Magic in Africa: Questions the Lesson Raised

Anyone interested in continuing our conversation about representations of Africa or about the two books themselves? I know people had lots to say that didn't get said because of time constraints!

One topic that we didn't discuss in class was raised my someone in her quickwrite:

• As a teacher, should I raise these questions with kids? Or should I just let them read or explore on their own?

My response to the first question was "yes"! All readers need to consider what books "offer" them and read with a critical eye. (Rethinking Schools on-line has some great articles on how teachers do this type of critical literacy work in the classroom.)

But the second part of the question makes it tricky, right? It makes me wonder:

• How do you teach someone to read critically without communicating that the teacher's read of the text is the "correct" one? (This is the question I'm going to ask my instructor group to help me think about when we watch the video tape of the lesson.)
  
• To add a layer of complexity, how do we learn to read transculturally, especially when we value cultural authenticity and when issues of power and representation are involved?

Any thoughts, either on questions we raised in class or on the question of what it means to teach this type of lesson?