“Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein
In the book (The Joy of Children's Literature) states that over the past decades in the classroom they hav eliminated instructional grouping and added whole group instruction. These groups were designed by ability. This tradition was ineffective for several reasons. The one-size-fits-all texts has a negative outcome with grouping by ability. These are several reasons.
Students from minority groups are more likely to be assigned to low groups.
Students who did not have preschool experience are more likely to be assigned to low groups.
Students with low-ability groups received lower quality instruction, spending more time doing the round robin reading and workbook assignment than the high ability students.
Students with low ability groups have lower academic expectations and suffer damage later on in future classrooms.
I remember that when I was in school, I was given a lot of workbooks and level reading which was boring text that I would have to read and take a quiz while my fellow students had time with the teacher. I was never in the high groups and felt as though I was not smart, and I do remember never having that one on one time with the teacher. Guided reading is great if you match the right book with the student. There are several things that as teachers we should take into consideration.
Process text well, using knowledge of what makes since, sounds right, and looks right all at the same time.
Read most of the time at a good rate with phrasing, appropriate stress, pausing, and intonation.
Know or rapidly solve most of the words and reads with high level of accuracy.
Interpret the full meaning of the text.
If your student is able to do this then they are allowed to participate in guided reading.
In
a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened
by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided
into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from
each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part
entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the
televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are
forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to
watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining
district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and
her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all
the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger,
stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins's
characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and
friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and
engrossing.
Lesson Plan:
I will give
each student a Hunger Games Characteristic Sheet. I will have students work in
pairs or small groups. To begin, I will ask each group to select examples from
the handout for each category: personality characteristics, behaviors, and
activities. Each character can have similar qualities and the words can be used
more than once.
After
students have completed The Hunger Games Character Sheet, I will introduce the
idea that gender is socially constructed. I will explain that books, movies,
music and videos influence our understanding of gender - how to look, act,
dress, and relate to others can be a source that contributes to this
composition.
Class
Discussion Questions - Gender and Gender Stereotypes
·I will ask
students to share the characteristics, behaviors, or activities they assigned
to Katniss and Peeta.
·Then I will
ask students to differentiate between stereotypical characteristics and
characteristics that do not conform to traditional gender stereotypes.
·I will ask
students to look at the many characters in “Hunger Games” and assess which are
conforming (i.e. Glimmer and Cato) and non-conforming to gender stereotypes
(i.e. Katniss and Peeta).
Another
lesson would be: Comparing and contrasting what they ate. Students will work in
pairs to write down some of the things Katniss, her family, the citizens of the
Panem districts, and the tributes must eat to survive. What did the citizens of
the Capitol eat? How do these meals differ? They will then write an essay on
what they found out with this research, which way would be the healthiest and
why.
Another mini
lesson would be:First I would discuss
what we really are here in America; for example, As Americans, we are fortunate
to live in a free society.We have
freedom of speech as well as the ability to think for ourselves and express our
own opinions without punishment.In
contrast, Panem is an authoritarian society.Its citizens are strictly controlled by the government and all media is
carefully controlled by the Capitol.Citizens of Panem cannot express their opinions without the possibility
of punishment from the government.
Student task
for this lesson:
Consider how the Hunger Games would have been different if they had happened in
a free society.Specifically, think
about how the media would have reported the events compared to how they were
reported in Panem.You must write two
separate essays to reflect these differences.One will be written as if it is from Panem and one as if it is from a
free society.Each essay should reflect
the limitation or freedom of expression for each type of government.
Twilight
17-year-old
Bella declines her mom's invitation to move to Florida, and instead reluctantly
opts to move to her dad's cabin in the dreary, rainy town of Forks, WA. She
becomes intrigued with Edward Cullen, a distant, stylish, and disarmingly
handsome senior, who is also a vampire. When he reveals that his specific clan
hunts wildlife instead of humans, Bella deduces that she is safe from his
blood-sucking instincts and therefore free to fall hopelessly in love with him.
The feeling is mutual, and the resulting volatile romance smolders as they
attempt to hide Edward's identity from her family and the rest of the school.
Meyer adds an eerie new twist to the mismatched, star-crossed lovers theme:
predator falls for prey, human falls for vampire.
Lesson Plan:
·I will have
students work in pairs to research popular myths about vampires. They will then
make a poster that outlines these myths in detail.
·In the same
pairs they will work together to create a timeline of at least 7 key events
that happened in Twilight.
·In groups of four students willmake a
movie poster advertising the release of the new movie Twilight. Be sure to
include a brief overview of the story, the names of key characters and the
actors who will play them. Also include an illustration of an important scene
from the story. May not copy the actual movie.
Students will also
make a character collage independently. Cut words and pictures from magazines
and newspapers that will describe a character from the novel. Be sure to
include the character’s name.
The Tale of Despereaux
This story
is about a mouse that is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea.
It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and
covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a
slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish.
First let's talk about what is happening in our schools. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has designed that all children read fluently by the time they reach third grade and to also help close the gap in literacy achievement between the rich and the poor. This act also provides federal funding through the reading First program to the schools that comply with specific requirements. It is true that good teacher make a difference in how our kids learn to read. However as a parent I think that learning to read and love to read starts at home. I never had the opportunities that my child has now, I don't remember my mom or dad reading to me when I was younger. I think that if they paid a little more attention on my education and not depend on the teachers I would have been a better reader. Yet my parents were giving me everything they could and believed that the teachers would help me and teach me. While all this is true, starting early by just reading at home at night with your child could help greatly. When learning about the importance of reading to your child, one of my classes told gave me as an assignment the book Reading Magic the book started off by talking
about how she got started in writing this book about the benefits of reading
aloud. She stated “if reading aloud had had such a powerful impact on my
child’s life and on her ability to learn to read, I felt I had no business
keeping it a secret.” She then talked about showing the power of reading aloud;
she had the opportunity to work with a child that she had never met before. The
parents didn’t know that, their child would be able to read just by hearing
them read to them. She then went to talk about the benefits of reading to your
child. That if you read to your child or your child has had an experience with
books then that child will be better off than most. She stated in one of her
chapters that “children’s brains are only 25 percent developed at birth. From
that moment whenever a baby is fed, cuddled, played with, talked to, snug to,
or read to, the other 75 percent of its brain begins to develop.” She also
stated that the best time to read to a child is when they are born. Having that
bond with a child not only will allow them to be able to read sooner but will
love to read. This will not be a hassle of like homework to them but rather a
joyous occasion were they can have some time with their care givers. She also
stated that there is no one way to read to your child. That it didn’t matter
what time of day you did it. That she read to her daughter during the night
time before bed. Yet that’s not what everyone one has to do. If parents have a
night job and the only time they have to read to their child is during the day,
then that’s the best time to read. As long as parents are taking time off from
their busy time to stop and read with their child. Yet she did say that when we
are reading to our children we have to make the most of it. That we should not
only read but ask questions, play games, make mistakes to that they could
correct us. The author talked about the three different secrets to reading. The first secret is the secret of magic of
print, “this secret id the ability to recognize and make sense of the many
little squiggles on a page.” The second secret is the magic of language, “ we
can’t read well without understanding the meaning of words, without
understanding the clever ways words link to form sentences.” And the third
secret is magic of general knowledge, which is all the information that we have
from when we were born to now. When all these secrets come together the child
then starts to read. I really
enjoyed this book, as a child I was never read to so I didn’t like reading, yet
when my baby was born I decided that I would do things different. I am so glad
that I made that choice because my child is 3 years old and she is reading. The
book was as if I wrote it. I agree with all that the author said, my child and
I have a great bond and she craves reading. We read three books every night
without knowing I was doing something correct I always chose a book she could
read, one that she loved and my choice which is a difficult book. Till I read
this I thought that it was just because I thought it would be a good idea , yet
now I know the back ground and the importance of choosing those books in that
order. She stated “the ideal three stories a day are one favorite, one familiar,
and one new, but the same.” I was shocked that I was doing something right
without even thinking about it. I was reading to my daughter since she was in
my stomach, my husband always said that she could not hear me yet I knew
better. I remember having her in my lap when she was born reading books of baby
Einstein followed by a baby Einstein movie. I will always remember those times
and I really believe that she will as well. I really enjoyed this book and will
recommend it to others. When in classroom create a supportive environment; first a positive attitude, children come to school with many different attitudes toward reading so its up to the teacher to make it positive. Many of the students have been read to at home, others will come from homes where reading is practiced differently or where books are unavailable. Engagement; make sure that when creating lessons they are engaging in reading. Motivation; make sure that you keep your students motivated in reading when motivation increases students want to spend more time reading. Self-Selected let your students give you ideas on what kind of books they would like to have in their class library, allow the students to go to the class library. I have been in classrooms where the teacher had a great classroom library yet the students hardly ever used it. What a waste of great books. Time for reading is a big one, I know that as a teacher one has so many responsibilities, lessons and activities that they have to jam pack in one day of 6 hours yet giving time to the students to just read or look at the book will give them a much more desire to read.
Telling stories are what Robert Munsch does, and loves best. Robert Munsch was born on June 11, 1945 in Pittsburgh, PA. The first time he stood in front of a group of children as a student teacher at a nursery school in 1972, his cheerful, animated presentation grasped hold of the imaginations of his listeners and he hasn't let go since.
Before he is finishing with his creation which is the book, Munsch spends up to three years telling, reviewing and modifying the story in front of his captivated audiences. Munsch has published dozens of books in both Canada and the United States. His first efforts, The Mud Puddle and The Dark, were published in 1979 and the runaway bestseller Love You Forever was first published in 1986. He creates characters that are loved, courageous, stubborn and endearing children, while his story lines tend to challenge conventions and stereotypes.Robert Munsch lives in Ontario, Canada, and continues to perform his own tales. He often goes to a location without notice—for day care centers, schools, and libraries
Robert Munch has created several books that are very captivating. The list is endless but here is some of my favorite. Daily Lesson Plan Template:
1A. Common Core Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of “how-to” books on a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.1b Build on others’ talk in conversations by responding to the comments of others through multiple exchanges.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.1c Ask questions to clear up any confusion about the topics and texts under discussion.
1. The effective educator creates a culture of high expectations for all students by promoting the importance of education and each student’s capacity for academic achievement.
2. The effective educator demonstrates deep and comprehensive knowledge of the subject taught.
3. The effective educator exemplifies the standards of the profession.
(2) The Educator Accomplished Practices. Each effective educator applies the foundational principles through six (6) Educator Accomplished Practices. Each of the practices is clearly defined to promote a common language and statewide understanding of the expectations for the quality of instruction and professional responsibility.
(a) Quality of Instruction.
1. Instructional Design and Lesson Planning. Applying concepts from human development and learning theories, the effective educator consistently:
a. Aligns instruction with state-adopted standards at the appropriate level of rigor;
b. Sequences lessons and concepts to ensure coherence and required prior knowledge;
c. Designs instruction for students to achieve mastery;
d. Selects appropriate formative assessments to monitor learning;
e. Uses diagnostic student data to plan lessons; and
f. Develops learning experiences that require students to demonstrate a variety of applicable skills and competencies.
3. Instructional Delivery and Facilitation. The effective educator consistently utilizes a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the subject taught to:
a. Deliver engaging and challenging lessons;
b. Deepen and enrich students’ understanding through content area literacy strategies, verbalization of thought, and application of the subject matter;
c. Identify gaps in students’ subject matter knowledge;
d. Modify instruction to respond to preconceptions or misconceptions;
e. Relate and integrate the subject matter with other disciplines and life experiences;
f. Employ higher-order questioning techniques;
g. Apply varied instructional strategies and resources, including appropriate technology, to provide comprehensible instruction, and to teach for student understanding;
h. Differentiate instruction based on an assessment of student learning needs and recognition of individual differences in students;
i. Support, encourage, and provide immediate and specific feedback to students to promote student achievement; and
j. Utilize student feedback to monitor instructional needs and to adjust instruction
2. Objectives: Students will be able to make connections between different Robert Munsch literatures Students will develop their abilities to view, listen to, read, comprehend, and respond to a variety of contemporary and traditional grade-level-appropriate texts in a variety of forms. Students will be able to complete a brainstorming web with group memebers. Students will be able to show understanding of the lesson with final project.
Introduction to Lesson:
Robert Munsch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Fordham University in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and from Boston University in 1971 with a Master of Arts degree in anthropology.
He studied to become a Jesuit priest, but decided he would rather work with children at orphanages and daycare centers. In 1973, he received a Master of Education in Child Studies from Tufts University. In 1975 he moved to Canada to work at the preschool at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario. He also taught in the Department of Family Studies at the University of Guelph as a lecturer and as an assistant professor. In Guelph he was encouraged to publish the many stories he made up for the children he worked with.
One of Munsch's best-known books, Love You Forever was listed fourth on the 2001 Publishers Weekly All-Time Best-selling Children's Books list for paperbacks at 6,970,000 copies (not including the 1,049,000 hardcover copies). The Munsches have since become adoptive parents of Julie, Andrew, and Tyya.
Robert Munsch is a renowned author who has been presented many awards and honors and was even made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1999.He is one of my favorite children’s authors.
Teacher Presentation or Facilitation and Student Activities :
Lesson One:
After the introduction students will work in groups to find the answers and create a brainstorming web about our author. The teacher will create a web on smart board to guide the students and give them a visual on what they are to do. The teacher will create a web with another author so that the students know what they are expected to do. She will guide them with the whole group and when she finishes her demonstration the students will go in groups and create their own web on Robert Munch.
Student’s final project will be writing a letter to Robert Munsch. The students need to know information about Robert Munsch in order to write him, the students need to know him as much as possible. The students will also see a video clip of him reading some stories to children so that they can see how animated he is when reading and become personal with him.
The teacher will show the video that she presented in the last lesson for a fresher on our Author. After viewing the video students will then be selected into a literature circle group. In each group there will be three students; a recorder, a reader, and a speaker. The teacher will have at least 25 books that each group can select from. Each group willpick three books to read in their literature circles. Each student will have a job and will be graded on the information that they have gathered. Each student will have the opportunity to play each role with each different book they read. After the students have read all three books, they will than present to the class their findings. Each student will also complete the following information independently and with their groups and turn it in for a grade for this lesson. This will show the teacher whether the students participated or not.
Students will be selected to work with partners to create their own Robert Munsch book. They will research the internet on what needs to be included in a book.
Write it next: The teacher will model how to transfer work from the plan sheet to writing paper correctly. Discuss with each child to assess their readiness to move on with the process. Talk to them about what will be needed to go to the next step on creating a book. Give visuals and examples. Then Model how to add details to drawings, sound out words, use the word wall, and use of writing conventions. All these things can be incorporated into their books. Also help them find resources of materials they can incorporate into their books.
Publish It: Have children put covers on their books, write a title and color the pages of their books. After they have finished their books we will come together as whole group and read our stories. A copy of these stories will be mailed to Robert Munch.
Lesson Four:
Each student will write a letter to the author Robert Munsch. They will include their books they created, what books they have read from the author and ideas for future books. The teacher will teach the students what is incorporated in a formal letter.
A letter has six major parts; the teacher will talk about the six major parts and model for them on how to properly write a letter. Each student will create their rough draft of the letter and turn it in. First Date, Second Dear ________, Third Greeting, Fourth Purpose for writing, fifth Thanks, and sixth Signature
Also the teacher will discuss: A letter begins with the date in the upper right hand corner of the page. Remember to find a place that will give you enough room to end the date on the right hand side. If they miss, they need to erase and do it again. Under that, “Dear ...” make sure to end with a comma. On the next line, the first sentence is our greeting. This is our way of saying hello to the person!
Some examples are: How are you? Good day to you sir, thank you for your wonderful books! Then the students will write their greeting statement individually. After this, we move on to our reason for writing Our last line is our thank you line.
After the students have finished their rough drafts the teacher will grade it for a pre-assessment.
Lesson Five:
Student will correct any errors they may have and complete their final paper. The teacher will then show them how to address an envelope and mail in their letters. The teacher will talk about the different components of an envelope and what needs to be included and why. Each student will input their own materials and will stamp their letter. They will give their finish product to the teacher and the teacher will then mail out the letter
When we think of poetry we think of older students in a classroom learning for the first time about poetry. Yet research shows and was stated in the book The Joy of Children's Literature that for students to really benefit in poetry they have to be exposed to it when they are children at a early age. "Children who are given many opportunities to read and write poetry on their own possess a remarkable understanding of the genre whereas children who have not had exposure typically don't understand what poetry is or how it differs from prose."
Some ways to bring poetry into the classroom are:
Read poems aloud to children with energy, passion, and delight. One way to do this is to read poems that you as a teacher really enjoy.
Encourage children to write in a poetic fashion, using all to the tools that poets use.
Use poems all the time, in a quiet moment as a lesson.
Explore poets as well as poems, letting the children come to know the writer of the words, through reading many poems by one poet.
Morgan Styles is a professor of Children's poetry and she stated "Why does children’s poetry matter? Children’s responses to poetry are innate, instinctive, natural – maybe it starts in the womb, with the mother's heartbeat? Children are hard-wired to musical language – taking pleasure in the rhythm, rhyme, repetition and other patterning of language that are a marked feature of childhood. As the poet, Tony Harrison, pointed out, it’s the scansion in poetry that unites the attention. Just think how, faced with fretful babies, we rock them rhythmically, dredging up old nursery rhymes, lullabies, or chants to amuse and pacify. This is a universal phenomenon, as Iona and Peter Opie, and other scholars, have shown in their research on the oral tradition. Even when we tell young children stories, they demand exact retellings and repetitions with the same cadences, rhythms, pauses and tones they heard the time before. This early sharing of musical language is often physical, too; bumping toddlers up and down on our knees and often ending with a kiss. Early poetry is about the expression of love"
I love how she stated how important children learning poetry is and how they all have it already wired in their hearts and body.
Modern fantasy is about beings in places and events that are not occurring in the real world. Modern Fantasy has characters that are extraordinary and worlds which challenge and expand our sense of the norm.
Fantasy is mostly created from folklore but the stories are not handed down orally as in traditional folklore. These stories have strong themes, traditions, and structures which are established in ancient myths and legends. However, the stories are shaped through the vision and style choices of the author rather than in oral tradition, which is rooted in cultural belief and told by the storyteller.
Fantasies are written at several levels and include elements such as animals, toys and dolls, small worlds, strange characters and events, unusual worlds, magical powers, the supernatural, time shifts, and kingdoms. High fantasies are often told in a series and often include themes at the core of life. With recurring themes and motifs, they are the most complex. Heroes on a mission are often featured. While science fiction falls under the fantasy umbrella, it differs from fantasy in that it speculates about what might happen if our present scientific knowledge was used in certain ways. It is valued for its ability to facilitate use of the imagination and to consider ethical and social implications of scientific issues.
Qualities in Modern Fantasy in our Books:
stories must always meet criteria for excellence in narrative fiction
effective settings are detailed and believable within the context of the story
themes are meaningful, challenging the reader to ask questions and think about life
writing is rich and structures, syntax and word choices are clear
story events are imaginative, and logically consistent within the story world
characters are multidimensional, with consistent and logical behavior
Benefits for Modern Fantasy: Good fantasy might benefit children in that it helps children better understand themselves and the real-life struggles they may face. Not only can fantasy reveal new insights, it can also foster the development of children's imaginations.
Why do writers use the fantasy genre?
The major advantage of fantasy is that it can open up possibilities; it is not confined to the boundaries of the real world.
Writers are able to convey complex ideas on a symbolic level that would be difficult to convey otherwise.
Fantasy works can provide a fresh perspective on the real world.
Fantasy stories can suggest universal truths through the use of magic and the supernatural.
" Historical fiction brings together historical face and imagination. We can never experience the lives of the people and events of the past, but we can come as close as possible through historical fiction." (The Joy of Children's Literature) When authors started to write historical fiction they put together pieces of factual information and filling in the gaps that are unknown with information from their imagination. These stories are great because students learn the truth of important things that happen in our past yet they find a way to relate to them so that they understand what they are reading. When addressing historical fiction to your students you must address these main points.
Form of fiction (not true)
Based on Historical events
Authentic settings
Characters portrayed in realistic ways
Some characters may be real
The people are real and events yet the story is fictional
Artistic mix of fiction and historical facts
Benefits in Historical Fiction: Historical fiction creates another world for the readers yet although different it has strong connections to our own world. Historical fiction helps children realize they are not just outsiders looking in on great historical events, it also helps students understand that everyone place a big role in shaping and creating history. Students can find common bonds with the real characters from the stories who are distant in time and space.
When looking for historical fiction for students one must take a lot of things into consideration.
Strong characters development
A credible and engaging plot
An effective writing style
A detailed and believable setting
A relevant theme
Must balance the fictional story with the known facts of the time period.
The Historical facts and details of the time must not overwhelm the telling of the story
