an informative, lively tone. As you write your draft,enliven your writing with vivid language and colorful details thatappeal to the senses.
Honestly when writing I didn't really notice how important this was. I thought this pertained more towards poetry but it does make sense. You want to use this technique so that your reader doesn't get bored easily with your writing (as some biographies and historical documents tend to do).
Picture Books Across the CurriculumPage 25 of 27 klschoch@aol.comKeith SchochMA Instruction and CurriculumNJ Professional Development Provider #346KLSchoch@aol.com(908) 281-5172Keith Schoch is a 6th grade Reading/Language Arts teacher in Bedminster, New Jersey. During his 20+ years in teaching, he earned a Masters in Instruction and Curriculum, served on the New Jersey Department of Education ESPA Mathematics Item Review Committee, piloted tests for Educational Testing Service, assessed candidates for The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and was named a Governor's Teacher of the Yea
Seriously, where did this guy find all this time to do this paper? It must have taken a long time to put together all of this information with all of these resources. I don't think I've ever read an article (or pdf) with this many resources, currently available, to look up and immediately use.
Repetition of initial consonant sounds.
They can also add "Chicky Chicky Chook Chook"
Scholastic provides a really valuable tool called BookALike.
Awesome tool. I used this for another class.
The cleverest picture books will often provide illustrations that alter the meaning of the literal text.
Sometimes this is needed since some words tend to have multiple meanings. For example, saying "There was a mouse on the table," can trigger someone thinking about a mouse (animal rodent) being on a table or a computer mouse. And if a child knows both of these terms it may be confusing with a picture.
‘Honesty is the best policy.’ This book seems to say almost the exact opposite! So who’s right?”
Gotta love playing the devil's advocate and coming up with scenarios that contradict what we have come to learn especially things that we have ingrained into our mentalities. This helps us learn to debate and think more for ourselves and question things that we have learned prior. This is where students begin to learn about the "fine line" of when things should and should not be done even though there were strict rules established before.
By its very design, a picture book must cut to the chase immediately.
Yes! Thank you!
a 200-page chapter book
Exactly why I would choose to read a picture book over a chapter book anyday. Picture books seem to be easier (for adults) but they tend to also have information and gets straight to the point basically especially if the books are intended to have lots of information in them.
fourteen criteria listed below
Didn't know picture books had this many criteria. Intrigued to see what they are.
The revenge was too severe for a petty theft.
Glad the children have some kind of heart and mind to think that the punishment for the crime was too harsh. maybe they could be judges on some of our current issues going on in our country?
hrough the shift from the combina-tion of text and illustration to illustration as the sole mode of providing mean-ing, and second, through the deliberate exclusion of visual information. Students interpreted the disappearance of the little fish from the illustration as an act of revenge.
Gotta love when books (or films) leave the reader (or viewer) with an open-ended feel leaving them to infer what happened and not given them an exact clear-cut ending. Sometimes we should be left to ponder on what we believe may have happened and be open to our own imaginations instead of always being told what happened.
The young readers attempted to impose a moral structure on the story, which requires them to use and reconfigure knowledge from their own lives and from the story.
As stated before (but in our myths and fables readings) that stories help to teach morals.
the absence of the little fish in the illustration strongly suggests the fatal ending of the little fish.
Wow, ok, sad ending for the little fish. Maybe some of the children expected that this could possibly happen.
Three story elements evoked the strongest responses from the children: prior knowledge (regarding levels of meaning), structure, and knowledge demands.
I am quite sure they must have been wondering if there would be some kind of confrontation between the two fish or if the big fish was going to eat the little fish given that some children will know that in nature sometimes the bigger animals eat the smaller animals.
Across the entire book, the reader moves along left to right, cognitively and spatially, with the plot moving through the under-water environment (for instance, the air bubbles trail the fish).
Awesome use of words and art to mimic the pattern in which words are read. The words and the pictures would figuratively and literally seem to "flow"
As K–3 teachers determine the complexity of a book, they must consider how the text and the illustrations trigger multiple layers of meaning in their young readers.
When you have been teaching a particular age group for a long time and you go to preview a book before reading it to your class (or having them read it themselves) you can just about predict how your students will think about the books, what questions may arise, and what issues they may have with comprehending what they are reading, or even how they may have difficulties relating to the characters or events in the stories. There are also times where your students may surprise you and come up with questions or comments that no one else has ever come up with. But, that in itself shows you that your student is paying attention to EVERY detail in the story.
college, careers, and citi-zenship.
which is also included in C3 (College, Career, and Civic Life Social Studies Frameworks)
computer algorithms that assess texts based on word fre-quency or sentence length (e.g., Lexile framework).
One of the best things ever created that makes it simpler for teachers to choose books that are perfect for their students. Teachers can use these tools to easily find books that are at their students reading level and to find books that are slightly more challenging, as well as steer their students away from books that are, for the moment, overly challenging for their students.
examining both image and text as integral parts of their literacy.
These are very crucial skills needed when reading. Being able to do this while reading opens up many doors for the future readers in regards to comprehension, understanding cause and effect, understanding human reactions and emotions, and a variety of other things as well.
Lastly, a high level of complexity associated with knowledge demands refers to texts on themes that are not part of common experiences—for example, those that are culture- specific or distant in time
This is similar to my children seeing homes that were made in other countries by people of various cultures that do not look like them. Understanding that people can make houses out of adobe or corrugated cardboard or metal would not make much sense to them without pictures and even with them may have to be explained to the children if they have never experienced seeing those type of homes.
An example of simple language con-ventions and clarity refers to language that is literal, familiar, and conver-sational, while complex language is figurative, ironic, and abstract.
Which would be like a preschool level book. But there are books that have inferences and abstract thoughts and images in them.
teachers must first understand the meaning of complexity in language arts texts and be able to distinguish challenging from complex, includ-ing the interplay between text, illustration, and reader engagement in K–3 picture books, ultimately focusing on reader/task connections.
makes sense
Shanahan ( 2013 ) suggested that instead of giving students sim-plistic books at their reading levels, the CCSS guide teachers to have students grapple with challeng-ing texts at their reading levels.
I don't understand why any educator would think that providing books that are only at their reading levels would prove to benefit any child. There should be some kind of challenge presented for the child or else their growth in reading will remain stagnant and there will be no room for growth and improvement.
activities built on storytelling and talk can provide practice in speaking and listening skills, which are in turn required for reading fluency. These processes also require the kinds of stories that can stimulate stu-dent interactions with one another and with the texts.
Definitely needed in classrooms.
f we think of someone who is a fluent reader or speaker, we generally do not think of a person who speaks or reads fast. Rather, we are more likely to think of someone who uses their voice to help convey meaning to a listener when speaking or reading orally. (
This is one thing I definitely agree with. I don't really get the concept of "reading fast". I feel that when I "read fast" like in the manner they look for in those fluency tests I don't really take in all the details that I would normally look at while reading. This not only applies to reading but other subjects as well. I feel as though people should be allowed to go at their own pace so as to further their understanding as completely as possible. When I am orally reading out loud and fast it may sound fluent but honestly I am not comprehending as well as when I am silently reading at my own pace.
[R]epeated reading is one of the best ways to develop fluency. But then I ask myself, what would make me or anyone else want to engage in repeated reading?... What would really inspire me to engage in repeated reading or rehearsal is performance (
With repeated reading the children usually start to realize what words are coming next, as well as how to pronounce them and read them more fluently. If they don't know certain vocabulary they can determine what the new vocabulary means together or ask a teacher. But there is always the question of "What would make me want to read a particular story more than once?" Props, rhyming, singing, or asking students to notice very specific things tend to work really well on the preschool level.
The CHAMP graphic organizer shown in Figure 1
I just like this graphic organizer.
. Unfortunately, because they must guide their students’ com-prehension while keeping within time constraints, teachers may feel pres-sured to overemphasize plot events and spend little time on exploring com-plex characters.
I feel this seems to be true sometimes. Or you sometimes get teachers that assume that the students understand the viewpoints of the characters.
How can you support students to identify with characters who differ from them?
While all of these questions are great to consider when reading with your students this question I think I like the most because it is questions like these that really help children to grow and learn how, or how not to, interact with others. It can help them to see how people have different viewpoints and therefore may respond differently than themselves. It may help them to understand why people react differently to situations.
she obviously drew upon her emotions as much as logic.
It is through reading that many things are incorporated. Not only are we reading we are comprehending and putting ourselves and our emotions into the books. We compare ourselves to the characters or we see ourselves in the characters. It is also us to explore the world (places, social situations, emotions) without physically going anywhere in a safe environment.
Then, through her recognition of Max ’ s bravery, Belinda reframed her experiences and defined herself as brave. This empathy with Max, which transcended gender, ethnicity, and real-ity, was likely affirming for her self- concept. She also gained understanding about how her teacher experienced a similar situation.
It is great when children can read a book and then use it to redefine themselves like here where Belinda found a different way of being brave and decided that she, in fact, is brave as well. It is also great that children can relate to characters without having to be EXACTLY like the character in order to so.
teacher burst into tears when the dog was killed and apologized to the class with a comment, "I didn't think that would happen." While the emotion was authentic and probably good for these eighth graders to see, this interrupt ed the flow of the reading of the story and sh
If she would have pre-read the book it would have never happened.
also noted a few teachers who at tempted to fluently read and discuss a book that they had not read previously. For
This is usually quite obvious especially for me. If I read a book to the class that I've never read before I cannot always deliver a vibrant reading and showing my love for the book if i never read it before. And I have read books in the past without pre-reading them only to find that I 1) didn't like them, 2) found it had a particular rhythm to it AFTER having read a good chunk of the book and 3) I had no interest in it so I read it in that manner which caused my children not to be interested. Yes, little ones feed off of that energy. If you're not excited about the book they won't be either.
and various moods the author was sug gesting. They also used movement, hand gestures, facial expressions, and props to provide the anima tion and expression that seemed necessary to fully engage students
In other words don't be boring. If you are animated and lively, moving around, and engaging the children in the storytelling they are likely to stay focused on you and interact with you on various levels.
I like that the teacher focused on two aspects. When beginning to talk about different aspects of a book you should try to keep it minimal so that all of the children can get time to really let the information sink in and so that teacher can find multiple ways in which to teach the material in interesting ways.
Following the read aloud, students defined the new words in their vo cabulary journals, created sentences with these words, and then sorted them by spelling patterns and conceptual similarities (e.g., Bear, Invern
Great way to get the children adding to add onto their vocabulary.
came next. According to the observational notes, "The teacher has a number of sticky notes on the pages with her questions and prompts written on them. She clearly has read this book before and thought about places to pause and engage her students." Their practice of prep
I love this technique. Like the article says it shows that you already previewed the book and have thought about what questions you want to ask about the story and how to engage your students into the reading. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS PREVIEW YOUR READING MATERIAL BEFORE YOU READ IT TO YOUR CHILDREN!
the chil dren during storybook read-alouds. However, another way of seeing them is as sophisticated expressive acts of literary pleasure, in which the children treat the literary text as a playground. Instead of taking the text seriously, the children
This is probably my favorite quote in this entire article. I also think this is very true. Children should be able to play with literature. They should be able to act out a story and manipulate it to their liking if they choose to do so. This will help them to feel free to express themselves and possibly give them greater vocabulary. If this is as fun as being on a playground they will perhaps enjoy reading activities more.
n. If we choose to see the bad , we will! If we want to see the strengths , then we have to look . . . and we have to realize that what we think we should see is not always righ
Just had to say that this is so true. Sometimes we see bad because we THINK we know what is going on.
His mother and the commu- nity in which he lived provided a rich context in which he could play with language, experiment, and question the sounds and images of his world. He was embedded in a social environment that said, "Yes, Aaron. We expect you will learn to read, write, and talk as well as grow up and work har
It is funny that most people would assume that because he was in that environment that it must all be negative exposure which is not always true. I am sure that being that he was able to be around mostly adults is what also helped to strengthen his vocabulary and conversational skills. I am actually starting to see as of recently the vast improvement of a child's behavior and speech (he had/has a speech delay) with his being exposed to children of all ages as well as adults. And I normally find that these are the children who become very intelligent in social situations so it is great that they can be academically smart as well as socially (and street) smart.
how important it is to continually question my whiteness, how it in- fluences my thinking and the expe- riences I plan for children in my classroo
This goes for anyone not just someone who is white. For anyone working with children who are different from them (racially, ethnically, culturally) it is always best to learn as much as possible from that family and that culture. We all come to the table with our own experiences and those experiences help make us who we are and influence our teaching. It can be quite difficult to understand others experiences, understanding, and way of life if we have never been exposed to their experiences. I just feel that being aware of at least some of this makes us better teachers.
. What opportunities could I create in my classroom where par- ents were actually part of the cur- riculum?
"Oh, you can't let that world come in here." "That world is violent ... so sad." "His mother is awful for letting him be in that environment." "He's around drunks all the time." "Reading beer labels is not literacy." "He is doomed to failure."
First off, I am sure as educators the teacher knows what parts of "his world" absolutely cannot be incorporated into the classroom. Secondly, they don't know what is going on in "that" environment if they have't experienced it firsthand but of course, we can be judgmental as we teachers tend to be. I may be a teacher but I also grew up in a bar (family of bartenders). And people had respect. They knew not to bother "the kid who was related to the bar owner".
. As we walk, Aaron points to each word and reads every beer sign on the walls.
Well at least we know he is reading!
Aaron walks by himself, which always worries me a little in this urban Midwestern neighborhood be- cause the school sits right next to a major four-lane highway, and traf- fic moves very quickly. This particu- lar neighborhood is also situated close to a busy downtown area that sees its share of gang violence, drug trade, and prostitu
this already sounds unsafe.
. I escort my group of 28 kindergarten students to the front of the school building because I am always worried they will get lost in the chaos of over 400 children leav- ing the buildin
Sorry this was just mind-boggling to me...28 kindergartners amongst a CROWD of other children? I really hope this teacher wasn't alone. I would have to come up with a strategy as well because none of us want to lose a child amongst the chaos! We all know if we lose a child, no matter what the situation, we are in trouble.
at every child who comes through the classroom door becomes our teac
I love this quote because it is very true. We are teachers but each child comes in with their own individual personalities, strengths, and weaknesses which tend to help make us teachers more creative in finding ways to help and teach them. In many ways they teach us a lot as well.