Classroom Library

I read in chapter 3 how important creating a classroom library was. I remember some of my classrooms in grade school had a few books on the shelf but never a whole lot of books. I loved reading so I think I would have loved to have a classroom library instead of having to wait my turn to go to the library. On the other hand, I think having books in the classroom would encourage students that do not read as much to try and read more. Here are some reasons the book lists for having a classroom library.

1. It supports literacy instruction.
2. It helps students to learn about books.
3. It provides a central location for classroom resources.
4. It provides opportunities for independent reading and curricular extensions.
5. It serves as a place for students to talk and interact with books.

Literature Circles

The book discusses how children should be engaged in literature discussions. The best way that I have seen to do this is through Literature Circles. This is done by having several books selected and either assigning the books to the students or having them sign up for a book. Then, the students that are assigned to the same book get together and form a book club of sorts. They all read the book at the same pace. They are also assigned roles for each reading. One person illustrates a scene from the book. One person finds unfamiliar vocabulary words and looks them up and records them. Another summarizes the chapter. There are many other different roles that teachers can assign the students based on how many there are in the group. Then, after they have finished reading and doing their role, they will get together as a group and present what they did. They used this at my grade school that I went to as a child and we are also doing it in a college class that I am in. I find that this is very effective and really interests the students.

Virtual Author Visits

The book mentioned how beneficial it is to have an author come and visit the classroom and read a book or answer questions from students. It also noted that it is very expensive though. This is why they suggested virtual author visits. This can be done by contacting the author that you wish to do this with and seeing if they are willing to do it. If they are, there are many ways a virtual visit can be conducted. The author can speak with the class using a webcam. The author can also do a live chat. He can also do something on a social media site such as Twitter. This can really interest students in reading even more.

Banned Books

I had heard about banned books way before I read the textbook but the textbook made me more interested in looking into banned books. First of all, there is a week dedicated to banned books. It takes place from September 30th to October 6th. Some books are only banned from certain schools or counties. Other books may be challenged which means they were thinking about banning them. The Catcher in the Rye was a banned book. Forever by Judy Bloom was also a banned book. One of my favorite author's books, Looking for Alaska by John Green was almost banned as well. This is a very controversial issue and it is one that I disagree in. Parents should monitor what their children read and it shouldn't come down to schools having to remove books from their library or having to confiscate books from students.

This is from when John Green first released Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I really want to read this book after I reread Paper Towns. It says this in the video but I love the idea he had about writing the book. The book is about two boys named Will Grayson. John Green writes as one Will Grayson. David Levithan wrote as another one. They each took time writing one chapter at a time. It really was a great idea that blends two people's writing styles together. This book is for high school students or older. I can't wait to see what it is like!

America's illiterate!

Found this on Tumblr.

Fault in our Stars

So I decided to do a post on the most recent book John Green has written titled "The Fault in Our Stars". It really is an amazing book. I couldn't put it down. To summarize it without providing spoilers is hard but I am going to try. Basically, Hazel is a 16 year old girl that is dying from cancer and she is stable but her diagnoses has always been terminal cancer. She basically just sits in her house all day attached to oxygen waiting to die. She goes to cancer support group though for kids with cancer, just to make her parents happy. She meets a boy at the support group though that changes her life forever. Like I said, I really can't go into more detail but when I was thinking about reading it, I didn't think it would be that good but I decided to read it because it was John Green and he is my favorite author. Once I got into it, like I said, I couldn't put it down. It is really captivating and it has so much emotion in it that it's amazing. Everyone should definitely read it! If you have time, the video above is him reading the first chapter. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!