- May 2016
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edu307class.networkedlearningcollaborative.com edu307class.networkedlearningcollaborative.com
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ading alone (Purves, Rogers, & Soter, 1990). As the boys responded to the literature as a community of readers, they began to think about serious problems in their communities, and to make suggestions to address those problems. This evolved into preliminary enactments of personal, commu- nal, and civic social action
I love that this experience was so positive for these students as well as the researcher. This just proves that meeting students where they are, even if you need to modify things a bit, is totally worth it because they benefit so much from it.
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he made the connec- tion to a life experience, he responded with a broad- er view of the text, stating
I love that this teacher was able to find books that her students could actually relate to. If students have a difficult time understanding stories, it helps to provide them with books that are about things that they have experienced personally. Understanding literature is so important and we need to help our students accomplish this.
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, 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
If students are not engaged in lessons teachers need to modify their approaches so that students are engaged. The job of educators is to teach children and this cannot be done if we ignore the fact that they are not taking in any of the skills we are trying to teach them. Learning can be fun, and when it is students are able to gain so much more knowledge.
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As an elementary school teacher, I always found a small group of students in my classes who were not the least interested in the suggested chil- dren's literature listed in the core curriculum. Li
There are always going to be students who find required reading material uninteresting. As educators we need to provide alternatives for these students that teach them the same skills as the other readings, but in a way that they can enjoy and relate to. Teaching is abut meeting the needs of students, and sometimes that requires being flexible with required materials.
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"There ain't no Little Red in my hood, and if I catch one of 'dem little piggies, I'm gon' have a Bar-B-Que.
This student's comment shows why it is so important to provide reading for your students that they can connect to. If a student feels like he/she cannot relate to a story it will be very difficult for him/her to stay engaged in the reading.
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hey named themselves "The Posse," and became a "brotherhood" of read- ers gathering information from their worlds and the world around them, constructing meanings that extended their understandings, responses, and par- ticipation
This is such creative idea for a teacher to allow happen. If a group of students do not wholly care about what they are learning or do not find the meaning in it, allow that group to take on a different perspective and find their own meaning.
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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
Literature as a whole provides a sort of third party view of experiences and events. In class the other day, Dr. Marx said, "reading is like magic, you get to read the words of somebody you may never meet". This really struck me and I instantly thought of it when I read this sentence. When you read something by someone you don't know, it shows how there is a world around you in which people do see the struggles and tribulations you are going through in your world. It brings to light for people that their trials are not only theirs, but instead shared by others, and there is something really powerful in that because people begin to see that they are not alone.
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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
This is very true, especially at the college level. As an English minor, I know from my higher level classes that when I admitted that I had not read some classics, I was often met with the response, "How could you NOT have read that!" This made me more hesitant to share my opinions because I did not feel that my reading portfolio was comparable to my peers, and therefore my opinion was less important.
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African American educator
The fact that the author of this article included this detail about themselves really struck me and I couldn't pass by without annotating it. This may be because I just completed Dr. Marx's class in which we discussed how the vast majority of educators are white females, reading from the point of view of someone who is considered a minority in the field of education really piques my interest.
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Therefore the student's lack of engagement could lead to boredom at the very least, and aca- demic failure at worst
This is one of my greatest fears as a teacher. I know it is inevitable that students are not going to enjoy every single aspect that they are taught, but I am concerned that students will become so out of touch with the material that they will cause themselves to fail.
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The boys' responses were reflective of the need to move beyond individual action to looking at the civic or governmental levels of enforcing laws that already exist. They decided on a letter writing campaign to the highest level of the gov- ernment, the president
I think this activity is absolutely amazing. You can see how reading meaningful literature created a whole new world of understanding and deep thinking for these students.
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As the boys began to ask the "why" rather than just the "what, who, and where," the door was open to also construct the "how." For instance, they began to ask why there are drugs in their neighborhood, which moved them toward asking more complicated questions about how we can rid the neighborhood of drugs
This is absolutely incredible. What a teachable moment this must have been. Here, it is evident that the readers are further developing their critical thinking skills by asking deep questions relevant to the issues in the text as they appear within society.
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As we read and discussed the texts, it became evident that some of the boys simultaneously raised their awareness of societal issues and responded with personal, communal, and civic sensitivity, moving them to initiate and enact social action as extensions of the texts
I think this is an important part of this reading. Reading becomes more comprehensible as the readers can infer about the issues the characters are facing.
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The classification of realistic fiction is given to stories that are convincingly true to life and that help children see their own lives, empathize with other people, and see the complex- ity of human interaction.
This is an awesome thematic concept for fostering perspective taking skills and analytical thinking skills.
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the 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.
I think this is a strong point that should be taken note of. It is critical to keep students involved and focused in learning material, especially when it concerns literacy. It is important to provide all students with material that is appropriate for their learning. If it is meaningful, students can grow intellectually.
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This suggested to me a need for more con- temporary themes in reading material for some readers. It moved me to explore the pedagogical implications of the selection of children's litera- ture, as well as how that literature and literary re- sponse (Rosenblatt, 1978) may be used as an instructional tool to increase literacy success and initiate social action
While classic fairy tales and other sources of literature can still hold strong meaning within literature lessons in early childhood classrooms, I do agree that more contemporary themes need to be transcended in literautre throughout the elementary, middle, and high school years as the reader's abilities are developing and social interactions are changing. Moreover, themes in literature should be meaningful to the reader as he/she grows in school.
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