Chapter 11: Instruction
The presence of literature in the classroom is not enough. We must also know how to teach it, as well as weave it into our curriculums. I really liked this chapter because it highlighted the teaching aspect of literature, as well as gave resources on how to integrate teaching strategies and specific curriculums. Figure 11.1 on page 340 was helpful, as developing literacy coaches, because it gives examples of what set programs with intertwined literature looks like. Throughout the chapter, however, I really enjoyed the teaching points: they were familiar to me and helped me organize the content learned in the book, mentally. Reading aloud, storytelling, choral speaking, and drama are just a few of the practices that can be used in the classroom that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Chapter 12: Instruction in Middle and High School
I did not really find this chapter helpful because I am a certified elementary teacher. Middle and high school is out of my comfort zone, nor is it relevant to my classroom experience because I have only had interaction and experience with the younger grades. However, I think that this chapter is helpful for someone that does teach these grades, and that they would find this chapter as helpful as I found Chapter 11.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Is It Fact or Fiction? Week 12 Chapter 10 Class and Reading Review
This week we focused on nonfiction texts and not only their content, but also their style of writing. Here is a table I considered to be most helpful in picking out quality nonfiction. It can be found on page 307 of the text:
Accuracy:
Accuracy:
- Facts are complete
- Balance of fact and theory
- Scope appropriate to subject and audience
- Author's resources are documented
Organization:
- Clearly developed ideas
- Interrelationships between fact and theory
Design:
- Attractive format
- Illustrations and pictures depict concept
Style:
- Interesting writing
- Appropriate terminology
Required, But Well-Loved Text Reviews
·
What Color is My World? MC BIN/OVERCOMING
ADVERSITY
o
Summary of content/review: This book highlights
the inventions, still used today, by African American inventors. Many of these inventors are overseen, but
without their inventions, life as we know it today wouldn’t exist. This text highlights these inventors and
their accomplishments, all while paying tribute to their African American
heritage.
o
Evaluation: This book is an informational text,
set up in a fun and engaging format for elementary-aged audiences. It has a handful of flaps, filled with fun
facts about these inventors and inventions.
o
Target audience: 4th-6th
grades
o
Connection to classroom: I would use this text
in my classroom as a reference for conducting research about these people and
their inventions. I would also use this
text when speaking about accomplishments of African Americans.
·
Julie Andrews Poems POETRY
o
Summary of content/review: This work is an
assortment of poems hand picked, and some even written by Julie Andrews and her
daughter, describing coming of age.
o
Evaluation: The overall theme of these poems is
coming of age. These poems explore the
innocence of childhood, to the tribulations of teenage years, to the arrival of
adulthood.
o
Target audience: 6th grade and up
o
Connection to classroom: I would use these poems
during a coming-of-age unit as a supplementary text, having students pay close
attention to the specific diction and word choice used to convey the theme.
·
Tuck Everlasting COMING OF AGE BIN
o
Summary of content/review: This fictional novel
describes young love and a confrontation with a life-changing choice. Winnie Foster’s childhood/adolescence, set in
the Victorian era, is showing of the times.
o
Evaluation: The major theme in this novel is
coming-of-age. Winnie is faced with a
life-changing decision that of which would affect every facet of her current
position.
o
Target audience: 4th-6th
grades
o
Connection to classroom: I would use this text
when discussing theme of texts, specifically, coming-of-age. I would use this text as a mentor text.
·
Words Set Me Free – MC BIN/OVERCOMING ADVERSITY
o
Summary of content/review: This text depicts
Fredrick Douglass through his childhood years, along with his love for writing,
and his desire for African Americans to be treated equally.
o
Evaluation: This text uses the theme of overcoming
adversity and remaining true to self in times of struggle. The depiction of Frederick Douglass as a
young boy makes him relatable to children.
o
Target audience: 3rd-5th
grade
o
Connection to classroom: I would use this text
in a thematic bin focusing on the overcoming of adversity. I would also use this text during a social
studies unit that depicts adversity and how it was shown throughout U.S.
history.
·
Love that Dog POETRY
o
Summary of content/review: This text depicts the
unwillingness of the main character, Jack, to read or write poetry, but all
that changes once he meets his favorite author, and write about the connection
and heartbreaking experience of losing his dog.
o
Evaluation: This text uses rhyme, as well as
characterization, to relate to young readers, as well as inspire them to read
and write poetry.
o
Target audience: 2nd-4th
grade
o
Connection to classroom: I would use this text
to introduce poetry at the beginning of the year, as well as ignite interest
among unwilling readers in my classroom.
I feel that Jack’s unwillingness to read and write poetry may inspire
reluctant readers in the classroom.
·
The Hundred Dresses MULTICULTURAL BIN/OVERCOMING
ADVERSITY
o
Summary of content/review: This story’s main
character Wanda, is a Polish immigrant now attending a public school in
Connecticut. Wanda, coming from a poor
family, is teased and fabricates this story that she has 100 dresses in her
closet. The teasing becomes so terrible
that Wanda’s parents remove her from the school, all the while she wins a
drawing contest that highlights her amazing talent, a talent that also awes the
classroom bullies.
o
Evaluation: The theme of being faced with and
overcoming adversity is prominent throughout this story. Also, the occurrence of bullying is something
that makes this book relatable and a learning source for many school-aged
children.
o
Target audience: 2nd-3rd
grades
o
Connection to classroom: I would use this text
when discussing bullying and feelings.
·
The Liberation of Gabriel King MC/FACING FEARS
o
Summary of content/review: This story highlights
the fears and confrontation of fears of Gabriel King, along with his friend
Frita. Gabriel lives in a world of
diversity and segregation that he must deal with on a daily basis.
o
Evaluation: The theme of facing fears and being
confronted with adversity is running throughout this story, as well as having
characters that are easily relatable to young readers.
o
Target audience: 5th grade
o
Connection to classroom: I would use this text
when discussing segregation, and what daily life was like during this time
period.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Where is Literature's Place? Week/Topic 11 Reading and Class Review
Chapter 2 Review
This chapter's main focus was the role of literature in the lives of young readers. What I liked most about this chapter was its multiple teaching idea suggestions. My favorite being found on page 43 (Galda), describing the 7 types of responses found in elementary classrooms:
1. Listening behaviors (ex: laughing, applause)
2. Contact with books (browsing)
3. Acting on the impulse to share
4. Oral responses (storytelling, discussion)
5. Actions and drama (dramatic play)
6. Making things (pictures, displays)
7. Writing using literary models (summarizing, writing about books)
Often times, children have such negative experiences with books or reading because they are forced into reading or analyzing one specific book, and not being offered the time to interact with the text without an assignment lingering close by. Our goal, as teachers, is to have children respond to literature in any and all of the 7 examples listed above, in a way that is enjoyable. We must foster a love for reading in order to allow literature to play a key role in a child's life.
This chapter's main focus was the role of literature in the lives of young readers. What I liked most about this chapter was its multiple teaching idea suggestions. My favorite being found on page 43 (Galda), describing the 7 types of responses found in elementary classrooms:
1. Listening behaviors (ex: laughing, applause)
2. Contact with books (browsing)
3. Acting on the impulse to share
4. Oral responses (storytelling, discussion)
5. Actions and drama (dramatic play)
6. Making things (pictures, displays)
7. Writing using literary models (summarizing, writing about books)
Often times, children have such negative experiences with books or reading because they are forced into reading or analyzing one specific book, and not being offered the time to interact with the text without an assignment lingering close by. Our goal, as teachers, is to have children respond to literature in any and all of the 7 examples listed above, in a way that is enjoyable. We must foster a love for reading in order to allow literature to play a key role in a child's life.
Thou Shall Read: Week 10: Historical Fiction
This week's readings were especially meaningful because it was the information on which we based our genre workshop from. My group and I presented a workshop to our class on historical fiction, how to identify good works, and how to use it effectively in the classroom. Attached is a link to our presentation:
https://docs.google.com/a/my.msmc.edu/presentation/d/1_8rpGelCa3BdxKAfPx_TzXDVK49rJtVz9CAUsbhe500/edit#slide=id.p
Please feel free to look at the powerpoint, as it has all the information regarding historical fiction and examples of how to use it in your classroom.
https://docs.google.com/a/my.msmc.edu/presentation/d/1_8rpGelCa3BdxKAfPx_TzXDVK49rJtVz9CAUsbhe500/edit#slide=id.p
Please feel free to look at the powerpoint, as it has all the information regarding historical fiction and examples of how to use it in your classroom.
The Oxymoron That We All Love: Week 9 Review
Contemporary Realistic Fiction (Reading and Class Reflection)
Before reading this chapter, I did not have a clear personal definition on what contemporary realistic fiction was, or how I could use such in my classroom. Through reading, I can now define contemporary realistic fiction as the following: a work of fiction that has a strong sense of reality that describes problems in a fully human context as it would be experienced today.
How to find quality contemporary realistic fiction: (as seen in Galda 225):
1. Story exemplifies characteristics of excellence in narrative fiction
2. Realistic setting
3. Multidimensional main characters
4. Believable problems
5. Understandability of plot by targeted age group
6. Intrinsic theme
7. Dialogue and character thoughts are natural
I liked how the chapter also gave ideas on how to use this in our classrooms, through the use of a writer's notebook. Through this writer's notebook, students can log and journal their own lives, reflect upon past writings, and ultimately write their own example of contemporary realistic fiction.
I liked that class was broken up today with the 'Writing as Truth' seminar. I thought it to be very clever and smart to use the motto of the school in connection with personal writing and messages. I felt this seminar gave a real-world connection to writing (something that can be very motivating to students), and also allowed for a platform for college students to display their work.
Before reading this chapter, I did not have a clear personal definition on what contemporary realistic fiction was, or how I could use such in my classroom. Through reading, I can now define contemporary realistic fiction as the following: a work of fiction that has a strong sense of reality that describes problems in a fully human context as it would be experienced today.
How to find quality contemporary realistic fiction: (as seen in Galda 225):
1. Story exemplifies characteristics of excellence in narrative fiction
2. Realistic setting
3. Multidimensional main characters
4. Believable problems
5. Understandability of plot by targeted age group
6. Intrinsic theme
7. Dialogue and character thoughts are natural
I liked how the chapter also gave ideas on how to use this in our classrooms, through the use of a writer's notebook. Through this writer's notebook, students can log and journal their own lives, reflect upon past writings, and ultimately write their own example of contemporary realistic fiction.
I liked that class was broken up today with the 'Writing as Truth' seminar. I thought it to be very clever and smart to use the motto of the school in connection with personal writing and messages. I felt this seminar gave a real-world connection to writing (something that can be very motivating to students), and also allowed for a platform for college students to display their work.
A classmate of mine, Trina, does a great job on her blog giving examples of different contemporary realistic fiction that can be used in the classroom. She gives teachers and readers catchy summaries of three books, without giving away the story! I think she did a great job of listing 3 books that nicely represent realistic fiction.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Be a Drama Queen! Week 8 Review
Week 8 Review: Dramatic Responses to Literature
This week we spoke about dramatic responses to literature. However, for my blog post, I would like to pay a closer attention to the work Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.
Today, in class, we examined, evaluated, and discussed Babbitt's most famous work. I remember reading this as a child, and discussing the book, and watching the movie, in school. However, when rereading the novel as an adult, I notice the themes and moral of the story that I did not realize when I was a child. Tuck Everlasting is a great work to use when teaching coming of age. Winnifred, the main character, is faced with many tough decisions and choices that will determine her future. This mimics the choices that humans have to make, and many of the choices that determine one's pathway in life. Though the work is fiction and unrealistic, it relates to the reader on a level of understanding hard decisions.
I thought it was really neat that we learned to use animoto.com and can definitely see it used in my own classroom one day! It spurred interest, as well as instilled motivation to learn in a new and exciting way.
This week we spoke about dramatic responses to literature. However, for my blog post, I would like to pay a closer attention to the work Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.
Today, in class, we examined, evaluated, and discussed Babbitt's most famous work. I remember reading this as a child, and discussing the book, and watching the movie, in school. However, when rereading the novel as an adult, I notice the themes and moral of the story that I did not realize when I was a child. Tuck Everlasting is a great work to use when teaching coming of age. Winnifred, the main character, is faced with many tough decisions and choices that will determine her future. This mimics the choices that humans have to make, and many of the choices that determine one's pathway in life. Though the work is fiction and unrealistic, it relates to the reader on a level of understanding hard decisions.
I thought it was really neat that we learned to use animoto.com and can definitely see it used in my own classroom one day! It spurred interest, as well as instilled motivation to learn in a new and exciting way.
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