Again, respond to the articles listed under the Session 2 materials. Be sure to look at others' comments as well! Do you see connections to our discussion from today from the article about children's literarture?
23 Comments
Marsha Diemert
6/24/2014 09:26:29 am
I loved the article about Children's Literature! When I used Rigby in my classroom I was bored to tears with some of the "diverse socially correct stories." Some of the stories in Rigby were ok, but for the most part they didn't have that rich authentic motivating stories. Frankly some of the stories were very dry and were selected to teach a skill, not selected for the quality of literature. I really wish school districts wouldn't spend so much money on buying a canned curriculum, but instead just bought books. Aren't we professionals? Can't we use our standards to teach the skills rather than having a "set dialogue" the teacher is suppose to use? It takes the craft out of teaching and puts all of our kids into the same square peg when most aren't square at all. I really believe that some of the "reading curriculum" dumbs down students and teachers' abilities.
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Kelly
6/24/2014 09:36:33 am
I agree Marsha! In addition, I teach reading to the lower/stuggling students and many of the books are very dry and boring. If I can incorporate high quality literature/picture books, I can better teach comprehension (and higher levels of thinking) in addition to decoding.
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Pam
6/24/2014 01:21:37 pm
I also agree that many of the books we use to teach foundational reading skills are not that interesting. It is important that we also use quality literature so that students realize that books are engaging, fun, and enjoyable. These kinds of texts are what motivate kids to want to read and become lifelong readers and learners. There's nothing more rewarding than when one of my students tells me, "I loved this book. Can I read it again!"
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Christine Cope
6/24/2014 09:43:12 am
Rich children's literature is a catalyst to rich instruction. Children's literature opens up the "instruction manual" if the teacher looks deeply enough. So much can be taught, modeled, practiced, applied, analyzed, synthesized, explained, (ie. Hess' grid of Blooms and Web's DOK charts) through the use of engaging children's literature rich in vocabulary, sentence structure, story structure, literary elements and the like. I can't wait to begin using the quality literature that I know is best for our students. :)
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Karissa
6/24/2014 10:29:39 am
I thoroughly enjoyed reading "The Roles of Children's Literature". Even though I am a secondary teacher, I still feel as though I can incorporate the ideas of this article to have my students regain a love for literature with texts that they really want to dive into and explore.
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Karissa
6/25/2014 12:41:36 am
Thanks to Donna who pointed out that I wrote secondary when I meant to type that I teach intermediate. Had a little brain lapse. :)
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Kim
6/24/2014 11:03:38 am
Loved, loved, loved the children's lit article. I've used a few of the suggested books with fifth-graders, but I look forward to looking up more of the titles. I feel as though students are never too old to enjoy and benefit from picture books.
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Sheila Freehill
6/24/2014 01:29:37 pm
While I was reading the article on children's lit, I found myself thinking about lessons I could plan with my students. I, like many other teachers, have moved away from read aloud because of time issues. I have missed reading aloud books with my students. This article reminded me that reading aloud has numerous benefits beyond the joy of hearing a story. I plan on coming back to this article to integrate read aloud more into my reading and writing activities with my students. I know they will be glad to hear more stories too.
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Donna
6/24/2014 11:20:04 am
Children's literature is a key component to a successful writer's workshop. Not only can students access and analyze what good writing looks like, the use of picture books enhance the teaching of genre writing. I find writing one of the most difficult content areas to teach as there are so many needs within the classroom. It was interesting to read that the writer's "process" is not included in the new standards! I think students were getting caught up in "where they were" on the continuum instead of focusing on "what they were writing" and analyzing how to make it better. I'm hopeful that by using the new standards for writing, teaching writing will become more purposeful. This class is helping me to understand going deeper with reading is made powerful by using the standards as the focal point! I hope that makes sense. My brain is full tonight and still trying to process today!
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Lise
6/24/2014 11:37:32 am
I also loved the article on children's literature. Read aloud is my favorite time of the day (and my students). There has been many a time I have considered getting rid of read-aloud due to time constraints but then I reflect on the rich discussions, new vocabulary, and deep questions that always arise during that time. It is a bonding time and a truly rich learning experience. My goal in reading is to instill a life long love of reading.
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Amy
6/24/2014 12:15:21 pm
I'm glad I have been waiting for others to post because the feedback is fantastic to read! I'm excited about the direction that our thinking is taking...getting back into using authentic, rich text for both reading and writing instruction. That's how I developed a love for reading and writing; by being exposed to quality literature. That's what I want to do for my students too.
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Jan
6/24/2014 12:35:44 pm
As teachers, we have always known the value of quality children's literature; although we may not have been able to list all 10 roles of great literature. Fidelity to the district-purchased curriculum has limited the use of literature. However, that has changed. I now feel a freedom to go deeper -- with fidelity to CCSS -- by implementing the ideas and strategies I am learning in this class.
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Deb
6/24/2014 01:13:09 pm
I, like others, enjoyed the Children's literature article as justification for what we all know, that quality children's literature will make a difference in children's lives as readers and writers.
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Joan Maher
6/24/2014 01:39:18 pm
The children's literature article reassures us of what we all know. Our instincts tell us how important great, fun books are to our kids. This article gives us the permission to continue this important part of our day. We are learning to add great learning and great books. Our guts and hearts tell us this is the right thing to do for kids. I loved the list of books at the end of the article. I am always looking for more good literature for my struggling readers.
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Patricia Sickbert
6/24/2014 02:03:32 pm
The Roles of Children's Literature article made so many good points. Children's literature does offer readers a thoughtful place to learn and grow and vicariously experience the world. It is so refreshing to see rich literature making a comeback in the classroom. Without it, as the article mentioned, children can so easily lose their sense of wonder and curiosity. They will also feel more alone. Every time I reread one of my favorite children's lit. books to students, I see how much these books have shaped my life.
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Nancy Gordon
6/24/2014 02:42:52 pm
I really enjoyed the literature article. I struggled with using Rigby whole group texts when I felt like the read alouds that I tried to squeeze into my schedule in Kindergarten were more effective in helping my students learn how to comprehend texts. I am glad that we now realize that we have the freedom to do this in the classroom.
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Christa
6/24/2014 03:06:29 pm
In order to fully engage our students to want to learn we must provide reading materials that are interesting and fun. If we do not completely buy in to what we are teaching our students can sense that and not hear the message we are telling them.
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Erin
6/24/2014 03:11:37 pm
Children’s Lit, Serafini/Moses
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Julie Breyer
6/24/2014 05:01:18 pm
I loved the Children's Lit. article. Like Lise, I do read aloud every day. I think that it is an important time to introduce new vocabulary and have discussions about the characters, predictions and what how the author uses details and descriptions to bring the book to life.
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John
6/25/2014 03:21:50 am
"taking notes, summa- rizing information, personal narratives, and journal writing"
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Valerie Pelletier
6/25/2014 04:22:34 am
First of all, I have not taught in 7 years so the children's literature article was a great refresher for me on the different ways in which to use literature in my classroom. Since I will be teaching kindergarten this year I foresee many, many opportunities in which to complement my content-based informational texts with rich children's literature.
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Kathy
7/14/2014 03:12:36 am
I also enjoyed the article on children's literature. When the article states that "As a window on the
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Katherine
8/12/2014 04:47:39 am
In the article, The Role of Children's Literacy, the statement that reading instruction focuses too much on acquisition of decoding skills and not enough on the social nature of literacy was huge. Writing and reading should be more qualitative and less quantitative. Literacy provides us with powerful tools to record and relate the stories of us as humans. Perhaps less data-in/data-out would be more attractive to our students.
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