I also saw them develop literary understandings that led to important gains in reading and literary behaviors that en- hanced success with school literacies
This is what introducing things such as realistic fiction to students can do. It leads to improvement in students reading behaviors and increase their engagement in the classroom.
Thus, these boys participated in the act of critical literacy-reading the word in order to read the world (Freire, 1970/1993). The connections the boys made to contemporary realistic fiction about social issues and the ways they transgressed bound- aries (hooks, 1994) of childhood as they initiated or enacted social action became synonymous with empowerment and liberation in their own lives.
Critical literacy is a skill that is so important for students to grasp. Asking those deeper "why" questions and realizing things such as societal issues in the world today can really help open the eyes and minds of younger students. Critical literacy also helps students make connections from literature to their own lives which is extremely important when reading.
Literature has the potential to make a differ- ence in the lives of African American males; that is, reading, writing, and discussing literature can help them to make sense of and negotiate their life experience
I really agree with this point! Not only can it make a difference in the lives of African American males but it can make a difference in anyones life. Literature can be a great way for people to make connections to characters who may mimic their own lives and situations they are dealing with. Or it may be a great way to help a reader to just learn something new. Literature is one of the biggest catalysts and realistic fiction as a genre contributes to this too.
he use of contemporary realistic fiction, in which dilemmas in society are pivotal, have the potential to "open wide" the mouths of these African American male readers. As they increase their engagement with literature, these otherwise reluctant readers can increase their literary understanding and develop their literary voice into social agency to act on their own behalf and on the behalf of others.
This is a great idea! Using realistic fiction to re-engage these kinds of students will be perfect to get them back into a place where they can be shocked and moved by literature again. Also by experiencing this genre, they may find other genres that allow them to be inspired as well.
, I know that a mind "turned off' to literature is a mind often ignored in traditional classrooms, and therefore a mind that will have fewer venues for expression
I really agree with this point the author makes! Most times, when a child is uninterested in a book that is being read in class, they are ignored by the teacher because he/she has to keep teaching ti anyway as it is a part of the curriculum. This needs to be changed and these students deserve more attention as well.
. Chil dren can distinguish fact from opin ion, determine whether an author has any bias, and draw inferences about historical climates, settings, or events
This is a good way to test students knowledge of historical events they've learned about in class. For example, they could read a fictionalized biography and then connect it to a certain historical event or setting that they have previously learned about from their nonfiction textbooks.
First person narrative accounts create an air of "being there" with an individual.
These types of narrative accounts could be very beneficial to students in getting them to really see how some people might have felt during certain historical moments. It gives them a real perspective on history.
ithin the fictional stories, authors have taken liberties in inventing dialogue, emotions, and judgments of individuals to create a more intimate sounding account of some one's life. Readers should understand that such stories are not meant to replace factual material but are aimed at sparking interest in what is real
I think this is such a great way to teach biography! Fictional stories that may have been inspired by actual historical events is a great way to get students engaged in learning about history. Sometimes the content of the nonfiction textbooks might get a little dull to students, even though they are still very important for students to read also.
s children grow, reading outside structured reading classes becomes increasingly importa
I really agree with this! If students are not introduced to reading independently, it will be very hard for them to be exposed different genres and types of books and writing there are out there. If students are sheltered in structured reading classes, they will never be able to discover what they really enjoy reading.
For elementary or early middle grade readers: • Jacob Wonderbar for President of the Universe by Nathan Bransford (2012, 2nd in series)• The Mostly True Story of Jack by Kelly Barnhill (2011)• A Tale of Two Castles by Gail Carson Levine (2011)• Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George (2011)• Wildwood by Colin Meloy (2011
I really like that this article gives suggestions of good fantasy novels to introduce to students. Some teachers may not feel fully comfortable with the fantasy genre but having suggestions like this can help get teachers to introduce this topic more to their students.
Great science fi ction or fantasy, however, calls the reader to think critically for him or herself about the issue at hand.
The fantasy genre is a great way to get students thinking critically which is something that is enforced and encouraged in mostly all schools today. The ability to think critically is very important and having students analyze a different genre of text than they're used to can be a great way for them to do so.
adolescents who might be otherwise reluctant to discuss historical and contemporary discrimination fi nd themselves able to more comfortably look at this issue and draw parallels between the text and their own world when readin
I think this is great a point because this would be a great way or students to open up about certain issues that may be difficult for them to discuss. This is just another outlet that can be provided to students to open up and discuss these things in a less harsh environment.
Whatever our fi rst encounters with fantasy and its sister genre, science fi ction, many of us seem to lose sight of its power along the way in school, fi rst as readers, and, later, as teachers
I feel as though this is true because many teachers are intimidated by these genres mostly because they were never really used all that much in their own education growing up. It is hard to expect people to be able to teach a topic that they aren't very familiar with.
Teachers often avoid discussion of myths and folktales after the freshman year because they can envision no way of incorporating the material into their present units
Teachers should incorporate more myths into their curriculum! I think they are very important genres of writing for students to read along with all of the other genres that are always covered in schools.
My ninth-grade unit on mythology requires stu- dents to learn and tell stories to the class. As part of the unit students rehearse skills in outlining and notetaking as well as develop dramatic skills
I really like that this unit gets students so involved in what they are reading and writing. Having students tell their own stories to the class or even possibly acting out different myths really gets them engaged in what they are learning.
Because few un- dergraduate degrees require instruction in my- thology and its related fields, most teachers ac- quire a BA without coming near them. Conse- quently, few high-school curricula require myth instruction because (in a tautological stance) few colleges require undergraduate coursework in i
I think it is unfortunate that myths are not a more relevant topic in education because I think they are important for students to be aware of. Also it is hard to expect a teacher to teach myths to students very well when they themselves have very seldom worked with or analyzed myths.
An effective ap- proach to mythology should illustrate the connec- tion among international myths, folktales, and leg- ends that continue to be told in current literature and media, including films, songs, television, and cultural icons.
I think this is very important to portray to students because there are stories and myths that have been told for thousands of years that can still be relevant and told in many different forms today. Allowing them to become aware of this genre of reading and writing can make them more interested in learning about myths or even trying to connect older stories to more current narratives.
Social studies is a very broad cate gory, but for each topic there is probably an appropriate picture book
I think Social studies is one of the most important subjects to have picture books for because it is very important for students to be able to see things such as maps of early explorers, world maps, pictures of the different states and countries, etc... These things are all pretty crucial for students to be able to identify and picture books can really reinforce their knowledge of these topics.
Reading contributes to lifelong learning. However, the small number of adults who continue to read indicates that we need to further encourage our students to become lifelong reader
Lifelong learning is so important to encourage in students and being able to show them that there are more than one type of book to become interested in can be very beneficial in continuing this encouragement of reading.
isual literacy Visual literacy, the ability to interpret visual images accurately, is an impor tant subject are
I think this is something very important for students to learn! Being able to interpret visual images accurately will benefit young students a lot in their future, pictures are everywhere and being able to tell what exactly you are looking at is extremely important, as well as just being able to form a valid opinion on something like a picture.
An appropriate illustration is drawn, and the illustrations and accompany ing statements are shared with the class.
Picture books are very important for science so that children are able to see what different animals look like, different types of weather, as well as visuals of many other types of science.
hile showing students that the orchestra consists of regular people, it also accurately describes some of their positions in the group
I like the idea of students using picture books to learn about music because like the author says here, it is a good way to show them certain things like the positions of people in the orchestra or even what different instruments look like. It is a good reinforcement to just listening to music.
ching poetry can seem a daunting task at times, especially for teachers of elementary students. However, the benefits of teaching poetry truly out weigh the difficulty in preparing the lessons. Even though you may feel that you are not equipped to teach poetry, the steps outlined in this article should help you to realize that it is possible.
I really enjoyed reading this article because the information it provided me helped me to see that it is possible to successfully teach students how to write and analyze poetry. I never considered myself to be very good at writing any form of poetry but this shows me that putting a little bit of work in, combined with my own abilities and the help of other resources, I can one day successfully teach my students how to write their own poetry.
hare your students'poems. Be sure to find opportunities to share your students' poems. Create displays or anthologies for students,
Yes, this is so important! If we do not show students that we appreciate their work and that what they created is a good example of written poetry, they may believe that maybe their work isn't up to par or be insecure in their abilities to write poetry as well. This will also help motivate students to keep improving on their poetry writing skills.
he work of poets and incorporating what I knew allowed me to grow and change in my teach ing methods.
I think this is very good advice for teachers as well because by incorporating what you know along with the work of famous poets, it might make the teacher more confident in the way they teacher their own students how to write poetry because they see that they really know what they are talking about and are well-versed on the topic.
orrow a poetry lesson. This is an easy way to start teaching poetry writing to students. Find a book on teaching poetry, a website, or a list of poetry prompts that you like. Try someone else's poetry lesson to see what works with your stu dents and what doesn't. This will help you to eventually build your own effective poetry lessons.
I think this is such a great idea. If a teacher is a little insecure in his or her ability to teach students to write poetry, they can borrow the ideas and lessons on how to do so from other people or resources. This might make the teacher more confident in their abilities because they know that they are teaching students the correct way to write poems.
at happens all too often when teachers choose to only read poems with students is that the students become confused by the complexity of the poetry, which often makes them reluctant to try writing their own poems.
I completely agree with this statement in the article. I believe most times teachers themselves don't feel comfortable teaching poetry so either they just don't do it which negatively effects students experiences with poetry in the long run or they do simple things like only read different poems to students without helping them to analyze the message the poem is trying to convey. This needs to be changed because it leaves students lacking knowledge in the area of poetry throughout their educational careers as well.
I highly recommend storyscape.io for all levels of education
This writing support tool is so great to use not only for older students but for younger students as well. It is important for students to use their imagination to write their own stories and create their own illustrations because these things will contribute to their writing development.
You may however want to connect the writing to learning objective taught during a mini-lesson.
This is such a great tool to utilize during a mini-lesson. It can really enhance your instruction and get the students a lot more involved.
Many of the characters have animations. When the mobile reader gets released (looks like an Android app) readers can activate the animations by shaking the screen or through sound. Exciting times.
This is so great for students because it will make their stories come to life and they will be able to see their characters in action. This is a great way to get students used to picturing what is happening in a story when they are reading any text.
You can select backgrounds and between characters. Add text to each page. The amount of editing tools are perfect for schools. All of the required tools are there but young users would never be overloaded.
I love that this tool exists for students and teachers to use. This is my first time hearing of it this tool but I think being able to choose different backgrounds and characters will be a fun way to get students to create their own "storyscapes".
which skills to teach to particular children. Setting up needs groups for skill instruction is more efficient and sensible than offering blan ket instruction for all children, some of whom may already know what you are teaching
This is very important that teachers don't just start teaching this to their entire class without differentiating. There may be students who already know exactly what you are teaching and are not being challenged enough and then there will be students who need this extra support. Making skill based groups can help the teacher determine who she should be directing these lessons towards.
lanation and teacher modeling by saying, "Today you will learn one sound that the letter a may stand for. This will help you read many more words that contain the letter 0
I like how the teacher specifically states why it is important or significant that the students are learning the sounds for the letter A. It is crucial that students know why what they are learning is so important and I believe this helps to motivate students.
, if we wish to stimulate the imagination, provide strong language models, expose students to lucid discourse, and expand their cultural awareness, we need quality, memorable litera ture in the reading program
I think this article makes such an important point in saying that it is crucial to have quality literature imbedded into schools reading programs. We can't expect students to gain a vast amount of knowledge if they are not provided with quality resources.
Essentially, the whole-part-whole framework connects learning to pronounce words with real read ing
This is my first time reading about the whole-part-whole approach and I am really a fan of it from what I have read so far. You are allowing students to not only zero in on specific phonics lessons but you are also reading whole, real texts in order to apply those phonics lessons which in my opinion is a great approach to learning to read and interpret successfully.
hildren have time to apply what has been taught in minilessons to their own writing. Regularly scheduled sharing helps children write with a specific audience in mind and reinforces the sense of a community of writers.
The journal workshop is a great way to help students apply what they've learned in class to their own writing. The sharing of each students work allows students to keep their audience in mind and shows that there is a community of writers who are all their to help and give suggestions for each others writing. This motivates students to want to keep improving their writing.
I use the assessment portfolios to evaluate the children's progress and to share with parents. The weekly writing samples give tangible, and often dra matic, evidence of what the children can actually do. They also document each child's growing control of writing mechanics and craft over time.
This is such a great idea! An assessment portfolio is not only a great way for the teacher to assess the development of each students writing but it is also a great way to allow parents to see how their child is growing overtime and how their writing is getting increasingly better.
ach conference lasts no more than 5 minutes. The child orally rereads the journal entry that was just shared with the class. We consider the questions and suggestions given by the class, and the child decides whether to make any changes. If the child wants to revise, the changes are made during the confer ence.
I really like the idea of having a conference time with other students. This can help students develop their writing as well because they are getting suggestions and ideas from a third party which could help improve what they've written.
also include minilessons on illus tration in this group as a means of re hearsal for writing as well as for its contribution to the final product. Drawing people engaged in action and showing details in the environment helps children elaborate in their writing.
I agree that having students include drawings along with their writing can help them create a more detailed story in their mind which they can then transfer onto paper in their writing. This is a great tool to help students elaborate on their writing or just spark an idea of what they could write about.
I invite one fifth of the children to share their writing each day, according to my predetermined schedule. About once a week, I also share a piece of my writ ing. I often model how to make specif ic positive comments about a child's writing, how to ask questions to clarify or extend the child's ideas, and how to make specific suggestions. I make brief notes about each child's writing to use later during teacher-child writing conferences.
Having students share their writing can be very beneficial in the classroom because it allows other students to get ideas of how they can either fix their writing or add more things to it to further develop what they have already written.
ut, if you stick with it, your children will love it. I don't have to coax them to read a book like I used to. They just pick them up and read. They have the time and the desire. And by the way, our test scores for the district tests and the CTBS were better than ever. I love the Reading Workshop!"
It is so great to see the readers workshop having such success in classrooms. If this process is allowing students to enjoy reading books as well as increasing their involvement in the classroom then i think it is definitely something that should be used in all classrooms.
udent sharing time (5-10 minutes) As a daily closing activity in the RW, we recommend a sharing time where teachers and children come together for a few minutes to share with the group the activities, books, po etry, projects, etc., with which they were working. Student groups may share progress reports on their literature response projects, i.e., play practices, murals, or Readers' The atre scripts. Individual students may share the books they were reading during SSR. Others may share their responses and thoughts about the book discussed in their literature response group. Teachers may comment on individual reading conferences and commend individual children or share a part of a book the
I think this is one of the most important parts to have in the readers workshop because it allows for students to finish up their time by coming back together as a class to share what they learned or discovered and to also hear what other students learned during their time. This sharing of ideas can help students to look for different things in the text the next time they read that they might not have caught this time.
nother potential use of the mini-lesson is for prereading activities. These activities are intended to assist students in drawing upon past experiences or schemata before reading in order to enhance comprehension. Having these activities prior to reading helps teachers create a stronger climate for their students'
I think using mini-lessons for pre-reading purposes is a great idea. It is important to help students make predictions and draw on their own past experiences that may connect to the book because this could help them make more sense of the story. It is also just a good skill for students to develop in order to be a good reader.
he classroom routine should invite children to write, respond, discuss, and become throughly involved with books?not to com plete worksheets in social isolation.
This is such a great point! I think the environment of a classroom can sometimes make or break the way a student will learn and absorb knowledge on any given day. With this being said, the teacher should create an environment and routine for the classroom that encourages children to spend any free moments they have in the classroom reading or discussing books and ideas with other students.
arious research studies in dicated that children in typical primary grade classrooms read independently only 7 to 8 minutes per day;
Reading is so important to the development of students and I think them reading independently for only about 7-8 minutes per day is just not cutting it. That is not nearly enough time for students to develop good reading skills or even just enjoy what they are reading.
Even at age 9 or 10, children can articulate, very clearly, the ways in which gender constrains and defines their experiences; even at age 9 or 10, children are aware that their genitals organize their lives.
Even from such young ages children have already been conformed to think as gender in specific ways making it hard to see and accept those who may not see themselves in either concrete "category" of gender.
Moreover, cultural norms about gender restrict all children’s opportunities to explore and express their developing identities, regardless of the extent of their real or perceived gender variance
It is important to support all children no matter their gender variance because I think that all children should at least have the chance to express who they are and their identity freely just like any other person is allowed to do without being so high shamed for it.
It is important—even necessary—to support learners in deconstructing socially accepted norms about gender and, indeed, the ability to engage critically with gender is for many children no less than a question of survival.
I agree with this point made by the author because it is important to support young learners in the process of deconstructing norms so that they may feel as comfortable as anyone else if they are in a position where they are seen as "testing" accepted norms about gender.
“begin with the hypothesis that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development’. (p. 33)
I believe this is true as well, that students at any stage of development are capable of learning complex topics whether it be about this topic or about other topics such as gender or racism. They just need to be taught these things on an appropriate level for their age.
Despite overwhelming evidence that dominant assumptions about gender, linked to this “normal” view, constrain people’s intellectual, emotional, vocational, and social lives, only the most limited efforts have been undertaken to challenge these narratives with students in formal educational contexts.
I agree with the author in that limiting people to the idea that there are only two concrete genders can inhibit people physically, mentally, and emotionally who may not consider themselves in either category.
This student’s parents were astounded by the change in their daughter. She had been an uninterested reader and was transformed into an enthusiastic one.
Not only can this change in classroom libraries inspire change in students but it can help parents see the potential of their children to be great readers and aspire to be like inspiring characters in their "mirror" or "window" books. Letting parents see this change in their child will show them just how important these diversified books are in the classroom and maybe inspire them to purchase some for their child's home-use as well.
They must also see African-American artists, writers, political leaders, judges, mathematicians, astronauts, and scientists. The same is true for children of other ethnicities. They must see authors and illustrators who look like them on book jackets.
Allowing students not only of color but of different backgrounds as well to see successful people in books of the same cultural background or race is very important because it allows students to see opportunities that are open to them in their future. They can see all of the possibilities of what they can become in their life and giving students these aspirations and motivation is very important.
This change in our classroom libraries will also allow children of the dominant culture to see literature about others who look different and live differently.
This change in classroom libraries of adding mirror books for all children is a great way to get the dominant culture os students in the classroom to see life through someone else's eyes and see how people of different cultures and backgrounds live.
They found that good readers make connections to themselves and their communities.
I highly agree with this statement as well. I think children can better their reading and literacy skills by being able to make connections to books that resonate in their own lives and personal experiences.
Why does seeing themselves in books matter to children? Rudine Sims Bishop, professor emerita of The Ohio State University, frames the problem with the metaphor of “mirror” and “window” books. All children need both.
I really like this point that all children need "mirror" or "window" books. I have never heard this reference before reading this article but I could not agree more with it. It is so important for students to be able to read books that reflect things that may happen in their own life or see characters who may act or look very similar to them.
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
A fourth grade student should be able to determine the theme or underlying message/moral of a story.
Theme
A good example of this would be the book the book Charlotte's Webb. This book would allow students to read carefully in order to pick out the underlying message the author is trying to portray as well as linking back to the third grade standard of being able to refer to certain parts of the text ("chapters" or "sections") in order to determine the theme and back it up with key details from the text.
Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.
A third grade student should be able to refer to different parts of a text by using specific vocabulary such as "chapter" or "stanza" to identify key details in the text.
Parts of a Story
A good example of this would be chapters books for third graders such as books from the Junie B. Jones series. These allow students to recall details from the text by referring to specific chapters of sections of the book.
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenge
A second grade student should be able to identify what challenges the main characters goes through in a story and how they get through it.
Challenges
A good example of this would be the book David Gets In Trouble. This book shows the challenges David goes through and how he overcomes them in the end of the story.
Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the sens
A first grade students should be able to, while reading a text, pick out specific words that refer or appeal to the five senses or an emotion.
Skill
A good example of a book for this standard would be You Can't Taste a Pickle With Your Ear. This book is a fun way to have students pick out words or phrases that refer to the five senses and have them understand the difference between them all.
t, identify characters, settings, and major events in a stor
As a kindergarten student, students must be able to tell what the main characters or events in a story are.
Identify
I believe a good example of this for students is the book The Tortoise and the Hare because the events in the story are easily identified as well as the main characters.
We have to isolate and teach concepts that we may not remember learning ourselves, such as: reading from left to right, using context clues to learn new vocabulary, or writing a topic sentence.
Teachers need to remind themselves that these skills may come easily to us and seem very natural but young students still have not yet grasped simple skills such as reading left to right so it is important to stress these concepts in literacy.
Vocabulary development plays a central role in reading comprehension. Students must be given the tools to understand new words so they can make the most out of reading. In addition to directly teaching key words found in a text, students must also learn strategies for independently conquering new vocabulary, including the use of context clues, word analysis, dictionaries, and other people.
I think vocabulary development plays a huge role in the way students eventually begin to develop all of their reading and literacy skills. Teachers should be constantly opening up their students to new vocabulary in order to challenge them and enhance their skills for their students future in reading and literacy.
Word families that help students apply their understanding of meaningful parts to many words (cycle, motorcycle, unicycle, bicycle, tricycle, cyclist)
I believe that helping students to recognize and form these connections is very important because it will teach them how to eventually be able to come to those conclusions on their own in order to infer the meaning of words if they don't have the proper resources at hand at a particular point in time.
Most teachers develop students’ Book and Print Awareness through constant, explicit modeling. When they hold up a Big Book that the class is reading, they “think aloud” about how to hold the book, where to start reading, and in what direction. While a teacher is writing the morning news on the board for his first graders, he might ask the students, “Should I start at the top of the board or the bottom?”
I think it is very important for teachers to constantly be challenging the minds of their students and to remind themselves that students might not yet know simple things such as which direction to hold a book or in which direction to read. Asking simple questions like this is a good and quick way to make sure you are assessing the knowledge of students.
literacy is a complex web of skills and knowledge related to engaging and expressing ideas—a web that, as mentioned in the introduction, serves as a foundation for all learning.
I liked this definition of the word literacy because I agree, it is how we express our thoughts and ideas on a daily basis, sometime without even thinking about it. Literacy really is the basis for all learning, we need it in order to communicate effectively.