Reading Assignment #6 Literature in the Classroom

This article was about Cecilia and Julia, two bilingual teachers that responded to children's questions about literature. I liked the article and enjoyed seeing how experienced teachers like Cecilia and Julia answered some of these tough questions. The first questions asked the two teachers how they went about picking out books for their classrooms. They stated that the books had to be able to raise questions within a child's mind and that it makes them feel included. I feel that in order to read a book and finish it with a bunch of questions in your mind you would have had to have some sort of prior interest. I believe that keeping your bookshelves stocked various types of fun and interesting books will keep kids reading much longer than usual.

I felt that Julia had a great response when she was asked about how she prepares for implementing literature into her classroom. She stated that it was important to come to class prepared. As the teacher, you must read the book before your kids and develop questions to help provoke their critical thinking. If you don't read the book before you read it to your kids it can turn out to be very bland and not engaging at all. This really struck home with me because during winter break last year I was subbing for a 4th grade class whose teacher was going to be out for a week. I subbed the whole week and during the first two days, we had finished the book that the teacher had left for us. I decided to pick up a random book from the bookshelf in my house that appeared to be grade level appropriate. When I started reading however, the book was not a good fit for the class. It contained A LOT of words the kids did not know, and had too many vulgar words. During our reading time after lunch, I reading the book, struggling as I tried to make up words on the spot to substitute for the curse word, and stopping to explain what a particular word meant nearly after every sentence.

One of the last questions addressed how to deal with a mono-lingual student that speaks a language other than English if you as the teacher only speak English. The two teachers responded that it was important to let the child talk and express themselves to you even if it's not in a language they understand. They mentioned that it's sometimes easy to tell what a child is asking you based on their body language. Soon enough, you'll start to remember some key phrases that the child uses over and over and can begin to teach them how to say these phrases in English. Personally, I think it's extremely important to keep an open mind when dealing with ESL learners and make use of any resource you can.