Future Career

I am taking this class, but I am not an education major and I am not pursuing a career in education. Yet, after being in this class and being opened up to so much, I feel that elementary or intermediate education would be a career that I could take part in. I have really enjoyed learning this literature that we have studyed in this class so far. I believe that I would enjoy teaching with children's literature as well. This is a big difference from my political science major, but I believe that I am going to stick with that. I am thinking about pursuing a teaching certificate though which will allow me to have another option of a career that I know I will enjoy. I am fortunate to be in this class since it has helped me realize that teaching could be an option in my future.

Bridge to Terabithia

Besides being a new movie, this is a classic children's literature book that is one of my favorites. This book shows many themes and those are friendship, knowledge, creativity, adventure, death, and coping. Jess, a small town boy in the book, befriends the new girl Leslie even though others think her family is different. Both kids are very adventurous and create the land of Terabithia in the forest by Jess's house. This land is one where anything is possible. If you believe, it exists. One day though, Jess was invited to go to the museum in the city and did not want to invite his best friend Leslie. Unfortunately, he returned to find that his best friend had died while crossing the river to Terabithia. This is the most emotional part of the book and I cried. Jess goes and builds a bridge across the river to the fantasy land and lets his sister in on the adventure at the end. I really, really enjoyed reading this book and I would like to see the movie.

The Upcoming Week

I look forward to reading The Hobbit and The Giver in the next 2 weeks of class. I have read both before, and The Giver is one of my favorite books. I am ready to focus on one work unlike the poetry where there were many works that we looked at in a day of class. I am looking forward to the in depth discussions on these two books because both have storylines that seem scifi like.

I am excited to be focusing on one work because I can focus concern my attention to that one story. This helps me think about the stories more in depth than what I would if I read many stories in a week.

Reading Rainbow

Yes, I will admit that I was a PBS kid growing up. I watched every kid show on that channel from Mr. Rogers to Barney. Yet, one of my favorite shows ever was Reading Rainbow. I remember once meeting the host, LeVar, in Austin and he signed a shirt for me. This show is designed to get kids to enjoy and become active readers.

Every episode introduced a new book and had an adventure that related to the book. I always thought that I had to go buy the books after they were read to me on tv. This program really does a good job at introducing children's literature to its audience. I remember that sometimes we would watch episodes at school as well. This show is still on tv and comes on everyday here in College Station at 2:00 pm. I watched it today and it took me back to when I was a kid.

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher

Over this past weekend I went into my attic at home to find all my children books. I was very excited when I found my collection on Beatrix Potter books from when I was little. I forgot how much I enjoyed those books when I was younger. The stories are filled with lessons for younger children, and the wording in some of the stories are pretty funny to me. Also, the illustrations by the same author are extrodinary. I cannot wait to read and discuss Peter Rabbit in this class.

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher is one of my favorite Beatrix Potter books. It is about a frog who goes on an adventure to find supper, and on his voyage he runs into trouble like being swallowed by a fish. Jeremy Fisher gave up on looking for minnows for his dinner and decided to settle for dinner with his friends. This dinner consisted of roasted grasshoppers with a ladybug sauce. He dined on this food with his friends Sir Isaac Newton and Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise. I was so excited when I found this book in my attic and my weekend was complete when I finished this book.

Journals

I was lucky enough to have the same English teacher in 8th grade and then when I was a Junior in high school. Both years at the beginning of class, the class was given a prompt to write about for the first 15 minutes in class. I kept a journal that had to be turned in at the end of each six weeks where I would be graded on grammer, spelling, and writing in general. Being exposed to writing everyday allowed me to get used to writing properly. I would use this exercise if I was an English teacher because students need to feel comfortable writing in any situation. This exercise allows students to become comfortable using English grammer and spelling. Also, it allows the students to be creative and get thoughts out with the different prompts. I guess that is why this blog is an exercise we do in this class.

the Bible

With Easter Sunday coming up I began to think about the many Bible stories I grew up hearing especially with going to Catholic school. These lessons, gospels, and parables were told to me from since I could remember. I recognize that the Bible is a form of literature as well as in a way children's literature. This is because the stories were written for everyone to learn and to have told to them. Just like some of the nursery rhymes were written for adults and now are told to children, the Bible acts in the same way I would say.

I believe that the Bible has a big impact in many kids lives as they grow up, and I recognize the Bible as a book to live by as well as a great work of literature. I would be interested in learning about how the Bible can fit into children's literature.

poetry

I am very excited to be talking about poetry in class finally. I have always been intrigued by poetry and I believe this began when I was young and my mom would read me Shel Silverstein and also when I started to do UIL oral reading. I remember always having to sit through numerous poetry books by Jack Perlutsky and Shel Silverstein to find a poem that would be interacting enough for oral reading. Having to put expressions and different tones to these poems was something that I thouroughly enjoyed while growing up. I liked getting in front of the judges and my family and entertaining them with these poems. It has been a long time since I have even looked at poems and I am so ready to read through the poetry book that we have for this class.

Tom Sawyer

A classic book that I think every child should read is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. I first read this book when I was very young, and throughout my reading career so far, I trully enjoy most of Mark Twain's writing. I am captivated through the reading because the lessons and experiences are experienced by many children while growing up.

Tom Sawyer is very mischevious and a trickster. He grows up as an orphan and is very humourous and sly. Tom and his friends often go on adventures that lead them to trouble, but Tom quickly finds his way out of it. He also likes to get in fights and arguments at school because he likes to impress girls and doing this is an easy way to get their attention. Tom's friends Huckleberry Finn and Joe Harper also like to go and play along and on the Mississippi River together with him.

This is the perfect story about the tipacle boy who likes to find trouble and who can sweet talk his way out of it. This book takes me back to the days when I was little and I would play outside and use my imagination to be something. Tom often played that he was a pirate on the Mississippi River. Today, I wonder if many kids still use their imaginations like this. I know I would often play at the tank behind my house while pretending I was a pilgrim. I don't think my sister ever did anything like this.

Jabberwocky lLesson

The discussion of Jabberwocky in class made me begin to think about how this poem could be incorporated into a class discussion in an intermediate school class. I feel it would be interesting to have students give meanings to the different made-up words that are found throughout this poem. Like the handout that discusses Lewis Carroll's meanings, the students would have to open up to their own imagination to give meaning to the make believe words. By doing this, the view of the poem would have differences among the students and each one could explain what they experienced while reading the poem.

Many students do not open up to their own individual creativity in the public school, non-advanced class. By having this lesson in an everyday english class, I believe that all the students would take part and have fun by sharing what they individually have experienced from this nonsense poem. Allowing individual creativity to come out would allow the students to acknowledge each other on a different level.

reading to kids

This past Friday, I went to volunteer at Kids Klub for a project for another class. This is an afterschool program here in College Station that is provided by the schools. During Kids Klub, there is homework time that is optional for the kids to use the time to do their homework. There was a group of girls who didn't want to play any of the games outside, so they went in to do homework. I went inside to help if they needed any. After they all decided that they had finished their work, I decided to read them some books that were in the computer lab. I read three storybooks, and I do not remember what any of them were called, but the girls really enjoyed having an older person like me read to them.

I felt like a role model because these girls were so excited that I had taken interest in helping them and then deciding to read to them. It was rewarding to be able to do such a simple act like this which made such an impact to these girls.