In teaching literature ancient or modern, our purpose should be to open the student's eyes and send him back into his own life with a better grasp of its diverse meanings and a keener appreciation of its limits and possibilities.
If students are able to relate what they are studying back to their own lives they will have an easier time understanding and decoding the message in the literature.
A myth is there fore something dynamic?a model, a means of coping, a strateg
It is important to look at myths as something that is dynamic and relates to a humans life. In most myths there is always a deep problem or struggle that the main character faces.
The teacher's job is to do whatever is necessary to enable such enlightenment to strike. In practice I find that my teaching of mythology falls roughly into three areas of concern: the definition of myth in general, recognition of contemporary myths, and finally the study of the ancient myths themselves
I feel like as a teacher the definition of myths is something that is easily understood by students. What i think will be troubling is the recognition of contemporary myths.
As the tale of Oedipus reveals, there is inherent in human na ture a self-protective intellectual inertia, an emotional resistance to new ways of looking at oneself?and with good reason, for the new insights may throw into confusion all that we have previously cherished about ourselves. It is this last frontier of resistance to which we as teachers need to address our efforts, because it is only when the circuit runs without a break, from the particular mythic narrative to its universal significance to the reader's individual experience, that the spark is lit which enables us, like Oedipus, to se
It is important to understand the deeper meanings in the Myths. There will always being a deep meaning in a myth, whether or not the main character in the myth understands.
Native American Myths
Native American myths are usually the most popular and most people think of myths being related back to the Native American culture.
The myth-makers then explain symbolically how to live, as Radin notes: “A myth is always explanatory. The explanatory theme often is so completely dominant that everything else becomes subordinated to it . . .” (370). Myths serve to explain and encourage worldview and good action within society. Many other theorists of myth concur that it has a functional dimension.
Each myth should have a clear theme that is dominant.
While myths do not have to have a sacred element, they DO appear to share a world-forming, or worldview-forming function
when choosing a myth to teach to the class teachers should always look deep into it to make sure it fits the guidelines of what a myth is.
There are a number of general conceptual frameworks involved in definitions of myth
important to help students to understand what makes a myth a myth or what to look for when identifying a story.
myths articulate how characters undergo or enact an ordered sequence of events.
I think it is important to understand what the characters represent in the stories and also what readers should be looking for in character change.
Wisdom Books are picture books whose themes and narratives illustrate the life skills, character traits, and attitudes which we want our own children to embrace. U
This is a great way of looking at books. Not only does it instill life skills in students, it uses an academic approach to teach it.
A third teacher attempting to explain the concept of theme will find that easier to do when two picture books with vastly differing plots, settings, and genres (but the same underlying theme) are shared aloud. Picture books provide an instant and complete shared experience which can then be referenced by all students with equal understanding
Some kids are visual learners and by having pictures associated with text it might allow them to understand fully sooner than they might have if it was just explained by the teacher.
the shorter picture book provides a more controlled arena for examination and discussion.
This is an easier way to teach a reading lesson. When too much is incorporated it can become confusing very easily.
Picture Books are nonthreatening.
I think this statement is very important. Even if a picture book has a short story told mostly by pictures, if the words used in the text are more advanced it allows readers to advance their reading with out feeling the pressure of having to read big chapter books.
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i think its very interesting the amount of criteria picture books are required. You would think that because they are books with their stories mostly told by pictures that the list of criteria would not be that big.
evels of meaning or purpose, structure, language conven-tionality and clarity, and knowledge demands. Levels of meaning or purpose
By adding a section like this it really pushes the teachers to select the right book for their students. I think requirements for picture books is a good idea.
e decided that each child would compile his or her own selected poetry anthology. The idea that someone took someone else's poems and put them in his or her book was astonish ing for some childre
Allows children to express their interests through other peoples work while gaining knowledge on how to better their own work. This can also make the idea of poetry more interesting to them.
n Day 1 our minilesson was simply to recognize that all poetry does not rhyme. We considered this an important first minilesson because we wanted to make sure that the children would be free to write their own poetry without the constraint of rhyme
I think this is important. A lot of poetry designed for young readers includes rhymes. By letting students know early on that not all poetry has to rhyme it lets them write freely.
ach child receives a copy of the day's poem to take home.
This is a good idea. It allows parents to become involved in their children's school work and also discuss the topics at home, leading to more in-depth conversations that may not happen in the class room.
hil dren are taught to choose books based upon their interests and the readability of the tex
I think it is important to let children choose their own books. This allows them to further their reading skills while being engaged in the topic. If they were to always be assigned something they could resent reading.
"The words are bouncy even if it doesn't rhyme." "I like to do lining on my p
Poetry gives students different options on how to write. There are several different types of poems to choose from and poems can also be showed in different ways. Words can be in shapes and it seems that when writing poetry when the words flow they have a deeper meaning than if they were words in a story.
mersion in poetry allowed this child to blosso
i think poetry allows children to connect deeper with their thoughts and emotions. Poetry is an easy way of getting your feelings out and being able to express yourself.
ed around the room, asked a number of prediction questions, and invited stu dents to write their own ending for the book during their center time. H
i think it is important to keep all children alert and engaged while doing a read aloud. asking questions and creating small assignments is a great way to do this.
Pinnell and Jaggar (2003) demonstrated the importance of read-alouds in the growth of oral language for both first- and second language speaker
Read alouds are important for students who may speak more than one language, this allows them to listen to the way the word is pronounced, see it in a sentence, hear the way it is used and maybe even relate it to a picture.
ported that independent reading time and teacher read-alouds made them want to read more
I can see why teacher read alouds would make kids want to read more, most teachers read books that are higher than the independent reading level. This time gives children a chance to enjoy a book that they are not yet able to read, but if they enjoy the book so much it might drive them to learn to read harder books.
nd, we might consider how to extend and expand our theory of the literary under standing of young children to include these types of response. They may act as powerful entr?es (for at least some children) to a more complete, more textured, and richer understanding of sto ries and how they work.
I think by having children communicate expressively about the story is a great way to learn and understand how stories work. By starting these lessons in kindergarten, once students get up to higher reading levels they might be able to grasp more literary elements faster.
aking over. The last type of expressive engagement is taking over the text and manipu lating it for one's own purposes. In this type of response, anything goes because children aban don any attempt at interpretation or understand ing and treat the story as a launching pad for the expression of their own creativity.
I look at this type of response as the type of engagement that sparks children's creativity that can relate back to writers workshop if they had to create a story of their own.
ir personalities, their choices, and their capabilities. It was one way of personalizing the stories, of drawing the sto ries to themselves; more important, it allowed them to control and manage plots and characters. They thought of themselves as authors, w
By asking children what they would do if they were a character in a book is a good way to let them express their thoughts and connect with the book.
diately, the children called out, "No, she won't!" Thus, talk ing back to the story and addressing characters directly begins to blur the distinction between the story world and the children's world. For a mo ment the two worlds become superimposed?one transparent over the other
By the children talking back about the story it means they are engaged and understanding the story correctly if they are able to shout out answers or predict what the characters should / should not do.
standing up and shaking their bodies around with their hands in the air. This spontaneous dramatization demonstrates participation in the story by imitating and physically interpreting what is going on in i
I think dramatizing is a great way for young children, especially kindergarten level, to be able to express their understanding of the book. Not only are they reading with their teacher and peers they are having fun with it which is allowing them to pay more attention and be more engaged.
hey become active participants in the story.
Helps children to connect and understand better.
mmonly called "narrative elements" of the sto ry. To understand a story, they may also compare or contrast it to other stories they know; other cul tural products like movies, TV programs, and commercials; or visual "texts" like painting
I often see kids comparing many new things to life experiences or other things that they know. I think this is their way of getting comfortable with a new topic.
ombined class of first and second graders.
I observed in a combined classroom in the new haven school systems. The class I observed was a kindergarten and 1st grade classroom, i did not like how this was set up and i think it affected childrens learning being in a combined room, I'm interested to see how this teacher handles it.
y. Not only did Jennifer struggle with keeping students in her class and out of in-school suspension, but she also had to deal with constant interruptions. By December, the students' instructional time had
I can't imagine being a teacher and trying to create a community in such a broken classroom. I think this would also be hard on the students who were not removed from the original class.
found that these students really struggled with maintaining a positive discursive environment. For example, many of their language practices dom inated discussion groups, such as giving orders, using insults, and disagreeing.
I think it is so hard for these students to act any differently because even though they are in school during the day, once they leave school they are in rough neighborhoods where they can't escape the bad ways to act. These kids have also grown up around this violence and meanness towards one another. Outside of school many of them may not have examples of how to treat other people fairly.
s part of a writing activity for fifth graders, I asked the stu dents to write a description of their community. Dale responded, "It is a dirty neighborhood, there was a shooting in my backyard. There is a store on the cor ner that got robbed two times." Kelly echoed, "It's dirty with too much drugs. There are bad kids, aban doned buildings; it stinks like fish, people getting killed and stray cats."
As a teacher who teaches in a community like this it is important to be there for your students. If they are living in such a place like this, creating a safe welcoming environment in the class room is something that can really help change their attitudes about school.
d the re search that collaboration and group work can lead to positive conseque
Although children can get silly when working in groups i think group work is a great idea. This allows them to take a break from sitting at their desk and working independently, while creating a learning environment. Using guided reading sheets might be the best thing to help children stay on task. Also if a class gets too silly with group work the teacher should warn them that if they cannot work nicely together they will go back to independent work. This may help the children to work better.
ncour age using written conversations to talk about books of interest. This format provides for regular feedback to students and establishes an audit trail for student progress.
I think its important for children to have a trail of their progress in school. Although not everything can be done on paper, by having some different pieces of school work the student, teacher and parent can all look back and reflect on everything that was learned and how the child grew as a student.
tudents should take responsibility for filling in the blanks in the state-of-the-class chart. From this practice, children develop a sense that responsibility comes along with op portunity. This simple record keeping process provides teachers with a daily audit trail of student activity and requires minimal te
The idea of students having to fill in their own charts is a great idea. Not only does it instill responsibility like the paragraph suggests, but it also teaches students that they are the ones who determine the outcome of their work. If they were to not fill out the chart they would have nothing to show the teacher and the teacher would have nothing to grade for them.
ni-lessons allow teachers to ful fill local curriculum mandates regarding stu dent performance objectives a
By teachers using mini lessons the students learning strategies can be much broader than doing a standardized lesson or test. Teachers can incorporate outside things to engage the students more, they can also change the level depending on their students. This will provide a comfortable working and learning space for all students.
aily routine must encourage reading as a pri mary activity integrated with other language modes, i.e., writing, speaking, and list
This is important, when we talk, read and write we do not realize how much they coincide with. By having students pay attention to the way they go about their literacy it will improve overall.
. He had just exposed me to a whole new world that I am not representing in my classroom. He carries the classroom into his outside world but do I let him bring his world into the classroom? Do I allow any of the children to
Aaron is a perfect example of a child who is able to apply what they are learning in school to the outside world. Although it is not common to find kindergarteners spending free time in a bar, his mother is doing the best she can for him. He is using people in the bar as his resources to better himself in his learning process.
d. He says that he knows who I am based on how much Aaron talks about kinder- garten and Mrs. Norton-M
shows the impact a teacher can make on their students, kids love to talk about everything and who they know
her. Daily we ask questions, make inquiries, and learn from each other. But there always seems to be a child . . . one child who comes along and shatters our thinking, shakes us to our c
I think that as a teacher it is important to understand that although we are there to teach students the academic knowledge they need to know, the students are there to teach us so much more when we least expect it