Week of November 23rd: Historical and Realistic Fiction

   To start off class this week, our professor read a book to the class called The Relatives Came, which was an example of realistic fiction which is what we focused on in class this week in conjunction with historical fiction. It was a really adorable story about a family who has a large number of relatives come to visit and stay with them, and it was perfect since Thanksgiving is soon.

   After we read that book we started talking about Historical Fiction first. I learned that historical fiction is "broadly defined as a work of fiction set in a time prior to when it was written." You evaluate historical fiction based on whether the writer brings the setting to life, whether the characters behave in a way that is believable given the intended time period, and if the conflicts in the story are plausible. After we discussed that we got into groups and read two books and then analyzed them as historical fiction, and then created a chart. My group read "Oh, What a Thanksgiving," and "Stagecoach Sal." I liked reading the books since, considering they are historical fiction, they gave me background knowledge on things I did not know about before.

   Next we talked about realistic fiction. I learned that realistic fiction is "derived from actual circumstances with a realistic setting and characters who face problems and opportunities that are within range of what is plausible in real life." The criteria for evaluating is basically judging whether or not the characters, settings, and events are plausible. After we talked about realistic fiction, we again broke into groups to analyze a historical fiction book. We read a really intriguing children's book called Ruby May Has Something to Say, and made another chart analyzing it. 

   I loved learning about these two genres, especially historical fiction. I think historical fiction is so fun to read since it is based in actual events. The movie "Titanic" reminds me of what historical fiction is. If the story in that movie was a book I think it would definitely be classified under historical fiction. 

Week of November 16th: Brown Girl Dreaming Lit Circle/ Ch.9 Contemporary Realistic Fiction

   We started class this week by grouping into our literature circle groups and discussing Brown Girl Dreaming and the poetry we wrote as a response to the book. We were each asked to share one of our poems that we had written. I chose a Haiku that I wrote in response to a section of the book about candy cigarettes. I think everyone liked it. I really enjoyed listening to other people's poems. It is fascinating to hear what they personally connected to in the book. That really shows how poetry and literature in general can connect to different people in different ways and levels. Some of us had lighthearted poetry while others had a lot more emotional poetry. It also provided different perspectives on the events that occurred in the story itself.
   The chapter that we had to read for this week was about contemporary realistic fiction. Contemporary realistic fiction presents challenges in a "here-and-now" setting, is derived from actual circumstances with realistic characters and settings who have to solve problems which are based on what is plausible in real life. An example of a contemporary realistic fiction book is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. This book has elements, though fictional, that bear a relation to the life we personally know. I read that book series myself in elementary school, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It contained certain fictional elements that kept me intrigued, but was grounded in plausibility so it didn't seem too over the top unrealistic.

   I also learned that there are different categories of contemporary realistic fiction, such as self-discover/growing up, families/family diversity, interpersonal relations, school, sports, and many others. The genre itself works by combining certain elements like plot, setting, theme, character, and point of view. The criteria for evaluating it includes asking yourself if the characters resemble people in our world, if the events are plausible, and is the plot solution believable. 

   Overall, I think contemporary realistic fiction is an interesting genre that could be very valuable.

Week of November 9th: Poetry

   This week in class we talked about poetry and took notes on poetry workshop. I learned that many things encompass the process of a poetry workshop. These things include poet talk, poetry read aloud, poetry mini-lesson, poetry projects, poetry centers, and poetry sharing. To further examine poetry, we discussed how poetry is focused on feelings, often combines sounds and words in unique ways, more than likely uses intense imagery, and usually has a deep meaning or message to it.
   There are also many different types of poetry. Free verse is my personal favorite type of poem to write because there are no restraints or guidelines. You can just say what you want the way you want it. There are also other nice forms of poetry as well though, such as limericks, Haikus, list, cinquain, and narrative. The book that we have been reading at home for class, Brown Girl Dreaming, using free verse poetry to create a story.
   My group in class was assigned with the task of finding a limerick poem. We chose Hickory-Dickory-Dock for ours. Since most people know that poem, it was easy to see how it follows the pattern of a limerick.

  We also looked at the poem "Let America Be America Again" and had to figure out elements to add to the poem to emphasize its meaning, and then record our renditions of the excerpt either on video or audio recording. My group split the poems into parts, recited it with varying numbers of people based on the meaning of the poem, and then added an instrumental patriotic song to the background of it. It was really fun and I enjoyed it. At first I did not really want to do it, but afterwards it was really cool to see how it came together and what you can do with poetry. 

   Overall, I can use the information that I learned in class today on poetry to create my poetry responses to Brown Girl Dreaming. I know now the many different forms of poetry that I can use to create it, and how to find my own meaning in the words. I can analyze the poems in the book to look for different elements that make it a strong poem, and then employ those elements in my own poetic responses. 

Week of November 2nd: Nonfiction Biography, Chapter 11

   To start off the class this week, our professor did a read aloud on a children's book called Bully. It was a cute story with a good lesson. In the book, a bull says mean things to his friends when they ask him to play. The author used wordplay a lot and that made the book funny and interesting. For instance, he would say "chicken!" to the chicken, or "you stink!" to the skunk. When one farm animal calls him out for being a bully, he feels bad and apologizes to the other animals. The book could truly be a valuable asset in a classroom to reinforce in children that bullying is mean.

   We also talked about nonfiction biography in class today, which is also chapter 11 of our textbook. I learned that nonfiction biographies are works that feature the lives of real individuals. They can be partial, complete, or collective. A partial biography is just a snippet or segment of a person's life that is explore in depth. I think I will do a partial biography for my biography picture book of my partner at the end of the semester. I think it will be fun to zoom in on a certain aspect of her life and explore it more. Anyways, a complete biography is just as it sounds: a story of their life from birth to present. A collective biography tells the stories of several different people's lives who have something in common. 

   There are also of course autobiographies and memoirs. Memoirs are much more reflective than autobiographies. I think that I would personally enjoy reading a memoir more than an autobiography because it seems like it would focus more so on more important events and the meaning that they hold to the author. Important elements of biographies include characterization, structure, and visuals. I feel like visuals are one of the most important parts of a biography. Visuals allow readers to connect the person's story to an actual image in their head which will lead to a more memorable reading experience. 

   I think biographies would be a valuable thing for my future classroom library because they will allow my students to learn about true events. I just have to evaluate biographies based on how engaging and believable they are to ensure that my students will find them interesting.

Week of October 26th: Read-Alouds

   The main activity that we did in class this week was our read alouds. We got into groups and then read everyone in the group our selected children's picture books using all of the tools we have learned in class that guide us in having a successful read aloud. The book I chose for my read aloud was called You Are Not Small. 

   I chose my book because I thought that it had a good message for children in it. The theme revolved around the idea of accepting everyone for you they are, and realizing that everyone is unique and different in their own way and that's okay. I chose stopping places as best as I could, but after conducting the read aloud I noticed some other places that might have been better to stop at. It was really insightful to listen and watch the rest of my group do their read alouds. It showed me ways that I could grow and improve my own. 

Week of October 19th: Nonfiction of Inquiry Process/ Elephant Scientist Literature Circle

   This week in class we conducted our third literature circle on the nonfiction book Elephant Scientist. For this literature circle we had to find 5 places within the book that we had wonderings about, and then we had to conduct research to answer our wonderings. Following that we created QR codes through a QR code generator and placed the codes inside the book in the places in the text that we had our wonderings in. I did research on concepts like elephant communication and elephant ritualistic behavior that I read about in the book but wanted to find out even more on.

   In our literature circle groups in class we went around and showed each other what we had discovered in our research. I thought it was really interesting to learn about all the things that other people had inquired about. It was also really cool when we discovered that other people did their a few of their inquiries on the same things as ours.

   I really enjoyed this project because it gave me the opportunity to see different people's perspectives on the book. I think using the QR codes is a very creative use of today's technology, and I can definitely see myself using that type of project with the kids in my future classroom. I think children would enjoy it and get a lot out of it, and it helps children think more critically into what they are reading. 

Week of October 12th: Nonfiction Literature

   This week in class we talked about nonfiction literature. That's also what Chapter 11 in our textbook was about as well. I learned that the purpose of nonfiction literature is to inform. It gives readers a chance to find the answers to questions that they may have, in addition to allowing them to gain experiences that helps build their personal knowledge. Even though nonfiction may appear to be boring, a lot of children actually enjoy reading it.
   My husband is one of those people that really enjoys reading nonfiction. In fact, I don't think that I've ever seen him read a book that was not nonfiction. He loves history and is always eager to learn more about it, so the books that I have caught him reading are often about important figures in our history, and a lot about the world wars. He is proof that there actually are people out there that enjoy reading nonfiction, and thus I realize that I need to have nonfiction books available in my classroom library.
   I also learned that there are broad categories of nonfiction writing. These categories include things such as factual nonfiction and interpretive nonfiction. Factual is more on the "straight fact" side of non-fiction, while interpretive allows the author to indulge the reader in a more of a journey with a little bit more of their interpretation involved.
   One aspect of nonfiction literature that we spent a good deal of class time focusing on this week was a genre of nonfiction called "fictionalized nonfiction." This is a genre that has the purpose to inform, but uses fictional elements throughout the book. It is, in fact, different from historical fiction. I can see how those two genres might be similar, but I think that fictionalized non-fiction would contain more extraordinary elements. In class, we had a debate involving the pros and cons of using fictionalized nonfiction in the classroom as teachers. Both sides had good points. A pro would be that it might interest children more than straight non-fiction would. A con would be that children could have a difficult time distinguishing fact from fiction.
   I decided to look a little bit further and see what books are classified as fictionalized nonfiction, so that I may have a better grasp of the genre. The books below are a few fictionalized nonfiction books that I discovered. They are from a goodreads list of fictionalized nonfiction books. I am not sure if this is truly what fictionalized nonfiction is supposed to be, but it's what I found!

Week of October 5th: Traditional Literature

   Our chapter reading and class this week revolved around Chapter 7, traditional literature. I learned that traditional literature is the stories and works of literature that have been passed down from generation to generation. I thought that it was very interesting to think about stories and works of literature that get passed down through hundreds of years. It's crazy to think that some of the stories we read now, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, which had it's earliest rendition appear in 1807. Traditional literature is very engaging because they contain intriguing plots.
   I learned that there are many different categories of traditional literature, such as folktales, animal tales, legends, ballads, epics, urban legends, derivative folktales and spoofs, and one that my group focused on in class, "pourquoi." Pourquoi is French for "why," and in traditional literature it classifies books that explain why something came about in the natural world.
   I also learned that there are specific elements in folktales called "reliable associations." These elements help identify a piece of literature as a folktale, and they include a castle, cottage, road, and forest. The castle usually indicates success, the cottage indicates simple, unpretentious people, the road indicates a transformation, and a forest usually implies mystery and danger in stories. Thinking about these reliable associations made me think of the different folk tales and stories that I am familiar with that contain these elements. For example, every Disney princess story and film tend to contain one, if not all, of these elements. Beauty and the Beast contains a castle as well as a forest. It was interesting to reflect back upon stories I know and identify the elements within them.
   Another thing I learned about traditional literature is that there are 3 basic characters in traditional literature stories: the hero, rival, and helper. Reflecting on this, I realize that that is true in almost every folk tale I know. We discussed motifs in traditional literature as well, which as recurring narrative elements that appear in multiple pieces of literature. One of the books my group read in class, titled With Love, Little Red Hen, had a motif in it in the form of a wolf character. Wolf villians appear in many folk tales, thus it is a motif.

   In class, my group also looked at two children's books that could be considered Pourquoi. They were titled The First Strawberries, and The Story of the Milky Way. They both dealt with the Cherokee tribe, and both explained how something came about in the natural world. The first one told the Cherokee tale of how strawberries came into existence. It was far-fetched, but a really interesting story. The second one told about how the Milky Way came about, and it too was outlandish, but a very creative story explaining one of our natural phenomenons. I really enjoyed reading these two books. I like how we work in groups to analyze children's books, it helps in achieving different perspectives and a broader understanding of children's literature. 

Week of September 28th: Fantasy Literature

   This week in class we talked about fantasy, which is what Chapter 8 in our textbook, Children's Books in Children's Hands, was about. I learned that in order to enjoy the genre of fantasy, a reader must participate in the "willing suspension of disbelief," but in order for that to happen, the author must "anchor the story in plausibility." So, it "must be believable for us to believe." I understand why this is necessary, because I know that I dislike or lose interest in books or movies that are too out there, or unbelievable.
   We read a story as a class called Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. It is considered fantasy because it involves the use of personified animals. What made this novel believable, was the relatability of the main character, Lily, a mouse who loves school and her teacher, but lacks the patience to wait until the appropriate time to show off her new possessions. I think everyone can relate to the feeling of not wanting to wait to share something.

 

   Later in the class, we had to get into groups and analyze a children's book, and then make a language chart, based on the standards of fantasy literature. The book my group chose was titled The Adventures of Beekle, The Unimaginary Friend. 

I really loved this story. I thought it was the cutest thing. We determined that the book could be classified as "low fantasy." This means that it has "nontraditional events that occur without explanation in the real world." I think what made this book believable was Beekle's feelings, as well as the fact that many of us as children actually had an imaginary friend. 

   We also had a literature circle today on The True Blue Scouts of Sugarland Swamp. My group and I discussed our wonderings about the novel. My wondering was if the ivory billed woodpecker mentioned in the book was a real bird. I researched and found out that it was indeed. I really liked our discussion because it gave me other perspectives on the book. For instance, one person in my group wondered if the author of the book got her inspiration for the Sugar Man from a real life legend of the Honey Island Swamp Monster. Overall, I enjoy our group discussions as they allow me to see different aspects of the novel in different points of view.
 

Week of September 21st: Language Chart

   Today in class we learned about the useful tool of language charts. Language charts basically are a tool used to help students reach a deeper understanding of the book or books they are reading. In the words of our professor from the powerpoint we went over in class, they are "tools for guiding children's exploration of literature." They allow children to break down their books into different elements that can be compared, such as finding the theme of all the books, listing main characters, perspective, and the setting. They can also talk about "literary genres," "literary themes," or "craft of illustrator or author." Having students work in groups to create the chart allows them to see things from another point of view. Children might notice different themes in books, and by working together they can share their personal views and conclusions with the group to create a more in depth understanding for all involved.
   I learned that language charts are supposed to be large. Sometimes they can even take up an entire whiteboard such as this example that our professor showed in class. Students can add to it as they read different books. I think it's a cool idea since the children are the ones that actually write on it and contribute to it. It is a good way to get the students up and involved in their learning.

      We had to create our own language charts in class in groups based on about 3 children's books that we were assigned that all had the same author. Our author was Mo Willems. Our three books were Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, and Knuffle Bunny Too. They were all really cute books.

   After we read all of the books aloud, we then started thinking about what we wanted the categories of our language chart to be. We decided on characters, setting, point of view, and theme. Two of our books, the ones about the pigeon, were written in second person. They were talking to the reader the whole time. It was difficult to come up with a theme for those two, as they had very few words on the page and it was just the pigeon asking to do things, to which the reader responds with an implied no. But, we did come up with a theme for each of those together. The easiest part of our language chart to fill out was the character section. The hardest was definitely the theme section. However, I think that that section is the most beneficial to students. It is the one that allows students to look deeper into the actual meaning behind the book, instead of just surface level like the setting and characters. Here is a picture of our language chart.

   Overall, I really enjoyed learning about language charts. They are a useful tool that I had not heard of before, and I am glad that I know about them now so that I can use them in my future classroom. I think that they hold a lot of value for helping children obtain a deeper understanding of literature while involving them in the learning process. 

Week of September 14th: Multicultural Literature Class and Chapter 2 Literary Elements

   This week in class we focused on multicultural literature. We read several books, some of which would be good multicultural books for your classroom, and some of which would not. I really enjoyed this class. It was interesting and fun to experience children's books that shared and expressed a different culture than mine. In today's case, that culture was a Hispanic culture.
   The first children's book we read was called "Just a Minute," and was about an Abuelita who was trying her best to put off going with Senor Calavera, and eventually succeeded by getting him to leave. I think that this book has the potential to be a useful tool in classrooms, because it helps children count, and also exposes them to a different culture and language.

   The second book we read was titled "Nino Wrestles The World," and it was about a little boy who battles ferocious monsters by using non-violent tactics like tickling. This was a really cute book, although as someone who does not speak any Spanish, I would find it very difficult to pronounce and know the meaning of the words that were in it. Once again, it is a good way to expose students to a different language and culture. 

   The third book, entitled "Skippyjon Jones in the Dog House," was one that we did not read in it's entirety. Although it is humorous and entertaining, the language that was used (such as "Skippito") was not an authentic view of the Spanish language or culture. For this reason, I probably would not use this children's book in my classroom. It was very stereotypical and not culturally sensitive. 

  We started a fourth book, called "Chato and the Party Animals," but we did not read very much of it. For each book, we wrote down why or why not we would use it in our future classrooms. I liked this activity because it showed me some of the criteria necessary to evaluate a children's book for classroom use. 

   The textbook chapter that we were assigned to read for this class period was Chapter 2: Literary Elements in Works for Children. It involved things like setting, themes, characters, plots, point of view, and style. I learned that setting is "part of the reader's invitation into an imaginary experience," and that it is portrayed differently in different genres. With themes, I discovered that there are explicit or implicitly. Sometimes, you have to do a good deal of critical thinking to discover the theme, and sometimes it is blatantly obvious. With characters, I learned about the ways that children book writers make their characters come alive in their books. The reader should feel like they actually know a character if the children's book is written well. The plot is also very crucial to a children's book. It allows the readers to follow the story. It begins with a "exposition," then going to "rising action," followed by the "climax," then the "falling climax," and finally the "denouement." I have never heard of these terms before so it was very interesting to read about them. Point of view is also very important, as it determines if the book is in first, second, or third person. Finally, style is "how" things are said in a children's book. 

Week of August 31st: Picture Books

   This week our class revolved around picture books. I read Chapter 3 before class and took notes on it so that I would have the background information on picture books in order to get the most out of class this week. 

   I learned a lot about picture books from reading chapter 3. For one, I learned how dynamic picture books are for children, as they use both good art and a "unique use of language" to capture children's attention. I found it fascinating to learn about the very first picture book, the title of which is "The Visible World in Pictures" translated. It's crazy to think of a picture book that is that old. I also had never really considered how people haven't always had paper to print their books on. That's something we take for granted. It must have been so difficult to make a book a long time ago using techniques like "wood block printing," or lithography. 

   I also learned the different categories of pictures books, from toy books for preschoolers, to wordless books. Wordless books are particularly captivating to me. To think about how an artist can tell and entire story just through pictures is pretty mind-blowing. They have to really consider how a child might perceive their images in order to ensure that a story is indeed relayed in an understandable manner. My favorite type of picture books are simply the ones that use both words and images to work "amplify" each other. 

   I also learned about how different elements of design work together in picture books to help get a message across to readers. I had never really considered before how much thought goes into the little details of picture books, like how different colors convey mood, and how lines can indicate moods as well. We saw this in the book we read and discussed as a class, titled When Sophie Gets Angry-Really Really Angry. In it, the author uses lines around the main character, Sophie, to indicate her mood. Endpages are one part of book design that I previously had given little attention to, when in actuality they can really contribute to a children's book.

   I saw proof of that in class when we analyzed children's books with a partner. My partner and I read Blue Chameleon by Emily Gravett. 

It was a really cute story about a Chameleon who was searching for a friend by transforming into the animal or object that he was trying to befriend. Eventually, he meets another chameleon who shows him that by being himself, he can find a friend. After reading the book, we looked at the end pages and they did indeed add a little to the story. The back endpages showed the two chameleons going off together as friends. 

   I love that at the end of each class so far our professor has read us a children's book out loud. It's so fun and really helps connect what we are learning about children's books to an actual book. I don't remember the name of the book this week, but it was a really fun story about a pig and hen couple who get invited for a feast at this mansion that is owned by a wolf who actually wants them for dinner. I liked that we went through it and analyzed the details of it so that I could see all the things that the author put into it in order to capture children's attention.