EDRG 3321 Literature for Public Schools/ Chapter 4 Responding To Literature

Something new that I learned was the term "experiential background". Basically this term explains how big of an impact past experiences in a child's life can have in his or her experience with the book they are reading. Past experiences explain to a great degree whether a student responds enthusiastically to a wide range of books and related activities or avoids the task. For example if a child that grew up in a traditional hispanic household he or she will have a different understanding or perception of the book "To Many Tamales" than a caucasian child with no hispanic culture experiences.

My current way of thinking changed when the book explained that children will be more interested in books or literature if they are reading something that they like or spikes their attention. Before reading this chapter I would have probably expected a child to read a book I viewed as beneficial to them but have learned that their is a different approach when assigning boooks and literature. The book informs us that one of the easiest ways to discover a students preferences or interests in literature is to ask them. We do not want students to have unenjoyable literature experiences and should instead enhance their experience and promote their love for books.

AUTHOR PROFILE:

Can you imagine waking up hundreds of years past your time; where every thing and every one is taller than a mountain. This is what happened to a small Indian named Little Bear when Omri placed him in his cupboard .It all started on his birthday when he received the small plastic Indian from his best friend Patrick, an old cupboard from his brother, and a mysterious key from his mom that was passed down to her by her great grandmother. Omri placed the Indian into the cupboard locked it with the key and soon after the Indian was alive. It could talk, move and had a history. This wasn't the beginning of the Indians life just another chapter.

The Indian in the Cupboard series by Lynne Reid Banks are a fun set of books for appropriate for ages 8-12. These books will garner particular interest from our male students that can relate to Omri the young boy in the book who recieves a birthday gift that changes his whole life.

This series was also made into several movies that the child can watch after reading the book and compare the similarities and differences of the book and the movie.

EDRG 3321 Literature for Public Schools/ Chapter 3

I learned many things in this chapter (Understanding What We Read). One of the most important things this chapter talks about is how every reader interprets the text in a different way. This process is called reading transaction and is composed of three parts: the reader, the text, and the poem or message. Each reader brings their own experiences, knowledge, and background to reading. This means that teachers cannot expect the readers to have the same interpretations from the reading and they shouldn't force them to gather the same meaning from a reading either. The text is the second part of the transaction and once it has been written by the author then they have no more control over it. The last part of the transaction is the message and this refers to the author's intended meaning. The reader will not always interpret the text as the author intends them to. The chapter also talked about readability, which refers to the level of difficulty of a particular passage. It has been concluded that there is no specific way to assess the readibility of a text and the best way to address this is listening to the reader as well as helping them learn to select their own reading material. Another topic talked about in the chapter is the vocabulary or lexicon of the students. The best way for students to expand their vocabulary is in context rather than in isolation. Students need multiple encounters with words to have a lasting understanding of their meanings (pag. 51). This means that the student can broaden their vocabulary with good literature and the more they read the more their vocabulary will grow. Literature is definately a very important part of building a students knowledge. As teachers we need to encourage the students to embrace literature where they will be able to expand their experiences, vocabulary, and with time learn to select their own reading materials.

AUTHOR PROFILE:

I would like to share a great author with you. I am sure that this author will bring back memories to some of you since she has written many classic books that are read in many classrooms. Lois Lowry among other books is the author of The Giver, one of my personal favorites. This book is about a young 12 year old boy that lives in a perfect community. He soon finds out the truth about his community. There is no turning back. How will he handle the truth?

This book is great for the classroom to discuss governments, communities, etc. This is a great book that many students will be able to relate to.









Another book I absolutely love by Lois Lowry is Number the Stars that takes place in 1943 and narrates a 10 year old, young girl's point of view. She lives in Denmark and is confused about the changes the German occupation has brought about in her life. This book is appropriate for third grade and up.



To find out more about the author you can visit her website (http://www.loislowry.com/).

EDED 4310/ CHAPTER 9

Many educators believe that with the growth of media and information technology, media literacy is just as important as – or even more important than – print literacy (that is, learning to read and write).
What is your position on the relative importance of the two “literacies”?
What information from this chapter helps support your position?

I believe that the growth of the media and information technology is very important especially in an era where technology advances on a daily basis. The text book emphasizes on the importance of "expanding the definition of literacy" (pp. 279). This means that the definition has changed over time since when it first only meant being able to sign your name to being proficient in the 21st century skills that are context specific (Kaestel et. al., 1989; Myers, 1996; National Adolescent Literacy Coalition, 2007). It is important that we integrate technology in education because it enhances language arts instruction. Many of our students don't care about the class curriculum, instead they are more interested in updating their myspace, texting their friends, etc. so we need to find ways to motivate our students so that their interest in learning whithin the classroom increases. According to the English Language Arts Standards (NCT/IRA, 1996), technology not only enhances students' motivation to write but also encourages them to assume greater responsability for their learning.
Print literacy is definately more important because they are fundamental to succeed in most other disciplines such as social studies, sciences, and mathematics. In order to become media literate we need to first be print literate. We will need to read guides, manuals, etc to become media literate, so how can media literate be more important than print literacy? The answer is that it cannot be more important than print literacy. For example, how can we use word and power point if we do not know how to read and write? If we did not know how to read and write these programs would be useless because we would not be able to type information in these programs. Juat imagine that you did not know how to read and you needed to research a topic for a writing assignment. How would you type the topic in the designated spot of a search engine such as google? If you were to find the information on your topic how would you read the information google gathered for you? I think we can use media literacy as a tool in education but it will never be able to replace print literacy because it is the base and a prerequisite to becoming media literate.

EDED 4310/ CHAPTER 8: Integrating Internet into Curriculum

There were a few sites that stood out for me. I liked the writing with writers site (http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit). It's an excellent guide for students when they are learning about writing. I loved the way the writer gives an example of their work, then there is a step by step guide, and there's also tips and ideas provided.
I also liked the dolly site (http://www.pusd.info/projects/dolly/main.htm). I feel that this is a site for a higher grade but it's a great opportunity for the students to do some critical thinking, to ask questions about cloning, to view different perspectives, etc.
The weather site is also a very good (http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/weatherproj2/en) . It's a great way for the children to learn about weather. The site provides multiple activities and they even get to consult with experts. The site inculdes a teacher's guide with lesson plans and other great resources.

I found a site that has many great activities as well. It has activities for almost every subject we can think of and for all levels (K-12).
http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/weatherproj2/en

EDRG 3321 Literature for Public Schools/ Chapters 1&2

I like how chapter 1 explains the whole concept of "living literature". It will be our job as teachers to make sure that the student "lives literature" by surrounding and submersing them into literature. In doing this the children will gain many advantages. The student can learn so many things from literature but the book points out that it is very important that the student enjoys literature and doesn't just see it as a pesky school task. Literature will make them effective readers and writers which is so important in school no matter the grade level and also useful in the outside world like at work, at the store, the dentist's office, etc. We have to believe that the every child will learn in order to be effective teachers. Every child has a different method of learning so if we combine them all in the classroom then every child will learn. It is also important for us to give the child the oppurtunity to pick their own literature. This way they will actually be interested in reading because it will be on a subject of their interest. They will therefore want to read and not to it out of obigation. Exposure to all genres is another good thing for the students. This will make it fun for them instead of boring.

Chapter 2 is about culture, something that is personally very important to me. Every child that enters your classroom has their own culture. Culture can effect the child's learning in many ways. For example children that have parents that do not speak English will most likely not recieve help with their homework. We as teachers have to be aware of this. I think it's a good idea for the students to share their different cultures in the classroom with their peers. They will learn a lot with activities of this type and learn to respect each other.


AUTHOR PROFILE:


I am planning to teach the higher levels of elementary so I found an excellent author that wrote the book A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck. This book is about a young girl spending her summers with her grandmother and it takes place during the Great Depression which can be useful for a history lesson. It's also an award winning Newberry Honor Book. This book has a sequel to it which will give the student the oportunity follow up on the story. I think many students will be able to relate to the characters and enjoy it as well as learn from it. I have listed another two books from this author below and you can find out all about Richard Peck and other interesting books he wrote at http://www.carolhurst.com/authors/rpeck.html.com/authors/rpeck.html

A Long Way from Chicago

The River Between Us

EDED 4310/ TIP Model Phase 4-Preparing the Instructional Environment

Esmerelda is having her students do a social studies project in which they do "virtual interviews" of experts on various periods in U.S. history. She schedules time in the computer lab and has them locate experts by searching Internet sites. She gives them an initial list of sites, but encourages them to branch out from there, looking for additional sites on their own. There is no lab manager and she has to go back to the classroom for periods of time as they work, but she knows they are competent Internet users and can be trusted not to leave the lab without permission. For their contacts with experts, she has them prepare a standard email with the school name; their names, ages, addresses, and personal email addresses, if they have one; and a description of what they would like to know.
1. Assuming she is correct that students will not leave the lab with permission, is Esmeralda's plan for having students use the Internet a good one? Why or why not?
2. Do you see any problems with the email she is having them send?
3. How would you change her plan to improve it?


It is a good thing that Esmeralda is having her class use the internet. The internet is a rich resource where the students can discover a lot of useful information. It's also good that she is giving them a list of sites as a guide and even though the students are encouraged to look for additional sites they should be warned that not all sites are reliable sources (e.g. wikipedia). I do see some problems with the email she is having her students send. I don't think they should put out to much personal information on such a public, vulnerable place like the internet where your information can be esaily accessed by strangers. Maybe it would be a better idea if Esmeralda limits the personal information in the email to the school name, school address, their name, and their grade. In order to improve her plan I would have them do the activity in small groups so that they can share opinions, give suggestions, and ideas and turn in a better project.