English Update March 17, 2007 Archive

Archive
Literature….. Children’s….. What are the characteristics of “radical change” picture books? “Radical change” picture books change familiar stories, change perspectives in the course of the stories and leave endings unresolved. S Pantaleo. RT (Oct. 04), 178-187.

Literature….. Criticism….. How help students learn and apply critical theories? Have students learn critical theory by breaking them into groups, each group responsible for becoming experts in a particular theory, demonstrating its use on a text and teaching that theory to the other groups. K Hinton. EJ (Nov. 04), 60-64.

Literature….. Culture….. How prepare students to read multicultural literature? In order for students to get the most from multi-cultural literature, they need increased background information about various cultures. JH Dressel. RT (May 05), 750-764.

Literature….. Culture….. Why read multicultural literature? Students read multi-cultural literature in order to understand the perspective of the characters toward the world, perspectives different from the readers’. B Louie. JAAL (Apr. 05), 568-578.

Literature….. Poetry….. How teach students to write poetry? When reading poems with children, consider how the poem or parts of the poem can be used as a model for the children’s writing their own poems. JL Certo. RT (Nov. 04), 266-271.

Literature….. Poetry….. What are young students’ opinions about poetry? Third Grader: Some of them [poems] are sad and some are funny. The funny ones are for kids and the sad ones are for adults, I think.” MW Harp. “Poetry in the Primary Grades.” 1171.

Literature….. Poetry….. What are some reasons that children misinterpret poetry? IA Richards: “The inability to respond to poetic imagery is one of the major causes for misreading and misinterpreting poetry.” H Livingston. “Art and Poetry,” 101.

Literature….. Poetry….. How help students understand the differences between poetry and prose? Teacher re-tells a poem in prose. Students compare the prose and poetic versions. Shows differences in genre and in voice. D Woodard. N+ (Oct. 04), 4-5.

Literature….. Purpose….. Why read literature? “As literacy educators, we believe in the power of literature to help our students understand life and create visions for the future.” DL Taylor. JAAL (Dec. 04), 298. [Literature, by and large, paints life realistically. Some call that depressing. Candid readers will admit that much literature is tragic. “Understanding life” means understanding the problems and passions that life entails. It means looking directly at the problems of living, of personality, of relationships. Reading literature is not usually a “joyous” experience. It raises questions about living, explores the problems of living and strengthens our understanding of the complexities of living. Stop painting literature as looking at life through rose-colored glasses.]

Literature….. Purpose….. What is the purpose for writing imaginative literature? Imaginative literature asks questions. UK Leguin. Wrt (Dec. 04), 8.

Literature….. Race….. What are some problems in discussing racial issues? On discussions of race. Fox (2001): “All of us fear saying the wrong thing, or not being understood, or not grasping the experience of others, especially once we begin to see how different that experience can be from our own.” BT Williams. JAAL (Oct. 04), 164.

Literature….. Bibliotherapy Lit Research What is the evidence for the success of bibliotherapy? “In summary, most of the positive evidence for bibliotherapy comes from case studies and that may be about where it will remain for sometime.” SW Lundsteen, “A Thinking Improvement Program Through Literature.” 510.

Literature….. Response….. Why read literature? Finds that the experience with shifting perspectives and voices in alternative text worlds leads students to recognize their own reality as only one version of reality. HV Blackford. RTE (Nov. 04), 192. (abs.)

Literature….. Response….. What happens when we isolate only the verbs in a work of literature? “To truly appreciate the pure physicality of the novel’s verbs, we had to extract those words and bring them to life.” J Schwartz. EJ (Nov. 04), 32.

Literature….. Response….. How respond to a novel? Students dramatize scenes from a novel. L Macy. RT (Nov. 04), 245.

RT = Reading Teacher. EJ = English Journal. JAAL = Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. N+ = Notes Plus. Wrt = The Writer. RTE = Research in the Teaching of English.