I believe the general rule for college classes is that you get what you put into them. That might even be true for everything else in life, but I don't think I have the time to try to prove it :) But I found that to be especially true for this class. I could see a few of my classmates coming to class unprepared, and they didn't really get much out of our discussions. But after doing the readings and thinking critically about the books, I found that our class discussions were quickly taking on lives of their own, taking us down paths that none of us expected. And that was the most exciting part of all: watching our discussions begin with a common starting point (the books we had just read) and take off in all sorts of different directions. I've been avoiding reading other reflections because I didn't want them to alter my own thoughts, but our class discussions were definitely my favorite part of the class. They really opened up my imagination to worlds of possibilities that I never considered when reading on my own.
If nothing else, participating in this class has reinforced the idea that reading is social. We get so much more out of a book when we discuss it and share our ideas with other people - that's why children love read-aloud time, that's why book groups still exist, and that's why we take Children's Literature classes and discuss our thoughts and feelings as a group. And that's why as educators we must do our best to embrace the "social-ness" of reading within our future classrooms. No matter what age your students are, they will be capable of reading and having enlightened conversations about what they've read. They might need support and guidance, but to remove reading from a social context does an injustice to everyone involved.
Overall, I found this class to be really beneficial, and it really opened my eyes to the plethora of ways that literature can be used in the classroom. It also got me thinking about how we judge literature. What makes "good" children's literature is as much up to the children as it is to us. As teachers we must be able to help students locate literature that is exciting, thought-provoking, and developmentally appropriate. It is not our job to impose our own values onto our students. We can show them examples of what we think is "quality" literature, and hope that they'll agree. But if little Billy still wants to read Goosebumps in his free time, then he'd probably best off if his teacher could find some way to support or acknowledge that.
Even though I struggled a bit to keep up this blog, I think that blogging has been a helpful tool for our class to use. Blogging is a great way to get our thoughts "out there" for the rest of the world to see - that includes classmates as well as random Korean strangers :) It would also be a great resource for any teacher to use, whether to make book recommendations to students, to connect with other teachers via the internet, or to keep an up-to-date newsletter informing parents of classroom happenings. That's the great thing about the internet: it's easy to use, the information is free, and it connects us to a potentially infinite audience.
I really enjoyed this class, and I have taken a lot of great ideas from it. Hopefully with the information I have acquired this semester, I can help instill in my students a life-long love of reading. I guess we'll just have to wait and see...
Showing posts with label not books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not books. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Neil Gaiman's Advice for Young Writers
This doesn't have anything to do with a book I've read, but since Neil Gaiman seems to be a recurring writer in this blog, I thought it might be a nice addition to the resources on him that I've already gathered here.
Instructions
By Neil Gaiman
Illustrated by Charles Vess
Instructions is a new book by Neil Gaiman. Originally just a poem, this story gives the wandering traveler instructions (hence the title) about how to survive a fairy tale. According to his blog, it became a picture book at the request of a friend. I really enjoyed this book because it captures a lot of universal themes that appear repeatedly in other "fairy tales." Also, putting this poem in the form of instructions places the reader directly into the story - the instructions are being given to you, as you read it. The instructions are specific enough to create strong mental images, but vague enough that we are left to imagine most of the finer details of this particular fairy tale: Where am I going? Why am I going there? Will I succeed in my quest? Receiving these instructions invokes the feeling that I am only at the very beginning of my journey, with an infinite number of possibilities that lie ahead.
Much like many other of his books, Instructions is not "just" a children's book - it is a book for readers of all ages, and offers themes and beautiful artwork that are just as appealing to adults as to children. But don't just take my word for it - the "book trailer" is available free on youtube, courtesy of Harper Kids.
Illustrated by Charles Vess
Instructions is a new book by Neil Gaiman. Originally just a poem, this story gives the wandering traveler instructions (hence the title) about how to survive a fairy tale. According to his blog, it became a picture book at the request of a friend. I really enjoyed this book because it captures a lot of universal themes that appear repeatedly in other "fairy tales." Also, putting this poem in the form of instructions places the reader directly into the story - the instructions are being given to you, as you read it. The instructions are specific enough to create strong mental images, but vague enough that we are left to imagine most of the finer details of this particular fairy tale: Where am I going? Why am I going there? Will I succeed in my quest? Receiving these instructions invokes the feeling that I am only at the very beginning of my journey, with an infinite number of possibilities that lie ahead.
Much like many other of his books, Instructions is not "just" a children's book - it is a book for readers of all ages, and offers themes and beautiful artwork that are just as appealing to adults as to children. But don't just take my word for it - the "book trailer" is available free on youtube, courtesy of Harper Kids.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Mid-Semester Reflection
I have really been learning a lot about children's literature from this class, but more importantly I have continued to learn about myself as a reader and an educatory. I have been thinking a lot about how I plan on making the important decision of what books I want to use in my classroom. I want to expose my students to not only a wide variety of genres, but also a wide variety of media in which reading appears. It is very important to teach children that reading and writing have real-life purposes, and to do that we need to expose them to the infinitely large selection of literature out there.
I have come to realize just how important "controversial" literature can be in the classroom. Though it is often up to debate whether a particular book is controversial or not (controversy is in the eye of the beholder, perhaps?), but I have become ever more aware that it is essential to expose our students to a wide variety of literature that portrays many different cultures and lifestyles. This may push some parents or students (or even myself) out of their comfort zones on occasion, but it is absolutely necessary to expose children to as much of the world as we can. This is more true today than it has ever been before, and I'm sure it become ever more important as our society continues to become more diverse and more aware of other cultures in the world.
Lastly, I have learned that there are many things that happen in the classroom that we can't foresee until they happen, but we can prepare ourselves in order to best serve our students. Just as important as the literature we put in the classroom is the attitude we bring with ourselves into the classroom. The language we use, the responses we make to student comments or questions, and the literature and stories we are willing to share with our students all show our children what we view as "normal" and acceptable, so it is important to be able to create a safe and nurturing environment for all of the students we teach. This requires being very self-aware so we can be sure to avoid making any students feel singled out or out of the "norm."
I have come to realize just how important "controversial" literature can be in the classroom. Though it is often up to debate whether a particular book is controversial or not (controversy is in the eye of the beholder, perhaps?), but I have become ever more aware that it is essential to expose our students to a wide variety of literature that portrays many different cultures and lifestyles. This may push some parents or students (or even myself) out of their comfort zones on occasion, but it is absolutely necessary to expose children to as much of the world as we can. This is more true today than it has ever been before, and I'm sure it become ever more important as our society continues to become more diverse and more aware of other cultures in the world.
Lastly, I have learned that there are many things that happen in the classroom that we can't foresee until they happen, but we can prepare ourselves in order to best serve our students. Just as important as the literature we put in the classroom is the attitude we bring with ourselves into the classroom. The language we use, the responses we make to student comments or questions, and the literature and stories we are willing to share with our students all show our children what we view as "normal" and acceptable, so it is important to be able to create a safe and nurturing environment for all of the students we teach. This requires being very self-aware so we can be sure to avoid making any students feel singled out or out of the "norm."
Sunday, March 28, 2010
A Quote
Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.
-Paul Valery
-Paul Valery
Neil Gaiman Glog
Here is my Neil Gaiman Glog. I tried to capture his darker side (which, honestly, is the only side he has). The music is from the motion picture Coraline. Let me know what you think!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Some Helpful Hints
Hey all - since I have officially established myself as the class computer nerd, here's the post I promised about blogging tips. If I left anything out, if my directions are confusing, or if you have any other questions... please let me know, I am certainly happy to help you out!
How To Edit Your Blog Layout
If you haven't already noticed, there's a Layout button on your Blogger dashboard and at the top of the page while you're posting things... once you click that, four other buttons show up under it (Page Elements, Fonts and Colors, Edit HTML, Pick New Template). You want to start out by picking your template, and then you can edit the details. If you click on Fonts and Colors you can, as you might guess, change all of the fonts and colors on your blog. A lot of templates don't let you change the background color(s) though, so make sure you have one that you like. The best way to figure things out is to just play around with it and see what fits your style. Once you have it the way you want, DON'T FORGET TO CLICK THE SAVE BUTTON!
If all you were interested in was how to put a sweet picture on your blog heading, I'll tell you how to do that too :) First, you need to have a sweet picture. Then you need to go to the Page Elements section (under the Layout tab, just like the previous stuff). This is where you can edit how things are arranged on your page or add "gadgets" like Miranda's lovely fish pond. There are a lot of different gadgets and things so you might want to look into that if you're interested. But to add a picture to your heading, click the Edit button for your header (it will have whatever title your blog has). There, you can edit your blog title, blog description, and add a photo. Under Placement you want to make sure to click "behind title and description," otherwise it will cover up your blog title. Upload the photo you want (I think it will prompt you to select what size you want, too)... One thing I will say about that is that once you upload your photo, you might want to go back to Fonts and Colors and change your title color and font to make sure you are able to read it.
How To Find Your Comments
Personally, I prefer to get email notifications when somebody comments on my blog, because the email sends a direct link to that post so I can just go straight there and reply if I want. To set up email notifications, click on the Settings tab on the top (or on your dashboard)... and when you do that you get like 9 buttons underneath, I don't really want to explain them all but you can play around with stuff if you want. Click on the Comments button, and then if you scroll all the way to the very bottom of that page, you'll see a "Comment Email Notification" box... type in your email and then click the Save Settings button on the bottom.
I'm not exactly sure what Jen was talking about with being able to see all of your comments on one page, but there is another way to quickly find your comments... if you click on Posting on the top and then Edit Posts underneath that, it gives you a list of all of the posts you have on your blog. To the left of the date the post was published, there will be a link that says "__ comments" if your post has any comments. You can just click on that to see them.
I think that's all for now. Like I said, let me know if you have any other questions, maybe I can put together a nice little FAQ page for us all :)
-Mary
How To Edit Your Blog Layout
If you haven't already noticed, there's a Layout button on your Blogger dashboard and at the top of the page while you're posting things... once you click that, four other buttons show up under it (Page Elements, Fonts and Colors, Edit HTML, Pick New Template). You want to start out by picking your template, and then you can edit the details. If you click on Fonts and Colors you can, as you might guess, change all of the fonts and colors on your blog. A lot of templates don't let you change the background color(s) though, so make sure you have one that you like. The best way to figure things out is to just play around with it and see what fits your style. Once you have it the way you want, DON'T FORGET TO CLICK THE SAVE BUTTON!
If all you were interested in was how to put a sweet picture on your blog heading, I'll tell you how to do that too :) First, you need to have a sweet picture. Then you need to go to the Page Elements section (under the Layout tab, just like the previous stuff). This is where you can edit how things are arranged on your page or add "gadgets" like Miranda's lovely fish pond. There are a lot of different gadgets and things so you might want to look into that if you're interested. But to add a picture to your heading, click the Edit button for your header (it will have whatever title your blog has). There, you can edit your blog title, blog description, and add a photo. Under Placement you want to make sure to click "behind title and description," otherwise it will cover up your blog title. Upload the photo you want (I think it will prompt you to select what size you want, too)... One thing I will say about that is that once you upload your photo, you might want to go back to Fonts and Colors and change your title color and font to make sure you are able to read it.
How To Find Your Comments
Personally, I prefer to get email notifications when somebody comments on my blog, because the email sends a direct link to that post so I can just go straight there and reply if I want. To set up email notifications, click on the Settings tab on the top (or on your dashboard)... and when you do that you get like 9 buttons underneath, I don't really want to explain them all but you can play around with stuff if you want. Click on the Comments button, and then if you scroll all the way to the very bottom of that page, you'll see a "Comment Email Notification" box... type in your email and then click the Save Settings button on the bottom.
I'm not exactly sure what Jen was talking about with being able to see all of your comments on one page, but there is another way to quickly find your comments... if you click on Posting on the top and then Edit Posts underneath that, it gives you a list of all of the posts you have on your blog. To the left of the date the post was published, there will be a link that says "__ comments" if your post has any comments. You can just click on that to see them.
I think that's all for now. Like I said, let me know if you have any other questions, maybe I can put together a nice little FAQ page for us all :)
-Mary
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