Divergent Response

My book this week I picked to read is Divergent by Veronica Roth. I was recommended this book by my mentor teacher last semester and this seemed to be the perfect week to be able to read it. I was excited when she told me it was similar to The Hunger Games. This book was such a great and easy read. It was complicated at times and I had to reread particular sections to make sure I understood everything. With that being said, I do think that middle school students would enjoy it as well. The story is so different and really can have kids visualizing themselves in the story. I kept thinking the whole story about what faction I would be part of if I could choose. The story was about a girl that is part of a post-apocyliptic world and is a member of a group of people that all decided selfishness was the downfall of the world. The main character, Beatrice, needs to pick which fraction after a test that she will join or stay in at the age of sixteen. She ends up leaving her parents and the story revolves around the changes she undergoes having to adapt to a new way of life. I think students would be able to get lost in this story and would be really excited to read it. I will absolutely recommend this book to all my students and friends alike. I am so happy I was able to relax and read a novel of my choice this week. If anyone has not checked this book out I highly recommend it to all readers.

Anything But Typical Response

I fell in love with this book. Being inside Jasons's thoughts and reading the way he sees the world was so interesting to me. I don't think a lot of people have had the chance to get inside the head of an autistic child unless you are related to someone that is able to tell you about your feelings. I think this would be such a special book to use in a classroom of students that do not understand anything about autism. Middle grade students have a hard time relating to other students that are different then themselves. I think this book would be such a great opportunity for students to learn more about some of their classmates. It also helps that as a teacher I was able to see what life is like for an autistic child because chances are I might have one in my classroom. Jason was so intelligent and most likely if I were to talk to him in person I might not be able to tell that. I think this is a beautiful book because it shows the depth of his personality and feelings that someone might not be able to see in person. I also just think this book is perfect for this age because almost everyone is worried about fitting in. This was Jason's biggest fear and is also the biggest fear of almost all the students that might be in class with him. I just think learning to be confident in yourself is such a great lesson for any student this age needs to learn and experience. I feel in love with Jason and felt his emotions along with him as I read. I would definitely use this novel in my classroom. I thought it was beautiful.


 

Response to Book Leveling and Text Complexity

I have actually never thought about what makes some books harder to read over others. I thought the first article was something to think about because it is true that readers will never get better if they do not challenge themselves. Breaking a book down into different aspects that may make it challenging is important to do when trying to challenge readers. A student that might have a large vocabulary but struggles with the way different novels are organized, it may be smart to have them read books that will challenge them in this way. It also really interested me that students saw that vocabulary was one of the things that made a novel more challenging than others. This really opened my eyes to how i should choose novels and how I should challenge my students in their reading skills in the future. I loved how the second article stated that it is not just the language arts teachers job to teach literacy. I really think it is so important for all subject teachers to include literacy in their curriculum. I also really was interested to learn that the reading level of textbooks has gone down recently. I had never known this but it really had me thinking of the level of some of the textbooks for middle school I have looked at recently. Both of these articles had me really thinking about my future classroom the literacy I will include and not include.

Response to Among The Hidden

I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought the concept of the book was very interesting and really kept my focus while reading. It broke my heart to see the main character Luke having to stay inside and not able to live a normal life. It was interesting to see how the government had such control over its people and their children. I think this would be a great book for students to read for pleasure but it could also be used to further explore government and government control. I think this book could add an interesting aspect to a lesson on this. I also really loved how Luke met Jen and was able to connect to someone on a deep level outside his house. It really shows how much brighter a friend can make your life and I love that. I was devastated when I found out that Jen was shot and it made me so sad about what the government was doing to these innocent children. I think students would love this book but I would recommend it to students that are older middle grades. It has some violence that I would not feel comfortable to have all students read. If a student was mature I know they would benefit from reading this book. I really loved reading this book and actually want to read more in the series. I cannot wait to see what happens next. 

     

Reese Article Response

This was a very interesting article. I cannot help but agree with Reese in that Native Americans are misrepresented in Children's novels today. It was interesting she brought up the question of if students are actually gaining useful and accurate information from novels or pictures books depicting Native Americans. This is such a hard topic to think about as a future teacher because I do not want to add to this misrepresentation. I am luckily not teaching any history classes hopefully in the future so I do not have to worry as much but if I choose to use a novel with historic value such as ones about Native Americas I need to be careful. This article really made me think about the fact that many of those novels are inaccurate and teachers really need to be careful. The article also had me thinking about Americans in general and their knowledge of Native Americans. It was interesting to see that there were studies that told that people believe that Native Americans are an extinct group. Most Americans think that there are no longer Native Americans at all. That is something that really makes me upset. People are that unaware of groups of people that surround them everyday. This article really opened my eyes to the books that have historical content that I use in the future.

Straw Into Gold by Gary Schmidt

This novel was a very interesting read. This book was an adaptation of Rumpelstiltskin. This book would be great for a fifth or sixth grade classroom. This is the story of why Rumpelstiltskin spun straw to gold. Its the story of Tousle a young boy. I thought the story was very interesting and it was cool that the story took a turn from the original story that everyone knows. The book is very interesting and I really loved it. It was filled with imagery and dense language that might be more difficult for some students to read and understand. You would have to check the level of your readers and judge if they can handle this book or not. I think this would be a fun book to make a longer picture book with as opposed to a chapter book. This could however be a great book for students to use as one of the more challenging books they read throughout the year. I was really glad I picked this book even though I did not know much about this to begin with. 

Folk/ Traditional Literature Picture Book Responses

Jack and the Beanstalk by Scudder Smith
I seem to always mix up a fairy tale and a fable and think that all of these stories will have a lesson event though they usually do not. I thought the story was however cute and one that most people have heard before. The pictures in this book make it more interesting and are very attractive. They are very cutsey though and this book might not be as interesting to middle school students. I would choose this for my children one day but maybe not for my classroom. I really did enjoy the illustrations and that is why I chose the book to read in the first place. I am happy I was able to discover this book and it might be great for a elementary classroom one day if that is where I end up one day.



Clever Jack Takes the Cake by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas
This is the cutest book. The story was so beautiful and actually did have a little moral in the end. I would absolutely use this in my own classroom. It was the story of a boy that was invited to the princesses birthday party and did not have anything to give her as a gift. He baked a cake after he finally got all the ingredients. Once he started carrying the cake each person he passed demanded he give them part of the cake. By the end he did not have anything left. The princess liked his story better than any of the other gifts. The illustrations were beautiful and so intriguing. I think this is such a great book.



The Ugly Duckling by Jerry Pinkney
This book was beautifully written. The words were written almost as if they were poetry. I thought the illustrations added so much to the story. I have seen this story written and rewritten many times but this has been my favorite version yet. I would absolutely use this in my classroom. This was such a great find and I am excited to share it with the class. I loved this picture book.