I believe evaluating books for children is one of the most difficult things we are going to have to deal with. Not only are we going to face this at home, but also in our classrooms. When doing this we need to look beyond our values. As hard as this may sound, I believe we should all think about this. Not all our students are going to be taught the exact same values. We must take everybody into consideration and teach them all something about each other. I do believe that evaluating books is value-based, but I also believe that other things should be taken into consideration. Another thing we should always remember is that children are very curious and they will always ask questions about new things. We should pick books that we can always explain to that particular age group.
Character and setting analysis are very important. It is what makes the story for the children. This will either make you a part of the story or make you not want to continue reading the story. This allows us to use activities to get the students involved in this reading. We can do activities like making a web about our favorite character, drawing a picture of our favorite character on the favorite setting, or even group discussions about the story.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
3344, Blog #3: Reading/Writing Process
The reading and writing process both have 5 stages. These are really helpful for children when first learning how to read and write and actually come in handy the rest of one's life. The reading process allows us to translate words so that we can understand what is being said.
The 5 stages for the reading process are:
Stage 1: Pre-reading in which we should activate or build background knowledge, set the purpose for reading, and we preview the text.
Stage 2: Reading which should include shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, buddy reading, or reading aloud.
Stage 3: Responding should include things like writing in reading logs or journals, ground conversations, and activities.
Stage 4: Exploring would be things like re-reading the selection, examining the author's craft, focusing on new vocabulary words, or participating in mini-lessons.
Stage 5: Applying would help us to deepen our interpretation and value the reading experience, this would include projects, social justice, and research.
The 5 stages for writing are almost similar, these include:
Stage 1: Pre-writing which allows us to organize our thoughts.
Stage 2: Drafting would allows us to write at least 3 copies before the final draft.
Stage 3: Revising is when we would add elaboration, adjectives, active verbs, and fix sentence structure.
Stage 4: Editing is when we would conduct our spell check, grammar check, and check for capitalization.
Stage 5: Publishing would finally allow us to share, display, or publish our final work.
I believe this is important to me not only as a present student, but also as a future teacher and mother of a student. This will help us make better readers and writers. We will learn how to actually make a story productive rather than just entertaining.
I do believe some teachers would use some type of writing process and when it was being used it really did make a difference in our papers. I don't recall having a rubric for my papers but I do think it would of helped a whole bunch. Writing has never been my strength, but I do put much time into it to make it the best that I can. I think I spend the longest in the drafting stage.
The 5 stages for the reading process are:
Stage 1: Pre-reading in which we should activate or build background knowledge, set the purpose for reading, and we preview the text.
Stage 2: Reading which should include shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, buddy reading, or reading aloud.
Stage 3: Responding should include things like writing in reading logs or journals, ground conversations, and activities.
Stage 4: Exploring would be things like re-reading the selection, examining the author's craft, focusing on new vocabulary words, or participating in mini-lessons.
Stage 5: Applying would help us to deepen our interpretation and value the reading experience, this would include projects, social justice, and research.
The 5 stages for writing are almost similar, these include:
Stage 1: Pre-writing which allows us to organize our thoughts.
Stage 2: Drafting would allows us to write at least 3 copies before the final draft.
Stage 3: Revising is when we would add elaboration, adjectives, active verbs, and fix sentence structure.
Stage 4: Editing is when we would conduct our spell check, grammar check, and check for capitalization.
Stage 5: Publishing would finally allow us to share, display, or publish our final work.
I believe this is important to me not only as a present student, but also as a future teacher and mother of a student. This will help us make better readers and writers. We will learn how to actually make a story productive rather than just entertaining.
I do believe some teachers would use some type of writing process and when it was being used it really did make a difference in our papers. I don't recall having a rubric for my papers but I do think it would of helped a whole bunch. Writing has never been my strength, but I do put much time into it to make it the best that I can. I think I spend the longest in the drafting stage.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
(3321) Blog #2: Chapter 2 Summary
This chapter really teaches us about how literature went through so many changes. Before recorded history (books) oral tradition occurred. Family units and tribes use to sit around campfires and share their group traditions and values through stories. These stories focused on teaching the young tradition and value, even though they were not really appropriate for children. The same problem was happening for books. The early books were not specifically developed to meet children's needs, interests, and reading levels.
Early books came prior to the mid-1400's. It was virtually impossible for children to even get a hold of these books. Not only were they expensive but the children were rarely trusted with them. It wasn't until 1450 that hornbooks were created and were used to teach reading, numbers, and prayers. These books were later replaced by the battledore, which was made from folded paper or cardboard, in the 1700's. These books also contained the alphabet, numbers, proverbs, and prayers.
The 1740's is when a major change occurred. This time is commonly referred to as the time when the idea of children's books began in Europe and North America. Due to people having more time, money, and education necessary for reading, books became more important. This also made a change in family life. The middle class was now centered more on the home and family rather than on the marketplace or the great house of nobility. Childhood was now becoming a more care-free and enjoyable period of life. This opened up a whole other world of literature, fantasy, adventure, and real people books. This allowed authors to create a new type of genre.
The same standards should be met for young adults as well, however, they should have more mature themes and characters who face complex issues that may be faced by contemporary young adults. An example of this would be a fictional book that has characters who overcome problems in ways tat are believable to the reader.
Censorship was also a thing from the past. This has always been around and doesn't really look like it is going anywhere. The only thing that makes it change is time. It never goes away but is influenced by our present social, religious, and political beliefs. Censorship changes with our present morals, values, and beliefs.
This chapter makes it clear that books help shape our children's attitudes, belief's, and family life. Getting to know a little about how children's literature came around and how it has changed, really helps to see how our children are really influenced by what they read or see. It is very important for us to have up to date books, family oriented stories, and books that teach children to become better people for the future. Values are also taught through books so we should really take this into consideration when choosing books to put in our "classroom library". And remember censorship will always be here so be careful with the books you pick.
Early books came prior to the mid-1400's. It was virtually impossible for children to even get a hold of these books. Not only were they expensive but the children were rarely trusted with them. It wasn't until 1450 that hornbooks were created and were used to teach reading, numbers, and prayers. These books were later replaced by the battledore, which was made from folded paper or cardboard, in the 1700's. These books also contained the alphabet, numbers, proverbs, and prayers.
The 1740's is when a major change occurred. This time is commonly referred to as the time when the idea of children's books began in Europe and North America. Due to people having more time, money, and education necessary for reading, books became more important. This also made a change in family life. The middle class was now centered more on the home and family rather than on the marketplace or the great house of nobility. Childhood was now becoming a more care-free and enjoyable period of life. This opened up a whole other world of literature, fantasy, adventure, and real people books. This allowed authors to create a new type of genre.
The same standards should be met for young adults as well, however, they should have more mature themes and characters who face complex issues that may be faced by contemporary young adults. An example of this would be a fictional book that has characters who overcome problems in ways tat are believable to the reader.
Censorship was also a thing from the past. This has always been around and doesn't really look like it is going anywhere. The only thing that makes it change is time. It never goes away but is influenced by our present social, religious, and political beliefs. Censorship changes with our present morals, values, and beliefs.
This chapter makes it clear that books help shape our children's attitudes, belief's, and family life. Getting to know a little about how children's literature came around and how it has changed, really helps to see how our children are really influenced by what they read or see. It is very important for us to have up to date books, family oriented stories, and books that teach children to become better people for the future. Values are also taught through books so we should really take this into consideration when choosing books to put in our "classroom library". And remember censorship will always be here so be careful with the books you pick.
(3344) Blog #2: Chapter 4 Summary
This chapter was very interesting and had very good examples of what exactly they were saying. It started with giving an in-class scenario of how a teacher (Mrs. Kirkpatrick) applies all these new approaches in emerging into literacy. Some examples of this were setting up centers, reading books aloud and responding to them, and most importantly not only providing instruction, but also giving children opportunities to experiment with these new ideas.
Other teachers can also provide the same opportunities as Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Some examples to provide children with the opportunity to experiment with reading and writing were; posting signs in classroom, list classroom rules, write notes to parents, label classroom items, and drawing or writing in journals. This chapter makes it clear that children should not only be exposed to written language but also have experimented with it before entering school. This can be done by simply reading to our children and allowing them to practice with pencil and paper.
This chapter also provided us with the stages of understanding the concept of a word. I guess I just took for granted knowing so many words that I really never realized there were so many stages. There are four stages to understanding the concept of a word: 1st- children don't differentiate between words and things. 2nd- they describe words as labels for things. 3rd- words carry meaning and understand that stories are built from words. 4th- they understand that words are made with letters and they also understand words have different appearances, they can be spoken, listened, read, and written. The first words that children can recognize are those they see most often in their environment. These are called environment print. This is usually how "reading" begins. Most children recognize signs they see most often. For example, me and my family pass by Bill Miller's everyday on our way home, she now knows every time there is a Bill's near by, she also loves their ice tea. The same idea comes to play in writing. Children scribble and later have enough experience that they can turn that scribble into an actual word. We can help their ability to read and write by providing the children productive centers. They can learn to play and learn at the same time. The alphabet also plays a major role in the children's way of reading and writing. I always believed the alphabet was the only important system in helping the children emerge in reading and writing. After reading this chapter four other language systems were introduced: phonological, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic, as well as their own knowledge of things.
There are stages that children have to go through while learning new things. This is also true when children are being emerged into reading. The same stages they go through in reading are also gone through in writing. These stages are emergent, beginning, and fluent. In emergent reading children gain an understanding of the communicative purpose of print. This is where environmental print comes in play. In the beginning reading stage children learn phoneme-grapheme correspondences and begin to decode words. This leads them to the fluent reader stage where they are able to concentrate more of their "cognitive energy" on comprehension. Reading now becomes a learning tool at this point. The same steps are taken for emergent writing. In the emergent stage children use scribbles to represent writing. With some experience they will be able to line up the scribbles from left to right and top to bottom. During this stage children will also be able to tell you what they wrote, "read it to you." In the beginning stage the alphabetic principle comes in. Here they use invented spelling to represent words. In the fluent stage children are now able to write in paragraphs and vary according to genre. In this stage they mainly use correct spelling and other conventions of written language.
I really enjoyed this chapter because as a future teacher it really gives you ideas of you should set up your classroom. This really helps to see how even the posters you hang in your classroom can make a difference. I really liked the idea of different centers in the classroom. I remember having some similar to these in elementary school. I always thought they were the best time of the day. Maybe now with this information I can really make some productive centers in my classroom some day.
Other teachers can also provide the same opportunities as Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Some examples to provide children with the opportunity to experiment with reading and writing were; posting signs in classroom, list classroom rules, write notes to parents, label classroom items, and drawing or writing in journals. This chapter makes it clear that children should not only be exposed to written language but also have experimented with it before entering school. This can be done by simply reading to our children and allowing them to practice with pencil and paper.
This chapter also provided us with the stages of understanding the concept of a word. I guess I just took for granted knowing so many words that I really never realized there were so many stages. There are four stages to understanding the concept of a word: 1st- children don't differentiate between words and things. 2nd- they describe words as labels for things. 3rd- words carry meaning and understand that stories are built from words. 4th- they understand that words are made with letters and they also understand words have different appearances, they can be spoken, listened, read, and written. The first words that children can recognize are those they see most often in their environment. These are called environment print. This is usually how "reading" begins. Most children recognize signs they see most often. For example, me and my family pass by Bill Miller's everyday on our way home, she now knows every time there is a Bill's near by, she also loves their ice tea. The same idea comes to play in writing. Children scribble and later have enough experience that they can turn that scribble into an actual word. We can help their ability to read and write by providing the children productive centers. They can learn to play and learn at the same time. The alphabet also plays a major role in the children's way of reading and writing. I always believed the alphabet was the only important system in helping the children emerge in reading and writing. After reading this chapter four other language systems were introduced: phonological, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic, as well as their own knowledge of things.
There are stages that children have to go through while learning new things. This is also true when children are being emerged into reading. The same stages they go through in reading are also gone through in writing. These stages are emergent, beginning, and fluent. In emergent reading children gain an understanding of the communicative purpose of print. This is where environmental print comes in play. In the beginning reading stage children learn phoneme-grapheme correspondences and begin to decode words. This leads them to the fluent reader stage where they are able to concentrate more of their "cognitive energy" on comprehension. Reading now becomes a learning tool at this point. The same steps are taken for emergent writing. In the emergent stage children use scribbles to represent writing. With some experience they will be able to line up the scribbles from left to right and top to bottom. During this stage children will also be able to tell you what they wrote, "read it to you." In the beginning stage the alphabetic principle comes in. Here they use invented spelling to represent words. In the fluent stage children are now able to write in paragraphs and vary according to genre. In this stage they mainly use correct spelling and other conventions of written language.
I really enjoyed this chapter because as a future teacher it really gives you ideas of you should set up your classroom. This really helps to see how even the posters you hang in your classroom can make a difference. I really liked the idea of different centers in the classroom. I remember having some similar to these in elementary school. I always thought they were the best time of the day. Maybe now with this information I can really make some productive centers in my classroom some day.
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