I chose to do the text set on the Oregon Trail. I am not currently teaching in a classroom. I took some time off to be with my kids and am working part time at an office and substitute teaching a lot for the school that I used to work for. I decided to do the text set on something that I found interesting and that I have always wanted to know more about... The Oregon Trail. It was a lot of fun researching and finding books/magazines/video about my subject. I talked to the fourth grade teacher at my school and she was able to point me in the right direction for finding relevant and fun material. I think that this text set will be a great resource for me in the future. It has also taught me how to create a text set, so that in the future I will be able to compile something like this for other subject areas. I am excited to see what other people have chosen. I won't include the whole text set, but a few examples....
Novels:
Ë Kudlinski, Kathleen. (1996). Facing West: A story of the Oregon Trail.
Ë Fishel, Anna. (2008). Kate Winfield on the Oregon Trail.
Ë Olsen, Tod. (2009). How to get Rich on the Oregon Trail.
Ë Anthony, Ellen. (2002). Jacob’s Oregon Trail Adventures.
Ë Mullin, Penn. (1999). Off to Oregon (Trailblazers Series)
Ë Spooner, Michael. (2001) Daniel’s Walk
Ë Rounds, Glen. (1994). The Prairie Schooners.
Ë Hermes, Patricia. (2000). Westward Home Joshua’s Diary: The Oregon Trail, 1848.
Ë Ransom, Candice. (1984) Amanda (Sunfire #1)
Ë Frazier, Neta. (1994) Stout-Hearted Stephen.
Ë Wall, Cynthia. (1998). A Spark to the Past.
Ë Lawton, Wendy. (2003). Ransom’s Mark: A story based on the life of the Pioneer Olive Oatman.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
week 8 Reflections...
I think that YAL is like anything else and it has trends. Right now we are in the vampire era of YAL. Go to any book store and the YAL shelves are just loaded with stories about vampires. I am sure that this stems from the Twilight era, which in turn stemed from Harry Potter. I have to say that I didn't read much of the Harry Potter series, but I have read all of the Twilight books and I really enjoyed them. It was fun to be transported to another world and to re-live the feeling of falling in love for the first time. I am sure that this is what draws our young adult readers to fantasy books. It is fun being transported to another time and place. In what other setting could you fly on a dragon, or visit middle earth? There are many reasons why students are drawn to the idea of fantasy. Is their home life not what they want it to be? Are they having trouble at school or with friends? A good fantasy book can take you away from all of your troubles. It takes you away from the Real World, and sometimes that is a good thing!
I agree that kids are not allowed to visualize in this era. Imaginations are squashed because of the high tech world that we are living in. It is important that we try to enhance the imaginations in our classroom. There is one great visualizing activity that I have just recently read about. It is called: Judging a Book by it's Cover. The book cover is what initially draws a reader to the book. Many times a book cover can give you ideas of what is within the pages of the book. A book cover can be the deciding factor of whether a child picks up the book to read or passes it by. The activity that I read was about having the students create their own book covers for a read aloud book. The student created covers can be displayed on a board and the students are asked to use their imagination, instead of having it already presented to them. I thought that you could take this even further, and have students create book covers for stories that they write or reports that they write.
I am interested in hearing about other visualizing activities that you have all heard about....
I agree that kids are not allowed to visualize in this era. Imaginations are squashed because of the high tech world that we are living in. It is important that we try to enhance the imaginations in our classroom. There is one great visualizing activity that I have just recently read about. It is called: Judging a Book by it's Cover. The book cover is what initially draws a reader to the book. Many times a book cover can give you ideas of what is within the pages of the book. A book cover can be the deciding factor of whether a child picks up the book to read or passes it by. The activity that I read was about having the students create their own book covers for a read aloud book. The student created covers can be displayed on a board and the students are asked to use their imagination, instead of having it already presented to them. I thought that you could take this even further, and have students create book covers for stories that they write or reports that they write.
I am interested in hearing about other visualizing activities that you have all heard about....
Saturday, May 22, 2010
L Group Response to The Freedom Writers
I was thinking that maybe we could all post our thoughts about what we are reading under one blog? What do you think L group?
I am reading the Freshman year right now. I am about 10 diary entries into this book. All I can think about is those poor students. I can't imagine going to school and trying to concentrate on learning when you have a war zone right in your backyard. It makes me so thankful to have had the childhood and upbringing that I was fortunate enough to have. I can't wait to read more about their lives and the message of hope that they will bring.
What does the L group think so far?
I am reading the Freshman year right now. I am about 10 diary entries into this book. All I can think about is those poor students. I can't imagine going to school and trying to concentrate on learning when you have a war zone right in your backyard. It makes me so thankful to have had the childhood and upbringing that I was fortunate enough to have. I can't wait to read more about their lives and the message of hope that they will bring.
What does the L group think so far?
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Chapter 10 Reflection
Reading this chapter reminded me of all of the great non fiction stories that I have read throughout my life. I admit that this is not my favorite type of book to read, but I have read some great ones. The one that kept popping up in my mind was, Lies My Teacher Told Me. This was a book that we were assigned to read in my Masters class at OSU. This was probably one of the most powerful books that I have read. It focused on all of the misconceptions that are passed onto our students because of lies that are perpetuated by textbooks and teachers. There was one section that focused on Christopher Columbus. It noted 10 History Textbooks that are used in our local classrooms. In each book, there was a picture of Christopher Columbus and each picture showed a different man. I really just couldn't believe it. This book is something that I think about quite a bit when I am teaching. Before I state a "fact" to my students I think about what I am going to say. Is this something that I know for sure, think I know or don't know anything about. If it is anything other than I know for sure, I wait to say something until I can look it up. I am curious about other great non fiction stories that you have all read. Look forward to reading the Freedom Writer's... I have heard great things about this book.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
L Book Group Choice
Hi Everyone, I saw that other book groups were doing this and I thought that it might be a good idea to just all reply to one post. What book would you like to read? I am really very much open to anything..... lets try to get our choice soon so that we can all start reading :) What do you think?
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Historical Fiction... What World is Left
What World is Left
Written By: Monique Polak
I finally finished reading the historical fiction book that I picked out to read for the Week 6 assignment. What an amazing story! I can't say that the book left me with a happy feeling, but it really was an amazing story about life in a concentration camp.
The story is told from the perspective of Anneke, a 14 year old Jewish girl from Holland. Her father is a well know cartoonist for the local paper and she has a mother and a younger brother, Theo. Her family is not religious and does not attend any Jewish services. When the Germans invaded Holland her family was given notice that they were to get on a transport to a concentration camp. Transport means that the prisoner is being ordered to leave their current location. Because Anneke's father is a well know artist, the family is being sent to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp for prominent Jewish families. The conditions are horrible, but it is not known as a death camp. There are no gas chambers.
Anneke spends two years of her life in Theresienstadt. She and her family survive on next to nothing. Her father helps to ensure their survival by drawing propaganda posters for the Nazis. It is not something that he is proud of, but he feels that he has to do it in order for his family to survive. Anneke questions her father's courage. She is ashamed of what he does, but feels guilty for enjoying some of the privileges that they have. The family is allowed to remain together in a one room living space as a payoff.
Anneke experiences many of the things that young people do when growing up. She has a best friend and likes an older boy at the camp. Unfortunately her reality is that she is living in a concentration camp and she sees people that she loves being sent to death camps on a weekly basis. There are numerous times in the book that it really seems as though Anneke will not be able to survive.
The author wrote the story based on her own mother's experience. She was send to Theresienstadt when she was 14 years old with her family. Her father was an artist who drew propaganda posters. The story was purely fictional, but the setting and tone of the book was accurate. I would highly recommend this book for anyone, especially young adults who are learning about world history.
Written By: Monique Polak
I finally finished reading the historical fiction book that I picked out to read for the Week 6 assignment. What an amazing story! I can't say that the book left me with a happy feeling, but it really was an amazing story about life in a concentration camp.
The story is told from the perspective of Anneke, a 14 year old Jewish girl from Holland. Her father is a well know cartoonist for the local paper and she has a mother and a younger brother, Theo. Her family is not religious and does not attend any Jewish services. When the Germans invaded Holland her family was given notice that they were to get on a transport to a concentration camp. Transport means that the prisoner is being ordered to leave their current location. Because Anneke's father is a well know artist, the family is being sent to Theresienstadt, a concentration camp for prominent Jewish families. The conditions are horrible, but it is not known as a death camp. There are no gas chambers.
Anneke spends two years of her life in Theresienstadt. She and her family survive on next to nothing. Her father helps to ensure their survival by drawing propaganda posters for the Nazis. It is not something that he is proud of, but he feels that he has to do it in order for his family to survive. Anneke questions her father's courage. She is ashamed of what he does, but feels guilty for enjoying some of the privileges that they have. The family is allowed to remain together in a one room living space as a payoff.
Anneke experiences many of the things that young people do when growing up. She has a best friend and likes an older boy at the camp. Unfortunately her reality is that she is living in a concentration camp and she sees people that she loves being sent to death camps on a weekly basis. There are numerous times in the book that it really seems as though Anneke will not be able to survive.
The author wrote the story based on her own mother's experience. She was send to Theresienstadt when she was 14 years old with her family. Her father was an artist who drew propaganda posters. The story was purely fictional, but the setting and tone of the book was accurate. I would highly recommend this book for anyone, especially young adults who are learning about world history.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Using Think Alouds
Although I am not teaching in a school at this point in time, I am spending quite a bit of time tutoring my sister in law who is in 8th grade. She comes by the office after school and we work on her homework together. She is a very intelligent girl, but she struggles with self confidence and has been diagnosed with a tracking problem. This causes her to really struggle with her reading. I have been using the think aloud strategy with her for quite some time. We will take turns reading from her text book or chapter book. Some of the think aloud strategies that I have used are:
- stopping to make an inference. I wonder what they mean when they say ...
-stop when I don't understand a word or phrase... Let's re-read this. Maybe look up the word in our dictionary?
-stop and ask a question about where the author is going... This must mean that...
My sister in law has started to pick up on some of these strategies. She will stop and ask me a question about what a particular word means or just add some thought about the direction the story is going in. I think that this is a very useful strategy, but it does get some getting used to. I think that it would be more difficult to do in a larger class setting. I am curious what the rest of you thought....
- stopping to make an inference. I wonder what they mean when they say ...
-stop when I don't understand a word or phrase... Let's re-read this. Maybe look up the word in our dictionary?
-stop and ask a question about where the author is going... This must mean that...
My sister in law has started to pick up on some of these strategies. She will stop and ask me a question about what a particular word means or just add some thought about the direction the story is going in. I think that this is a very useful strategy, but it does get some getting used to. I think that it would be more difficult to do in a larger class setting. I am curious what the rest of you thought....
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