3321 blog 3 chapter 3

Evaluating Children's Literature

How do you determine the appropriateness of a book for your classroom as a teacher? With all the various types of literature in the world it is hard to determine what you should make available to your students. Here are a few questions to ask yourself after reading a book.

*Is this a good story?
*Is the story about something I think could really happen? Is the plot believable?
*Did the main character overcome the problem, but not to easily?
*Did the climax seem natural?
*Did the character's seem real? Did I understand the characters' personalities and the reasons for their actions?
*Did the characters in the story grow?
*Did I find out about more than one side of the characters? Did the characters have both strengths and weaknesses?
*Did the setting present what is actually known about that time or place?
*Did the characters fit into the setting?
*Did I feel that I was really in that time or place?
*What did the author want to tell me in the story?
*Was the theme worthwhile?
*When I read the book aloud, did the characters sound like real people actually talking?
*Did the rest of the language sound natural?

After using these questions to evaluate a childrens book in class, the question came up "whether or not the answers were based on our own values." My answer is yes. What ever your values are, it is impossible not to bring them into every part of your life. This would include your job as a teacher. The important thing to remember is to respect other peoples values, even when they are different from yours.

I really enjoyed doing the character analysis in class. I think it is an important way to review the book. It also helps students who my not have fully understand the book, revisit certain aspects of the story.

3344 blog 3 chapter3

The reading process

Reading is such a necessity in today's world, but why do people read? There are two reasons people read. The first is aesthetic (for pleasure) and the second is efferent (for information). There are five key features of the reading process.

They are:
* Pre-reading- build background knowledge, set purpose for reading, preview the text
* Reading- shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, buddy reading, and read aloud
* Responding- writing in reading logs or journals, grand conversations, activities
* Exploring- rereading selection, examining the authors craft, finding new vocabulary, and participating in a mini lesson
* Applying- do something with what you've read, projects, social justice, and research.

The writing process

There are many stages to the writing process. The first stage is prewriting. In this stage of the writing process, organization of thoughts and brainstorming occur. Outlining ideas my be done by using a model to follow, either individually or in small groups. The next stage of the writing process includes the 1st 2nd and 3rd copies or the first drafts. Appropriately enough this stage is called drafting. Individual writing is taking place. It can be handwritten or done on the computer. After the first drafts are written it is time to do revising. Changes in are made in sentence structure and wording. Elaboration is added with adjectives and the overall structure of the paper is assessed. This can be done individually first, then checked by a peer, but the last person to revise the paper should be the teacher. During the editing stage, grammatical errors are corrected. Spell check can be used on the computer, verbs need to agree with the subject and other words are checked (it, it is). Editing is accomplished the same way as revising, individually, through a peer and then teacher check. The final stage of the writing process is publishing. This is sharing or displaying of the paper. Getting it out so the public can see it. Examples of publishing are hanging it on the wall in the classroom, displaying it in the library, or making a book.

My personal experience in the reading and writing process.

I admit it. I am a last minute writer, by that I mean the day before I would write my papers. I would do so using most of the steps of the writing process. All of my English Literature teachers have been top notch and have insisted we have at least three drafts with markings on them. We would then turn in everything, all drafts and the final paper. That way the teachers could see the entire writing process.

I also had a duel class in high school, Computer Literacy and English. We would discuss lessons in our English class and then create the paper, project or assignment in our Computer Literacy class. It was a great way to apply what we were studying in English and then learn different ways to create it in Computer Literacy. At the end of the year we created portfolios of all the years work and displayed them in the library. There was an actual day where we explained our works to those visiting the library. It really helped me, because it reinforced the writing process and challenged my creativity.

Chapter 2 EDRG 3321

Chapter 2 Review

The History of Children's Literature

There is an entire floor of the San Antonio Downtown Library that is dedicated to children's literature and media. Containing beautiful books with wonderful illustrations for children of all ages. I know because my children and I personally explore it each week. There was a time in history not long ago, when books were not printed specifically for children. Oral stories and books were not mirrored for children and early childrens books often copied the dominant cultural values of their place and time. Looking back on childrens literature gives us a view of the changes in society as a whole and shows us the changes in social expectations of children and the family.

Milestones in the history of children's literature.

Before people learned to write, family units gathered together and told stories. It was their way to pass down family values and customs. Along with explaining such things as the origin of the universe and other natural phenomenon, emphasizing ethical truths and transmitting history from one generation to the next. This is known as Oral Tradition. Although these stories were not told to children specifically they were definitely there, watching, listening, learning and remembering. The journey through the history of children's literature takes us from the native Americans who told mythologies expressing their reverence to the geological aspects of North America, to the county fairs were storytellers told folktales of their heroes. Due to Sir Phillip Sidney's enlightenment that, the influence of story telling reached even the children and elderly, at the end of the 14th century, feudal authorities tried to control the tales being told and jailed storytellers who angered the church or certain rulers.

The literary heritage of Europe before the mid-1400's consisted of oral tradition and parchment manuscripts laboriously written by monks and scribes. In the 1450's a German named Johannes Gutenberg discovered a practical method for using movable metal type, making the mass production of books possible. Because of the increasing influence of the press, the British monarchy decreed that only London, Oxford, Cambridge and York could have printing establishments in 1637. During this time few people gave thought to whether or not children had interest of their own or the want for an education. This way of thinking was disturbed when philosopher John Locke explained that a child's mind at birth was a blank slate where ideas were to be imprinted. Locke stressed the interrelatedness of healthy physical development and healthy mental development, and he advocated milder ways of teaching and raising children than had been previously recommended in the past.

An important addition to children's literature was written in 17th century France by Charles Perrault. The book was titled "Contes de ma Mere l'Oye," better known as "The Tales of Mother Goose." These were a collection of French oral traditions which had been retold and entertained the elegant salons of Parisian aristocracy for generations. Perrault was one of the first writers to embrace the importance of fairytale's to children.

Next was Rousseau's philosophy of natural development. Rousseau believed that children should mearly be accompanied in their search for knowledge. He maintained that children could and should develop naturally, with gentle guidance from wise adults who could supply necessary information. Rousseau described stages of children's growth, stressing the importance of experiences in harmony with children's natural development physically and mentally in his "Emile," published in 1762. William Blake was a poet who seemed to capture the spirit of a child. He was credited with writing verses as if a child had written them. Allowing the reader the opportunity to visualize this happy child.

In the early 1800's Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, two German scholars, started collecting folktales that reflected the ancient German language and tradition. The Grimm's first edition of tales contained 85 stories, including "Cinderella," "Hansel and Gretal," "Little Red Riding Hood," and "The Frog Prince." While Charles Perralut and the brothers Grimm were creating books of retold fairytales, Hans Christian Anderson used his own experiences to stimulate his writing. Some of Anderson's most famous stories are "The Ugly Duckling," "The Little Mermaid," and "The Red Shoes."

Early Illustrations of Children's Books

Before the 1800's most book illustrations were crude woodcuts, especially those in inexpensive chapbooks. If color was used it was probably applied by an armature using a guide. Thomas Bewick is credited with being one of the earliest artist to illustrate for children's books.

Three 19th century English artist had enormous influence on illustrations for children's books. They are Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott, and Kate Greenaway. The Caldecott Medal for children's illustrations is named for the artist. The Kate Greenway Medal is given annually to the most distinguished British illustrator of children's books.

The history of children's literature is very interesting. I am certain that it will only continue to grow and develop, especially with all of the new technology in the world. My only hope is that books don't become obsolete. Hopefully parents and teachers will continue to inspire and instill the joy of reading books to children. It will be a sad day if the wonderful libraries of the world start closing.

Chapter 4 Class 3344

Chapter 4 Emerging into Literacy

Not to long ago, people believed that a child was ready to learn to read and write, by the time they turned 6 years old. We know now that children start the process much younger in preschool. Very young children notice signs, logos, and environmental print. This really hit home with me when I was driving with my three year old son the other day. He started naming off places we were passing, Home Depot, Mc Donald's, HEB, the Library. I smiled, knowing he couldn't read the signs, he was recognizing the buildings. The book states "the concept of literacy has been broadened to incorporate the cultural and social aspects of language learning, and children's experiences with and understanding of written language-both reading and writing-are included as part of emergent literacy."

Young children learn that reading and writing are used for a variety of purposes through experiences in their home and community. Just as my son recognized some of the places we shop frequently. Teachers help to demonstrate the purposes for reading and writing by experimenting in many ways.

• posting signs in the classroom
• making a list of classroom rules
• using literacy materials in dramatic play centers
• writing notes to students in the class
• exchanging messages with classmates
• reading and writing stories
• making posters about favorite books
• labeling classroom items
• drawing and writing journals
• writing morning messages
• recording questions and information on charts
• writing notes to parents
• reading and writing letters to pen pals
• reading and writing charts and maps

The Alphabet Principle is the one-to-one correspondence between the phonemes and graphemes, such that each letter consistently represents one sound. However English is not a purely phonetic language. Forming and identifying letters in handwriting are some of the basic information children pickup from the alphabet. The book recommends teachers to take three steps in encouraging alphabet learning.

• capitalizing on childrens interests
  
• talking about the role of letters in reading and writing
  
• teach routines and provide a variety of opportunities for alphabet learning

Two basic ways to begin teaching the alphabet are by using the childrens own names and environmental print. In my son's preschool class they are practicing recognizing the letters in their names and writing those letters. Every time he sees an A he yells our A for Anthony! An example of the effect of environmental print would be the story I told earlier, about the stores we passed. Another would be, when we stop at a stop sign he yells STOP, not because he can read the sign, but because he recognizes the shape and color. These strategies are important because it gives children a since of independence in identifying letters.

The book defines phonemic awareness as a child's basic understanding that speech is composed of a series of individual sounds, and it provides the foundation for phonics. Children learn phonemic awareness in play, such as singing songs and chanting rhymes. They also learn by listening to parents and teachers reading wordplay books to them. Children who have developed phonemic awareness can manipulate spoken language by, matching words by sound, isolating a sound in a word, blending individual sounds to form a word, substituting sounds in a word and segmenting a word into its constituent sounds.

There is a lot of controversy over our next topic, phonics. Phonics is defined as the set of relationships between phonology and orthography. There are five types of phonemic awareness activities, sound matching activities, sound-isolation activities, sound-blending activities, sound addition or subtraction activities and segmentation activities. The most important concepts of phonics that primary-grade students learn are: consonants, vowels, rimes and rhymes, and phonics generalizations. I believe phonics is important in teaching reading and writing.

As children emerge into reading they move through three different stages, emergent reading, beginning reading and fluent reading. There are many ways these stages can be taught, both by parents and by teachers. One of these ways is through shared reading. In shared reading teachers and children read books together. A teacher can accomplish a successful shared reading by, introducing the book, reading the book, responding to the book, rereading the book, continuing the process and by having the students read independently. Another way to help children emerge through reading is by reading predictable books. Predictable books are books that have repeated words or sentences, rhyme or have patterns. There are four characteristics of predictable books, repetition, cumulative sequence, rhyme and rhythm and sequential patterns. Books with large print and pictures, or big books are also a great aid in teaching reading. Along with reading buddies, older students that are paired with younger students, and traveling bags of books, which are books a teacher sends home for the parent to read to the child. I really like the last idea, my son and I read so many books, it is nice to have someone like a teacher to point out some that we may have missed.

Children follow many of the same steps as they enter into writing: emergent writing, beginning writing and fluent writing. When children are just starting to write it is basically their words written down. Interactive writing is used by teachers to model adult conventional writing. The six steps of interactive writing are: collecting the materials, setting a purpose, choosing a sentence to write, passing out supplies, writing the first sentence word by word, and by displaying the interactive writing.