If students are able to relate what they are studying back to their own lives they will have an easier time understanding and decoding the message in the literature.

It is important to look at myths as something that is dynamic and relates to a humans life. In most myths there is always a deep problem or struggle that the main character faces.

I feel like as a teacher the definition of myths is something that is easily understood by students. What i think will be troubling is the recognition of contemporary myths.

It is important to understand the deeper meanings in the Myths. There will always being a deep meaning in a myth, whether or not the main character in the myth understands.

Native American myths are usually the most popular and most people think of myths being related back to the Native American culture.

Each myth should have a clear theme that is dominant.

when choosing a myth to teach to the class teachers should always look deep into it to make sure it fits the guidelines of what a myth is.

important to help students to understand what makes a myth a myth or what to look for when identifying a story.

I think it is important to understand what the characters represent in the stories and also what readers should be looking for in character change.

This is a great way of looking at books. Not only does it instill life skills in students, it uses an academic approach to teach it.

Some kids are visual learners and by having pictures associated with text it might allow them to understand fully sooner than they might have if it was just explained by the teacher.

This is an easier way to teach a reading lesson. When too much is incorporated it can become confusing very easily.

I think this statement is very important. Even if a picture book has a short story told mostly by pictures, if the words used in the text are more advanced it allows readers to advance their reading with out feeling the pressure of having to read big chapter books.

i think its very interesting the amount of criteria picture books are required. You would think that because they are books with their stories mostly told by pictures that the list of criteria would not be that big.

By adding a section like this it really pushes the teachers to select the right book for their students. I think requirements for picture books is a good idea.

Allows children to express their interests through other peoples work while gaining knowledge on how to better their own work. This can also make the idea of poetry more interesting to them.

I think this is important. A lot of poetry designed for young readers includes rhymes. By letting students know early on that not all poetry has to rhyme it lets them write freely.

This is a good idea. It allows parents to become involved in their children's school work and also discuss the topics at home, leading to more in-depth conversations that may not happen in the class room.

I think it is important to let children choose their own books. This allows them to further their reading skills while being engaged in the topic. If they were to always be assigned something they could resent reading.

Poetry gives students different options on how to write. There are several different types of poems to choose from and poems can also be showed in different ways. Words can be in shapes and it seems that when writing poetry when the words flow they have a deeper meaning than if they were words in a story.

i think poetry allows children to connect deeper with their thoughts and emotions. Poetry is an easy way of getting your feelings out and being able to express yourself.

i think it is important to keep all children alert and engaged while doing a read aloud. asking questions and creating small assignments is a great way to do this.

Read alouds are important for students who may speak more than one language, this allows them to listen to the way the word is pronounced, see it in a sentence, hear the way it is used and maybe even relate it to a picture.

I can see why teacher read alouds would make kids want to read more, most teachers read books that are higher than the independent reading level. This time gives children a chance to enjoy a book that they are not yet able to read, but if they enjoy the book so much it might drive them to learn to read harder books.

I think by having children communicate expressively about the story is a great way to learn and understand how stories work. By starting these lessons in kindergarten, once students get up to higher reading levels they might be able to grasp more literary elements faster.

I look at this type of response as the type of engagement that sparks children's creativity that can relate back to writers workshop if they had to create a story of their own.

By asking children what they would do if they were a character in a book is a good way to let them express their thoughts and connect with the book.

By the children talking back about the story it means they are engaged and understanding the story correctly if they are able to shout out answers or predict what the characters should / should not do.

I think dramatizing is a great way for young children, especially kindergarten level, to be able to express their understanding of the book. Not only are they reading with their teacher and peers they are having fun with it which is allowing them to pay more attention and be more engaged.

Helps children to connect and understand better.

I often see kids comparing many new things to life experiences or other things that they know. I think this is their way of getting comfortable with a new topic.

I observed in a combined classroom in the new haven school systems. The class I observed was a kindergarten and 1st grade classroom, i did not like how this was set up and i think it affected childrens learning being in a combined room, I'm interested to see how this teacher handles it.

I can't imagine being a teacher and trying to create a community in such a broken classroom. I think this would also be hard on the students who were not removed from the original class.

I think it is so hard for these students to act any differently because even though they are in school during the day, once they leave school they are in rough neighborhoods where they can't escape the bad ways to act. These kids have also grown up around this violence and meanness towards one another. Outside of school many of them may not have examples of how to treat other people fairly.

As a teacher who teaches in a community like this it is important to be there for your students. If they are living in such a place like this, creating a safe welcoming environment in the class room is something that can really help change their attitudes about school.

Although children can get silly when working in groups i think group work is a great idea. This allows them to take a break from sitting at their desk and working independently, while creating a learning environment. Using guided reading sheets might be the best thing to help children stay on task. Also if a class gets too silly with group work the teacher should warn them that if they cannot work nicely together they will go back to independent work. This may help the children to work better.

I think its important for children to have a trail of their progress in school. Although not everything can be done on paper, by having some different pieces of school work the student, teacher and parent can all look back and reflect on everything that was learned and how the child grew as a student.

The idea of students having to fill in their own charts is a great idea. Not only does it instill responsibility like the paragraph suggests, but it also teaches students that they are the ones who determine the outcome of their work. If they were to not fill out the chart they would have nothing to show the teacher and the teacher would have nothing to grade for them.

By teachers using mini lessons the students learning strategies can be much broader than doing a standardized lesson or test. Teachers can incorporate outside things to engage the students more, they can also change the level depending on their students. This will provide a comfortable working and learning space for all students.

This is important, when we talk, read and write we do not realize how much they coincide with. By having students pay attention to the way they go about their literacy it will improve overall.

Aaron is a perfect example of a child who is able to apply what they are learning in school to the outside world. Although it is not common to find kindergarteners spending free time in a bar, his mother is doing the best she can for him. He is using people in the bar as his resources to better himself in his learning process.

shows the impact a teacher can make on their students, kids love to talk about everything and who they know

I think that as a teacher it is important to understand that although we are there to teach students the academic knowledge they need to know, the students are there to teach us so much more when we least expect it