Methods and Materials for Teaching Children’s and Adolescent Literature
Position Paper:
My goal as a
classroom teacher, whether it is in a general education or special education
setting, is to create a literacy rich environment. I want my students to be surrounded by
quality literature- a wide variety of texts that they can choose to read that
are easily accessible, a mixture of texts that are easy to read, just right and
challenging, and texts that span many different genres and topics. I want the literature in my classroom to make
my students think deeply and critically, to expose them to new and challenging
ideas, to build their reading, writing and thinking skills, to make them laugh
and cry, and to develop a truer sense of whom they are as individuals.
In order to
accomplish these goals, I need to create a classroom library that contains a
wide variety of texts. My classroom
library will include a variety of fiction and non-fiction books. When developing and expanding my classroom
library, I want to choose books that my students are interested in, but also
choose books that will push my students out of their comfort zone. The more variety I have in my classroom
library, the greater the variety of texts my students are likely to try to
read. I also need to make sure that I
include texts that I wouldn’t normally read, since my students and I have
different text preferences. I am not
usually a fan of graphic novels or of verse novels, but I can see how my
students would enjoy them a lot. To help
my students choose different kinds of books, I need to make sure that I give
book talks on a variety of texts, so that they are exposed to different genres. While I wasn’t a fan of Coraline (2002), I can give an informed book talk on the text since
I’ve read it. I need to continue to read
children’s literature so that I can share it with my students and provide them
with any guidance they may need when selecting books.
I want my students
to use the classroom library often, and to make it user-friendly. In order to do this, I need to organize my
books by genre, topic, and/or author into tubs or baskets. Though Johnson (2012) states that books used
for independent reading should not be leveled, I disagree. Having taught students how to choose “just
right books” in multiple mini-lessons, I still find that students benefit from
the additional support of having books leveled in the classroom. I don’t group my books by level, though, and
students aren’t restricted to one level of text. Students have some flexibility in what texts
they read, and I still recommend that they use the five-finger test when
choosing a book, because leveling systems aren’t always consistent or
accurate. I know my students practice
choosing just right books when they are at the library and when they are with
their families, so I feel providing extra support in the classroom is justified. By leveling the books in my classroom,
students learn what series of books they enjoy at their level, and they begin
to notice what traits the books at their level have in common. These traits are useful when looking at texts
that aren’t leveled. Students can look
at the size of the text, number of pictures, and length of a text, in addition
to using the five-finger test, to determine if a book is just right for
them.
Having a classroom
library isn’t enough. I want to guarantee
that my students have access to quality literature, since not all literature is
equal. When thinking about my students’
needs and interests, I also want to be cognizant of their cultural
backgrounds. I want to ensure that the
texts students have access to are representative of their cultures. Bishop shares that “literature can contribute
to the development of self-esteem by holding up to its readers images of
themselves” (p. 4). I want my students
to see themselves in the texts that we read together and that they read
independently. However, it is equally
important to me that my students have access to texts about people and cultures
that are different from them. This
includes texts about people of different races, ethnicities, gender, age,
sexual orientation, religion, ability, and class. My hope is that through reading, I build
students’ understanding of differences and through that understanding build
acceptance (Bishop).
When choosing
books for my classroom library, I need to be thoughtful and methodical. Before taking this course, I was very naïve
about how inaccurate texts could be.
After reading Bishop’s article and discussing the authenticity of The Darkness under Water (2008), I want to be more careful about the
texts that I choose for my classroom so that I can avoid promoting stereotypes
of any kind. I am now aware of some
stereotypes to watch out for- the depiction of African Americans with wild hair
(Bishop) and a Native American as an aggressive savage, a romantic, or noble,
and characters wearing Indian attire (Reese, 2000). I need to continue to learn more about
identifying other stereotypes from other cultures so that I can either remove
texts from my collection that promote these stereotypes, or when students come
across these stereotypes, have a conversation with students about how different
people are portrayed and why the portrayals may be inaccurate. I need to arm myself with knowledge so that I
can provide information to my students.
All of the
multicultural literature used in my classroom will be integrated into other
units of study. When thinking about
teaching reading and writing, I have found that focusing on different genres or
literary elements is beneficial. No
matter what I’m focusing on- characters, non-fiction, or mysteries,
multicultural literature can be integrated into the unit. I don’t believe in teaching units around a
specific culture or only during a certain time of year. Instead, I want to integrate multicultural literature
into the units that I have already developed.
If I separate the multicultural literature, I feel that I am only
segregating the authors and cultures even more.
These multicultural authors offer just as much as any other author and
their work should be studied along with authors from other cultures (Cai, 1998).
In my classroom, I
want literature to carry messages to and through my students. I want students to be able to listen to or
read a text and speak to the overarching message of the story and to connect it
with their lives. Literature often
provides a way for students to connect with a life situation, similar to their
lives, from which they can learn.
Choosing strong texts that convey morals or powerful life lessons
enhances the learning and reading experiences of my students. Through a book like Tea with Milk (1999), students who recently moved may be able to
see that a location doesn’t make a home, but the people you are with make the
home, helping the child to feel more comfortable in their new location. Numerous texts are available that students
can connect with and from which they can learn.
When using picture
books from now on, I am going to make sure that I emphasize the illustrations
as much as I emphasize the text, since “every part of the picturebook is
meaningful” (Sipe, 1998). Knowing that
illustrations in picture books are meant to enhance the readers’ experience, I
need to point out the illustrations to my students. I also need to allow time for my students to
study the illustrations, especially when I am reading aloud (Johnson, 2012).
Now that I know
how to speak the language of picturebooks, I want to teach my students the
language too. I learned that
illustrations are useful in comprehending a story, so I feel that my students
can also benefit from learning how to study the illustrations in a
picturebook. If students begin to notice
colors changing, or see the size of illustrations becoming larger or smaller,
they will begin to anticipate changes in the text as well. Students can begin to use the illustrations
to support their comprehension of the text and this will enhance their overall
reading experience (Sipe, 1998).
In
my classroom, literature will play multiple roles. I want to use literature to teach my students
information as well as to teach them how to read and comprehend texts. I also want to choose literature that will
teach my students how to solve problems.
Sometimes students find it difficult to deal with the problems they
face, but when they meet a character in a book faced with the same problem,
they can use the character’s strategy in their own life. A character like Sonny in Hidden Roots (2004) would be a great
model for students who are struggling to find themselves. He acknowledges his weaknesses, but also
learns how to use his strengths.
Literature is a way for me to introduce my students to new places. I love Tea
with Milk (1999) because it introduces readers to Japan and the
Japanese way of life. I can use texts to
show my students how similar and different people and places all around the
world are to them. Literature will also
help develop my students’ imaginations.
I love nothing more than to see students lost in the world of books; so
‘sucked in’ that they pay no attention to what is going on around them. Fantasy and realistic fiction can create
worlds for readers to get lost in, where imaginations run wild, and students
become the characters.
I also want to
connect reading and writing for my students.
Since my students tend to struggle with both, I want them to see that
they can use their strengths in both areas to build on one another. I want to use the beautiful language that we
read in books and help students use similar language in their writing. My man
Blue (1999) would be a perfect example to use when writing poetry. Nikki Grimes creates such vivid pictures with
her words; my students could use her poems to think about how they can improve
their poems using descriptive language. I
want students to think about how they develop characters in their stories and
compare that with how familiar authors develop their characters. If my students are familiar with many
different kinds of literature, they will have numerous experiences to draw from
and compare to when reading and writing.
I came from a
school that didn’t believe in textbooks.
Because of this, I relied on the use of other tools to teach. One tool was literature, because I could use
it to teach content knowledge in an engaging way, while also teaching reading
skills. Now that I’m back in the special
education classroom, I use literature in almost the reverse way. I use literature to teach reading and writing
skills, while also teaching my students content knowledge. Finding ways to connect literature with other
content in the classroom is very important to me. It increases student engagement and helps
make their connections to content much stronger.
While I believe
that everything I have written previously is important, my greatest purpose for
using literature in my classroom is to develop successful readers. Teaching struggling readers, it can be very
easy to use basal texts with limited word choice so that students follow
specific patterns and use certain word families when reading books. I don’t want that for my students. I don’t want reading to be boring, or rote,
or repetitive. I want reading to be
engaging, exciting, and motivating. I
will use literature, so that my students can read about topics that they are
interested in. I will use literature, so
that students can use pictures to support their understanding. I will use literature, so that when students
are successful reading one piece of literature they can successfully read more
and more pieces of literature. I want
literature to be the main tool for my students’ success.
References
Bishop, R.S. Selecting literature for a multicultural
curriculum. In Using multiethnic
literature in the K-8 classroom (1-19).
Bruchac, J. (2004).
Hidden roots. New
York: Scholastic Press.
Cai, M. (1998). Multiple definitions of multicultural
literature: Is the debate just really
“ivory tower”
bickering? The New Advocate 11 (4), 311-324.
Gaiman, N. (2002).
Coraline. New
York, NY: Scholastic Inc.
Grimes, N. (1999).
My man Blue. New
York, NY: Puffin Books.
Johnson, D. (2012).
The joy of children’s literature
(2nd Ed.). Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth.
Kanell, B. (2008).
The darkness under the water. Cambridge,
MA: Candlewick Press.
Reese, D. (2000).
Contesting ideology in children’s book reviewing. Studies
in
American Indian Literatures 12 (1). Retrieved from: https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~rnelson/asail/SAIL2/121.html#37
Say, A. (1999).
Tea with milk. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Sipe, L. R. (1998). Learning the language of picturebooks. Journal
of Children’s
Literature 24 (2), 66-75.
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