy behaviors that have been associated with girls and vice versa. In this article, Beth Brendler explores the shift in reading behaviors among girls and boys, reflecting on many examples of current, popu-lar fiction to provide examples of books that cross gender lines. Brendler draws on her past experience as a practicing librarian and head of the youth services department at a pub-lic library in Wisconsin. Her teaching interests include youth services in libraries, literacy education, children' s literature, and adolescent literature.—Editor h ow often do you hear both children and adults refer to texts as "boy books" or "girl books"? Thinking of literature in those terms is the result of early research on gender and literacy. 1 About fo...
The November issue of RTE once again contains the Annual Annotated Bibliography of Research in th... more The November issue of RTE once again contains the Annual Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English. The 2010 version of the bibliography involves a major change—the bibliography is now available solely as a downloadable pdf file at http://www. ncte. org/journals/rte/issues/v45-2. As the length of the bibliography has grown from 15 pages in 2003 to 88 pages in 2010, we and the editors of the journal concluded that the bibliography should not compete for limited print space with research reports and that it ...
Journal of Education for Library and Information Science
This article describes a faculty response to two challenges of online education: diversity engage... more This article describes a faculty response to two challenges of online education: diversity engagement and professional socialization. Reviewing the literature, we develop a rubric to help assess the potential of new assignments for meeting these challenges. Using that rubric, we assess several assignments and projects that students evaluated positively, to better articulate the efficacy of the assignment in meeting our diversity education goals and future barriers to access. We conclude by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of our model for assessing diversity awareness and professional socialization in the LIS curriculum.
Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research performed betwe... more Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research performed between 1974 and 2002, this qualitative study explored tbe gender assumptions and expectations of Language Arts teachers in a graduate level adolescent literature course at a university in tbe Midwestern United States. Tbe tbeoretical framework vi^as structured around a social constructionist lens, including reader response and gender theories. The methodology employed ethnographic methods, as well as critical discourse analysis. This study explored tbe ways participants identified with or resisted gender expectations in their book discussion groups. It looked at the kind of discourses that were maintained and disrupted in the groups and within tbeir personal blogs and written responses. Tbe participants sbov^/ed diversity within gender, which calls into question tbe use of gender as a major consideration for making reader's advisory, collection development, programming, or pedagogical de...
Across the United States, one in five children has or will have a serious mental illness. This pr... more Across the United States, one in five children has or will have a serious mental illness. This project intended 1) to determine current efforts among rural school libraries and communities to promote mental health literacy, and 2) to determine rural school libraries’ capacity to promote community health literacy. This project used a mixed method design, including activities such as a quantitative survey of mental health support administered to rural school librarians, counselors, and administrators; qualitative interviews and focus groups with rural school librarians, counselors, and administrators; environmental analyses of school libraries where best practices are happening.
Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 2014
IntroductionFor years literature has been seen as a gendered medium and reading has been viewed a... more IntroductionFor years literature has been seen as a gendered medium and reading has been viewed as a gendered practice (Bleich, 1986; Cherland, 1994; Flynn, 1983; Holland, 1977; Linkin, 1993; Millard, 1997). Much of the research on gender and literature preference is more than ten years old, yet book and media marketing relies heavily on gender stereotypes based on the findings of those studies. Teachers and librarians still say, "I don't know if I would use that book because it would only appeal to girls" or "boys won't read a book with a female protagonist." This demonstrates the continuing pertinence of the question of whether literacy practices are gendered, and what that might look like today.When responding to literature, the reader approaches the text through the lens of their sociocultural identity constructions. These constructions are reflective of our interpretive communities and are based on shared assumptions about language, the nature of kno...
University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2012. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instructio... more University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2012. Major: Education, Curriculum and Instruction. Advisor: Dr. Lee Galda. 1 computer file (PDF); vii, 298 pages, appendices A-P.
ABSTRACT Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research perfor... more ABSTRACT Drawing on and reexamining theories on gender and literacy, derived from research performed between 1974 and 2002, this qualitative study explored tbe gender assumptions and expectations of Language Arts teachers in a graduate level adolescent literature course at a university in tbe Midwestern United States. Tbe tbeoretical framework vi^as structured around a social constructionist lens, including reader response and gender theories. The methodology employed ethnographic methods, as well as critical discourse analysis. This study explored tbe ways participants identified with or resisted gender expectations in their book discussion groups. It looked at the kind of discourses that were maintained and disrupted in the groups and within tbeir personal blogs and written responses. Tbe participants sbov^/ed diversity within gender, which calls into question tbe use of gender as a major consideration for making reader's advisory, collection development, programming, or pedagogical decisions. It indicates that preservice librarians should be offered a variety of opportunities to examine and redefine our current strategies for motivating readers and recommending library materials. As library educators it is essential tbat we offer librarians lenses beyond gender in which to view tbeir clients.
... Presents the highlights of a survey of achievement in literature in Flemish-speaking and Fren... more ... Presents the highlights of a survey of achievement in literature in Flemish-speaking and French-speak-ing Belgium, Chile, England, Finland, Iran, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United States. ... English Journal, 1973, 62, 224-229. ...
Literacy behaviors that we used to think were gendered are crossing genders now. Whether it is du... more Literacy behaviors that we used to think were gendered are crossing genders now. Whether it is due to changes in gender expectations or changes in how writers are addressing teen readers, we are seeing boys who exhibit literacy behaviors that have been associated with girls and vice versa. In this article, Beth Brendler explores the shift in reading behaviors among girls and boys, reflecting on many examples of current, popu-lar fiction to provide examples of books that cross gender lines. Brendler draws on her past experience as a practicing librarian and head of the youth services department at a pub-lic library in Wisconsin. Her teaching interests include youth services in libraries, literacy education, children' s literature, and adolescent literature.—Editor h ow often do you hear both children and adults refer to texts as "boy books" or "girl books"? Thinking of literature in those terms is the result of early research on gender and literacy. 1 About fo...
The November issue of RTE once again contains the Annual Annotated Bibliography of Research in th... more The November issue of RTE once again contains the Annual Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English. The 2010 version of the bibliography involves a major change—the bibliography is now available solely as a downloadable pdf file at http://www. ncte. org/journals/rte/issues/v45-2. As the length of the bibliography has grown from 15 pages in 2003 to 88 pages in 2010, we and the editors of the journal concluded that the bibliography should not compete for limited print space with research reports and that it ...
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Papers by Beth Brendler