Saying good bye...

As we say good bye to this class and another semester, I feel it is important to look back and recognize what we take from classes. Especially in a class like this one where we don't necessarily have to cram for tests and learn facts. Some of the discussions we have had will go along way in in forming some of our classrooms someday. Take graphic novels for example, it is important to take your class into context, but it isn't something to shy away from. We always hear of a case where a parent is upset about something, but for the most part, they recognize that teachers have a job to do. We shouldn't be afraid to introduce a book or talk about a sensitive subject in class at fear of someone being upset. It is important to introduce students to these types of ideas as they will not be protected from it in the real world. As long as you can justify what you are teaching and it fits in the curriculum, your fellow teachers and administrators should have your back. Don't let fear dictate how you will teach! Good luck to everyone in the future!

Breaking down stereotypes

Children observe and take in much more information than we give them credit for. They pick up on subtleties and underlying messages that sometimes adults don't even see.

So what can we do about this?
1. Be more critical of the books/media you have in your classroom or home.
2. Don't be afraid to talk to your students or other children in your life about the stereotypes that you come across.
3. Help your children to become more critical of what they are reading, watching or playing with.

By doing this, you are helping your student not only become better readers and writers, but you are helping them become better people.

What are we really learning?

As we sit here in finals week stressed as can be, what do finals really prove? Is it measuring how much we learned over the semester or is it what we can cram into a weeks worth of studying. More importantly, of the information we may or may not have learned, what are we going to take with us into the future? As teachers, we need to be aware of this, especially with reading. When students are reading, how are we assessing them and measuring what they are learning. While a student may read if they know there will be a test or a book report, will they learn the information just for the test and then forget it? Or will they really start to understand how to read and comprehending text? Although grades are important, it is also important to remember that getting a grade is not necessarily a reflection of knowledge learned!

Cross curriculum connections

In hopes that they will become well-informed and functional members of society, students are offered numerous facts and ideas about the world in which they live. Students are expected to take this information in and to also make it their own, expand on it, and be able to apply it to situations within their lives. How can teachers achieve the greatest understanding and interest among the greatest number of children?

Children’s literature is a powerful medium for understanding the world and is

created to entertain or educate. For young people this literature is becoming much more common as a means of instruction in the classroom.

Literature includes books that are found in a library or bookstore as well as songs and poems. Textbooks are books used specifically for learning in school, and, therefore, have different strengths and weaknesses. Students benefit vastly from the integration of literature into the math, science, and social studies curriculum.

Chains

I had the misconception that historical fiction novels were all told from a 3rd person perspective, we very boring and usually were from the perspective of the victor or someone who benefited from that event.

When I read Chains for another TE class, I was pleasantly surprised. It was unique, pure and invigorating to read. The narrator was a young girl and talked about very famous events surrounding the revolutionary war.

Okay, so this is like any other book set in that time period right? That's what I thought but I was wrong. The book by Laurie Halse Anderson does so much more. It is told from a slaves perspective and not only that, but from the Loyalists perspective too.

By showing other sides of a story you get a much more holistic view of the event and in turn learn so much more. This is something to keep in mind when you are using literature to supplement a lesson or if you are just reading for pleasure.

A Great Class

Although it was a lot of work, this class has made me more aware of Children's Literature and in turn a better teacher. It introduced me to a variety of genres and why each of those genres are important. It pushed me past my comfort zone (who would have ever thought that I would read and actually enjoy a graphic novel?!) and opened my eyes to a whole world of Children's books, topics and authors that I never knew existed.

Wrap up thoughts

I really enjoyed taking TE348. I am a special education major, and this class taught me very good skills to learn if books would be good for a classroom. When I was doing respite care with a special needs child she always wanted to read books. This class taught me how to find books that would interest her, and teach her something even if it was just colors or animals. I found a cool website that gave me a bunch of books that teach about special needs, which would be good for any general education classroom. http://www.disaboom.com/children-with-disabilities/best-books-for-special-needs-kids.

As far as for children with special needs, I have had trouble finding books that pertain to them. I stumbled across a few blogs that gave good insight of different books for children with Autism, the area I want to specialize in. It was interesting to see what everyone else recommended. I think at this point in time, since Autism is so new, you can only go off of other peoples recommendations. Some blogs are not trustworthy, but it is worth it to take a look at some different ones. http://www.beagooddad.com/237/good-books-for-children-with-autism/

Literature is a special thing, and every child will like it in different ways. I think the only way you can find good literature for your students, is to understand their needs and wants. There are so many sites that have good recommendations for children's books. I'm glad I have learned about all these resources that I can use in my future class.

Librarians are Checking Out

As school districts work to accommodate budget shortfalls, teachers aren’t the only education professionals to be let go or reshuffled. Librarians along with arts teachers and music program directors, are more vulnerable. And as advances in technology and the wealth of information available online can appear to make rooms filled with books obsolete, librarians find themselves on the chopping block more and more often.

The susceptibility of librarians and other school support staff also comes as states pass laws revising the rules that govern the hiring and firing of education professionals. Where the job security of teachers has depended on seniority until now, a new focus on teacher accountability ties their evaluations to test scores.

Unlike other subjects, students are not routinely tested for their library skills. They play a very important role for the students, they’re professionals who know how to do the research, and they get to make connections with all of the students in the building instead of those assigned to them in the classroom.

But today’s school libraries are more than just places to check out books. No longer tangential to the school, libraries are classrooms and technological hubs.

Librarians do more than help with the occasional research project or hard-to-find items; they are teacher librarians who follow state and federal curricula to teach students how to find, interpret and use information.

The Greatest Gift

Every holiday season, a new craze hits the shelves and parents everywhere are in search of the newest toy or the coolest game to get their children. Instead of giving in to the mass market of over priced, low quality toys I give my family and little cousins books. Sure, when unwrapped, the books I’ve given them don’t usually draw immediate squeals of excitement. However books are still the greatest gifts we can give to children in our lives. When all of the hoopla of the holidays settles down, they are thrilled with the books I have selected for them.

Years later I still see the books on their shelves, they tell me how they wrote to the author, and they ask for another book like the last one. Books last long after the batteries die out and the sneakers are worn and frayed!

Each title selected reflects the gift givers thoughts about the recipient and shows that we view that child as an individual with particular tastes and interests. Books show that you care about that child in ways that extend far beyond the latest fads and heavily advertised big-ticket novelty items. Oh, and books also make great family gifts that encourage reading together.

One of the neat things about children’s literature is that the classics and tried-and-true titles provide a continuing source of ideas with proven appeal year after year.

From Paper to the Silver Screen

Got a hit book? Turn it into a hit film. What could be more natural? The name alone will sell tickets, and turning a hit book to the screen can't be that hard, can it?

Sadly, as many studios have found, it's not quite that simple. Print and film are very different media; what works for one will fall flat on the other. A good rule of thumb is: Great literature usually makes a bad movie, while mediocre literature often makes a great movie.

In books, special effects are easy but in film, they are expensive. Books describing a character’s thoughts are normal but in film, voiceovers are rare and tricky. In print, a story can take days to read meanwhile film audiences won't sit still for more than a few hours. Getting around these problems means changing the story, for better or for worse.

One issue is that a typical novel is simply much too long to fit all of it in a two (or even three) hour movie, so significant parts of it must be cut out. Sometimes entire characters may be changed, have their screen time lengthened/shortened (if not cut altogether), or important book-related plot points may be whizzed by. All of this tends to a trendy belief that no matter how good or bad the movie is, "The book was better."

Sometimes the film is so successful the book gets forgotten. Other times, the book is still read long after the film is forgotten. In the middle ground, the book will probably be republished with a cover based on the movie poster and "Now a major motion picture!" or something emblazoned on it.

What is your opinion on changing books into movies? Does it encourage children to read the book or does is discourage motivation to read if they can simply watch a movie for two hours?

The Bookless Age

The Kindle Fire by Amazon.com, the online retailer, is one of the latest and most popular electronic readers of the season. For the uninitiated, ‘eReaders’ are portable electronic devices that allow you to store and read thousands of books all from the palm of your hand (along with other features, depending on which eReader you choose). As eReaders like Kindle begin to break into the mainstream, people are speculating that ‘books’ as we know them today may disappear in favor of electronic versions of the stories they contain –- forever changing our concepts of reading, literature, and publishing. Will eReaders be a fortunate thing or a bust in encouraging more children to read, and to read more?

A quick scan of available titles for download on Kindle reveals nearly 1,000 children’s books (although heavily slanted toward young adult stories). If any books survive an eReader revolution, my first instinct is that children’s books will. In terms of educational value, I see little difference between bound books and eBooks. After all, we’re reminded that traditional books have only been around for a tiny slice of human history, and they have been evolving. But more than any other genre, children’s books (and especially young children’s books) rely on engaging pictures and creative layout to successfully attract readers.

Current eReaders are limited in the images and formatting they can display, especially when compared with the masterpieces you can find on paper. Kindle enthusiasts rave about the visual output (and the technology is only going to improve), but will it ever compare in the eyes of our youngest – and harshest – book critics? Whether or not children prefer electronic books, will they be easier or more difficult for children to access?

Disclaimer: I do not own or use an electronic reading device, and my personal experience is limited to helping my 80 grandmother when she something ‘goes wrong’ with hers.

Goodbyes

This was one of my most interesting classes I had this semester. I wasn't sure how I would like it, especially being a 3 hour class. However, I got a lot out of it. I learned so much more about different kind of books and how to figure out ones that would be good to use in a classroom. One of my favorite parts about the class was all the book we were able to read. When I first read the syllabus I definitely wasn't happy because of all the work I was going to have to do for my other classes. The majority of the books we had to read were really good and it was nice to finally enjoy reading a book that was required. During the school year it's always so hard to read for pleasure, but this class helped me realize that there is still plenty of time to do that as long as you manage it well. I'm going to take a lot away from this class and I hope I'm able to continue researching children's literature. Anyways, I hope everyone has a great finals week and holiday break! Here's a little something to get into the holiday spirit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txCiZFPsKR8&feature=related

and yes, I love this movie :)

The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear.

Yesterday, my roommates and I decorated our house with a million lights, on the outside and inside. So that has gotten me in the holiday spirit recently, which isn't helpful when it comes to studying for finals. However, it got me thinking that I don't really know of many holiday books. I only remember reading one Halloween book when I was younger. I'm not sure if these books are available and I just never noticed, but if not I definitely think they should make more holiday books for children. I've never known one child who didn't get excited for the holidays. I think book like that will make them more excited to read.

academic vs. recreational reading

I was working with my child study student for a different class the other day, and through assessments and talking with her I've found that she loves reading recreationally, but absolutely despises it for anything academic. Coming from a personal stand point, reading in general is something that isn't my cup of tea, but I know at one point I was just like her and enjoyed reading for pleasure. I have noticed that only a few of my close friends actually still enjoy reading and I wonder how and when this shift took place? How are we suppose to make sure the students we are teaching can get enjoyment out of reading as a whole, whether it be academic or recreational? As we have discussed in class, there are definite differences in whether one is reading for content or enjoyment. Are we suppose to address reading from both of these standpoints as teachers or are we just suppose to promote reading as a whole?

life lessons in picture books

When working on my book review, I had some realizations as I was working through it. I used a picture book called the "Quiet Bunny" that was a story of the journey of the Quiet Bunny finding his own "sound" in the "night song". This undeniably addresses the ideas relating to acceptance, fitting in and finding your own, but as I was reading through this I wondered would the audience actually understand this? I know we have talked about how picture books are not for a specific age and can be geared towards all different ages, but this book relies heavily on illustrations and includes sounds of animals which would cater to a younger audience. My question is, are picture books that attempt to teach some "life lesson" actually getting through to the audience? Are these life lessons suppose to be learned by the reader, or are they just suppose to be exposed to it multiple times so when they themselves experience it they can make sense of it?

Why Bother?

In our last class we talked about a pizza hut reward program for reading. This reminded me of something I learned in a lower level TE course. In TE 150 we talked about the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivating. As you may recall students learn better and are more involved when they are pushed by intrinsic motivation. This being said does not however say that kids do not benefit from some extrinsic motivation.

I agree that reading programs that offer rewards are good for getting kids started reading but they I do not feel that they hold all children’s interest. Programs such as these often discourage slower readers. When these programs start almost all the kids are excited to work towards their first prize however this excitement fades quickly. The quick readers immediately start to show results and get prizes while the slower readers take a while longer. At first this is fine but the slow readers quickly fall further and further behind and many get to a point where they don’t see a point in trying. If they act like they don’t care to try they won’t look slow or dumb.

Another response that students take to these programs is reading shorter easier books that are way below their ability level so they can finish them quicker. The faster they finish the more prizes they can get and the program is no longer beneficial at pushing kids to read and challenge themselves.

These are just a couple of the flaws that this system causes. My question is how can we change this? How can we encourage students of all levels to push themselves past their comfort zone with reading and work towards personal goals? Is there a system that can be developed to spark and keep the interest of children to read? The system now has a lot of students asking themselves why bother if they cannot keep up with the whole class.

Unlocking Young Minds

A number of people that I know grew up in homes that were filled with books mine included. However, the significant number of books I was surrounded by as a child was not represented with my interest in reading. I was not the type of kid who would go grab a random book off the shelf in my house and start reading it. Even though there was a huge selection ranging from children’s books to adult literature I was not interested.

You could see my lack of interest in my reading ability. I was a very slow reader and did not practice to get better because it was not my idea of fun. My parents did everything including hiring a tutor to help me improve my reading ability but it just seemed like more work.

A few times however I would go with my mom to the bookstore and be fascinated by the children’s literature section. There were so many stories that I had never seen before and the bright colorful displays caught my interest. I would constantly lose my mom by turning down an intriguing aisle. I found my self actually looking forward to reading after going to the bookstore and having the power to pick from what seemed like any book in the world.

I read an article on TheRecord.com that discusses this exact issue and how it is the case for many children. The piece is called “Bookstores hold the key to unlocking young minds” A quote from it says “There is a point at which it is important to let a child choose their own books” which is very true to my case along with many other kids. Even when you are given access to a wide variety of books from early on in childhood many kids want to have the power to pick a book for themselves from what they see as any book in the world.

http://www.therecord.com/opinion/columns/article/636919--bookstores-hold-the-key-to-unlocking-young-minds

Rewarding Reading

After discussing in class about reward systems for reading, I began to think back about how students in my school were rewarded for reading. I know that we had one system where we would read 15 books and would then be rewarded with an individual pizza from Pizza Hut. Another was for every 5 books read you would receive a ticket. At the end of the term you were then eligible for prizes.

I personally think that these systems are great. As a student that did not enjoy reading, I think it's important that you provide an incentive. However, I do think they could make the students work harder then just reading the books. The point is to really get the kids to really read not just speed through and miss the message of the book.

I think that reading response papers could be really good for students. By getting the student to question and reflect on what there reading seems much more beneficial then just assuming they understand and handing them a reward. Kids should be challenged with more then just a number.

Read a book. Eat a Pizza

After discussing in class about the motivation for children to read, I began to wonder how to really get children motivated to read. When I was in elementary school, we had the program called 'Book-It' which was very similar to the reading program we read about in one of our articles for our class discussion. Throughout the article, it described the intentions of these programs and what is really the motivation factor behind children wanting to read. Do children want to read because they want to get a pizza? Or do children want to read because they really enjoy reading?
After discussing this within our groups, I thought back to when I was in elementary school. As I stated earlier, we had the program called 'Book-It.' 'Book-It' was a program that allowed students to earn a pizza coupon at pizza hut for a free pizza if they read a specific amount of books. I remembering loving this. I enjoyed reading and I was getting a reward for doing something that I loved. However, I now know that all students were/are not like how I was. Even though I enjoyed readinig, I know there are some students that hate reading and will do anything not to read. Their motivation behind reading is earning the pizza coupon for pizza hut and not enjoying the book. I believe that as future educators, we need to realize that all students may not love to read. I don't think programs like 'Book-it' are a horrible idea. I think that these programs can actually be beneifical if they are portrayed in the correct way. If a teacher tells the students that the most important part of reading is to enjoy it and students should want to read because there are a variety of books that can fit their personality then students may get a reward, like a 'Book-it' pizza coupon for doing something that they really do enjoy doing, proving and giving a reward to the student because they are doing something good.

Thoughts on TE 348 from an Urban Educator

Overall, I really enjoyed all of the material covered in this class. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the books we covered for role responses and would love to try to include some of them in my future classroom. As a member of the Urban Ed Cohort, a majority of my education has been geared towards teaching diverse student populations, or teaching in under resourced communities, and while Bud, not Buddy was an excellent book containing a diverse range of characters, a majority of the other books did not include minority characters, and none of the books contained characters who had disabilities. I personally wish that there had been more books focusing on diverse characters rather than all white, non-disability characters, simply because of my major and specialized degree program, but I also think it would be valuable for future teachers who aren't going to be teaching in a diverse area to be introduced to books that will ensure their students have access to literature about different cultures or lifestyles. This might be something instructors might consider in the coming years. Many students going through the education program have a global or urban focus, and many others are devoting their teaching careers to students with special needs. It might be valuable to include more children's literature that focuses on these aspects to ensure students have been introduced to topics of diversity and social justice.

Global Education

I am involved in a Global Cohort for the college of education. In this cohort we learn about global education, and how to teach a global classroom. There are many factors that go into having a successful globally diverse classroom. I never realize this before I started taking classes that taught me about this. Recently we did a project on finding appropriate curriculum for children who are English Language Learners, and for a global classroom. While I was researching these lesson plans, I noticed a lot of the reading used was books that I never used in school. The books are more culturally diverse than those I read in school, and brush up on issues that we were never allowed to talk about. I think its important to teach children to respect other cultures as early as possible. At a certain age children will learn about stereotypes, but if you can educate them before that age it could lessen their chances of believing stereotypes. Teachers could start by using books that are more culturally diverse to teach lessons. Most picture books display a white family. Introducing other types of families to the students will open their eyes to a new world. From this class I have gained a whole new perspective on children's literature. I think that if teachers are provided with the right materials, they will be able to teach students to be aware of other cultures. Something as small as a diverse book could begin the process.

Holiday Literature

For our application assignment we critiqued books from different holidays around the world. Everyone loves the holidays, and there are so many books on them, or so we thought. When we went to Barnes and Noble to start looking at book we learned very quickly that their "Holiday" section consisted of Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter books. There weren't any books about Ramadan or Rosh Hashanah. I found this interesting because I assumed that the book store would at least try to have some literature on most of the holidays. It was ironic how all of the books we needed were shown online, but not in the store. This made me wonder why there were only Christian holidays featured at the store. Holiday celebrations from other cultures or religions are equally as important, and children should be exposed to literature about these holidays.

When I went to my library at home I found a similar display. The featured books were all Christmas with a few Hanukkah books on the bottom shelf. I searched in the "Holiday" section of the library and found exactly what I was looking for. There were books from every culture and holiday on the shelf. As I started reading the books about different holidays, I found myself very interested in these books. I think libraries should display books from all religions and cultures because it could really enrich a child's knowledge.

Commercializing Literature

After discussing Daniel Hade's article "Storyselling: Are Publishers Changing the Way Children Read?", during discussion section this past week, I was reminded of my Communications class on Mass Communication. The class, which focuses on mass media's effects on society, touched breifly on a similar topic a few weeks ago. While reading Hade's article, I was reminded of lecture material that stated, media created for the mass consumption is low quality, because it is intended for sale rather than how aids in the self actualization of the individual. I feel that according to Hade's article, the same is true for a majority of children's literature being published. Publishers should be concerned about the content of the book, but instead are publishing books that they know will be marketable, and while this strategy is a good money-maker, it benefits youth very little.
The market's effect on what books make it to the shelve was rather noticeable when I was searching for books for the application assignment. It became obvious that I was not going to be able to find the books I needed at any large bookstore, and instead had to search through private bookshops, websites, and libraries to find the books I needed. I think the marketability of books has much to do with content. Books which do not represent dominant culture may not be published because they are considered "unmarketable" to general audiences.

As a future teacher, I understand that corporate marketing will effect the types of books available to me and my students, but I am determined that this will not effect my selection of intellectual classroom material

According to Hade, when

Final Thoughts

I found this class to be extremely informative and enjoyable. I truly believe that I will take all this information that I learned in this course and use it as a future teacher. I feel like I've really learned a lot about different types of genres and the importance of introducing a range of genres to students.

In addition, I found the books we read extremely enjoyable. Hunger Games was my favorite, followed by The Book Thief. I literally couldn't put down Hunger Games until I had finished it in about 3 days. I can't really place what exactly it was that I enjoyed so much; it was just really well written and exciting and I really connected with the main characters. I actually felt like I was there in the story and knew the characters. The Book Thief was really good to me too. I found it very interesting to see the life of a little girl in Nazi Germany. Typically in books about this time, it's about the Holocaust or about the war itself. But this book was more about how the war affected people not really involved in the war, a.k.a. citizens. In this book I also felt connected with the characters, almost as if I knew them and was in the story.

All in all, I am very pleased with this course and everything I learned from it. I am a very avid reader, and I am thankful that I had the opportunity to be shown these books that we read. I can say for sure that I am going to finish reading the Hunger Games series in the VERY near future, and I hope that I'll have the opportunity to present it to my future students in the classroom.

Overview

TE 348 is over and this is one of the only classes that I am actually going to miss. I have learned and enjoyed almost every lesson and discussion. I really like the books that we read and found that I gained a lot from each book. It reminded me how much I loved to read. Overall, I think that the best book in the class was Hunger Games. It was just an awesome book but besides that I really liked The Book Thief. That was the most surprising for me because I don't usually like books like that.

I thought that Maus was pretty good but because I did my application project on Graphic Novels, I found that there were other graphic novels that I liked more. I really found that The 9/11 Report by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon was really interesting. It was extremely descriptive and really gave a lot of information that I had no idea even existed. I found out a lot about the terrorists that was not really common knowledge and the events that led up to 9/11 were intense and the illustrations really showed that. I think that if it were a normal book, it would be so boring. The illustrations were what really interested me.

If you wanna check out The 9/11 Report here's a link to Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/11-Report-Graphic-Adaptation/dp/0809057395/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323205586&sr=8-1

Children's Literature about Autism

In the past decade more and more school districts are including special education students in classrooms instead of having a separate room for them. It has become important for teacher to educate their students about their new special education peers. For my application assignment I researched how cognitive impairments, specifically autism, are portrayed in children’s literature and if those portrayals are accurate. I analyzed each book using the article “Ten Quick Ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Ableism” by Chloe Myers and Hank Bersani to assess their quality of anti-bias information.

I found that although there are many children's books available about Autism, very few of them are accurate representations of the cognitive impairment. Out of all the books I analyzed the best anti-bias book was “Russell’s World: A Story for Kids About Autism” by Charles Amenta III. It is a non-fiction story written by Russell’s parents. The book gives readers an inside look into a family living with sever autism. In the book we see Russell doing regular, familiar, every-day activities with his brothers and parents. The book explains Russell’s behaviors like how he has a hard time learning to talk, he uses sign language and he sometimes has temper tantrums at night. However the book also talks about all the other normal activities he can do it. The real-life photos mixed with the drawings help readers view Russell as a real person.

I think that “Russell’s World” is such a good anti-bias resource because it is Non-fiction therefore it is based on a real child and his real life experiences. The reality of the story makes it easy for children to understand and to relate to. Children with autism struggle to make friends and navigate social situations. However, one child can make a significant difference in the life of a child with autism by offering compassion, understanding and friendship. Therefore, it is important for teachers to educate their students about the specific special needs of the new children in their classrooms.

The Middle School Slump

After my education at Michigan State University, I hope to teach in a middle school setting for at least a little while. I am challenging myself to do this because I think that the age group represents a generation of struggling learners. I have noticed that the love of subjects such as reading, math, and science seems to greatly decrease by the end 8th grade. Why is this? I guarantee if you observe a successful third grade classroom, you will see students enjoying silent reading and having fun solving math problems out of their workbooks. 

Are teachers beating symbolism and no choice of reading over the heads of students in middle school English classes? Is math repetitive and boring in middle school? Is science irrelevant to real life situations in middle school? 

What do you suggest middle school teachers do in order to motivate this upcoming generation of students towards creative and happy learning? What can elementary teachers do to prepare their students for middle school learning? What can high school teachers do to supplement or catch up students that are behind by the time they reach the ninth grade?

Is this disconnect of the love of school subjects and young learners worrying any other future educators? Hello? Does anyone care?! 

Lyrics as Literature

http://unlvrebelyell.com/2011/12/05/lyrics-as-literature/

This article by Camalot Todd was very interesting to read. “Interpreting song lyrics as a literature device can aid in furthering and bettering the understanding of cultures during different time periods and in relations to different groups of individuals.” When you study song lyrics you can get a good image of people who were around when the piece was written and how they were influenced.

This piece focus’s on songs in China during Marco Polo’s time. It is written about a lecture given by Patricia Sieber at Ohio State University. She explains how many of the musical compositions and melodies from this time have been lost over the years but that a good amount of the lyrics survived. Even without the melody we gain a lot of insight into this time period from the words that were written.

Using lyrics from songs as a form of understanding is not limited to this specific case. Music plays a big role in the lifestyle and cultures of the people. Sieber states in this article, “We need to rethink the way we view how these songs play a role in world literature and in world history”. This is true because doing so could help us understand the world and the past outside of just the facts given in textbooks.

Before reading this I never really looked at the lyrics to a song being a form of literature. Now however, I am curious why all through school we never used music as a way to gain a better understanding of cultures and different time periods. I think incorporating songs into a lesson would be a good way to grab the attention of students. It might also help their understanding by helping them look at it as more than just facts to memorize. It might help to put them into the shoes of the people at that time so they can form a better image in their heads.

Native American Cinderella

I did my application project on the Native American Cinderella. The name of the story is the Rough Face Girl. There are many similarities and differences between the two. First they are both similar because they end in "happily ever after." They both end up marrying a man whom they fall in love with. This is teaching young girls that they will only happy if they end up marrying someone. This is not a good message for young girls. This is enforced in the media and other movies. There are also similar because•Native American version of Cinderella. Also they both have evil sisters. Cinderella has evil step sisters who make her do everything and are just lazy. They are mean to her and make fun of her. They don't let her go anywhere. In Rough Face Girl, her sisters make her feed the fire, which cause her ugliness of scars all over herself. They are dressed up when they go to see the invivble Beings sister and the rough face girl looks bad because they took everything from their father already. They are different because Cinderella is loved by the Prince because of her beauty. This is also teaching young girls bad things. They will think that a man will only love her if she is pretty. In Rough Face Girl, she is ugly and the Invisible being still loves her. But, she turns beautiful, showing that you must be pretty to be truly happy, which is not teaching girls anything good.

Positive Experience

I feel TE 348 was an interesting class. It is different then any other class that I have taken. It involves more analyzing, which I was not expecting. First, I liked looking at the different children's books. It is different to really look at them and find deeper meaning in the text, without this class I would not of given. this much thought. The chapter books were also interesting to read. I think that. There was a good selection of books. I really enjoyed reading Hunger Games. This book was a great read, and I actually enjoyed myself, which is rare when reading for class. Bud Not Buddy was a good read also. I liked to story line of it. At first, it was difficult for me to figure out the different reading roles. It is a different way to look at the text, each person having a certain role that is different. This concept took me a little bit to grasp.

I really liked the idea of having a group discussion. I think that this gave everyone in the group a better understanding of the text and it is always good to hear another person' viewpoint. This helped me personally with questions that I didn't know the answer to that I otherwise would not have known if it wasn't for these discussions.

I thought the final project was a good project to do. It gave everyone in the class an opportunity to write about something that interests us which is good. My group is analyzing Cinderella, this was a fun topic to write about and my group really liked it.

Rainbow Fish Controversy

The author of the Rainbow Fish is Marcus Pfister who mostly writes in a children's fiction kind of style.  With the rainbow fish being one of his most popular books.  The Rainbow Fish may not seem particularly sophisticated when looking at its plot: as many think that he is a self-centered character comes to recognize the value of sharing with others. But there are more complex issues of identity involved.  The rainbow fish herself has to learn to give of herself.  Which she then eventually realizes that her beautiful scales are quite special, and that she indeed is a special creature, but also sees that her external traits are not what will bring friends close to her. This is what leads to her giving out her silvery scales, and causes the giant controversy that continues today.

When it comes to finding the meaning of the book there are many of opinions about whether the rainbow fish is positive or negative.  Those that see this book as being negative find the following ideas to be true; Change yourself to please others, Give away your things (bribe others) to gain friends (This may include things that you have worked very hard for or your own natural beauty).  Other negative ideas are to shed your uniqueness and become like everyone else and then you will be liked, If you are different no one will like you, Bow to peer pressure, change your self image to be liked, and don't be proud of your special gifts that you were born with and your natural beauty.  I can see how these things are true, and how people feel this way, but I on the other hand see the more positive ideas in the book.  I see that sharing with others will make you happier therefore people will enjoy spending time with you making sharing a positive experience.  Being generous to others also shows a sharing side of you and therefore creates happiness all around; there is one more positive quality that I came across by anonymous that talked about not flaunting ones wealth or showing off.

I was wondering how you stand? What are your thoughts? i grew up reading this book and i was always told that it was about sharing so i am interested to see what many of you think of the book called The Rainbow Fish

First Lesson

I had some help from a classmate but other than that it was fairly simple. We Divided the members into two groups so that the average age is the same. From there One group got to use both their visual learning skills and audio learning skills and the other group could only use audio learning. In doing this it helped us see that we cannot focus on one type of learner, we have to try to incorporate as many of these four types as possible. the four different ways that people can learn are Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic (Move while learning), Tactile (Touching things while learning). We learned that children’s literature has many different meaning and the way that you present it can restrict some of those meaning from reaching the children. 
Children can interpret the same thing in many different ways so they need to know that it is on okay to be different and it is our jobs as educators to encourage all of our students whether they have a disability or not to think for themselves and stick to what they believe in. Surprisingly this is what we were hoping to find. All in all, our eyes have been opened into what a teacher has to do to be a great teacher, and that is to include as many different aspects of learning as possible.

My Experience of TE348

Now that this Children's Literature class is coming to the end I have looked back on the whole class: what I have learned, what I liked about the class, and what I did not like about the class. This was a class I took to help me decide my major, either Fashion Apparel and Textile Design or Elementary Education. This class most definitely turned me in the Elementary Education direction and I actually did switch my major to that. This class taught me a lot about what I wanted to do with my career and that is why I personally liked this class so much.

I have learned a lot this semester in this TE348 class, and not only that I wanted to switch majors for sure after only a couple weeks. I have learned so much about different genres, or most importantly what is a genre verse a format. For example, I have no clue that a graphic novel or a picture book was just a format rather than a genre. I also learned a lot about what genres that children would prefer to read and the activities that get them interested in reading.

One of the things I dreaded but ended up really liking once I looked back on it was the group book discussions. Although at the time of trying to do all my other homework and also cram in a book I found it annoying, after I was finished I found myself really enjoying what I just read. I especially liked The Hunger Games, if I did not take this class than I probably would never have picked up that book but now that I had to I loved it and am starting to read the sequels.

I did not really dislike anything a lot to especially be mad and dislike the class, but if I had to pick one thing I was not fond of I would say the point that I would get points marked off for even being absent for one book discussion even though I was extremely sick. This was upsetting but I am grateful for the extra credit opportunities we had in class so take up for my docked points.

Overall I really liked this class and learned a lot. At times, no, I did not like this class but now that I look back on all that our class did and all that we read I really enjoyed it and had fun with it.

Autism in Literature

I did my application project on how autism is portrayed in literature. The results I found were much different than I would have thought. First of all there are so many more children’s books about than I thought. Second I never thought that almost all of the books I found would have been so stereotypically. Most of the characters were portrayed as young boys; I actually could not find one book with a female autistic character. A lot of the characteristics of the autistic characters were similar in many of the books. For example, lack of eye contact, lack of communication skills and frustrating to live with. Also for some reason a lot of the books I found were from the standpoint of someone who had an autistic brother. I think this is because children who are exposed to autism are most often the siblings of children with autism because most of the time children with autism attend separate schools.

Lets Read More!

Now after having been in TE 348, I feel that I read books differently. I appreciate the differences, and the different genres. Before, I was stuck on the same type of book, nothing new, but now I feel that I can venture out and try something new. When I read a book to children, I find myself analyzing the pictures and interpreting the text. This is turn I feel has helped me become better at reading out loud. I know how important it is to encourage children to enjoy reading and the first place to start is by reading aloud. By selecting the age appropriate books, and making the story come alive will encourage them to want to read books on their own eventually. I love to read, and will definitely be using some of the guidelines we talked about to pick books out for my classroom someday. This class has really helped me with children's literature! Happy Reading!

What's Your Humor?

I did my application assignment on how humor in children's literature is interpreted by different age groups. When trying to find relevant books for my research, I noticed how funny children's books are. I don't know what it is about children's books but I have developed a funny bone for them.

Humor in literature is something we're all keen to, even if our senses of humor differ (which I'm sure they do). For us future teachers, it is important to show our students the humor that can be found in literature. Children will not develop their own taste in literature if they never even learn to like it. One simple suggestion in helping children develop a liking for reading is to read funny books!

My study showed that young children prefer visual and situational humor, so books like "The Bear and His Boy" will be particularly enjoyed by young audiences. Teenage audiences' humor is based more on cultural influences, like if something relates to a certain pop culture reference. Young adults and adults prefer humor that is verbal and situational, like the homophone humor found in Amelia Bedelia.

Whoever your audience is, it is important to know that they want to laugh. Purposefully choose humorous books and test out their success in the classroom.

TE 348 Wrap-up

I did not really know what to expect when first enrolling in TE 348. I knew that I would be reading children’s novels but did not know what the rest of the class entailed. I was excited that we spent the majority of the class discussing how social issues play into children’s literature. I feel that social issues are very important, not only in analyzing literature but also in education as a whole. Many concerns with our current school system can be traced to inequalities in race, class, etc. Discussing how these issues were represented in children’s literature gave insight into one of the many reasons that these problems exist.

My roommate is a political theory and social relations double major and a woman’s studies minor. Discussing my readings and findings with her proved very interesting. We talked a lot about the different types of literary theories, especially Feminist literary theory and Marxist literary theory. She would bring up points discussed in her classes and I would bring up topics discussed in this class. A few points that we discussed in depth were the representation of gender, race, and class in children’s literature. She did not know how much of this was important in analyzing literature, especially literature that is being read by children and I did not realize the magnitude of the issues we were discussing. Being able to discuss the class material outside of class with many people, not just my roommate, made many of these people realize what teachers have to consider before assigning a book.

Future of Bookstores and Libraries

I can remember going to the library or bookstore as a kid and grabbing handfuls of books that I wanted to read, only to have my mom tell me to pick 2 or 3 and put the rest back. However, recently I was thinking about the large books stores closing and a library in my hometown closed, what was the future of other bookstores and libraries. Will they all close as more and more books are available online? Will children not get to experience the same libraries as we did? I think if that is the case that these children will be deprived from a great experience. At my library, that would have some authors come talk to kids, or read alouds etc. If they close libraries down, then kids will not get to experience all the things that we did as kids, in terms of reading and exploring books.

I found a piece written on the future of libraries and bookstores online. The author has a positive outlook on their future because he claims that they can be useful in a digital society. For example, they could turn them into community centers where people met to discuss books, listen o authors etc. Without a library, people will be forced to buy more online books instead of having them available to you thorough your community. I do not like this idea, because there are many families in the United States that don’t have much money to spend on books for their kids. Then their kids may not learn to read as well as a child from a wealthier family who owns many books. What do you think about bookstores and libraries closing?

Article: http://bigthink.com/ideas/41150