Chapter 11 Discussion

In Chapter 11, the book discusses the importance of shared reading and guidance reading in the classroom. The chapter explains that there is no set age to start with shared reading. I believe that the younger a child is when introduced to shared reading, the more apt they are to become interested in reading. Of course it is a good idea to expose children to reading and books before they are enrolled in school and even before they can read. Picture books especially are designed to capture the attention of young readers and provide an opportunity to follow along with the story as it is being told. In a sense,they are being able to read as well. When my nephew was about three years old, I used to read these picture books to him. He had a few that he made me read over and over again to him. Once I read these to him several times over, he decided that he was going to read them to me. I was surprised and interested to see how he was going to accomplish this. I knew he didn't know how to read yet, so he just flipped through the pages and followed the pictures and described the story to me, almost exactly as it was told through the book.

Many children are striving for that sense of independence so when they are familiar with the reading or are early learners of reading, they want to learn things on their own. As teachers, there are many tools that we can use in order to help achieve this. The use of big, bold, easy-to-read text is a great way to help those students who are learning to sound out words and using the sound-it-out as they go along method of reading. Plus, bigger font is easier to read than the smaller words and it gives the child a better view of how letters look so that they become more familiar with them. You can also do "picture walks," even if they are considered controversial. My teachers in elementary schools used to do picture walks before many of our readings in class in order to get the students to guess what was going to happen in the story. Also it gave us a visual of what the characters would look like and it would get us interested in what was going to happen.

Guided reading is grouping the students together with other students who are on the same reading level and grade level with each other. This gives the students the opportunity to help each other when they learn something new with the assistance of the teacher. Once the student's abilities change, the teachers changes the groups around to accommodate for the change. I believe that this is a good strategy in that it gives the students the ability to scaffold the other students and therefore, they are being able to share what they learned with the other students. I also believe that in some circumstances it is better for a student who comprehends a subject to teach another student because they are on the same age and level that they can translate it in a way that they will understand.

Chapter 10 Discussion

Chapter 10 discusses the importance of bringing reading alive in the classroom. This was probably one of the most intriguing chapters that I have read from the book. I highly agree that we as teachers we must teach hem the importance of reading and encourage them to take it up to our best ability. Having the students just read text from the book, by themselves, silently, isn't going to encourage anyone and they won't learn a thing about what they are reading, except for the fact that they don't like to read. It is draining for them and they won't understand all the concepts from the reading. Students need to have discussion and some kind of involvement in an activity relating to the reading in order to get a better understanding. As teachers, we can find different methods to have our students involved in the reading. This can be as simple as reading the story outloud to the class. Students, typically younger students, hold their focus more when their teachers read the stories outloud and create different voices for the characters in the story. When I was in kindergarden, my teacher had our class sit and listen to the story and then she would ask us who we liked in the story and why. This was my first introduction to reading in the classroom and the first time reading actually sparked an interest.

Later on in my grade school experience, I had teachers that would assign the students different roles of the characters from the story and we would have to act out a scene for the other students. That was always fun and this way the students get to use their creativity and imagination and bring their own personality to the story. The students who watch the scenes learn more about the scene and have a visual of how it would look like if it were real. This is also a great way for us teachers to make sure that the students actually grasp the story and its understanding.

Another way to involve the students in their literature is by having them create their own stories that relate to the story, such as changing the plot or switching the roles of the characters. I feel that this was one of the most intriguing ways for students to get involved. They have the freedom to create whatever they want to that relates to the subject. Having the students publish their own work also brings an accomplishment and they feel like they have contributed to the class. The more involvement the student has in the story, the more likely they are to understand the story better and the greater it is that it will improve the number of those who will find and interest in reading.

Chapter 9 Discussion

Chapter 9 Discusses the importance of nonfiction writings. Nonfiction writings tell stories that are based on actual events. Most of them were created to mark a monument of history or record actual events, making them permanent so that their stories won't fade away in time. Personally, I love nonfiction stories being told by the person who actually experienced them. It gives the story more realism and I feel like I can relate to that person on a new level. Reading nonfiction is a learning tool for me throughout my life. I read stories of people who are experiencing something similar to what I am going through and see if they are feel the same way as I do and also see how they approach it. I love to see what they learned and how these events changed the people in the stories lives. Nonfiction books about the history of our culture or of the wars especially spark an interest in me. I already love history so it intrigues me to discover something that was experienced first hand. One of my favorites was "The Diary of Anne Frank". It is an incredibly sad story that was written by a girl named Anne Frank whose family and her were in hiding during the Holocaust. To see what someone had to go through during these times shines a new light on what actually happened and gives a new appreciation for understanding honor and bravery.

I believe that I will mostly use nonfiction writings in my classroom as support for the subjects that I am teaching on, especially history subjects. Listening to people's stories during those times will relate them to characters and they will sympathize with them and give them a better understanding of what actually happened.

Chapter 8 Discussion

Fictional readings were some of the my favorites to create during my school years. They gave me a chance to use my imagination and have no boundaries on what I read. The chapter describes 4 different categories that Fictional readings contain: Realistic, Contemporary, Fantasy, and Science Fiction. For me, reading realistic readings were my favorite. I think the reason that is is because I can relate to the characters or to the situations that the characters are going through. Like many other reading types, there is a plot, characters, conflict, theme, setting, etc. When reading realistic books the reader is drawn into the plot and setting because they are situations that can actually exist. It is intriguing to see the possibilities that can actually exist. When creating fictional stories in school though, I mostly focused on creating Fantasy stories. They were my favorite. There were no limits. There wasn't a situation that I couldn't create that happened in my stories that would stand out from the rest as being unbelievable because it was all unbelievable.



When teaching fantasy in the classroom, I will make sure that I give the students the chance to enhance their writing skills and helping their brain development by having them create their own fantasy works. Whether it is creating their own works of writings or illustrating pictures to go along with the stories, the students can show how they interpret the stories and how they visualize the stories. This brings out their inner creativity and excites the students feeling like they are contributing to the story and their work is being noticed.

Chapter 7 Discussion

Picture books were probably my favorite books to read when I was growing up. They are the reason that I am a reader leisurely today. When I started reaading, I was mainly reading picture books. The words in them were some of the first words that I read. What attracted me to the chapter the most is the fact that picture books are still used at every age. The majority of the picture books are concentrated to attract younger children, however, there are picture books created for older readers as well.



One of my favorite picture books is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" It was a cute story but my favorite part were the pictures. They were different than the other drawings that I had seen in other books. The characters of the story I believe are created from colored or painted tissue paper. The pictures were the crucial aspect of the story. They provide support for the text and rovide a visual aid for the readers.

Picture books will definitely be found on the shelves in my classroom, especially if I am going to be teaching younger students. Younger students learn more visually because they are just learning on how to read. Reading words without having the visual support will just burn them out and frustrating them. Children their age get easily distracted and getting side tracked is a problem for every teacher. The differenciating and colorful picutres help to keep the focus of the children while sparking their interest in the story, and into reading.

Chapter 6 Discussion

Traditional literature is text that is mostly fiction stories that consist of plots, settings, characters, themes, and styles. The traditional literature story line has a beginning, middle, and end. It is contains such a broad number of seletions that includes myths, fairy tales, folk tales, myths, legends, and nursery rhymes. Most of these stories are easy to follow and have have predictable outcomes. Traditional literature is used to explain many things and from many of the ones that I have read are stories that are trying to teach the readers valuable lessons.

Some of my favorites include "The Three Little Pigs", "A Christmas Carol", "Curious George", "Princess and the Pea", and "Cinderella". Many for the stories that are made for younger generations are those with a "happily ever after" ending mainly due to preserving the innocence and belief of hope in children. Many of these stories are old stories that originated by a person or people and were mainly stories that were put down in words after years of being passed around by mouth. The problem with this is, from story telling to story telling, the aspects of the stories can change and alter far from the original. Just take the game known as "Telephone". One person starts off and passes a sentence or phrase to the next person and then that person tells the next person and so on. By the time the last person repeats what he/she heard, it can be totally different from what the original person said. Once they have been put into writing, then it tends to stay in the norm range of what is written. However there are books that are written that are an exaggerated version or an alternate view from a story that is an original. An example of this is Jon Scieszka's "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs". It tells the story of the wolf and how actually he wasn't mean and vicious and how everyone got it wrong. These books are fun to read, expecially if you love the original. Little twists and changes can alter the way you look at a story.

When I start teaching, I plan on integrating both the original, well known classics in my classroom for students to be free to look at. I also want to incorporate some of the twists and some not so known readings into my curriculum, broadening the knowledge of my students and introducing them to something new. It will give them a chance to explore different situations and perhaps learn new lessons.

Chapter 5 Discussion

I remember reading poetry in grade school and loved it. Most of the poetry I read was easy to read and fun, like Dr. Seuss and such. They had rhythm and rhyme and they were so much fun to read over and over again. Reading "The Cat in the Hat" and like were some of the poetry that we children got into. We can relate to the stories and they are short and they get to the point. Fragmented sentences that create interest in just a few words, is a gift that many people does not possess. Especially when it captures the imagination and focus of young children. The attention spand of young children is very short and doesn't last long. These authors find unique and creative ways to find words and phrases that are one of a kind and so inticing that children get wrapped up in the story.



I would definitely find ways to incorporate poems into my classroom readings. One of my favorite past times was being able to create poems of my own. I especially loved to create ones that rhyme. The students need to learn the basis of poetry, how it is created and why it is important in our culture and history. Poetry has been an important element in our history today. All the great founders of literature and art of our time have embraced poetry that has been the backgrounds of all great literature.

In my classroom, I want there to be a ton of poetry selections that the students can chose from. I will also have time during the class that will be dedicated to the children creating their own poetry where they would either publish them and hang them on a wall or put them together in a classroom portfolio. It will give the children the opportunity to create poetry while embracing their own creativity and imagination.