"Choosing Not to Read" by Beers Reflection

I thought this article was very interesting and something that we really need to consider as teachers of this age students. My favorite part of this article was the conversations that were had with students. It is interesting to actually hear what they have to say. It made me so upset to hear that students did not feel that reading could be fun. When the interviewer asked the students if reading magazines was considered reading and the girl said no. It just reminds me of how I am sure that I felt at that age. That the only reading that counted was boring reading. I also loved the comparison they made while talking to that girl asking her if she would feel as emotional about a book in the same way as a movie. It really interested me to hear a student say that they are to completely different things. I thought it was so interesting to hear that she said they only way she could get emotional over a book would be to look at pictures with it. I also really loved the chart about the different types of readers. It really helps a teacher to be able to categorize her students and try to fix some of the problems that the type of reader they are faces. It is hard for me to understand people's view of reading when it is negative. I am such an avid reader and find time to fit it into my life no matter what is going on. This article really helped me gain a perspective of other types of readers as well. Getting my students to find joy in reading will be one of my main goals if I end up teaching language arts, or any subject for that matter. I feel as though finding the reasons why students don't like to read will help you get them to start enjoying it. This article was great and really got me thinking about students reading lives. 

Graphic Novel Response: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

When we first began studying and looking at graphic novels I was a bit skeptical. I really was able to see the value in almost every genre we have studied right when they were introduced. This genre was a bit more of just pictures in my mind. After reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret I really was able to see how powerful these books can be. I thought the story was magical and had me interested the entire time. I think this book would be great for all students but would be very appropriate for any students that just had a parent or more specifically a father die. I just think the love that Hugo has for his father and the lengths he goes to to work on the automaton his father was working on when he died. This book is also great for middle school students because it is a book about a boy their age. I say this a lot but students find books more interesting when the main character is someone they can identify with. I think Hugo is an adventurous boy that many student's can relate to. Of course I also have to comment about the pictures throughout the novel. I thought the haunting black and white pictures were beautiful. They really helped set up the mood of the book and were so interesting to look at. They really added to the story and really kept me interested in the book. I really enjoyed reading this book and cannot wait to watch the movie now. I would absolutely use this book in my classroom. I feel as though students would love it and would really find it different from many of the books they are reading right in school. 

   

Angela's Ashes

When thinking about a memoir or bibliography to read for this week I immediately thought about how I had been wanting to reread a the book Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. I read this book in the eight grade and remembered some about it but not enough to know if I wanted to use it in my classroom or not. Rereading it made me remember so many things that I thought I did not remember about the book. This book describes the childhood of McCourt in Ireland and the beginning in New York. It describes graphic scenes of the poverty his family faced and chronicled the life of his father who was an alcoholic. The scenes might be a little to much for younger middle grade students but for eight grade I think it would be wonderful and eye opening. The fathers problem causes him to spend money on the pubs in town and not his family. That is difficult to read about but really helps you see the lives of so many people in other countries and even in America. This book would be great to use because it has so much students can learn and see from it. It kept my attention throughout the entire book and was really interesting when the Irish songs were included. I would absolutely use this memoir in my classroom. I am so happy I was able to read it over a second time.


   

Biography Picture Books Response

Maym Salomon American Patriot
by: Susan Goldman Rubin

I liked some things about this book and I didn't like others. I really enjoyed the pictures in this book. They were a little childish but the information in this book made up for it. All the information was accurate and very informative. With that being said, I know this book was supposed to be about Haym Salomon but it was basically a list of information and was a bit overwhelming. I think this book would be great for middle schoolers. This is a person that they might not have even heard of before and it would be really great for them to learn about a new figure in history. It is a very informative picture book but could be presented in a more exciting format. I do not think I would use this in my classroom but some teachers might want to.




Ben Franklin His Wit and Wisdom from A-Z
by: Alan Schroeder

This was an interesting format for a book. The book was organized by letter and each letter listed facts about Ben Franklin and his life all starting with that letter. Each letter had a different number of words associated with it. This would be very useful in the classroom because you could go through it with the class letter by letter. The teacher could share one letter each day. The pictures are really beautiful as well. I think this book has so much information but is also appealing and interesting. This would be a great book to use when learning about Franklin or even in a science or physics class learning about electricity. I am happy I picked this book up and would absolutely use it in my classroom.

How They Croaked Response

I could not put How They Croaked down. I am so interested in historic things about famous people and this book was an aspect I have never thought about. I loved how the book was split into different sections for each famous person and their story. This book was so intriguing because find strange things like this really interesting. I think reading this book really helped explain what we talked about last week with the gender stereotypes. A book about death is something you would consider to be a book boys would like over girls but I loved it. I think all students would find this book as interesting as I did. This book would be such a great tool to use in a history classroom to use when you were talking about each of these people in the novel and about how they died. All the stories not only told about the people  and their death but showed some of the history of the time as well. When the book told the story about King Tut it went into detail about mummification which was not just specific to him. I just think this book has so much great information and kids would find it extremely interesting.

Informational Picture Books

Forest Explorer: A Life-Size Field Guide
by Nic Bishop

This book is so much fun. I feel as though a teacher could use it for either an elementary classroom or a middle school classroom. While it seems as though it is more for younger kids the information on the different levels of the forest is very accurate and detailed. It has pages that look as if you are examining the level or season yourself. I think it would really be such a great learning tool for a science or environmental class. I was attracted to this book because of the cover but really found so much value in it that I choose it to share with the class. The pictures are actual pictures and it is just full of useful information and facts on the forest.



How Nearly Everything Was Invented
by the Brainwaves

This book is so much fun to read and to look at. This could be extremely useful in a history class. It has literally any invention you can think of in the book. Each page folds out on both side and has information about who, where, why, and how hundreds of things were invented. The book is broken into different categories and then each category is broken into different years. This book would be interesting for a student to read on their own but would be very helpful in the classroom as well. The book is colorful and exciting to learn from and might help get kids excited about a unit on inventions and the history of them.



 

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

I LOVED this book. I think this would be such a great book to use in a language arts classroom to not only teach students about the different types of poetry but also encourage them to write. I think it is so important for students to look at other students or character's their age that love writing. I think Kevin is such a great character for students to see because he goes from not enjoying writing to not being able to stop. I also loved how his dad encouraged him to write but never pressured him. I think this is such a great relationship to show students that they should have with writing. It is something to be enjoyed and not something that should feel painful. I feel as though the theme of baseball might help get boys interested in this book but then teach them about writing while they enjoy the story. Using something like this novel to teach the types of poems to students would really help them keep their interest in the topic rather than riding it off if the teacher was just talking about it. I just think everything about this book is great and I cannot wait to use it in my classroom if I end up teaching language arts.

Reactions to Middle School poetry novels

Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf
by Jennifer L. Holm

This book is hilarious. I loved reading it and know that middle school students would love reading it as well. This novel is a series of pictures, poems, notes, bills, and everything else a seventh grade students names Ginny accumulates throughout her seventh grade year. The book begins with her back to school list and a poem about going back to school. The way the author involves poetry in a book that chronicles a middle school student's day to day life makes it interesting for those students. I love how relatable this book is to anyone that was ever a child of that age, especially a girl. The poetry is also interesting because it is written by a middle school student. She writes about her life and her problems and shows students they can do the same. I would absolutely use this novel in my classroom.



The Upside Down Boy: El nino de cabeza 
by Juan Felipe Herrera

I thought this book was very interesting. It was written in both English and Spanish writing which made it so fun for me to read because I took some spanish. This book would be great for students in eight grade that are learning spanish. It is the story of a boy that is going to school for the first time. In one section of the book the boy writes a poem of his own. I loved this part because he was still learning English but was able to write such a fun poem. I think this book could be encouraging to students that do not think they can write poetry. I thought the pictures in this novel were also great. They were very colorful and rich and really caught my attention. I think this is a fun poetry book to use in the classroom.