Assn 1: Evaluating Children's Literature

ICL 7301 - Literature in PreK 12 School

Michelle Allen

January 29, 2017

Adams, K. L., & Phillips, K. B. (2016, November). Read all about it: exploring multiple
genres of writing ensures students get a fuller picture of science. Science and
Children, 54(3), 32. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?

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In this article the authors asked students to read from multiple literary genres to aid in a
science lesson on adaptation. They began with folklore using creationist tales to get the
students thinking about why birds or animals developed certain behaviors. The students were
guided to act as scientists in reading texts to support their inquiry. The teachers guided them
through whole group and small group instruction to discuss the information they gathered from
each source. The unit took 6 weeks to conduct and each week they gathered information
unique to each genre. During the process, they covered web safety, how to access websites for
reliability, how to make inferences, read a map, and how to take notes. The teachers
encouraged real world connections by asking the students to discuss their own experiences
collecting the information. The students final assessment was to chose a bird they were
interested in learning more about and create a fictionalized story to present what they learned.
I think this unit is a wonderful one that hits all the standards that a unit, especially a
collaborative effort between a librarian and a teacher, should have to teach research skills as
well as the scientific process. I may use this as a template to create my own lessons. The use
of folklore was unique to the animal adaptations subject, but there could be other subjects that
this format could work with. Students could start their inquiry based project through use of a
fictionalized narrative, such as the diaries in the Dear America series and then go on to study
other aspects of the time period of the person in the diary. I also like that the authors allowed
for differentiation by assigning the students different roles in the collection of the information on
an Observing Animal Adaptations matrix. I had not heard of a matrix as a data collection tool.
The authors quoted a lot of background research that I was unfamiliar with. I would like to read
the original literature the authors used in their research as it may give me other connections that
the authors did not highlight.

Connors, S. (2015). Expanding Students' Analytical Frameworks Through the Study of

Graphic Novels. Journal Of Children's Literature, 41(2), 5-15.

The author believes that despite their popularity among students the reason graphic novels
are not taught to teachers in their teacher education programs is because most literally
instruction is still taught using traditional texts. Pressure to prepare students for standardized
tests that privilege alphabetic literacy, coupled with the emphasis that the Common Core State
Standards (CCSS) place on text complexity may deter some teacher from devoting time and
attention to graphic novels (p. 5). The author states that another reason why teachers may not
use graphic novels is because they dont know how to judge good graphic novels. The author
continues by providing a way to help teachers tell what elements of quality graphic novels may
have. To assist, the author covers the literature of the past several years on the coupling of
pictures with text, or multimodal texts(p.5). She suggests students of all ages use a graphic
format for their autobiographies. She asks her preservice teachers to create their own graphic
literacy narratives and illustrate it using the website Comic Life(p.10). She wants these future
teachers to create for themselves the metalanguage to evaluate graphic novels.
I think there is a lot of merit in her methods of teaching how to evaluate the quality of a
graphic novel by having the student create one of their own about their own life. This would
work well with tween and teen students. The author states that research found that the project
required the students to practice [the] multi-literacy skills requested of them by the CCSS to
design and illustrate their work (p.14). The 5th grade reading standard states that students
should analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the the meaning, tone or
beauty of the text (p.14). The assignment the author gives her adult students would help 5th
grade students think critically of a text, exactly what they do with traditional texts. I would have

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liked the author to describe the metalanguage she referred to that the students created while
making their piece. Usually in art the terms in which the viewer is to critique the piece are well
known. This is what she says makes teachers uncomfortable when using graphic novels, these
terms dont exist for graphic novels. I guess her purpose was not to create the terminology, but
the process by which the terms could be created.

Mathis, J. B., Aziz, S., Crisp, T., Graff, J. M., Kesler, T., Liang, L., Sekeres, D. C. & Wifong,
L. (2014). Teaching Children's Literature in the 21st Century. Journal Of Children's
Literature, 40(1), 56-61.

The article is about the Master Class in Teaching Childrens Literature held during the
Annual Convention of the National Council of Teachers of English in Boston. Master Class is a
workshop in which cutting edge topics in childrens literature courses are shared(p. 56).
Seven professors teaching in universities around the United Stated share the course content
they developed and currently instruct(p. 56). These are professors who are preparing future
teachers on how to use literature in the classroom by using strategies they believe help
students engage with literature in significant ways(p. 56). The Master Class is also a way to
highlight strategic work being done in the field(p. 56). The article gives a description of what
the Master Class is then goes into detail about what each of the seven professors teach. They
share the syllabi and handouts online for everyone to access at
www.childrensliteratureassembly.org. There is also a book that will hopefully be updated soon.
I liked reading what professors were teaching future teachers around the United States and
what connections they were guiding them to. This helps give an idea of what trends are
happening in education and how other educators think we should be teaching young students.
The professor at University of Alabama, Diane Carver Seekers, had the course that most aligns
to what I have learned on the job at Shelby County Schools (SCS) on what they want to see in
their teachers lessons. The professor uses Blooms Taxonomy to help the students ask more
complex questions about the literature they are reading. Another professor also taught their
students how to do a close read, something that SCS also promotes. The article allows the
reader to get an idea of what they might want to learn more about in order to incorporate and
study that professors theory. I also think this might be an ingenious way to promote that
professors class and make more students want to take it.

Moller, K. (2013). Considering the CCSS Nonfiction Literature Exemplars as Cultural

Artifacts: What Do They Represent? Journal Of Children's Literature, 39(2), 58-67.

The article was written four years after the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were
adapted. The CCSS directives included the use of non-fiction text in classroom instruction. The
creators came up with a selection of exemplar texts that were suggested to be used in the
classroom. The CCSS put focus on the use of non-fiction in instruction, but Moller said that this
was not the first time the importance of non-fiction in the classroom had been seen. Moller
states that the exemplar list has very few cultural selections, the author gives close examination
of these exemplar texts that have varying degrees of ethnic representation. She critics the
selections based on factors such as, the age of the text, lack of multicultural authors, and
minimal representation of other viewpoints and ethnicities, outside of what she calls
consciously inter-racial in which people of color are sprinkled into the background of an image
as an afterthought in an effort to make it diverse. She ends by giving a few better choices and
then showing how those choices could be expounded upon with other biographies or non-fiction
choices.

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 I was aware of the suggested exemplary texts, but never occurred to me that they werent the
best examples because they were chosen by contentious professionals. The majority of my
teaching training has been on the job, so the curriculum map is what I have followed and not
questioned the theory behind it. However, upon reading the article, I too could think of other
quality non-fiction that could have been chosen. It is my job as the librarian of the school to
offer quality alternatives that fit the criteria of the teachers lesson. I also hope to keep my
suggestions current. The article does not give enough alternative suggestions or advice as to
where to find a list of quality literature. I think this would have been helpful to teachers reading
the article. Even as a librarian, it is hard to keep up with what is being published and reading it
all to weed out the less than stellar examples.

Zapata, A., & Maloch, B. (2014). Calling Ms. Frizzle: Sharing Informational Texts in the
Elementary Classroom. Journal Of Children's Literature, 40(2), 26-35.

The article covers how informational texts can be used in the classroom. The authors
suggest that the best way to use the texts is when the students have specific interest in the
subject and the research is inquiry based. The example the article gave was using an artifact
like a live pet snake in the classroom to spark interest in reading more about the snake. The
authors say to teach the students about text features as they are looking at various
informational texts that have features such as graphs, diagrams and pop-out boxes. The
authors suggest it is best to vary the types of information texts; poems, biographies, narrative
non-fiction and informational non-fiction. When the students start the inquiry based research
project the authors suggest having a book flood in which the children have access to all the
books on the subject at one time (p. 30). The authors say that a book flood is not a new idea. I
agree, because I have always given the students all the books I have on their subject at the
beginning of their information search.
I know that this is a trend in education because of Common Core, but I think inquiry based
learning and gaining background knowledge through experience and experimentation is best
taught by parents. Parents are no longer as involved in their childrens complete education and
the classroom is having to take up the slack. I think this is hard to simulate in the classroom,
however, this article is good and it is aligned to other things I have read on the subject. The
article suggested using think alouds in which the teacher teaches the students how to think
critically about what they read. I have used this in the classroom by reading a story and
modeling how I make connections to self and the real world. I would like to read the original
articles in the authors bibliography to interpret for myself the information they read that supports
their findings. I feel like something was missed or missing in the authors findings.

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